Pneumonia is an infection caused in the lungs and can be life-threatening if not treated properly and on-time. It usually starts with a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection in one or both lungs, causing inflammation and fluid build-up. Every year there are more than a million hospitalizations(1) and more than 50,000 death cases registered all across the world due to Pneumonia.
The initial symptoms of Pneumonia resemble a common cold or flu, which develops into a high fever, chills, and cough with sputum. This can further lead to fast breathing, chest pain, increased heart rate, fatigue and weakness, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating, muscle pain, headache, delirium in older adults, and purplish skin colour from poorly oxygenated blood. However, the symptoms may vary as per other underlying conditions, type, and severity of pneumonia.
Table of Contents
How to Treat Pneumonia Using Natural Remedies?
- Home Remedies
- Foods
- Essential Oils
- Supplements
CURE 1: Home Remedies for Pneumonia
Apart from having the prescribed antibiotics, antiviral, or antifungal medications to treat the pneumonia infection, here is a list of natural remedies for pneumonia.
1. Rest
Why does it work?
A body that is sick is low in immunity and hence needs a lot of downtimes to recover. Giving proper rest to your body by not subjecting it to physical strain during pneumonia helps to heal and regain strength at a much faster pace.
How to use and how much to use?
Rather than focussing and using your body energy to power the muscles, it is important to use this energy to repair the damage caused due to bacteria, virus or fungus attack with pneumonia. Hence rest is recommended as it gives the body the time and space to catch up with the damage caused to its internal cells and organs. Rest as much as you can as this is the most natural way to fight pneumonia.
2. Ginger and Turmeric Tea
Why does it work?
Pneumonia can cause chest pain due to persistent coughing during this time. Freshly made ginger and turmeric tea can reduce this pain as the roots of both these plants have a natural anti-inflammatory effect on the human body.
How to use and how much to use?
You can cut a thumb size of both these roots and boil it in two to three cups of water to last all day long. Have half a cup of ginger and turmeric tea three to four times throughout the day.
3. Fenugreek Tea
Why does it work?
Fenugreek tea lets a person sweat a lot, and this can bring down the temperature during pneumonia. It even helps clear the throat of mucus.
How to use and how much to use?
Put a teaspoon full of fenugreek seeds in two cups of warm water. Alternatively, you can even combine it with garlic and honey. This freshly prepared mixture should be taken three times a day.
4. Lukewarm Bath
Why does it work?
Having a bath with lukewarm water or compressing it with a warm washcloth or towel helps in cooling the body down. This helps in pneumonia when one has a fever as well.
How to use and how much to use?
Washcloths or towels dunked in lukewarm water and rung out should be applied to wipe the body as this would help it to cool. Once the towels get warm due to body temperature, it can be soaked in water and reapplied. Bathing or compressing with warm water should be done once daily when suffering from pneumonia.
5. Intake of Warm Liquids
Why does it work?
Pneumonia hit body feels chills when down with fever along with other attached symptoms. Intake of warm liquids helps to warm up the body and avoid chills and shivers.
How to use and how much to use?
Herbal teas, warm water or even a bowl of soup can provide relief from chills during pneumonia and even assists in adding electrolytes and nutrients to the body. Having warm liquids at an interval of every two hours during the day can help provide relief and soothe the patient to quite an extent.
CURE 2: Foods
Proper diet plays a pivotal role in curing any disease, including Pneumonia, and even recouping the lost energy and immunity. In fact, you can even learn how to prevent pneumonia and which foods can help you do so in the points below.
1. Whole Grains
Why does it work?
Whole grains like quinoa, oats, brown rice, barley, etc. provide energy to the body when it is fighting with pneumonia. Moreover, body temperature and energy production are enhanced by the B-Vitamins present in these foodgrains. Moreover, the selenium mineral present in them further strengthens the immune system.
How to use and how much to use?
Barley, quinoa, brown rice or oats can be boiled and made into a dish to be had as a whole meal during lunch or dinner. You can even have oat pancakes or boiled quinoa with milk for breakfast.
A bowl of any of these in different forms can be consumed during all the three main meals of the day.
2. Protein-Rich Foods
Why does it work?
A protein-rich diet contains anti-inflammatory properties, which help in repairing the damaged tissues and building new ones. It is extremely helpful for a pneumonia patient to regain his energy and immunity.
How to use and how much to use?
Foods like salmon and sardines, seeds, beans, nuts, white meat, etc. , which are extremely protein-rich. It should be cooked as vegetables or in a curry and should be consumed during lunch and dinner by a person suffering from pneumonia.
Having these as one of the main items during the main course at least twice a day, for lunch or breakfast and dinner, can help heal the tissues of a pneumonia patient very fast.
3. Green Leafy Vegetables
Why does it work?
Green leafy vegetables contain antioxidants that protect the body against infectious agents. They consist of nutrients which help heal the respiratory infection during pneumonia.
How to use and how much to use?
Green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach and lettuce can be consumed after boiling and adding some seasoning to them or by preparing a soup out of them.
You can have a bowl full of these in any form during lunch and breakfast every day when suffering from pneumonia.
4. Citrus Fruits
Why does it work?
Citrus fruits are rich in Vitamin-C, which assist in boosting immunity and promoting speedy recovery for pneumonia patients. It even shelters the body against foreign bodies/agents as they contain antioxidants in them.
How to use and how much to use?
Fruits like oranges, berries and kiwi should be eaten raw when a person suffers from pneumonia.
These can be consumed anytime during the day, 3-4 times, after meals or along with meals as well.
5. Probiotics
Why does it work?
The growth of pneumonia-causing pathogens can be restricted and inhibited by intaking probiotics. They increase the good bacteria in the gut and hence even assist in improving the immunity system of a pneumonia patient.
