POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: tommy246 on August 25, 2009, 06:24:54 am
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I have been here for 18 days ,told me i can go tommorow. I have had pnuemonia ,iwas feeling ill at home in bed for 4 days and eventually felt that rough i went to the emergency ward and they took me straight in. First they told me my cd4 count had crashed from 545 and % 17 in june to 190 cd4and to 9% and they started treating me for both pcp and normal bacterial pneumonia. After 2 days of treatment they took some samples from my lungs to confirm there main thoughts that it was pcp ,the lab results took nearly a week to come back and came back negative so now i am being treated for normal bacterial pnuemonia only.
Also my cd4 count bounced back after a week in hospital to over 400 and my %to 20,even though my viral load went up from 80,000 in june to 200,000(due to illness i guess ).
Originally they were going to start me on meds but due to the final outcome my hiv specialist says for her it wasnt pcp (could it be killed off with two days treatment to not show under a microscope ? ) but normal bacterial pnemonia and that the meds can wait for now to see my next blood draw in six weeks,as for her my immune system is in decent condition proved by the way it bounced back,i suppose it crashed whilst i was home fighting the illness with no antibiotics for a week. I did have bronchitus(had a good few times during my life ) in june and work in an open plan kitchen restaurant with aircon on my back and a hot griddle to my front so thats ideal surroundings to get a pnuemonia. an
I now feel fantastic healthier than i have in a long time ,its been an experience my first illness since being diagnosed with hiv in dec 08. But after this i have zero fear of starting meds as at one stage it looked like i would be starting in hospital i just accepted it and moved on.
Anyone thats it my lungs sound 100 % clear and getting my final xray today to confirm that and i can go home ,just need to come back for a cat scan next week,just thought i would share my story.
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Hi Tommy
Sorry to hear you have been through a bad time, but it's good to hear things are back to normal and you can go home tomorrow..just take care of yourself from now on and stay healthy.
Hugs
Jan
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I forgot to add ive had time to have a couple of good chats with my hiv specialist since ive been here in hospital and she has told me that the success they are having with atripla is fantastic,over 99 % of adherent patients are non detectable and that it has very few side effects and of course is easy to take as its once aday one pill.
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Tommy, I'm glad you're doing better. Being in the hospital sucks, I know. I hope everything goes well for you.
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Hi Tommy,
Wow, 18 days sucks (I was in for 8 days for PCP back in '06). It's odd that it took so long to get results back, though; mine came back the next day I think. I also had zero fear of meds I think, in part, due to having been sick. I did start meds while in the hospital. It took me a while to get undetectable with Atripla, but I finally got there. I've not missed a dose and have minimal side effects. Good luck with it when you start. Take care.
David
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Wow, 18 days is a long time. Glad that you have bounced back and are doing better.
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Hi Tommy, I'm glad that it was "normal" pneumonia and not PCP and that you are on the mend. That sounds like quite an experience and will be thinking of you.
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WooHoo!
Sorry to hear about how sick you were and really glad to hear you're getting OUT! I ended up in a hospital on my 34th bday (and for 4 more days) with PCP. Two years leater I was back in on my 36th bday (and 3 more days) with just "regular" pnuemonia. Both times were scary and life-changing (thank goodness! because both times were nearly "life-ending"!). Hospitals may be great places to get treated for that kind of stuff; but it sure sucks being there! Take care and take it easy after you're released. It'll probably take a while to "recover" from being in the hospital that long.
I'll keep you in my thoughts for a fast recovery!
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Hi Tommy,
Sorry to hear you've had such a rough siege, but good to know that you've come through and are feeling much better.
Be good to sleep in your own bed again and get back to your life. Sounds like you also learned a lot from this experience.
Best to you and keep us posted.
Cheers.
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Hello Tommy,
Glad to hear that things are getting better for you. I had Bacterial pneumonia in 2003. I was hospitalized for 1 day.(September 26th,03) I should have probably stayed a few more. That first weekend back home, I couldn't do much at all. It took every effort, just to move. I still wasn't on HIV meds at that point. Didn't start the HIV medication until October 24th,03. Was on all that other good stuff, Bactrim, Prednisone, then dapsone, Zithromax. ugh,...
Don't fear the meds. Things will improve for you. I've never had pneumonia again since that time.
Hang in there----Ray
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So glad to hear you've gotten better.
Take care of yourself.... :-*
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Keep feeling better and bouncing back. -YaKa
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I was just wondering, all you guyz sharing info about having pneuminias - have you been ever vaccinated for that (and still got sick) or were you not??
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I was just wondering, all you guyz sharing info about having pneuminias - have you been ever vaccinated for that (and still got sick) or were you not??
The vaccines don't help with PCP, unfortunately.
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Feel better! Are you doing your lung exercises with that lung-thingy? God, I hated that contraption.
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You Cant you get vacinated for bacterial pnuemonia can you ?
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Hi,
I had the Pneumonia shot. But I think that was after I aleady got it. Abooster is given 5 years after the first one.
These are the recommended immunizations for those that are HIV positive :
http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/contentfiles/Recommended_Immunizations_FS_en.pdf
Ray
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the pnuemonia jab you had is that to stop you getting the bog standard bacterial pnuemonia or another type.
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Hi Tommy
Hope you have made it out of the hospital by now -- that's a long time to be in.
The pnuemonia shot is called Pneumovax in the US -- it works against the bacterial pneumonia (Streptoccus pneumoniae). Here's the package information from the manufacturer http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/p/pneumovax_23/pneumovax_pi.pdf (http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/p/pneumovax_23/pneumovax_pi.pdf)
Best wishes
A
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Thanks for the kind messages back home now just a bit tired a weeks more anti biotics to go. . I still cant believe how my numbers bounced around end of june cd4 545 17% healthy,to after 5 days ill in bed and getting taken into hospital cd4 190 ,16 % 8th august, to 1 week later still in hospital to cd4 412 and 21 % 15th august. My next blood draw should be intresting on the 8th of october.Still no meds.
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well maybe if u had been taking hiv meds u wuldnt have gotten sick in the 1st place. it's funny how people that become hiv poz ....some of them still think they are invincible. get on some meds already!
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Its not funny and i dont think im invincible i am a patient under the control of an experienced team of hiv specialists in a large city hospital they will tell me when to start meds its not my decision. Anybody can get pnuemonia , i have had alot of bronchitus in my life also live and work in spain in an open kitchen hot griddle to the front of me aircon to the back aircon in the car and at home ,in and out of hot and cold all the time ,i wont be going back to the kitchen thats for sure all the fumes from the griddle wont be doing me any favours. So in future think before you write such comments.
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well maybe if u had been taking hiv meds u wuldnt have gotten sick in the 1st place. it's funny how people that become hiv poz ....some of them still think they are invincible. get on some meds already!
Dude like really..... If you read his initial post in this thread you can see that his Cd4's were 500+. In the states and especially in South Florida from my experience, you are not advised to go on meds till your Cd4's drop to around 300 and show a steady trend of doing so. Tommy did not find out his numbers had crashed until he had gotten his pneumonia diagnosis.
If you will take the time to understand the realities of what happend to him I think you would find it difficult to make the above statement. Patronizing comments like yours can really bring a person down when all they see are the four walls of a hospital room.