“What does your chest feel like when you have pneumonia?”

Pneumonia is caused by viruses, bacteria, and fungi if you are immunosuppressed. It is important to determine the etiology of your pneumonia. Some people feel better and return to their normal routine in 1 to 2 weeks. Pneumonia can be serious and can cause death. I recommend for you to see your health care provider to do the necessary tests. Early symptoms of pneumonia are like influenza with fever, cough, headaches, muscle pain, and weakness. Within a day or two the symptoms get worse, with shortness of breath, worsening cough, and weakness. There are audible crackles when breathing, and the cough could be dry (nonproductive), or wet (with yellow, green, brown, or blood- tinged mucus. Thank you.

Symptoms of pneumonia include things that make the lungs move in and out. This includes:

-General fatigue or malaise
-Fever
-Shortness of breath
-Chest pain
-Inability to take a deep breath
-Cough
-Cough with sputum or excretions

A helpful home device to have is a pulse oximeter, one that has a clip on the finger with a light that reads oxygenation. A normal oxygen saturation would be 96-100% and a pneumonia can read 92-96% or lower.

It feels heavy and it's hard to breathe, I believe.

RB Thomas,MD

Generally, it is hard to breathe. When some lay down, they feel like they are drowning or it's painful. Also, the pain is generally in the back and it's sharp with inhalation.