What Is Walking Pneumonia?
Walking pneumonia is that type of pneumonia that is less severe than the serious type that may require hospitalization. This is often due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, although one is more likely to hear a cough, sore throat or running nose and dismiss it as just the flu season.
While in severe pneumonia people are bed-ridden, with the ‘walking pneumonia’ individuals are able to ‘walk’ through the condition and perform most of their activities. This can affect anyone but is typical of school going children, youths and individuals with compromised immunity.
Check Out:
How to Treat Stomach Bacteria Permanently: Effective Treatment
Causes of Walking Pneumonia
This is caused mostly by a bacterium known as Mycoplasma pneumoniae and isadmittedly a respiratory disease though it is communicated through air viacoughing, sneezing or talking by the affected person. WHO also explained that bacteria can be passed on from touching objects or surfaces that have some deposit from an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
M. pneumoniae is our most common cause, but the symptoms can also be caused by other microorganisms, both bacterial and viral. And though the cause may be somewhat different, early detection certainly helps prevent complications.
Common Walking Pneumonia Symptoms
Walking pneumonia often begins very subtly, masquerading as a cold. The usual signs include:
- Cough: This is usually a dry cough that may last for many Weeks or Months when other conditions are not causing it.
- Chest pain: Chest pain or discomfort is generally quite moderate and worsens with coughing in most cases.
- Fatigue: The exhaustion from having walking pneumonia is not quite the same as that of a run-of-the-mill cold. It is recommended that you may feel tired and exhausted.
- Sore throat and headaches: These symptoms can be associated with the respiratory problems and make the illness feel like a regular cold or flu.
Persistent Cough and Chest Pain
A dry cough that does not go away and is generally mild or seems to improve after a day or two of starting antibiotics is the main characteristic symptom of walking pneumonia. Instead of just a tickle in the throat, it could be a cough that just wouldn’t stop no matter what remedy you try. It may worsen at night or after physical activity.
Accompanying the cough is a minor chest discomfort or tightness, often upon coughing or deep breathing. The tightness varies from slight to uncomfortable and dull.
Patients should note that such chest pain is very different from heart-related chest pains. In walking pneumonia, the location of the ache is generally more central in the chest and brought on by coughing.
Weakness or Fatigue
However, the biggest headache that people with this disease experience is fatigue which results from walking pneumonia. You wake up Listless and even after having 8 hours of sleep or more you still feel sleepy most of the time. While the common cold has its type of fatigue, fatigue coming with walking pneumonia could be for weeks. One might easily get exhausted after a simple task like walking to the kitchen or climbing up stairs.
Fatigue from walking pneumonia is a form of the body’s fighting the infection and might wear off on both the physical and mental level. As a result, you need to sleep and give your body the chance to recover.
Early Warning Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore
Though walking pneumonia’s symptoms may not seem dramatic at first, there are a couple of early warning signs that require your attention. You can have an early start on treatment because of these symptoms.
- Low-grade fever: Although a person with walking pneumonia is unlikely to have a high fever, low-grade fever implies that an infection is present, about 100°F or 38°C.
- Shortness of breath: This symptom was also reported to start slowly; one might experience slight difficulty in breathing after physically exerting his or her self.. Any difficulty breathing at rest should prompt you to see a doctor right away.
Why You Should Seek Medical Advice Early
Despite the fact that walking pneumonia is considered mild in most cases, it may turn into something more severe in case of non-treatment. For instance, failure to seek prompt treatment if affected by walking pneumonia results into advance to full pneumonia which would need a hospital intensive care.
Anyone who has had some of these longLasting symptoms like coughing, chest pains or even easy tiredness should visit a doctors to be tested and given a right treatment if need be. In general, early treatment consist of antibiotics which will help to cure this infection and enable you recover.
Walking Pneumonia – How It Should Be Treated
Symptoms of walking pneumonia will mostly require treatment with antibiotics if the usual suspect, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, is present. In the process of defeating the bacterial infections the doctors may have to use azithromycin or doxycycline.
That is why resting is crucial on the process of the recovery stage. Antibiotics will cure the infection but the body will still need some days to rejuvenate and for the body to recuperate you need to sleep and drink water. At times, normal medications, such as aspirin and ibuprofen for pain and fever can sometimes be beneficial.
