pleurisy

[sk8erdude1995]

Hi

Just been to doctor who said he will treat me as though i have pleurisy anyone know how long it lasts for? Ive had this pain for over 2 weeks now had my first 2 days off work as pain seems to be getting worse

Thanks

[Hidden]

Hi there. Pleurisy and its aftermath can go on a long time. It is very painful and debilitating. I am surprised that your GP has chosen to treat you ' as if you have pleurisy' without at least an xray. He may have heard a scratching noise through the stethascope, which is a pretty sure sign. That kind of pain can also mean pneumonia and you need an xray to find that. Make sure that you are given a high enough dose of antibiotic for long enough ( usually two weeks). You do need to rest to let your body recover and I doubt that you will have the energy to go to work anyway. If the pain or breathlessness persists after you have finished any medication go back to your doctor and insist on more treatment. I hope that you feel better soon.

[Pam1952 in reply to Hidden]

22 years ago my daughter was seriously ill in hospital and I had to stay with her. I developed a temperature of 104, daren't breathe as it felt like someone was stabbing me in the right side of my chest, and felt generally pretty grim. One of the nurses wheeled me up to A and E in the middle of the night and the consultant was convinced it was pleurisy. An x-ray revealed that my right lung was totally full of gunk, so just a severe infection. Had to have daily physio to get rid of it and strong antibiotics. Took weeks to get over it! How a GP can decide to "treat as though pleurisy " is beyond me.

[Hidden in reply to Pam1952]

exactly. The complacency of some GPs is mind boggling. My own, knowing that I have bronchiectasis ( but knowing precious little about that)let me walk around ( anybody else would have been flat out it appears) for four weeks with pneumonia and an empyema in Jan 2015. When I finally dragged myself to get an xray all doo dah broke loose!

[Pam1952 in reply to Hidden]

That's shocking! Do you remember that programme, years ago, Your Life in their Hands? I know that there are some great GPs out there, but there's also a lot of shockers, and they don't exactly make it easy to complain! I hope that your GP got his knuckles rapped!

[Hidden in reply to Pam1952]

She had the scare of her life! Luckily the senior partner saw the empyema on the xray. It got worse because the QE in Bham where I have been going for 30 years refused to admit me because I live out of area, my consultant was scared to stand up to them and I had to take myself to A&E there to be assessed by a twelve year old nurse. When I felt better I got the media involved and my MP and finally got a grovelling apology from the QE. Lucky I was alive to receive it!

[Pam1952 in reply to Hidden]

Wow, what a mess, and good for you! You should never have been in that position though.

[Pam1952]

Hi there and good morning.

Have you had a chest x-ray? If your doctor suspects that you have pleurisy he should refer you so that a correct diagnosis can be made. A severe chest infection can give similar symptoms, but it needs confirming.

I'd go back to your GP and ask for a more definite diagnosis.

Wishing you well.

Pam 😊

[Nottobad]

I agree with the other members I would go back to your GP and ask for a proper diagnosis. I am recovering from pneumonia at the moment and I was in hospital for three day having antibiotics through a drip every four hours. And that was dx after having an chest X-ray.

[printess]

Hi sK8erdude1995

Sorry you're not well, pleurisy is horrible.

I've had pleurisy and pneumonia for the last ten days, the pain started to get better after about the fifth day after also getting worse on the third day in (I thought i was having a heart attack) but it will depend on how long it's gone on for and how able you are to fight it

Feel better soon