Re: Aw, CRAP!

let's start by remembering the pneumonia is another way of saying lung
inflammation...with over 50 different causes...[lol - sorry to
complicate things with too much information!]

but in general terms - 'a pneumonic inflammation of the lungs occurs due
to collection of cellular wastes and blood cells within the air sacs
within the lungs.' the trick has always been to correctly identify
which element activates the inflammation and get it stopped without
subject your system to 'too' much other insult - and antibios can be
very harsh on the body - as can other meds used to reduce inflammation
like steroids.

would 'x' level of inflammation allow for encapsulation? you betcha!!!
almost certainly it would create such an opportunistic event. - the
swelling alone would bring cilia action [cilia which help 'sweep out
spores, fungus, bacteria, and excess/old mucus] to a virtual standstill.
AND it also cancels some or all of the expansion of the lung [lung as a
flexible 'sack'] via the diaphragm. lower expansion = breeding ground

since you have demonstrated inflammation, doc has upped the ante going
to augmentin [NEVER take this one is you have kidney problems!] - a
combination of semisynthetic amoxicillin, and clavulanate potassium [a
lactamase inhibitor] which blocks enzymes needed by the bacteria - very
useful extra weapon when dealing with encapsulated bacterial infections!

you can help this situation by finding any sort of movement or
strectching which would help the diaphram expansion - hard to do when we
hurt, but see if there is anything that you 'can' do that will help the
expansion

one thing to be aware of is when resistant to standard antibio's, you
should be checked for 'fungal' vs which of the three common bacterial
forms is the cause - t'will change the treatment. you don't use
augmentin with fungal or mold

in some not very common cases, the inflammation is actually an
indication of adenoviral infection

how long? this could be as short as 2 weeks, but as long as 3-4 months,
depends upon getting the inflammation down so that the normal clearing
action will sweep out the muck - until then, you would remain at risk of
up/down swings of infection.

you mention the morning cough - too hard to tell the cause -

it this 'throat' or chest, or 'deep' as it feels to you? are you
'producing' with the cough or is it dry?

this could be a deep reflex due to rising activity level as you start
the day and move around, a dry throat irritation from mouth breathing or
fever, or bronchial irritation from the gunk, or, it could be an
indication of low level ear/eustachian infection - 3 weeks before you
would see a result on it. same with the fever.

however - much of the above also depends upon whether you were a smoker
and if so for how long - lower lobe risk is much higher for those of us
have have smoked - no matter how long ago [well, not quite - after 20
years quit the risk does go down] also those who had chemical exposures
to 'whatever' are at higher risk than others. and then there are the
related medical conditions that apply:

in my case, i have still's - which can and does attack soft tissue thru
out the body - i can only really go by my own experiences over the years

not much was know about this back in the day - and originally i was
misdiagnosed in '56 with 'chronic granulomatous disease'
[http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1590.htm] seemed reasonable at the
time - but by the early '60's they had learned that a combination of the
still's by itself, and the lack of physical activity [including mostly
being seated] led to a lowered level of expansion of the diaphragmatic
muscle.

and was called pneumonia, but since it wasn't caused by; any of the
'infections, rather was an expresion fo the soft tissue damae, it was
realy pneumonitis - i.e. inflammation, not infection.

the tissue damage became fibrosis which means that i simply don't have
much elasticity in the lower lobes -

simply put the lower lobes just didn't expand normally and thus were
left vulnerable to opportunistic infections

normally steroids would never be used in conjunction with an infection
because they lower the body's immune function - but in the case of lung
tissue inflammation, it has been found that the already present
inflammation 'increases' the tissue swelling and increases the pockets
of infection - so steroids in conjunction with antibiotics are now
sometimes used with lower lobe lung infections. - but for those who do
'not' have auto-immune issues this would not be considered at this
stage.

what you are waiting for is the results of the test - this will tell
what, if any, other pathogens are present, and at the same should
indicate what is going on with the lung tissue itself -
[how's that for avoiding your offer? <bg>]


Cabbi wrote:

"Paul T. Holland" <pholland@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:470E716A.89E00241@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hey cabbi!

i'll bet ya this turns out to be inflamed tissue shadowing - with pneumo
and reduced function not unusual at all!!!


be well

paul

Cabbi wrote:

Here we go again. I finally gave up and went to the doctor. I have
pneumonia. So I have some minor problems with getting all the four 300mg
Cleocin caps down every day for a week. I only miss a few, but the
diligent
Dr. sends me for a CT scan. It comes back with a round, strange shadow in
my
right (not symptomatic) lobe. Now I'm up for a bronchoscope on Friday or
so.
Could be nothing, or cancer. ***! I didn't hesitate, I normally would,
but
I've been so sick for so long that I can't imagine ignoring this test.
I'll let you know what shows up when I know. Don't we all just hate this
part? Personally, I've been through it so long that I'm not too
concerned.
Still........
All my love to each of you,
Cabbi

Dear Paul,
talk to me, brother. I saw the pix of the bronchoscope and the bottom
right lobe was swollen. Does that point to encapsulated pneumonia. If so,
I'm now on Augmentin. Is that sufficient to clear it? How long do you
suppose before a reduction of morning cough and fever (low grade)? I'm not
asking for a solid DX, just a wild guess. I never sue and I'll not chide you
regardless of any alternate reaction. In fact, I won't write about any such
thing. But if you're right, I'm gonna give you an e-handjob in front of the
whole NG.
(Paul, don't feel that last comment was a threat, unless that heightens the
anticipation, of course.)
.