What are the symptoms of severe pneumonia?

summary

Pneumonia in the elderly often lacks obvious respiratory symptoms. Most of the symptoms are atypical. The disease progresses rapidly, and it is easy to be misdiagnosed. The first symptoms were shortness of breath and dyspnea, or disturbance of consciousness, drowsiness, dehydration, loss of appetite, etc. So what are the symptoms of severe pneumonia? Let's do some introduction, hope to help you.

What are the symptoms of severe pneumonia?

Symptom 1: chills, high fever: typical cases of sudden onset of chills, followed by high fever, body temperature can be as high as 39 ℃ ~ 40 ℃, a type of persistent fever, often accompanied by headache, muscle soreness, reduced appetite. After the use of antibiotics, the fever type may not be typical, and the elderly and the weak may only have low fever or no fever.

Symptom 2: cough and expectoration: the initial stage is irritative dry cough, and then white mucus sputum or bloody sputum can be coughed up. After 1-2 days, mucus bloody sputum or rust colored sputum can be coughed up, and purulent sputum can also be coughed up. In the dissipation stage, the amount of sputum increases, and the sputum is yellow and thin. A few of them have gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension or diarrhea. Severe infection can appear blurred consciousness, irritability, drowsiness, coma and so on.

Symptom 3: chest pain: more severe side chest pain, often needle like, with cough or deep breathing and aggravation, can radiate to the shoulder or abdomen. If it is lower lobe pneumonia, it can stimulate septal pleura and cause severe abdominal pain, which is easy to be misdiagnosed as acute abdomen. Dyspnea, rapid and shallow breathing are caused by insufficient ventilation, chest pain and toxemia. When the condition is serious, it will affect the gas exchange and cause the decrease of arterial oxygen saturation and cyanosis.

matters needing attention

The people who are prone to pneumonia are mainly those with weak constitution or chronic diseases. For example: the elderly over 60 years old; Children and adults with recurrent respiratory tract infections; People with chronic diseases, such as heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, cancer patients; Long term hospitalized or bedridden disabled patients; Patients with Hodgkin's disease; People with drinking habits, etc. These people often have low immunity, and the body's ability to resist the invasion of external harmful bacteria is weak.