How long will it take me to get better?

There is no one answer to this question, but a good ''rule of thumb'' is that it takes you just as long to get better as your illness lasted up to your hospital release. In other words, if you had pneumonia and have been sick for two weeks prior to your hospital release, it is going to take you another two weeks before you feel like doing your regular activities again. One good thing to remember is that if you are older or sicker before you come to the hospital it may take you longer to get better than you expect.

Most people feel a little bit better every day. Initially, you will need to sleep more than usual and will not have endurance for being out in the cold, reading for long periods of time, or taking care of a big family.

If you start feeling worse, the first thing to do is to get more rest. If rest doesn't help, you should talk with your doctor or an advice nurse. Your worsening symptoms could mean a relapse of your original problem, a problem with one of your new medications, or a new problem.

Remember, if you need to talk to a health care professional about something that is not an emergency, you can contact an advice nurse. He or she can get a message to your doctor as well.

To get more information online, go to members.kp.org.