The Symptoms Of Walking Pneumonia

Home Remedies For Treating Walking Pneumonia

For treating walking pneumonia some home remedies can come in handy for getting rid of the symptoms.

• There is no substitution to eating health, particularly when you have caught walking pneumonia. So, when you are ill with it, start eating foods that are rich in vitamin A and vitamin C.

Not only will these vitamins help in strengthening your immune system but they will also help in fortifying the inner linings of your lungs. This will ultimately help in pacing up your recovery and help prevent walking pneumonia recurrence.

WHO also advises that children who suffer from respiratory infections should be given vitamin D supplements in addition to vitamin D rich foods. These foods include eggs, oily fish and vitamin-D fortified foods. The vitamin D intake can also be increased by absorbing sunlight. Unsurprisingly, vitamin D also helps in immune system regulation that protects children from not only pneumonia but also from other respiratory infections including bronchiolitis and tuberculosis .

A study conducted by experts from the University of Eastern Finland which was also published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The study suggested that low vitamin D levels in serum increase the risk of pneumonia by 2.5 times, where the average age of study participants was 62.3 years and the baseline serum concentration was set at 43.5nmol/l.

You Should Call Your Doctor If You Have These Symptoms

It may be hard to tell if you have pneumonia just from how you feel, but there are things to look out for.

According to Ward, symptoms of pneumonia include:

• Cough, which can include mucus or phlegm
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain, especially when breathing or coughing

To monitor your symptoms, I recommend keeping a working thermometer and a blood oxygen reader, called a pulse oximeter, at home, she says.

If you have any of the following symptoms, Ward recommends seeking medical attention:

• A fever above 102°F, even after taking fever-lowering medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen
• Blood oxygen level lower than 95%
• Coughing up blood or sputum that contains blood

She adds that people whose immune systems are compromised should contact their doctor if they think they are having pneumonia symptoms.

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Walking Pneumonia Recovery Time

Walking pneumonia is often caused by a type of bacterium that produces milder symptoms that come on more gradually than do those of other types of pneumonia. The illness often is brought home by young children who contract it at school. Family members of infected children typically begin having symptoms two or three weeks later. This kind of pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics. Recovery time is usually 5-10 days, but maybe longer.

Over the past decade, some strains of mycoplasma have become resistant to macrolides due to the widespread use of azithromycin to treat infections. People with Legionnaires disease often require hospitalization, and complete recovery may take up to 4 months. During recovery, the doctor will advise you to take your medication, rest, drink clear fluids, and eat healthily.

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It Might Feel Like A Cold

Walking pneumonia is how some people describe a mild case of pneumonia. Your doctor might call it âatypical pneumoniaâ because itâs not like more serious cases.

A lung infection is often to blame. Lots of things can cause it, including:

• Bacteria
• Inhaled food

Walking pneumonia usually is due to bacteria called Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

You probably wonât have to stay in bed or in the hospital. You might even feel good enough go to work and keep up your routine, just as you might with a cold.

How Do You Treat Pneumonia

Treatment for pneumonia depends on the cause. If pneumonia is caused bya bacterial infection, antibiotics will be prescribed to kill the harmfulbacteria. If pneumonia is caused by a viral infection, time and restare best for recovery. Fever reducing medications and cough medicationscan help relieve symptoms and aid sleep.

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How To Treat Pneumonia In Seniors

Pneumonia can often be treated at home. The goal is to rid your body of the infection while preventing more serious complications. Pneumonia affects the lungs and breathing. This makes it vital to ensure that the body is getting the oxygen it needs to recover. Following these steps can help to manage the symptoms of fever and cough so that your loved one can recover more quickly:

Recovery from pneumonia can take anywhere from a week to months. You will need to talk to your doctor about when it is appropriate to return to a normal routine.

An early response to the signs of pneumonia can be your best strategy for a smooth recovery.

How Long Do They Last

While walking pneumonia is usually milder than pneumonia, it involves a longer recovery period. It can take about six weeks to fully recover from walking pneumonia. However, most people recover from pneumonia in about a week. Bacterial pneumonia usually starts to improve shortly after starting antibiotics, while viral pneumonia usually starts to improve after about three days.

If you have a weakened immune system or a severe case of pneumonia, the recovery period might be longer.

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE:

While walking pneumonia is milder than pneumonia, it requires a longer recovery period. It can last for up to six weeks, while pneumonia symptoms usually start to improve within a couple of days.

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What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Walking Pneumonia

Colds that last longer than 7 to 10 days or respiratory illnesses like can develop into walking pneumonia. Symptoms can come on suddenly or take longer to appear. Those that start slowly tend to be more severe.

