Lung Question - asthma vs pleurisy
AJ
J
Symptoms
The symptoms of pleurisy include:
Prior upper respiratory tract infection
Pain in the chest
Pain in the muscles of the chest
Persistent cough
Fever
General malaise
Pain is exacerbated by deep breathing or coughing.
<http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Asthma_in_adults?Open>
Asthma symptoms
The usual asthma symptoms are present, including:
Breathlessness
Wheezing
Cough, especially at night
A feeling of tightness in the chest
Production of mucus.
Here's a comparison of pleurisy and pneumonia, just in case
http://www.mtsinai.org/pulmonary/books/breathe/Sectn.htm
PNEUMONIA
Doctors generally go through four steps to make the diagnosis. As in any
disease, the diagnosis must first be suspected before it can be made.
This is not usually difficult. In fact patients will often suspect the
diagnosis even before consulting a physician, because of symptoms
different from any flu or cold ever experienced. High fever, chills,
chest pain, and coughing up dark or foul貞melling sputum are often
present in pneumonia and should always make one suspect the diagnosis.
By using a stethoscope the physician can hear a "noisy" chest as air
goes in and out of the inflamed passages.
WHAT IS PLEURISY?
Pleurisy refers to inflammation of the lining of the lung, the pleura
(see also Section L). Pleurisy may be due to a variety of causes, most
commonly a viral infection. However, any of the organisms that can cause
pneumonia can also infect the pleura and lead to pleurisy. Pleurisy
(another term is pleuritis) is often painful, in contrast to pneumonia
which is not painful (unless the pleura are involved). This is because
the lining of the lung is filled with nerve fibers that, when inflamed
or stretched, cause pain. Since we normally stretch the pleura with
quiet breathing, stretching of the inflamed nerve fibers is often
unavoidable. It is common for patients suffering from pleurisy to take
only shallow breaths, because deep breaths cause so much pain.
On the chest x訃ay pleurisy may be accompanied by fluid around the lung,
so苞alled pleural effusion (see Section L). Occasionally, bacterial
infection in the pleural space can cause pus to form. This is called
empyema and always has to be drained with a chest tube or by some other
technique. Pleural space infected with bacteria may not have the
characteristics of "pus," but still require tube drainage. Some
physicians refer to any such infected fluid as an empyema or
empyema衍ike.
HTH
J
AJ
reviewing the symptoms of Lupus and found I have a few. Arthritis, lung
problems?, mouth sores, nose bleeds, photosensitivity, recurrent fevers,
exhaustian, blood in urine on most past urine tests.
If you had more than one thing you could easily confuse one for the other.
I may as well wait for the blood results.
blader
an autoimmune vasculitis that often starts in upper airway. It loves
lungs and kidneys, and is very dangerous if not controlled.
If you get a diagnosis of lupus, ok. But if you don't, ask your
rheumatologist (or whoever) for cANCA, pANCA, anti-PR-3, anti-MPO, ESR,
CRP, urine creatinine, blood, and protein.
There's a whole bunch of other autoimmune conditions that might cause
some of the syptoms you have. A rheumatologist might be the best to
sort out what's what.
Bruce
Janers
well informed about medical things, and she is right on the money with
this answer.
good luck
janers
J
> Well crap, I guess you don't need my info. J is the best at that. She is
> well informed about medical things, and she is right on the money with
> this answer.
Well crap, I guess we do need your info and wisdom Janers,
Could you please re-explain to AJ (and others) about the full complement (and
not just the ANA) ?
Hugs
J - putting Janers to work <g>
KoalaGaming
> > What is the difference between asthma and pleurisy?
I have occasional chest pain under my left ribcage that worsens when breathing. If I hold my breath or breathe very lightly the pain stops or lightens up.
I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 10 because of this issue, and using my inhaler gives subtle relief but the pain doesn't fade much faster than it would
if I had just waited it out.
How long would you have had to have Pleurisy before it starts causing severe problems?