Dear Friend,

I am recovering from 5 weeks of walking pneumonia and yet again life has humbled me and taught me few things I’d like to share with our readers.

I know this topic isn’t a cool longevity trend, but seeing that we’re heading into winter I hope the following can be of help.

First, a quick 101 on Viruses vs Bacteria and URI vs Pneumonia.

Virus vs Bacteria

Typical Virus Traits:

• Easy to spread from person to person

• Incubation time before symptoms (several days)

• Antibiotics do NOT work

• Fever and symptoms are the body’s way to kill the virus and recover

• Treatments are to combat the symptoms, but this may decrease your body’s natural ability to fight the virus

• Symptoms gradually get better

Typical Bacteria Traits:

• More difficult to spread from person to person

• Usually viral symptoms preceding it

• Symptoms continue to worsen

• Antibiotics are first line treatments and symptoms will not improve without them

URI vs Pneumonia

URI: Infection in the upper respiratory tract (nose, sinus, throat, larynx). Can be viral or bacterial.

Pneumonia: Infection in the lungs. Lungs are within the lower respiratory tract which includes (trachea, bronchi, bronchiole). Can be viral or bacterial.

The key in differentiating the above, is whether we are dealing with a virus or bacteria and whether it’s a URI or Pneumonia to determine the following:

• Yes or No on antibiotics

• Pneumonia more severe than URI

What did Mike learn as a seasoned ER doc?

The family was congested for a few days in October, no big deal. I continued to have a nagging cough with productive sputum for 3 weeks, couldn’t take a full breath or would go into coughing fits. Low energy and low motivation to socialize or workout (Skipped a Halloween Party for the first time in my life). I muscled through without any medications (no fever control or cough suppressants) because those medications can weaken my ability to kill the virus.

I figured my symptoms were prolonged because I picked up a secondary virus on top of the first (exposed to viruses all the time at work). But after significantly getting worse overnight after 3 weeks of a slow progression, I got checked out with a chest XR and a viral swab.

Results:

• Chest XR: Left lower lobe infiltrate (white patch on XR) - XR finding required for bacterial pneumonia diagnosis. XR would not show a pneumonia for 1-2 weeks of symptoms (takes time to develop).

• Viral Study: Chlamydia pneumoniae (Eye catching name, but NOT a sexual infection, rather a common respiratory pathogen that typically results in mild symptoms)

Lessons Learned:

• Walking pneumonia is no joke, it took me day 9 out of 10 on two strong antibiotics and steroids to start feeling better. I am still not 100% 5 weeks into it.

• I’ve treated walking pneumonia hundreds of times in the ER and did not appreciate the challenge it puts on the body (ER docs don’t get to follow up on patients)

• Without antibiotics I would not have cleared this infection on my own

• Unknown why I could not clear this at the URI stage like my family and others. This is the mystery of health, population studies cannot predict for the individual outcome.

• I’m both humbled and disappointed in my body, but grateful for the learning experience.

At BodyTimeMD, we focus on advanced care and prevention, but equally important is the day to day care to thoughtfully overcome the typical illnesses that come our way. Hope this provides some insight, let’s talk if you are interested in finding out more about your body.

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Thanks,

Mike