Symptoms Of Pneumonia And Its Treatment
At the outset, you need to understand that pneumonia is a disease that
infects either a single or both the lungs of the patients. The condition
can be caused by fungi, viruses or bacteria. However, bacterial pneumonia
is ideally the most common pneumonia observed in adult men and women.
When the diseases attacks a person, it causes inflammation in the lungs or
the alveoli of the person. In fact, the alveoli gets filled with pus or
fluid, which makes the affected person difficult to breathe.
Symptoms of pneumonia?
Pneumonia symptoms can vary from being mild to becoming life-threatening.
Check out the common symptoms of this condition:
Chest pain.
Feeling of shortness or difficulty in breathing.
Coughing, which produces mucus or phlegm.
There are a few other symptoms of the patients that can vary based on the
severity and cause of the infection and the general health and age of the
person.
General health and age of the individual.
Symptoms on the basis of causes
Bacterial pneumonia can cause accompanied by a high fever along with
tremendous sweating, confusion. bluish nails and lips.
Viral pneumonia can begin with influenza-like symptoms like wheezing. The
patient can also experience a very high fever after 12 to 36 hours
Symptoms on the basis of age
In adults, the disease may cause a temperature that is lower than the
normal one
Instant can show lack of energy, may have trouble in eating or drinking and
even vomit.
Kids below five years of age can exhibit rapid breathing
Treatment for Pneumonia
The very first act of preparedness against pneumonia should be to get the
necessary vaccination. You can consult your physician for the pneumonia
vaccines that can help you to safeguard against the bacterial pneumonia.
The kind of treatment you will be given will also depend on the kind of
pneumonia you have, the extent of severity as well as your general health.
The recovery process can be made faster by doing the following:
Consuming fluids in abundance
Taking the medicines as prescribed
Hospitalization
Do not overdo it by joining work or school too soon
Get plenty of rest
Prescribed treatment
Antifungal, antiviral, and antibiotic drugs are prescribed by the
physicians as treatment options for pneumonia based on the particular cause
of the patient's condition. In a majority of conditions, treatment of
bacterial pneumonia can be done at homes very easily with oral antibiotics.
A majority of the patients are known to respond to these antibiotics
treatments within 1 to 3 days.
In fact, your physician can also suggest certain OTC or over-the-counter
medication to alleviate your fever and pain as may be the case. Such
medications may include acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin),
and aspirin.
The doctor may also suggest certain cough medicines so that your cough can
be smoothened and you can rest. At the same time, you need to understand
that coughing can help to remove the fluid from the fluid from the lungs.
In case, the symptoms of the patients are extremely severe or they are
suffering from other health-related issues, hospitalization is an option
that may not be ruled out entirely by the doctor. After all, the doctors
can constantly watch the breathing, temperature and heartbeat of the
patients while they are in the hospitals.
Some of the treatments while the patient is hospitalized include:
Respiratory therapy.
Intravenous antibiotics that are injected into the vein of the patient.
Oxygen therapy to maintain the level of Oxygen in the bloodstream .