It sounds like you have a case of pneumonia. This is indeed a condition where bacteria have invaded the lungs and inflamed it. This is a very serious condition and you need to ensure that you have medical help available to you and that you follow the directions given by your doctor completely and without deviation. Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of the death among the very young and the elderly because of compromised immune systems or one that is still growing. If you do not follow the course of treatment correctly and return to normal activities before the end of fever, then you are setting yourself up for a relapse. This is the dangerous part of pneumonia in adults because a relapsed pneumonia is much harder to treat. You might be fooled into thinking that you are well if you are given analgesics and antipyretics but only once you stop taking these and are fever free should you attempt getting out of the house.
The progress of pneumonia starts off with the lung being invaded by bacteria. The body immediately senses this and starts off the first reaction, inflammation. Inflammation is caused by the release of histamine by the local cells in the area of infection. This causes swelling, mucus production and increased blood flow. The swelling and increased blood flow allows bigger white blood cells access to areas where the bacteria might be. The white blood cells then go on to envelop and consume individual bacteria and only stop once the infection goes away. Mucus would seem to be more of an irritation during all this activity but the fact is that mucus traps and localizes an entire lot of bacteria making it easier for the white blood cells to fight. Besides, the white blood cells need a medium like mucus to fight in once they are out of the blood stream.
Pneumonia is fought by using the standard set of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and decongestants. Decongestants are important in reducing the amount of mucus secreted. While it is useful for the fight against the pathogen, it also fills the lungs with liquid. Home remedies mirror and compliment this allopathic method using the following herbs: garlic, ginger, pepper, feverfew, turmeric, chili, and tea tree oil. Garlic forms the oral antibiotic while tea tree oil is to be added to a steam inhalation solution. Ginger, feverfew, chili, and turmeric are all anti-inflammatories and should be added to food or soups. Pepper is useful because it helps to increase the absorptive powers of the other herbs.