Wendywoo's Status Updates

Hi @Wendywoo, thanks for reaching out to us. You are dealing with so much, I can understand why you would be so miserable. I am sending you positive healing vibes, I really hope you can get some relief. Jill, COPD.net, team member

- Oh, heck, this sounds like me last year. I had pneumonia repeatedly, for more than six months continuously. Doc couldn't figure out why, as I am homebound and never went out, and no one sick ever came to visit. I wound up having to be on high dose Prednisone for eleven months, which made me crazy(er!). I was on first name terms with the EMTs and hospital nurses! Well, I think I just learned how that all came about. One of my nurses recommended I have a barium swallow study. Hey, I was willing to try anything to not have a repeat this year. So they did it a few weeks ago. Turns out my entire throat and esophagus are mashed in multiple places due to spinal and neck injuries from my youth - car and motorcycle crashes and other types of injuries. So, my spine did not heal back correctly, and it pushed inward against the back of my entire throat all the way down, plus I now have a hiatal hernia. I knew I could no longer swallow as well as I could in my younger days, but now I have learned that when I swallow a pill (with water), it takes about 60 seconds for it to get to my stomach! The other thing is that due to misalignment, the valve that closes my airway when swallowing does not always close properly. This means that most if not all of those pneumonia cases I had were caused by aspiration. When I would have a coughing fit, I would get a bit of bile coming up my throat, and then a little of it would get in my lungs through that valve. This will cause a lung infection!
So you might talk to the doc about this and see what they think. Apparently aspiration causes many lung infections, especially in us COPDers. Now I take my pills with applesauce to help them go down better, and am more careful when eating. I haven't had an infection this year yet. Which is good, considering I also have GERD, and gallstones. This stuff can put us through the ringer, but there are answers for at least some of it. I am realizing that the more we learn, the better we can keep our health safer. Keep us posted on how you are doing and know that you are in my prayers for a rapid recovery.

Oh, and I don't think feather duvets cause lung infections. If you are worried about it, just put a duvet cover on it. But I think it will cause no harm either way. Unless, of course, you are allergic to feathers. Then that would cause an allergic reaction, but still not a lung infection.

hello Jill many thanks for your thoughts.

Hi again, kloker, and, as always, thanks for chiming in here. We always appreciate you lending your own support and encouragement here for others. As well, sharing your extensive experiences managing COPD and some of the comorbidities that affect you, can go a long way towards helping others who read of your story.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)