I got those Recovering-from-a-pulmonary-exacerbation Blues.

[occupyjapan]

A few weeks ago, I noticed the telltale signs of needing to go on additional antibiotics - brown/yellow/green (it's a color, I swear) mucous, rattles, shortness of breath. Luckily, I caught it just as it became noticeable. Doctor put me on 500mg Levaquin and 300mg Rifampicin for 14 days, then extended it another 7 days. Tonight is my last dose.

I am feeling pretty good. I have my own spirometer and, when the sickness was in full swing, could *barely* do 3L/3000ml. It was a huge chore to get it that high. Now? I'm comfortably at 5L/5000ml if not more (my spirometer tops out at 5000 and I'm able to inhale a good bit more than that most times but I am too lazy to do the math to calculate further capacity). Room oxygen is 98/99 (though this was the case even when I was sick). Doing 40-60 minutes (broken up into a 2-3 sessions) on a treadmill at a reasonably brisk pace (2.5-3mph) with no shortness of breath and oxygen never falling below 98. The stuff I'm coughing up -which is barely anything - is totally clear/white/some verrrrry light yellow when I first wake up in the morning (and it's had a chance to settle in there during the night).

I still feel kinda "bleh" though, but am feeling much much much better than I was. Appetite isn't quite back, but it's much improved (might just be stomach shrinkage from not eating much for ~3 weeks). Still feel a little run down, but am chalking this up to recovering from pneumonia - ironically enough, my doctor also came down with pneumonia a bit before I did and is apparently just now getting back to work after 2 months.

How long does it take you guys to get back to feeling 100% after getting sick, generally? Anything I can do to speed the process along? The infection seems to be totally taken care of.

 

[keefer11]

It could be just side effects of the antibiotics that are making your feel "bleh" and could be the reason why your appetite isn't totally back to normal. I'd give it a week after being done with the antibiotics to feel 100%, but everyone is different. But I'm sure the pneumonia is playing a factor. Just make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, drink a lot of fluids, etc. Getting enough sleep is what speeds up my recovery the fastest! And of course exercise which you are doing, but always doing more exercise helps if you have the time. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[Melissa75]

How long does it take you guys to get back to feeling 100% after getting sick, generally? Anything I can do to speed the process along? The infection seems to be totally taken care of.

I'm not yet back to baseline from a flu/bacterial exacerbation combo I got this past Christmas, so that is three months for ya. My PFTs and weight are back up. They have been since maybe 2-3 weeks after finishing antibiotics, but my chest is still more junky and aches when I wake up.

And my cardio-workout ability has been down since a string of off-and-on exacerbations starting maybe nine months ago. My workout routine is the same--I am grateful for that, don't get me wrong--but I have to stop and catch my breath more than I used to when doing the same activities.

I'm guessing I need to increase my zumba so that I'm not having to rest midair when I rock climb. I probably need to up my sinus clearance because I have ongoing bloody gunk and head pressure, and that may be why my chest is wrecked in the morning even though my PFTs are good. And I probably should see my primary care dr for routine bloodwork since it has been over a year. I doubt any of this is helpful to you, but it has cleared my thoughts on the subject. lol.

 

[occupyjapan]

Update: Drinking more than a gallon of water per day and taking Mucinex in addition to albuteral every 4ish hours and hypersal. Jeez, talk about thinning out the mucous. It's like I'm coughing up slightly thicker water at this point instead of the usual jelly!

Feeling much better in general even since I posted this thread. Must've been post-abx stuff as keefer mentioned. Joints are less achy (thanks a lot, Levaquin >:C), much more appetite (eating much more that I was even in addition to drinking all the water!), feel less draggy and tired (was taking a mid-day nap while on the antibiotics and even a day or two post-). Just everything's better in general. Vital capacity is up to ~5.5L (~107% of predicted) and my breaths feel nice and clear and smooth. Can't measure FEV1 (note to self: buy a spirometer that can do FEV1 with next paycheck), but I'm guessing it's somewhere in the 80's, since it tends to correspond to my FVC along those lines.

I've found that a thing that really helps is to wear my vest and do albuteral/hypersal while walking at a reasonably brisk pace (3ish mph). I just walk and vest until the lung treatments are done, which takes about 20 minutes. Knocks loose a lot of old stuff!