HI Lisa,
I can empathize with you as I have had pneumonia once this winter and I have Bronchitis again. I know in my area it has been a terrible winter for both. I took antibiotics and it did nothing for either as they were both viral. It is very rare to have a bacterial pneumonia. I ran a high fever with both pneumonia and Bronchitis and I am still coughing four months later.I have a couple of comments with regards to the pain medications. Many pain meds decrease respiratory function. Morphine is known as one of the worst.It supresses the portion in your brain which tells your body to breath deeply.When patients are in hospital and are in the dying process from cancers ,they are often given Morphine for pain . The lungs fill with fluid due to the inability to take a deep breath and cough. I know this being a nurse and also saw it first hand when my dad was admitted a week before he died from Pancreatic cancer. I was very aware when I asked to increase his Morphine ,what the outcome would be.My dad died 48 hours after the morphine was started and it was truly a blessing. However back to you Lisa, we want you too be able to move the fluid, sputum, phelm, green guck out of your lungs.Take the Tylenol around the clock and your regular meds and get these lungs clear and then think about the future with Embrel. I too am getting to the point of trying a DMARD, but I will have to wait until the flu and cold season is over before I even consider it. I also agree about the Prednisone. I am very surprised that any good doctor would order a steroid to be given in such a sloppy way/I have never heard of prednisone prescribed in this manner.I know you feel miserable right now, but I would really consider the Tylenol every 4- 6 hours and see if by taking it around the clock you can get some control of the chest pain.I also am taking a cough syrup at night to stop the coughing.I can't take a decongestant due to the Iritis and deongestants can cause IOP , so I stick to Buckley's>.Remember to drink lots of fluids especially warm drinks to help break up the thick sputum in your bronchi. I think you said your Chest X-ray was clear, so at least at this point you don't have a pneumonia.Try to keep being up and not laying down a lot so your lungs can expand as much as possible.
Best Of Luck, we will all keep are fingers crossed for the spring!
Sincerely,
Janet
