Your doctor also will listen to your chest for: Crackling or bubbling noises (rales) made by movement of fluid in the tiny air sacs of the lung. Dull thuds heard when the chest is tapped (percussion dullness), which indicate that there is fluid in a lung or collapse of part of a lung.
Your doctor will listen to your lungs with a stethoscope. If you have pneumonia, your lungs may make crackling, bubbling, and rumbling sounds when you inhale.
Bacterial pneumonia is more serious and often results in a gurgling sound when breathing and mucus or phlegm when coughing.
Walking pneumonia is usually diagnosed through a physical examination. The doctor will check your child's breathing and listen for a hallmark crackling sound that often indicates walking pneumonia.
Chest X-ray showing pneumonia
Your doctor will start by asking about your medical history and doing a physical exam, including listening to your lungs with a stethoscope to check for abnormal bubbling or crackling sounds that suggest pneumonia.
A chest X-ray is often used to diagnose pneumonia. Blood tests, such as a complete blood count (CBC) see whether your immune system is fighting an infection. Pulse oximetry measures how much oxygen is in your blood. Pneumonia can keep your lungs from getting enough oxygen into your blood.
Most cases of viral pneumonia are mild and get better without treatment within 1 to 3 weeks. Some cases are more serious and require a hospital stay.
If you have pneumonia, they might hear cracking, bubbling, or rumbling sounds when you breathe in. If your doctor thinks you might have pneumonia, they'll probably give you tests, including: Blood tests to look for signs of a bacterial infection. A chest X-ray to find the infection in your lungs and how far it's spread.
Crackles - lung sounds recorded a stethoscope
Crackles, or rales, are a scratchy sound quality evident when fluid fills up in the alveolar and interstitial spaces. These sounds can be focal and coarse in localized areas of pulmonary edema or consolidation in pneumonia.
Crackles: These sounds occur if the small air sacs in the lungs fill with fluid and there's air movement in the sacs, such as when you're breathing. The air sacs fill with fluid when a person has pneumonia or heart failure. Wheezing: This sound occurs when the bronchial tubes become inflamed and narrowed.
However, some patients do not have abnormal lung sounds, even in the presence of pneumonia.
Rhonchi. These low-pitched wheezing sounds sound like snoring and usually happen when you breathe out. They can be a sign that your bronchial tubes (the tubes that connect your trachea to your lungs) are thickening because of mucus. Rhonchi sounds can be a sign of bronchitis or COPD.
The sounds may occur continuously or intermittently and can include crackles, rhonchi, and wheezes. Individuals may notice the abnormal breath sounds themselves, or a doctor may note them while examining the lungs with a stethoscope. The sounds can be the first symptom of a respiratory illness such as pneumonia.
The typical pneumonia treatment plan consists of rest, antibiotics, and increased fluid intake. You should take it easy even if your symptoms begin to subside. Depending on the cause of pneumonia, your doctor may prescribe an antiviral medication instead of an antibiotic.
However, if left untreated, pneumonia can lead to serious complications, including an increased risk of re-infection, and possible permanent damage to your lungs. One complication from bacterial pneumonia is the infection can enter your blood stream and infect other systems in your body.
Walking pneumonia usually indicates a more mild pneumonia caused by a bacteria called mycoplasma pneumoniae. If you have walking pneumonia, your symptoms will be mild and you'll probably function normally. Walking pneumonia symptoms include: Dry cough that's persistent and typically gets worse at night.
Pneumonia testing is generally not available at home.
Once you get treated, your pneumonia should clear up within a couple of weeks. Your doctor may want to check your lungs to make sure they're clear. Sometimes pneumonia can lead to serious lung complications, so call your doctor right away if your breathing problems get worse, you have chest pain, or you cough up blood.
The first-line treatment for pneumonia in adults is macrolide antibiotics, like azithromycin or erythromycin. In children, the first-line treatment for bacterial pneumonia is typically amoxicillin.
Sometimes pneumonia can be hard to diagnose. This is because it can cause some of the same symptoms as a cold or the flu. It may take time for you to realize that you have a more serious condition.
The ways to tell bronchitis and pneumonia apart are typically you would need to obtain an x-ray, a chest radiograph to determine if there are signs of consolidation or infiltrate on the chest radiograph. If that is found, typically that is more consistent with pneumonia.