Heres what to look for:

• a fever of 101°F or below
• headache, chills, , and other cold or flu-like symptoms
• fast breathing or breathing with grunting or wheezing sounds
• labored breathing that makes the rib muscles retract
• hacking cough
• loss of appetite or poor feeding
• rash
• joint pain

Symptoms usually depend on where the infection is concentrated. A child whose infection is in the top or middle part of the lungs will probably have labored breathing. Another whose infection is in the lower part of the lungs may have no breathing problems, but may have an upset stomach, nausea, or vomiting.

What Are The Signs Of Pneumonia In Children

When children have pneumonia, they can experience the same symptoms asadults including high fever, cough, difficulty breathing and pain in the chest,but they may also complain of stomach pain, ear pain, have a decreased appetiteand be more tired or irritable than usual. If a child has “walkingpneumonia” their symptoms may be milder and can appear like a cold. Someinfants may not appear to have any symptoms beyond being restless and adecreased appetite. In extreme cases of pneumonia, infants and small childrenmay have bluish fingernails, toenails, lips and mouth.

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How Do You Get Pneumonia

You may get pneumonia:

• After you breathe infected air particles into your lungs.
• After you breathe certain bacteria from your nose and throat into your lungs.
• During or after a viral upper respiratory infection, such as a cold or influenza .
• As a complication of a viral illness, such as measles or chickenpox.
• If you breathe large amounts of food, gastric juices from the stomach, or vomit into the lungs . This can happen when you have had a medical condition that affects your ability to swallow, such as a seizure or a stroke.

A healthy personâs nose and throat often contain bacteria or viruses that cause pneumonia. Pneumonia can develop when these organisms spread to your lungs while your lungs are more likely to be infected. Examples of times when this can happen are during or soon after a cold or if you have a long-term illness, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease .

You can get pneumonia in your daily life, such as at school or work or when you are in a hospital or nursing home . Treatment may differ in healthcare-associated pneumonia, because bacteria causing the infection in hospitals may be different from those causing it in the community. This topic focuses on community-associated pneumonia.

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Antibiotic Resistance And Walking Pneumonia

Due to the structural composition of the strain, particularly due to the lack of a cell wall mycoplasma pneumoniae is resistant to penicillin belong to the class of beta-lactam antibiotics. So, after your doctor is certain about the diagnosis of walking pneumonia, he is unlikely to prescribe you penicillin.

However, the menace of antibiotic resistance doesnt end here but it extends to antibiotic resistance to medications which are the recommended treatment route for the condition. According to the CDC, the M. pneumoniae strains begin to exhibit resistance to macrolide in year 2000. The macrolide-resistant strains of walking pneumonia pose a challenge to health experts globally, as these strains have the ability to nullify the effect of medication that is in the fore-front of combating the infection.

This drug resistance had been identified in Europe and in the US, however, this resistance has reached alarming levels of about 90%, in some parts of Asia. According to Clinical Infectious Diseases from Oxford Journals, in China during the span of over a year, from 1st August 2008 to 30th September 2009, out of 356 adults who reported a respiratory tract infection in a clinical setting 67 strain isolates were identified as M. pneumoniae. From these isolates, over 69% strains showed resistance to macrolide. Upon further sample analysis, it was found that the strains had point mutations present in the 23S ribosomal RNA gene.

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Can Pneumonia Be Prevented Or Avoided

There are many factors that can raise your risk for developing pneumonia. These include:

People who have any of the following conditions are also at increased risk:

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• asthma
• sickle cell disease

You can help prevent pneumonia by doing the following:

• Get the flu vaccine each year. People can develop bacterial pneumonia after a case of the flu. You can reduce this risk by getting the yearly flu shot.
• Get the pneumococcal vaccine. This helps prevent pneumonia caused by pneumococcal bacteria.
• Practice good hygiene. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Dont smoke. Smoking damages your lungs and makes it harder for your body to defend itself from germs and disease. If you smoke, talk to your family doctor about quitting as soon as possible.
• Practice a healthy lifestyle. Eat a balanced diet full of fruits and vegetables. Exercise regularly. Get plenty of sleep. These things help your immune system stay strong.
• Avoid sick people. Being around people who are sick increases your risk of catching what they have.

Could Your Persistent Cough Be Walking Pneumonia

You might expect that if you had pneumonia, youd know it. Its reasonable to assume that a severe lung infection would likely stop you in your tracks and cause hard-to-miss symptoms like a wet cough, difficulty breathing, fever and chills.

