Pneumonia - Get all the information on this dangerous infection
Pneumonia is a dangerous infection to the lungs that is caused by bacteria. Pneumonia is a secondary condition of an illness such an upper respiratory infection or influenza. The onset of pneumonia can also be caused by an allergic or asthmatic trigger such as weather conditions or food allergies.
I have had first hand experience with pneumonia in my own home. When my daughter was just 14 months old, she was diagnosed with upper respiratory infections and was placed on Albuteral treatments for a couple of weeks. A few month later at the age of 19 months, my daughter developed cold symptoms and a nasty cough. Her doctor had warned me that if she started wheezing she should be given Albuteral treatments; however she was not wheezing so I did not begin the treatments right away. Within two days her coughing worsened, but other than that she did not act sick. Within hours she started running a high fever and complained of ear pain. The next day upon taking her to her pediatrician, it was discovered that she had an ear infection and her lungs did not sound well. After being on antibiotics for the ear infection for two days, her fever went down and her condition was much improved. However, the doctor recommended a lung x-ray, which to my surprise, showed pneumonia in her left lung. Eight months later, my daughter developed pneumonia again in almost the same way. This time, however, I thought possibly her illness was triggered by cold air. After finally taking her to a pulmonary specialist, he diagnosed her with asthma. Her bouts with pneumonia were most likely brought on by a virus or possibly weather related trigger that triggered her asthma. It has been a rocky road wondering just what could possibly trigger by daughters symptoms because she has had other episodes of sudden coughing and wheezing that didn’t seem to be related to a virus or weather. Fortunately on those occasions, it did not turn into pneumonia.
As a parent, hearing the word pneumonia was a difficult and scary thing. I was hit with the fact that my child was very sick, although she didn’t appear to be, and it happened so suddenly. My child is now on a daily medication to prevent her asthmatic symptoms, which hopefully will also prevent her from getting pneumonia again. My advice to any parent who may experience the trauma of pneumonia in their family is to learn what possible triggers may be for your child and begin breathing treatments as soon as they begin having symptoms.