Pneumonia, Asthma, Prednisone, oh my...

Post date: 2026-08-05 17:38:57

I have been diagnosed with pneumonia for the third time in three years. I was also hospitalized for it when I was 5. My asthma seems to be getting worse as well. I will be asking for a referral to a more specialized doctor on Friday, but the Prednisone they have me on is spiking my anxiety and I'm not sure what to expect.

33 year old female, otherwise generally physically healthy, with my third bout of pneumonia in three years. They put me on Augmentin, Azithromycin, and Prednisone this time.

My asthma was previously managed with a rescue inhaler about twice a year, very rarely if needed. Now I'm needing my rescue inhaler and/or nebulizer every single time I get sick, plus using my rescue inhaler about every two weeks if not more. I'm going to ask for a referral to someone who can manage this better, but I'm curious what that looks like. Is that a pulmonologist? An asthma/allergy specialist? Are there tests they will likely do, a more frequent medication I might end up on? What does this look like going forward?

Most people I know have never even had pneumonia, or only know someone who has died from it, so the fact that I am getting it more and more frequently is really freaking me out.

I was just on Prednisone in December for another asthma flare up during an illness. I feel like I end up on either an antibiotic or steroid 4 - 5x a year recently and that feels like a lot. I'm just having a lot of anxiety over how bad this really is and if it can be made more manageable day to day, or if I'm doomed to have chronic pneumonia occurrences. I live alone with dogs that need my care, and the thought of ending up in the hospital with pneumonia one day if this keeps progressing really scares me.

Bonus question, if anyone has any thoughts on how to handle the Prednisone side effects... I know my anxiety and moods are all funky and I'm having trouble sleeping as well. I'm just so sick of being sick and would love to rest but this feels like the opposite of that where I feel like I'm about to climb out of my skin.

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