BODY SIGNAL ALERT COUGH, PRODUCTIVE AND ACUTE: TREATMENT

posted by admin in General health

After a physical exam, blood test, and chest X ray, if your doctor determines that you have pneumonia, he will prescribe antibiotic treatment. Most midlife adults up to the age of about 65 are treated on an outpatient basis with an antibiotic such as penicillin, Cipro, Bactrim, or Keflex. The antibiotic your doctor chooses will depend on your age, as well as the usual antibiotics that are used in your area, depending on the particular organism that is suspected to have caused your infection.

Your doctor will also recommend that you take an expectorant, such as Robitussin or another over-the-counter product, three or four times a day. If the cough is especially bad, a cough suppressant with codeine can be taken. Two Tylenols every four hours will help reduce the fever, and drinking at least eight glasses of water a day will break up the secretions.

When your physician prescribes antibiotics, be sure to finish the medication. A severe case of pneumonia can take as long as a month to clear up completely. Although you may start to feel better, using antibiotics for only a couple of days will fail to knock the pneumonia out of your system.

If you smoke or drink alcohol, you will have a different course of treatment. A heavy smoker who has a case of pneumonia that recurs or never completely disappears might require a bronchoscopy, a procedure in which a lung specialist looks into your lungs to check for a possible obstruction. He may also decide to use a CAT scan of the chest as well as chest X rays to help find the cause.

If your doctor suspects you have tuberculosis, he will order a tuberculosis skin test to make a positive diagnosis. If you do have TB, you will probably need to be hospitalized and isolated and treated with antibiotics against tuberculosis for at least six to nine months.

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