How to use and how much to use?
Foods like yoghurt have probiotics and should be consumed at least twice a day, with meals, or even otherwise, by persons suffering from pneumonia.
One small bowl of yoghurt twice a day would work wonderfully in controlling the pneumonia virus/bacteria.
CURE 3: Essential Oils
Yes, Essential oils have the properties to treat symptoms, fight illness and eliminate infections for Pneumonia. Let’s see how to cure pneumonia with the help of essential oils and which essential oils to use for it.
1. Lemon Essential Oil
Why does it work?
Lemon essential oil helps reduce inflammation in the lungs and even contains anti-fungal properties which help considerably in treating pneumonia.
How to use and how much to use?
A lemon essential oil can be put in an oil diffuser and kept in the room. When inhaled regularly for nebulizing, it can increase immunity and slowly and steadily treat the congestion in the lungs of a person suffering from pneumonia.
This process can be repeated twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening.
2. Bergamot Essential Oil
Why does it work?
Coughing and inflammation during pneumonia can cause pain; this discomfort, however, can be reduced by using bergamot essential oil.
How to use and how much to use?
The analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of bergamot essential oil can be used to cure uneasiness during pneumonia by regularly inhaling through a nebulizer. It should be placed in a nebulizing essential oil diffuser at least twice a day to help you relax and show its effects.
3. Lavender Essential Oil
Why does it help?
Lavender essential oil is antibacterial and antifungal, which helps reduce the infection during pneumonia. It has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, which in turn assist in reducing the pain and congestion caused due to coughing and inflammation during pneumonia.
How to use and how much to use?
You can use the lavender essential oil by adding it to hot water and using it in steam inhalation. A few drops of it can even be mixed with carrier oils and applied in a foot massage and chest rub.
4. Pine Essential Oil
Why does it work?
Pine oil is antimicrobial, antifungal and antibacterial, which helps in killing the bacteria and microbes that cause pneumonia, thereby shifting up the recovery process. This, in turn, can also reduce the intake of antibiotics required through the illness.
How to use and how much to use?
Placing Pine essential oil in a nebulizing diffuser and relaxing in the comfort of your room is the best way to have it at the best of your advantage. Alternatively, you can even add a few drops of it to hot water and inhale it as steam or have a foot massage by mixing it with some carrier oils.
CURE 4: Supplements
1. Alpha-linolenic acid
Why does it work?
Alpha-linolenic acid is an essential Omega-3 fatty acid which reduces the risks caused due to pneumonia.
How to use and how much to use?
Foods like nuts, vegetable oils, red meat and dairy products are a good source of alpha-linolenic acid supplement. There are alpha-linolenic acid tablets available which can be taken after consulting your doctor.
Including these as a part of your important meals during the day can help fight pneumonia largely. The tablet dosage should be taken as per the doctor’s prescription.
2. Vitamin C for Pneumonia
Why does it work?
Pneumonia is related to worsened conditions of the lungs, right from congestion, incessant coughing, inflammation and even liquid formation in the air-sacs. Vitamin C supplements have been of great use in improving respiratory conditions and even reducing the duration of the cold, which ultimately is the core cause of pneumonia.
How to use and how much to use?
Oranges, berries, papaya, kiwi fruit are some of the natural supplements for Vitamin-C, which should be consumed on a regular basis to fight against environmental damage, with the help of antioxidants present in them. Alternatively, Vitamin C tablets can also be taken to cure pneumonia.
Tablets should be consumed after consulting a physician.
3. Fish Oil
Why does it work?
Fish oil contains Omega 3 acids that have anti-inflammatory properties. These work like wonders in curing pneumonia. They even assist in protecting the lung tissues by curbing the infection caused due to the presence of foreign particles in it.
How to use and how much to use?
Fish oil tablets are a good way to add it as a supplement for curing pneumonia. You can even include fish, like salmon, as a part of your meal twice in a week.
The dosage of fish oil tablets can be one-two tablets per week or as directed by the physician.
No big deal or fatal?
Pneumonia, if treated at the right time, can get you to normal life within a couple of weeks. However, it can get fatal if the patient is not monitored on a regular basis and is not treated with proper antibiotics, rest and required medical aid. The condition becomes worse when the infection leads to a severe systemic response called sepsis.
Nevertheless, precautions are always better than cure and steps should be taken to ensure how to avoid pneumonia and the infection from spreading to the extent that it becomes fatal.
Good health habits like washing hands, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and avoiding smoking can fight pneumonia.
FAQs
1. What to do for pneumonia?
Ans: Getting vaccinations for pneumonia is the best way to keep this deadly disease at bay. However, maintaining a good lifestyle comprising of healthy food, plenty of rest, including fruits and vegetables to your diet, not smoking and staying away from sick people can prevent you from getting pneumonia to quite as extent.
2. How long does it take for pneumonia to go away?
Ans: In most types of pneumonia, it takes a week or two maximum for the infection to clear up, although the cough may persist for several more weeks. However, in severe cases, it may take much longer to control the infection. But in case of walking pneumonia, even after getting infected, a person might not even feel it for the initial two to three weeks.
Pneumonia is an infection which can prove to be life-threatening. Usually, it starts with a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection.
Pneumonia is characterized by the tiny air sacs of the lungs called alveoli being filled with fluid. Though pneumonia can occur to young and healthy people, it can prove fatal for older adults and for those who have a weak immune system too.
Depending on the type you have, pneumonia can be treated by different methods. Severity, current health status, and your age are the various factors considered.
Antibiotics are usually prescribed, along with cough medicines and expectorants. Painkillers like ibuprofen or aspirin are also prescribed. These medications may cause side effects. Ask your doctor for options of natural remedies to treat your condition as they are very safe and do not pose any side effects.