Pneumonia

[Smokerman]

Been having very hard time breathing lately especially when trying to sleep.
When I lay down I end up jumping out of bed after a few seconds gasping, trying to catch my breath. Not sure if anyone else has experienced it but it’s terrifying. After a couple of tests my Dr says it’s pneumonia. He gave me some antibiotics. I hope they start working soon. Not being able to lay down is exhausting.
If I fall asleep sitting in a chair it’s the same, jump up trying to breathe.
I honestly think not being able to catch your breath is one of the most terrifying things to experience.

 

[chilliwilli]

That sounds bad. You could try to raise your upper body with pillows. Half way between laying and sitting should work for resting and help with breathing.

 

[FletchF.Fletch]

Sorry to hear bro. Had Pneumonia myself in 2005. Within one day it went from a pain in my back that felt like I had slept wrong to a trip to the Hospital after not being able to breath while laying down that same night. It was like Death himself was perched on my chest slowly getting heavier and heavier. The Antibiotics will have you feeling much better within a day or so. Pain medication or an edible will help you sleep and heal.

chilliwilli is right: use pillows to elevate your torso and you'll rest better. Laying flat makes stuff accumulate at the top of your lungs quicker causing more breathing/coughing issues.

Take care bro, and remember some Chicken Soup too.

 

[CosmicGiggle]

Hope the meds kick in shortly, have they given you supplemental oxygen yet?

 

[BobChronic6505]

Username checks out

 

[GoatCheese]

Been having very hard time breathing lately especially when trying to sleep.
When I lay down I end up jumping out of bed after a few seconds gasping, trying to catch my breath. Not sure if anyone else has experienced it but it’s terrifying. After a couple of tests my Dr says it’s pneumonia. He gave me some antibiotics. I hope they start working soon. Not being able to lay down is exhausting.
If I fall asleep sitting in a chair it’s the same, jump up trying to breathe.
I honestly think not being able to catch your breath is one of the most terrifying things to experience.

I had pneumonia or some type of corona virus in late 2017 and i noticed potent high-cbd cannabis helped my breathing quite abit.
The strain that helped me was CBD Critical Cure from Barney’s Farm which is cbd-version of Critical Kush (Critical mass x OG kush)
..so if you can score some potent cbd cannabis, small hits from a vape/bong could help. I recommend trying small hits, small enough that they wont make you cough too badly. Plus getting really stoned/high could also worsen your anxiety, so go easy if you're gonna try this
My CBD Critical Kush keeper is around 10-15% CBD and 7-10% THC. It's just my estimation, i haven't tested it in a lab.

Here’s a thread i started about it when the covid hit the world in early 2020:
Strong CBD/THC to help with symptoms of Pneumonia (and Coronavirus?)
https://www.icmag.com/forum/talk-abo...nd-coronavirus

Here’s a news report on an Israeli study on the same thing, how cbd cannabis helps covid patients:
Does marijuana help sick recover from coronavirus? - JERUSALEM POST
https://www.icmag.com/forum/talk-abo...jerusalem-post
https://www.jpost.com/health-science...navirus-660685


Hope you start feeling better soon.

 

[Smokerman]

Hope the meds kick in shortly, have they given you supplemental oxygen yet?

I’ve been using oxygen since early last summer, the respirologist I see put me on it because of my COPD.

 

[airplane]

I’ve been using oxygen since early last summer, the respirologist I see put me on it because of my COPD.

like myself starting to conside edibles and drinks -- due to the fact that the lungs are telling me to stop smoking !! Dam it So that's the next thing - have some good recepies for cannabutter and also gummies - also hear the thc infused drinks are not so good they might need a few more years to improve them also you don't hear to much aout them (drinks)

 

[St. Phatty]

When I was younger, I ate edibles every day, before going to work.

Now I love the effect, BUT there's sort of a hang-over.

Maybe I should try Cannabis Edible Aided Housecleaning.

I'm actually thinking about buying some Sudafed and trying 5 or 10 mg, to help with the house-cleaning.

 

[HempKat]

If it persists after you finish taking the antibiotics you might want to consider talking to your doctor about getting a sleep study done, you may have sleep apnea. You may also have what is known as Pulmonary Hypertension but the only conclusive test for that involves having an angiogram done which is usually only for patients with heart disease but it turns out that while doing an angiogram there is another test they can run that is the only known test currently for conclusively diagnosing Pulmonary Hypertension. Here's why I say to get the sleep study done. The most common treatment for Pulmonary Hypertension is to get the patient on a CPap or a BiPap which is also what they put people on who have sleep apnea.

I say this by the way because I have recently been diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension and when I lay down to go to sleep I sometimes get this pain in my chest. No in my case I have a history of heart disease so when it first started happening I naturally went to my cardiologist about it because the pain felt like the pain you get in your chest when you're fixing to have a heart attack (aka angina) and naturally my cardiologist order an angiogram. After the angiogram he told me my heart was fine but they ran that other test while in there and found I have Pulmonary Hypertension which he also confirmed can cause chest pains when a person with it lays down to go to sleep.

Mind you though, I'm not a doctor which is why I'm saying talk to your doctor about it only if the antibiotics don't resolve the problem.

