Pleurisy, also called pleuritis, is the inflammation of the pleura, a membrane that’s lining the outer space of the lungs and the inner space of the chest cavity. This condition has several causative factors which include the following: infections by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other parasites, blood clot in vessels supplying lungs, tumors and cancers in the region, inhaled chemicals such as ammonia, congestive heart failure, tuberculosis, pneumothorax, collagen vascular diseases like arthritis and some medications like phenytoin and hydralazine.
Pleurisy is a very serious illness that shows up through chest discomfort, pain, breathing difficulties, and joint pain among others.
Chest pain caused by pleurisy may be stabbing, sharp or dull. The pain might be localized in one area of the chest or even spread to a larger area of the chest and even the back. The following are the 10 symptoms for pleurisy to look out for.
Symptom #1: Chest Pain
Pain in the chest is the most common symptom found in pleurisy. It usually has a sudden rise and maybe a stabbing, sharp or dull pain that won’t stop. In a lot of cases, the pain exceeds when you take deep breathe, when you sneeze or when you cough.
It is important to remember that the pleura tissue covers the entire outer surface of the lungs and the inner walls of the chest cavity. Hence, the location of any inflammation determines the place and the extent of the pain. This is the reason why the chest pain caused due to pleurisy might be localized to a smaller area or a larger area including the shoulders and the back.
Symptom #2: Cough
Even though some people suffering from pleurisy might not have it, cough is also the most common symptom. A cough occurs due to an inflammation or irritation of the lungs. In most cases coughing expels the foreign bodies from inside the lungs, the inflammation of the pleura located on the outside of the lungs has the same reflex aiming at protecting the lungs. However, a cough caused by pleurisy is usually unproductive because the fluids are out of the lungs.
In healthy pleura, there is space between two layers of pleura which contains a small amount of fluid whose purpose is to ease the two surfaces as they move against each other during the breathing process. Any irritation to these surfaces causes the coughing reflex.
Symptom #3: Breathing Difficulties
Including the coughing, pleurisy may cause breathing difficulties too due to the inflammation directly outside of the lungs. This inflammation of the pleura may also cause the fluid to accumulate in the chest cavity by making it difficult for the lungs to expand when breathing in. rarely in some cases, this fluid may cause a reduction of friction pain because of the two pleura surfaces no longer rub against each other.
The consequence of this will be that the patient will feel shortness of breath as less air and oxygen enters the lungs. However, to reduce the pain that intensifies when breathing in, the patient will automatically take shallow breaths.
Symptom #4: Sore Throat
Sore throat is another common symptom of pleurisy because of the closeness of the throat to pleura and the connection of the lungs. Any irritation caused to the throat will lead to a sore or scratchy feeling. In pleurisy, the infection of the pleura which is located close by can spread to the throat. The irritation sprung by these presents as a sore throat.
A sore throat that develops because of the result of pleurisy commonly occurs due to the root cause of irritation by infection of viruses, bacteria, or other parasites. Also, continuous coughing reflex can also cause soreness in the throat.
Symptom #5: Back or Shoulder Pain
Depending on the location of the inflammation and irritation even back or shoulder pain could be a symptom for pleurisy. From before we know that the pleura tissue spreads all through the inner surface of the chest cavity and outer surface of the lungs. Now including the shoulder area, the lining spreads to both front and the back, hence if inflammation occurs in any of these areas, shoulder or back pain may result accordingly.
This tells us that even though back and shoulder pain can be caused by other conditions, it is also a symptom of pleurisy. However, in pleurisy, the pain is increased every time you take a deep breath.
Symptom #6: Fever
If the inflammation has been going on for a long time the symptoms of pleurisy that usually occur are fever and chills. The temperature rise beyond normal happens as a part of the immune response.
Inflammation is initiated to deal with irritation by the immune system when it senses irritation. But when the irritation does not go away the inflammation continues, hence the immune system finds an alternate way to deal with the problem by trying to destroy the causative agent. This causes the body to produce pyrogens, a chemical that slows down the nervous system from sensing heat, while it enhances the sensing of cold.
Due to this action, the brain causes a compensatory rise in the temperature to kill the pathogens. This causes fever. But as the nervous system’s ability to sense heat is slowed down it causes a chill. Similar reactions can be occurred in other conditions, including flu.
Symptom #7: Headaches
Headaches are another pleurisy symptom that is very common and has affected many patients. Because the inflammation, cough, fever and breathing difficulty due to pleurisy happen over an extended period of time, the resulting irritation and tension can also cause headaches. These headaches are mild at the beginning in most cases but if the inflammation continues the headaches may be more severe and continuous.
Therefore if you have any headaches which are continuous but started out mildly and are growing severely and also any other pleurisy symptoms then you most likely have the illness. This makes even more sense if you have not been diagnosed with any illness before.
Symptom #8: Fatigue
Fatigue is also a pleurisy symptom which is mainly caused by the air intake. As we have seen an earlier increase in pain when inhaling causes breathing difficulty. This means less air gets into the lungs and also this discomfort may cause the patient to eat and drink less. This reduced amount of both food and air intake causes the body to get an insufficient amount of oxygen and blood sugar both of which are important for energy production.
Pain and discomfort of the pleurisy illness cause the patient to sit or lie down all the time. Even ordinary activities like walking and doing laundry would be tough for the patient to carry out. In addition to this, the pleurisy patients consume medications like antibiotics which makes them fatigued hence taking an internal toll on their weakened body.
Symptom #9: Muscle or Joint Pain
as many cases of pleurisy are caused due to infection, if the resulting inflammation is not addressed early enough then it can go on for a long time and present itself similarly like flu. This tells us that in addition to chest, back and shoulder pain and also other symptoms that are common when we have the flu such as muscle and joint pains might also occur. Muscle weakness is also a possibility.
This can be noted as that some cases of pleurisy can also be mistaken as the flu. Therefore, if you have been treated for the flu or any other similar condition and the symptoms haven’t gone away then you most likely have pleurisy and should be treated accordingly.
Symptom #10: Weight Loss
Another symptom of pleurisy is unexplained weight loss. This happens because the patient with pleurisy most likely eats fewer food drinks less and spends time lying down or seated hence all this might also play a role in the weight loss.
It is important to be noted that pleurisy causes nagging pain and also breathing becomes very difficult, more like a chore. Remember whenever you take a deep breath the inflammation in your chest cavity worsens. As a result, subconsciously the patient starts taking shallow breaths to control the pain. For the same reasons, we will eat less and drink less subconsciously. In addition to all this as you are less active, your body won’t sense the need for higher intake in food and water. The end result is weight loss.
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