Stress and Health Online Blog
Pneumonia Is Stressful
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you have probably recognized that my posts often focus on how stress can affect a person’s health. So far, I have had fewer personal posts on how health problems can be stressful. For the most part, I have been lucky enough to have pretty good health. From time to time, I have had health issues, but nothing too terrible. More recently, I had the experience of having pneumonia and learned first hand how stressful it is to cope with being ill.
It all started the week that I submitted my last grant of the fall, in mid November. I came down with a cold that seemed more like the flu. I am a big believer in preventive health and had already had a flu shot in September, so I could not quite understand what was happening. For about a week, I kept hoping that it would get better, but then I woke up in the middle of the night with difficulty breathing. So at that point, I knew that it was a good idea to see my doctor, who diagnosed me with pneumonia. It was a mild case, so I recovered at home.
I had no idea what to expect. What I found was that my pneumonia symptoms got worse before they got better. I had a lot more breathing problems before they finally started to subside. It was especially tough to breathe at night, making it difficult to sleep. The other thing that it noticed was that it was tough to think. In the past, I have worked at home when I have been sick, but there was not much that I could do for several days. I also found that I was really fatigued for three or four weeks, right through the holidays.
All in all, the experience of having a health problem like pneumonia caused me some stress. It is hard for any working mother to be sick, but it is really hard for a working mother to be sick for more than a few weeks. There are so many people who depend on me for so many things. When I returned to work, I was still pretty week and fatigued, which caused me even more stress because I could not accomplish as much as I wanted. Also, the start of the holiday season was tough. I did not have the energy for holiday events or gift shopping.
Now that it is January and I have fully recovered, I realize that I am lucky. I have a job that is flexible. I have paid sick days. I have support in caring for my family. I have access to medical care and medicines to treat my sickness. So, while it was stressful, I was able to heal and go back to my regular routine. I know that there are others who do not have these advantages.
Have you ever had pneumonia or another sickness that lasted several weeks? How did you cope?
4 Responses to Stress and My Health: My Pneumonia Experience
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Wow Kristen, that sounds awful and I am so glad that you have fully recovered. It sounds like your doctor wasn’t the best at preparing you for what was ahead. I have had illness that lasted more than a few weeks, even a few months, and am finally on the mend and see the light at the end of the tunnel (long story – will probably blog about it soon. Coping is something I am still learning, but do know that re-prioritizing and spending more time taking care of me has been a big part of the recovery and will continue to be. I think working mothers tend to put themselves last, but we can’t do that forever. Again, I’m so glad you are better and thank you for sharing your story. It sounds quite scary. I’ve heard this has been a tough year for pneumonia. ~ Suerae
Suerae Stein RECENTLY POSTED..Wishing you all…
Hi Suerae, I am so glad that you stopped by. I am glad that you are on the mend. My pneumonia experience taught me that I needed to cut back on a lot of things, even blogging, for a bit. Especially since it all happened during the holidays. I realized that I couldn’t really do it all. On the other hand, I was lucky that I had some time off work for the holidays to recover. I was able to rest, recharge, and work on all of the errands and tasks that I had ignored for a month! Hope that your full recovery comes quickly and that we can see you great photos and posts soon. We miss you!!
HI Kristen, I have not had pneumonia thankfully… but I did fight a nasty cold in the summer that went on for weeks and weeks. I too had difficulty breathing and I did think I had pneumonia and visited my doctor.
My case was I had been coughing for so long and so hard that my airways became tense and restricted. I had to go on a nebulizer (spelling?) to relax the airways.
I can sure appreciate how you must have felt. Like they say, when you can’t breath, nothing else matters! How true.
Raising a busy family is very difficult when you’re not up to par. Not only do you not have the energy, you have stress as you say… because you don’t have the energy.
I’m pleased you are feeling better. We really must grateful for our health and look after ourselves the best we can.
Talk soon
Jayne
Jayne Kopp RECENTLY POSTED..Are You a Forward Thinker or Stuck In the Past?
Hi Jayne,
Thanks for coming by. It sounds like your cold was terrible! I don’t think that people realize how important good health is until they experience a sickness. Even though I am fully recovering, it has been hard to tackle all of the things that I neglected while sick. But I am grateful to be able to breathe again! I am glad that you can too.