But if you have some minor cold-like symptoms, such as a low-grade fever, along with a persistent dry, hacking cough that just wont quit, you could actually have a form of the infection called atypical or walking pneumonia that can be mild.

Walking pneumonia can last longer, and you may not feel as sick, as its symptoms are less pronounced. People who have walking pneumonia may think they have a common cold.

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Who Gets Walking Pneumonia

As we discussed earlier, walking pneumonia is common in people who are routinely exposed to crowded places. Similarly, children who are in their school-going age and adults, younger than 40 years of age, are generally most likely to suffer from walking pneumonia. However, this doesnt mean that people belong to other age groups and social environment cannot get walking pneumonia.

It is also worth mentioning that to catch walking pneumonia, one generally needs to be exposed to the M. pneumoniae multiple times. Often, it is observed that the cases of pneumonia peak during late summer or fall seasons however you can contract walking pneumonia pathogen anytime during the year.

Causes Of Walking Pneumonia In Adults

• Infection of the lungs by bacteria results in walking pneumonia in adults. When an individual has walking pneumonia, the lungs, its air sacs and other tissues get infected and there is accumulation of mucus, pus and other fluids. This prevents the oxygen from the lungs to read the cells of the body and the bloodstream, which results in the symptoms of walking pneumonia.
• Walking pneumonia is contagious and is spread through contact with the mucus and spit of infected individuals. The infection may spread when adults with walking pneumonia sneeze or cough. Hence, individuals who live in populated areas, shelters, etc. and college students are more at risk in developing walking pneumonia. Also, intimate or increased contact with infected individuals increases the risk.
• Existing conditions like cold or flu may increase the vulnerability of adults to develop walking pneumonia. Such illnesses are common during climate or weather changes.

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Treatment Of Walking Pneumonia

Mycoplasma is a genus of bacteria, thereby antibiotics are considered as most effective treatment for walking pneumonia. Your doctor is likely to prescribe you relevant antibiotics to be eaten regularly for 7-10 days. When you have an antibiotic prescription, you have to be careful about the consumed dosage of medication, if you stop taking the medication half way through the recommended span, then you have a risk of developing antibiotic resistance in future.

Walking pneumonia is contagious we already know this but the contagion factor of walking pneumonia is confined to a great extend once you begin taking antibiotics.While taking medication directly helps you by improving your health, it also ensures that you arent a threat to your family and friends.

However, in majority of people who catch walking pneumonia do not even require the treatment and they are back to being healthy without taking any medications. This happens because these people could barely notice if they have the infection or not.

While walking pneumonia goes away on its own, most of the times this fact shouldnt stop you from seeking doctors help because the infection you carry is contagious.

During this time, when you begin to feel slightest of symptoms and decide to ignore them as trivial, you have to be certain that you arent a carrier of an infection.

Thereby, it is important to get treated and be careful to not spread your walking pneumonia to other people.

What Health Complications Can Pneumonia Lead To

If you have flu-like symptoms that persist or worsen despite treatment, talk to your doctor.

Your doctor can monitor your lungs while you inhale, listening for crackling sounds that are audible only with a stethoscope.

In order to confirm the diagnosis and identify the specific germ causing the illness, you may get a chest X-ray as well as a blood test, depending on your medical history and physical exam, if your doctor suspects that you have pneumonia.

If left untreated, pneumonia can become severe.

People with severe pneumonia experience higher fevers along with GI symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhea, as well as:

• Difficulty breathing

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How Can I Help My Child Feel Better

Your child should drink fluids throughout the day, especially if he or she has a fever. Ask the doctor before you use a medicine to treat a cough. Cough suppressants stop the lungs from clearing mucus, which might not be helpful for lung infections like walking pneumonia.

If your child has chest pain, try placing a heating pad or warm compress on the area. Take your child’s temperature at least once each morning and each evening. Call the doctor if it goes above 102°F in an older infant or child, or above 100.4°F in an infant under 6 months of age.

With treatment, most types of bacterial pneumonia go away within 1 to 2 weeks. Coughing can take up to 4 to 6 weeks to stop.

What Is Walking Pneumonia

Walking pneumonia is a mild form of pneumonia . This non-medical term has become a popular description because you may feel well enough to be walking around, carrying out your daily tasks and not even realize you have pneumonia.

Most of the time, walking pneumonia is caused by an atypical bacteria called Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which can live and grow in the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs . It can be treated with antibiotics.

Scientists call walking pneumonia caused by mycoplasma atypical because of the unique features of the bacteria itself. Several factors that make it atypical include:

• Milder symptoms
• Natural resistance to medicines that would normally treat bacterial infections
• Often mistaken for a virus because they lack the typical cell structure of other bacteria

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