My family has a friend, who tried to kill himself this past saturday. He overdosed on pills. He was unconscious that night, and had to put him on Life Support. He has been in a coma since then but on Monday, they took him off it, with him surviving 24 breathes a minute. They discovered later on that he has pneumonia. I was wondering, out of all of this, how could he have got pneumonia?
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From laying in one spot too long !
because in the lying position your lungs cannot expel the extra fluid that deposits there, its common to get pneumonia after major surgeries too.
being on a ventilator, you can get ventilator assisted pneumonia, also, immobility==lack of turning/changing positions, ideally, pt is to be turned almost every 2-3 hrs, side to side, and maybe needs to sit up, or be suctioned, or needs chest physiotherapy/cupping/clapping or needs resp nebulized meds. He may have underlying med condition, diabetes,or may not. Pt in hosp get bacteria just by being there, this includes MRSA, acinetobactor which is common in ICU’s . some get pseudomonas in ventilators as any standing water/distilled/sterile eventually grows it. It can be cleared w aggressive meds/resp treatments. I’m sorry to hear this, I hope he is not suffering.
My guess is that it’s aspiration pneumonia…all too common in people who are hospitalized. Aspiration pneumonia is the inflammation of the lungs caused by inhaling or choking on vomitus. It may occur during unconsciousness (anesthesia or drunkenness or seizure or cardiac arrest). Hope your friend is okay.
Because he is not breathing enough and deep enough to prevent it. We all have viruses and bacteria in and around us, evidently either bacterial or viral infection took over in his lunges because of his breathing.
I’m sorry. He could have aspirated when he was unconscious on Saturday or later. Sometimes people take pills that make them unconscious, but they vomit and it goes from the esophagus (food tube) into the mouth and down the trachea (wind pipe) because they have no gag reflex because of the medications. Sometimes this happens even with saliva. If he was on a ventilator, he still could have aspirated (inhaled into his lungs) either vomit or saliva because even though the tube in the trachea has a balloon that is blown up to prevent this and to deliver oxygen without it leaking out through his mouth, liquid can still get around it. People on ventilators are heavily sedated and have no gag reflex. Also, pneumonia takes a day or two to show up on a chest xray and develop after this happens, because the chemical reaction or bacteria take a while to grow. It is no one’s fault and happens. Also, people in his condition, aren’t able to cough and clear their secretions like you or I do on a regular basis, so secretions settle and set him up for an infection. Unfortunately there are nosocomial (hospital aquired) infections in the hospital that can be passed from patient to patient which is less likely, however you or I being healthy, would not be likely to develope a pneumonia from it. This is less likely. Thankfully it is usually able to be treated. Take care.
Your body can still be exposed to all the elements even in a coma . person is still alive – heart is still beating and they are breathing . i have been in many diabetic comas and i can hear but not speak ! i try to move but can’t . i have even had walking pneumonia – i went to work and school at night not knowing i had it . many reasons he could have gotten it – ppl are still bringing all their germs to his room . he doctor will have to explain the medical reasons to his family . hope he makes it !