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Understanding Pneumonia - Diagnosis & Treatment
How Is Pneumonia Diagnosed?
Pneumonia's forms range from a mild condition treatable at home to a potentially fatal infection requiring hospitalization. You must see your doctor to get appropriate treatment for a successful recovery. Your doctor may take the following steps to diagnose pneumonia:
- Listen to your chest for crackling noises and tap your chest to check for dull thuds indicating fluid-filled lungs
- Request X-rays to confirm that you have pneumonia, showing where air sacs in the lungs are filled with fluid and debris.
- Take blood and mucus samples (occasionally obtained by inserting a tube down the trachea into the lungs, to be tested for bacteria or viruses; however the results are not always conclusive)
What Are the Treatments for Pneumonia?
Early treatment for pneumonia is most effective. See a doctor right away if you think you might have pneumonia. Exactly which drug is used to treat pneumonia depends on the type of germ and on your doctor's treatment strategy. In most cases, treatment must be continued until most symptoms are gone. This is to be sure that all the germs are killed.
Antibiotics can cure bacterial pneumonia and make recovery from mycoplasma pneumonia much quicker.
Antiviral drugs can be used to treat certain types of viral pneumonia, but there is not yet any treatment that works against all causes.
Supportive treatment often helps. This can include medicines that ease chest pain and relieve violent coughing. Sometimes oxygen is needed. In all cases, a proper diet speeds recovery.
Young, healthy people can feel perfectly fine only a week after recovery from pneumonia. A middle-aged person may not regain full strength for several weeks. In all cases, plenty of rest is needed. People generally can return to work as soon as they feel up to it, but they will need to take it easy at first.
How Can I Prevent Pneumonia?
The best way to prevent pneumonia is to get a flu shot, because influenza can lead to pneumonia.
There's also a vaccine against one kind of bacterial pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia. You should get this vaccine in these cases:
- You have a chronic illness such as diabetes, emphysema, or heart disease
- You are recovering from a severe illness
- You live in a nursing home
- You're 65 or older
As with all diseases, a healthy lifestyle -- proper diet, regular exercise, good hygiene, and not smoking -- decrease the chance of illness and speed recovery from infection.
WebMD Medical Reference
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