 

[Smokerman]

I have heart disease as well, heart attack 20 years ago resulted in a double bypass. In 2018 the cardiologist decided I need an ICD as well. In 2017 they diagnosed pulmonary hypertension. We haven’t discussed a sleep study. I’ve been told that I stop breathing when I sleep.

 

[trichrider]

this does sound like sleep apnea.

 

[HempKat]

I have heart disease as well, heart attack 20 years ago resulted in a double bypass. In 2018 the cardiologist decided I need an ICD as well. In 2017 they diagnosed pulmonary hypertension. We haven’t discussed a sleep study. I’ve been told that I stop breathing when I sleep.

All a sleep study does is confirm if you have sleep apnea which of course is the tendency to stop breathing while you sleep. If that's already established and you've already been diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension I'm surprised they haven't ordered a sleep study. The use of a CPap or a BiPap along with oxygen can greatly reduce the effects of Pulmonary Hypertension. I would suggest you might want to ask your cardiologist about it, maybe there are other reasons why he hasn't suggested it? Although I can't think of any, to my knowledge anyone with a history of heart disease and who suffers from sleep apnea should be encouraged to try using a CPap or a BiPap when they sleep.

 

[moose eater]

Been having very hard time breathing lately especially when trying to sleep.
When I lay down I end up jumping out of bed after a few seconds gasping, trying to catch my breath. Not sure if anyone else has experienced it but it’s terrifying. After a couple of tests my Dr says it’s pneumonia. He gave me some antibiotics. I hope they start working soon. Not being able to lay down is exhausting.
If I fall asleep sitting in a chair it’s the same, jump up trying to breathe.
I honestly think not being able to catch your breath is one of the most terrifying things to experience.

Last early winter/later Fall, 2020 after I was diagnosed with my cancer, anxiety was high re. family members no longer in our home, & I had no knowledge of the advances the cancer had made, and was still assuming it was contained properly in the prostate, I was having some experiences that sound a little similar to yours.. And yes, I believe that anxiety can contribute to the worsening of the problematic breathing expeience during those moments..

My sinuses were inflamed, and my heart rate was less predictable and more easily elevated than normal.. .like, by a bunch sometimes.

It was during that time that I had panic attacks relative to breathing, similar to what you've described. I'd jump abruptly out of bed, feeling like I was going to suffocate. Nearly went to some extreme lengths in reaction to those moments a time or 2.

Many folks recommended to me (as they have here for you) sleeping in a semi-upright position, though in your case that doesn't seem to be helping you as much as it does some. (That helped me some).

I tried (for a time) the sinus strips that look like a weird butterfly bandage, are madeof a semi-flexible/semi-rigid plastic like material, which adhere to either side of the nose/sinuses, straddling the nose itself. That helped a bit, and I even wore them in the daytime for a bit, especially when I was wearing a mask and having some semblance of the previously mentioned panic/anxiety attacks.

I brought a cool air, sonic mist, vaporizer into the bedroom (winter humidity in the house, without a mature crop in the shop, tends to run about 16% to 21%,; too low) and even bought the sinus washes (* the sinus washes definitely leave a salt-like residue of various additives, and I wondered about that; they would initially help a bit, but when the inflammation and closed sinuses returned, that salt-like residue was NOT helpful.. not at all. It was good for an emergency, but I quickly tried to get to a place of healthfulness that I could cease using them.

I also (at that approximate time) ceased smoking joints, and bought a better portable (cannabis) vaporizer. I tink that helped some as well.

Now when my sinuses are uncomfortably dry and inflamed, I sometimes get up, walk around, go outside for a few minutes, etc., and the changes in temps, humidity, and the physical movement, often allows my sinuses to rehydrate better.

The breathing hasn't been as bad since then. not even close. but I don't envy your predicament. As you stated earlier, I think, feeling like you're goong to suffocate is incredibly unnerving, if not terrifying.

Good luck.

 

[HempKat]

I have heart disease as well, heart attack 20 years ago resulted in a double bypass. In 2018 the cardiologist decided I need an ICD as well. In 2017 they diagnosed pulmonary hypertension. We haven’t discussed a sleep study. I’ve been told that I stop breathing when I sleep.

Your situation is very similar to mine except I had my heart attack and subsequent double bypass about 30 years ago and in 2018 I had a stent placed in one of the arteries on the surface of my heart as opposed to and ICD. The pulmonary Hypertension was diagnosed in late 2020. In rethinking about how everything played out I realized I had left a detail out. Once I was diagnosed with the pulmonary hypertension my cardiologist referred me to a Pulmonary Specialist for Pulmonary Hypertension. He was the one that ordered the sleep study. So if you haven't been referred to a Pulmonary Doctor then that could explain why a sleep study hasn't been ordered. Your cardiologist might not know that to be a logical next step for Pulmonary Hypertension? If you've not yet seen a pulmonary doctor it would probably be a good idea to see one. There are different types or classes of Pulmonary Hypertension and not all of them are treated by a CPap or BiPap. Some forms are treated with medication and other really serious forms are sometimes treated surgically. So really it should be a Pulmonary doctor directing you treatment for Pulmonary Hypertension.