I have been receiving many questions about pneumonia. Unfortunately, we are still seeing a lot of covid19 cases, which are a major cause for pneumonia. Sadly, pneumonia is still the leading cause of death worldwide, especially in the developing countries. So, in this video, I will be discussing how to treat the different types of pneumonia.

For covid19 patients, if their symptoms are getting worse like having high fever for several days, with worsening dry cough and difficulty breathing. Also, if their oxygen level is dropping. All these above symptoms should make you suspect the presence of pneumonia and the need to confirm it with a chest Xray.

Unfortunately, in most cases, these patients are in quarantine alone at home. They are not sure when the right time is to go to a hospital, which is the best place to treat covid19 pneumonia. However, if it is not possible to go to the hospital for any reason, then they would have to get the treatment at home under the supervision of their family doctor.

The most important step in managing pneumonia is to monitor your oxygen level. Once it drops below 93 or 94%, you would need to use oxygen supplement. If you are at home, you can use oxygen by nasal canula which can deliver up to 6 L/m. Your goal is to get your oxygen level up to a safe zone which is above 93%. If this can’t be achieved by this way, then the next step is to be transferred to a hospital to receive oxygen by a machine called high flow oxygen, which is able to deliver greater amount of oxygen under pressure.

In case where the pneumonia is very severe, and the oxygen level is low despite using oxygen, then the last option for treatment is to get intubated and be placed on a ventilator. This machine can breathe for you by moving oxygen under pressure in and out from your lungs through a tube, from your mouth to your lungs. Of course, this is very uncomfortable procedure, so they have to give you a medicine to put you to sleep.

Normally, you could stay on the ventilator from few days to weeks until your oxygen level and pneumonia get better, while you are getting the appropriate treatment for it.
As you know, there are several protocols to treat pneumonia. I will be discussing only the mild ones especially when the oxygen level is good, over 94%. In this case, it might be possible to be managed at home under the supervision of your doctor, only if hospital admission is not possible for some reasons.

In general, it is recommended to treat all covid19 patients with a daily dose of both Zinc 50mg and vit C 1000mg. Also, 50K units of vit D once a week. one of the protocols to treat covid19 pneumonia, is to use an anti-viral pill called Avigan or Favipiravir or for 10 days. With another medicine called Ivermectine for 7 days. Also, we can use antibiotic called Zithromax. If in case the D-dimer is high, which is a test for blood clots, then we should give a daily blood thinner injection under the skin called Clexane or Enoxaparin. But if the injection is not available, then, we can use instead, a medicine called Xarelto as a daily pill.

I will remind you again, that it is very important to treat most covid19 pneumonia in a hospital, especially if the oxygen level is very low below 94%. So, in this situation, the treatment is to continue with the prior protocol, but we should add 2 medications cortisone and Remdesivir in the vein.

Finally, I hope I helped shed some light about this complicated subject. I know how stressful it is for the family members waiting for their loved ones to recover from this serious condition. You have to be patient and never lose hope for recovery. My condolences go to all the people who lost someone from this virus. Hopefully we will be able to beat it in the near future with the help of the new meds available and most importantly to continue our great efforts in covid19 vaccination.

video shot by Fadi Helbaoui and edited by Amer Helbaoui

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