Got a bad chest/throat/head cold with typical symptoms inc terrible continuous coughing fits bringing up yellowish green clotted phlegm (sorry folks) 3 + weeks ago - and all this is still going strong, so on Monday of this the 3rd week i saw my v helpful gp.
She examined me & said looks like tracheitis but maybe also be pleurisy. This has happened to me previous years too: a virus morphing into infections like these. So am on 500mg amoxicillin 3 per day for 1 week. Previously, I've had to take this Rx for 2 weeks to clear infection.
This is my first bad cold virus + infection since my le diagnosis in 2011. My ? Is:
the tracheitis diagnosis makes sense to me, from what I know about tracheitis symptoms. And I have to respect my gp's suspicions of pleurisy too, but my wrap-round lung/rib cage area pain is mainly really in my right lung/rib cage area (pain is worst on breathing deeply, and on reaching up with right arm.) So, can anyone tell me:
can pleurisy sometimes be mainly on one side of the body?
Thanks anyone: just trying to understand my diagnosis and what I'm dealing with....I do see my gp tomorrow, and will feel more confident about asking her if I've heard from you guys (she is great, but even she admits that many of you have more experience than she does of lupus and chest infections)
PS I think the answer is yes, pleurisy can be one-sided because several years ago a different gp diagnosed me with pleurisy fom similar symptoms, but that was back before my surgery realised I had SLE since infancy.....and back then I didn't bother to understand my diagnosis