Everyone coughs from time to time. You might pick up a cold, have an allergy, or just get a tickle from
something irritating your throat. But if you’re really hacking and coughing up yellow or
green mucus, and you’ve also got a fever, chills, and shortness of breath, you may have picked up a
more serious infection, called pneumonia. And sometimes pneumonia’s symptoms aren’t so obvious.
Pneumonia is caused by an infection in your lungs.
Bacteria or viruses like these can sometimes get into your lungs through your nose or mouth and make you sick.
You’re more likely to get pneumonia if you’ve got a problem with your immune system
that makes it harder to fight off infections. You’re also at greater risk if you’ve got a lung disease like
COPD or cystic fibrosis, or you’ve recently been exposed to the flu, or exposed to cigarette smoke.
People who live in nursing homes are also more likely to get pneumonia.
With pneumonia, you may cough up greenish or yellow phlegm.
You also may run a fever and have the chills. Pneumonia can make it harder to breathe.
You may feel like you’ve run up a flight of stairs when you were just sitting still.
Your doctor can tell that you have pneumonia and not just a cold by listening with a stethoscope
for crackle sounds in your chest.
You may need a chest x-ray or blood tests to know for sure that you have pneumonia.
If bacteria caused your pneumonia, your doctor can give you antibiotics, drugs that kill bacteria.
Keep taking the antibiotics until you finish the whole prescription so you don’t re-infect yourself.
To help loosen all of that mucus clogging your lungs, breathe in the warm mist from a humidifier
and drink plenty of water. Take it easy too. Don’t try to run back to work and infect everyone else.
Rest until you feel better.
Whatever you do, don’t smoke, it will only make your pneumonia worse.
If your pneumonia is really severe or you have another serious health problem,
your doctor may recommend that you get treated in the hospital.
While there, you’ll get antibiotics and fluids through a vein.
You may also be given oxygen to help you breathe easier.
The best way to deal with pneumonia is to avoid getting it in the first place.
Older adults, children, and people with serious conditions like diabetes, asthma, cancer, and
emphysema should talk to their doctor about getting vaccinated against pneumonia and the illnesses
that cause it. Once you get treated, your pneumonia should clear up within a couple of weeks.
Your doctor may want to check your lungs to make sure they’re clear.
And sometimes pneumonia can lead to serious lung complications.
Call your doctor right away if your breathing problems get worse, or you have chest pain,
or you cough up blood.