anyone ever have mycoplasma pneumoniae, a.k.a. walking pneumonia? how long did it take you to kick it after you started taking antibiotics? or, if you remember, how many doses – i am 9 doses into a partially every-other-day plan of zithromax. my burning question is when can i get back to training again? it feels like it’s been forever!
I had a really bad bought of Pneumonia 5 years ago. It REALLY hammered me. I was in bed for 2 weeks. I was off work for 3 and it wiped me right out. I learned why, Pneumonia can be very dangerous for the very young, old and weak - sometimes being fatal. I was very physically fit at the time, and this thing was knocking me right out. I have never been sicker.
You must treat this with rest and respect. If it has gone deep into your lungs like mine did, it will leave permanant damge to your lung tissue. Since this episode, my lungs have never been the same - I am much more susceptible to chest infections, am phlegmy a lot of the time, and have had periodic boughts of asthma like attacks.
The anitbiotics will take care of the infection, but the scaring of the lung tissue and weakness will remain for a long time. It took me months to get back to where I was with my fitness.
Be careful.
Fleck
"It took me months to get back to where I was with my fitness. "
that is what I’m scared of! but, it sounds like you were worse off that I am, I don’t have full-blown pneumonia. still, good to get a few different perpsectives… when you came back, i assume you slowly built back to normal volume? or did you wait until you were 110% healthy and then jump in at normal pace?
I was advised strongly to do nothing physical until I was completely recover. My first goal was just to get back to work - I was off for three weeks!
It took a long time to get back to what was normal fitness for me - I would say months. Running a mile was a huge effort when I started back. A combination of doing nothing for more than a month and then of course the damage to my lungs.
Don’t mean to be scary, but this is something you need to treat seriously.
Fleck
Complete healing of mycoplasma pneumonia is the rule. You will need at least 2 weeks of antibiotics to kill the infection, and your chest x ray may take 6-8 weeks to clear.
Make your comeback cautiously, and pay attention to how you are feeling. Even an atypical pneumonia like mycoplasma is a significant setback training-wise. Honor the time it takes to get back to form.
my chest xray was normal two weeks ago. so, that’s a tiny piece of good news! i am eagerly waiting for those antibiotics to have their way with the infection.
when you say that this is a “significant setback,” in some ways it makes me cringe, in other ways i feel validated – at least this isn’t all in my head, i’m not just being a weanie, etc. illness sucks, but it is also interesting – definitely a learning/reflection opportunity.
no idea… just wanted to say, feel better soon!
I had pneumonia in November - well, I had it for several weeks before then, but it took me out of action for several weeks starting in November. I got back on the bike in January, and looking at my cycling peaks data, I can say that my fitness is finally getting back to where it was before the illness, though my lungs will probably never be the same. I’m on Advair now, twice a day.
thanks, much appreciated! you too, with your calf issues (i read your other thread thoroughly b/c my running buddy has been having mysterious calf problems too! i will post if he comes up with good solutions.)
definitely want to take this seriously and not rush back into hard training. The problem with mycoplasma is you feel sort of OK, but it can lead to all kinds of complications, full-blown pneumonia, lung collapse, etc. If the x-rays are clear a couple of weeks after the antibiotics are finished, it’s probably OK to get back to light training, a couple more weeks to really get back into it.
I had pneumonia as a complication of flu with asthma, antibiotics finished 5 weeks ago, and I’m still dragging…
yep, that is exactly the problem, you feel sort of OK, and it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking you can do normal things. i keep having to lower my expectations – eg on sunday, acknolwedged that i would not be able to exercise, but felt decent so i did meet my friend in the park, do some errands and house-cleaning. next morning, felt worse again, left work at 3pm.
if you are still dragging, maybe you need more rest too? are you training?
My recent experience with Pneumonia was quite different than when I was little.
I had it in February. After a week of coughing I saw a doctor. She prescribed Leviquin 750mg doses, 1 pill a day for 5 days. I saw her on a thursday, she took X-Rays, told me I could start running easy as soon as I felt strong enough as long as it was indoors and not too long. (I told her I was a triathlete and she understood)
I started running and swimming the following monday. By thursday my lungs were totally clear but it still took another few days for the coughing to stop. Another week and I was getting back to normal training.
jaretj
I had walking pneumonia in high school. Lost 10lbs, down to 105lbs. Took a month to be able to walk around, another month to regain normalcy. That sucked.
Take it easy.
if you are still dragging, maybe you need more rest too? are you training?
if only… still on the ‘40min lunchtime walk’ phase, going to bed exhausted at 9pm every night. So much for base training this year… bah.
I’ve driven myself into serious illness more than once, by not resting when appropriate, but it doesn’t get any easier to rest… it takes real strength of will to not train. Good luck with it…