Searching

I've noticed a really odd thing. My little blog, of whom I have officially six followers (and thank you! Because without you I would wonder if anyone read my blog!) but otherwise it gets a good deal of surfers looking for information on PNEUMONIA.

It makes me feel kinda bad, because my post on pneumonia isn't all that helpful, unfortunately. I wonder if they are searching 'pneumonia' because they actually need medical information. I also wonder how many people get kidney stones and pneumonia in their household all at once, like we did. I thought it was a unique situation, actually.

This past December, every member of our household (excluding myself) came down with pneumonia. I don't know what the odds of that are, but because of the fact that at around the same time, I noticed the google searches that led people here, I remembered that this previous event happened-- the triple combo of Kidney Stones, Pneumonia, and Allergies, which caused me to write this post.

It certainly wasn't fun the first time around and it wasn't fun the second time around either.

However, because of the timing of my finding my blog entry, I remembered the fact that the kidney stones happened at the same exact time as the pneumonia-- and guess what? It happened again. The same symptoms my husband had before. Only this time, the doctor diagnosed it as a kidney infection. I wouldn't have remembered the fact that this happened the same way before, except for those googlers who came here.

But then I began to think there might be a connection between the two, because does lightning strike twice? I don't know but it seemed to me, who maybe watches too much Grey's Anatomy, to be something I could go on.

And so, I started a Google search of my own. And I found out that there IS a connection. Surprise, surprise. I found out that the bacteria which causes the upper respiratory infection that ended up turning into pneumonia, is also responsible for causing other infections, including kidney infection.
This is what I found:
"Acute glomerulonephritis usually follows a streptococcal infection of the respiratory tract" and

"There are many different kinds of infections that lead to glomerulonephritis, including pneumonia"
(and in going back I did notice that prior to that we had Strep A in the house, which had a contributing factor to the pneumonia, I am sure)


And this: "Pyelonephritis is a serious bacterial infection of the kidney that can be acute or chronic. One of the most common renal diseases, acute pyelonephritis is a sudden inflammation caused by bacteria. It primarily affects the interstitial area and the renal pelvis or, less often, the renal tubules.

"Causes and Risk Factors of Pyelonephritis: Doctors believe that the bacterial infection causing pyelonephritis may sometimes develop elsewhere in the body and travel through the bloodstream to the kidney."

SYMPTOMS of Pyelonephritis

No matter what the underlying cause, the symptoms of acute bacterial pyelonephritis are often the same. The first indications are usually shaking chills, accompanied by a high fever and pain in the joints and muscles including flank pain. Attention may not be drawn to the kidneys at all.

In acute infections, the symptoms develop rapidly, the fever noted first, followed by possible changes in the color of the urine, and then tenderness in the flank. As the kidney becomes more inflamed, pain, loss of appetite, headache, and all the general effects of infection develop. This type of kidney pain differs from renal colic pain of kidney stones in that it is continuous and does not come in waves, stays in one spot, and may be worse by moving around."
If that sounds like what you have, and or you googled and came here for information, then you might want to google both Pneumonia and Pyelonephritis.


To sum up: my husband probably never actually had kidney stones. Both times he had pneumonia followed by an acute kidney infection. A course of antibiotics cleared it right up. I hope that helps.

Pneumonia, Kidney Stones, Allergies, OH MY

What do all these have in common? Nothing, really except that this week our house has seen all three. Allergies are a given--- every year from April to at least July, and again in the fall. There are good days and then flare ups every now and then. Friday was my flare-up day. Still, it's not the worst thing in the world.

Then there is pneumonia. Yes, that is what caused our early morning jaunt to the emergency room the other night, except we were busy thinking it was appendicitis. Here's a saying they tell medical students regarding diagnosis-- "When you hear hoof beats, think HORSES not ZEBRAS." But here is a saying that is not so popular and should be also taught in medical school: "When a child has a severe stomach-ache in the middle of the night, think PNEUMONIA, not APPENDICITIS." It certainly would have saved us some trouble. I brought Wild Thing to his follow up doctor appointment two days after our ER visit, since he still was feeling terrible, and still complaining of a stomach ache. We brought him in, and after relaying the symptoms to the doctor who immediately suspected pneumonia, either because by virtue of being in family practice, they tend to know what is currently going around, or because of having appendicitis ruled out by previous e.r. visit-- or possibly because this doctor had learned the other saying in medical school. In any case, a chest x-ray cleared up the matter and we knew why Wild Thing felt so terrible. A bottle of antibiotics and we were on our way. The next day he was practically back to himself, a miracle of modern medicine.

No sooner had Wild Thing gotten back on his feet, than Busy Wood shop Hubby (BWH) had fallen ill. Naturally, since his symptoms seemed so similar, we thought he had pneumonia as well. However, when we brought him to the after care facility (we never seem to get sick during office hours), the doctor determined that a kidney stone was to blame. We thought it was an odd coincidence, but then again, stranger things have happened. However, after days of suffering and sifting (don't ask), no kidney stone materialized and BWH is finally feeling better. We still think that the after care doc was thinking Zebra when he should have been thinking Horse, but in any case, all is finally well in our household again. Well, except for those darned allergies. Two out of three isn't bad.

**EDITED March 7, 2009*** please click on this entry: Searching for another post regarding pneumonia and kidney related problems