Could someone clarify a diagnosis for me?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I was hit with something called mycoplasma pneumonia back in my thirties. Just recently, I began digging through an old medical file and came up with an old form which added another diagnosis: Legionnaire's Disease. Now, I'm familiar with Legionnaire's, and if I had been able to say that's what I had, it would have gone a lot easier for me to explain to everyone the seriousness of the situation. But, you know, the doctors never connected to the two, so to this day I'm not certain, which is why I'm posting this question in this forum. Does anybody know? Are they related?

[MADem]

1. No one MENTIONED the Legionnaire's? If that is the case, I am not surprised.

If you caught it in the hospital, it came from there--and would be "actionable," if ya know what I mean.

That crap grows in moldy buildings with insufficient air circulation. I had a relative who died from it--quite suddenly, too. His desk was right below the central air conditioning vent. Poor bastard didn't have a chance.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. No question that what I went through, even with the specialists ,

was all about derailing any chance of gathering evidence for a lawsuit. We resolved the issue by moving. Of course, that's another story.

[pnwmom]

8. I've had pneumonia before, Backlash,

both the more serious bacterial kind as well as viral and mycoplasmal. Doctors often seem to lump viral and mycoplasmal together as "walking pneumonia" because they are usually not life threatening, although either could then get complicated by a secondary case of bacterial pneumonia.

However, when I had the bacterial kind, I don't remember feeling any more sick, or even running a higher temperature than I did with the supposedly less serious kinds. I felt lousy with them all. So maybe you were like me -- wiped out by mycoplasmal pneumonia.

Do you have asthma by any chance? That can also make a walking pneumonia feel that much worse.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. It was the anti-biotics that got me.

Doctor insisted I continue taking them even after I called on subsequent days to complain about incessant pain. I was a good little girl back then and followed doctor's orders, thinking I could stomach (no pun intended) the pain for the two weeks required, but I didn't make it. The result were gastro complications that would never clear up because of all the complications that followed with specialists who insisted my problems were IBS instead of the anti-biotic related colitis. This desire to protect their own was one of the main motivations for leaving, in search for a better group of doctors.

Looking back, my life would have been completely different if had been astute enough to prescribe protein and probiotics.

However, the experiences are the basis for my absolute lack of respect for authoritative figures who don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

[pnwmom]

10. Yeah, those antibiotics can be terrible on the GI system.

I'm glad you've already figured out about probiotics. Whenever I need antibiotics, I always use them now (and for weeks afterwards).

[pnwmom]

2. I'm not a doctor, but here's a medical article that appears to indicate

that they are not the same thing. However, that doesn't mean you couldn't have had two strains of pneumonia germs causing your illness. If you had two diagnoses listed, then maybe you tested positive for both strains.

http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/120/4/1049.full

Legionella is a relatively common cause of pneumonia. In patients with community-acquired pneumonia, the incidence ranges from 2 to 15%. Of pathogens that are of consequence in patients with community-acquired pneumonia, the mortality rate is highest for those with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia and Legionnaires disease. Of the atypical pneumonia pathogens, the mortality for Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae is low.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Thank you.

That's a helpful link.

[2pooped2pop]

3. was there a R/O or RO before the legionnaires?

As in Rule out. If so if could be you had mycoplasma pneumonia and they were trying to rule out legionnaire's as the cause.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I'll check the paperwork.

Would they have used those kind of codes seventeen years ago?

[2pooped2pop]

7. I think so, but not sure. n/t

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

12. Absolutely they would have used that shorthand

17 years ago. I worked in the ER (admitting patients and then reviewing charts and posting charges) 35 years ago and that shorthand was common then

[SheilaT]

11. Do you have any friends who are RN's?

If so, show them the paperwork and ask them if they can explain it to you.