Suggest Treatment For Persistent Nausea After Hip Surgery

Posted on Sat, 21 Jan 2017

Question: My mother just got out of a nursing home for hip surgery rehab. While she was there she contacted pneumonia put in a hospital recovered and was sent back to the nursing home where she continued to have problems with solid food and asked for more of a liquid diet as she vomited and had repeated dry heaves. She was given Zantac. She was released Friday but continues to have problems and is overly tired. She has been mostly in bed four four weeks. She is 85 and was a former smoker until 6 months ago

Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
May require steroids to help with relieving symptoms

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome.

Thank you for writing to us.

I have gone through your query with diligence and would like you to know that I am here to help. Difficulty in feeding is a common symptom of severe pneumonia, and requires immediate management of pneumonia with the help of antibiotics, steroids, and in some cases diuretics as well.

As I am assuming your mother was given an adequate course of antibiotics, I would also like to let you know that her history of being a former smoker does not help her case in terms of rapid recovery.

But, in such a scenario I would recommend the use of steroids for a longer period of time (probably inhaled), along with chest physiotherapy on a regular (daily basis), and bronchodilators.

In the elderly population, recovery from pneumonia can take months and in some cases even years. During the annual pilgrimage, my grandmother contracted pneumonia which lasted from 2008 up until 2012 (i.e. more than 4 years), she was then 75 approximately.

So I would recommend continuation of steroids to help with providing better quality of life and comfort, please do discuss the same with her treating doctors.

I hope you find my response helpful. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I am always here to help.

Best wishes.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T