Is that cough walking pneumonia?

It started with a cough. A dry, tickling cough. I thought it was an allergy. I felt fine other than this nagging cough. After a week or so the cough became a bit what they call “productive.” The phlegm rattled around in my chest, and I continued to cough.

No fever. No chills. No cold symptoms. I carried on with all the activities I normally do. Then after a couple of weeks, it turned ugly. I developed a low-grade temperature that hovered around 100 to 101 degrees in the morning but went away during the day. In the late afternoon, I got chills. I couldn’t get warm. I also couldn’t stay awake for more than an hour or two. I had no energy and no appetite.

After suffering for a few more days, I did what any intelligent person would do. I looked up my symptoms online. I concluded that it was a virus and that I would be feeling better any minute. Well, that didn’t happen, so I listened to my own weekly advice and called my primary care provider. A chest X-ray revealed pneumonia. 

An article I found on YaleMedicine.org says that walking pneumonia is a nonmedical term for a mild form of pneumonia. “While a more typical case of pneumonia might send you to bed — or even the hospital — with walking pneumonia, you can usually go about your everyday activities, even though you likely have symptoms, including cough, fatigue, and sometimes, fever.”

Thomas Murray, MD, PhD, a Yale Medicine pediatric infectious diseases specialist, said, “Walking pneumonia isn’t severe enough that it incapacitates you, but it lingers and can make you feel uncomfortable,” He described the typical patient as one with a cough and some mild breathing difficulties that last longer than the standard three to five days of an acute respiratory infection, such as the common cold.

Uncomfortable was an understatement. My PCP prescribed antibiotics, an inhaler, and cough suppressant gel tablets. And still, I coughed.

Yale Medicine explains that pneumonia is caused by various microorganisms, typically bacteria and viruses. The infection starts after one has breathed in one of these microorganisms into one or both lungs. That’s when the infection causes the air sacs (alveoli) to fill with pus or fluid.

Broadly speaking, pneumonia falls into two categories: community-acquired and hospital-acquired, the latter of which is considered more dangerous, as this type is more likely to be resistant to antibiotics,” the Yale article says.

“Walking pneumonia is a common subtype of community-acquired pneumonia and is typically caused by a difficult-to-detect bacterium called Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Infections caused by these bacteria are generally mild but can sometimes be severe.”

Dr. Murray said that diagnosing walking pneumonia can be difficult. He said that “there are blood tests that don’t work very well.” That’s probably why I wasn’t given one.

“One way to tell the difference between a more typical case of pneumonia and walking pneumonia is by a physical exam and possibly an X-ray,” he said. “A more typical pneumonia would be called ‘lobar pneumonia,’ meaning you can see that one part of the lung is infected on the X-ray. Walking pneumonia will look patchy on the X-ray. There isn’t just one part of the lung involved; it’s more spread throughout.”

Yale’s article says that even though most cases of walking pneumonia aren’t dangerous, it’s important to watch your symptoms especially if you seem to be recovering from another illness and your symptoms become worse.

“Say you have the flu, and you start to feel better, but then you begin to feel sick again – it’s more difficult to breathe, and the fever comes back. Although it’s not that common, it could be a community-acquired pneumonia setting in that requires an antibiotic,” Dr. Murray says, “that would be a great reason to reach out to your primary care doctor.”

My PCP didn’t call what I had “walking pneumonia,” but since it’s not a real medical term, I’m saying that’s what I had based on my symptoms and how long it took me to recover. You know that’s the problem with intelligent people going online to diagnose what’s wrong with them. Honestly, I really don’t recommend it. Bonner General Health Family Practice Clinic’s phone number is 208-265-2221.

Kathy Hubbard is a member of the Bonner General Health Foundation Advisory Council. She can be reached at kathyleehubbard@yahoo.com.