When it rains...I was at ER/Cenn Fri/Sat...what the hell was this??!

So Friday was like any other, felt fine. The only odd thing was I noticed before first break that I had a pain in my hip, then the other...so both hips like severe, almost to the point to where I wouldn't get up ..it caused a limp. I wondered if it was a vit def...etc...but felt mildly overall badly soon after and thought I was getting the flu my daughter just had.

By lunch, the shortness of breath had began and pain in my chest, mostly left side. I work day in and out scheduling for 60 cardiac physicians and diagnostics...I know better than waiting but with the way my life had been going, I don't have any time to burn at work, I am scared to lose my job at this point.

By 3rd break, I was only able to take very shallow breaths, lots of pain. I called my husband, it was a coin toss on calling him or 911, but I wore a dress to work and was afraid with my luck I would code and get stripped down at work. Obviously lacking O2 by this point.

After lots of diagnostics and the trip to the ER from hell, I was told it was pleurisy. Good news, not going to die, bad news I felt like it and no one the whole time seemed to take me seriously. I put admitted and let go yesterday by noon. It's been much better. I am assuming their diagnosis is correct after doing my own research because I couldn't lay back, or forward without it intensifying to the point of feeling like I was going to die. It was after lots of dilaudid and around 5 am that it started to ease where I took a regular breath and could lay back or walk myself to the bathroom without pain.

Any ideas about this and why did it come on so freaking fast? (I was worried it had something to do with that daggum picc line that was pulled 2 weeks ago, like an infection from that in the lining or something) I going to cross post this on facebook.

Thanks for the info, that helps.

The hip pain went away, I dunno when because I didn't notice it anymore by the time I got that bad. Probably a coincidence but didn't want them to not have all the info.

Poor thing.  That had to be scary as H*ll.  At least it happened over a weekend so you didn't miss work.  All worked out well so far with all the rain...God is good :)

me

that reminds me of when I had pneumonia a couple years back and they said there was pleurisy too and I remember I had no energy and could barely walk and I got panic attacks when I tried to walk and it was sharp lung pains and I went by ambulance to the ER.
It came on slowly over a couple days tho.
 
I am certain I got a bacterial infection from my CPAP machine and it turned into bacteria pneumonia as I seemed to have a mental block about cleaning the whole apparatus daily. (they can tell you what type it is) I didnt even try to use it anymore after that and they said to always crack a window open at night to avoid a stuffy environment. I ended up with a device to hold my front teeth forward to open my airway more for the sleep apnea instead of a CPAP.

They kept me on oxygen for a month and breathing treatments helped immensely too I dont think they gave me pain meds but I did get a steroid that lawys makes me euphoric and makes me gain 13 pounds, which came off after I weened off of it.

I was dx with pleurisy in July.  Same thing, chest pain so bad it hurt to do anything, including deep breathing - hurt to turn over in bed, hurt to even lay down, hurt to try to pick something off the floor.  Just plain hurt.  I had just come back from a vacation in Europe, and at first I thought I must have pulled a muscle, I woke up the morning I got back in great pain.  But it took me another 10 days or so to get to a doctor because I figured the muscle pull would improve.  It didn't, LOL! 

So my doctor thought PE - chest pain after long plane trip - and slapped me straight into the ER, where they discovered the pleurisy.  I had a thoracentesis, where they tapped off about 300 cc - looked to me like about a cup and a half.  Doc put me on prednisone (which I strongly resisted at first, but then relented), low dose for a week, then NSAIDS.

They analyzed the fluid, found nothing.  Doc suspected auto-immune disease like lupus or something, but eventually ruled everything out.  They don't know why I developed pleurisy, just that I did.  I've been fine since.

By the way, three nights in the hospital for all the tests and thoracentesis was $47K.  Completely ridiculous what medical care costs.

When I barely first went away to college, and my roommate was gone for the weekend, I woke up with chest pain so bad that I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't take a breath deep enough to get up. It scared the bejeebers out of me! I couldn't call for help because that involved taking a deep breath, too!

I finally sort of rolled out of bed and very slowly made my way to the campus clinic. They were very rude, diagnosed pleurisy and gave me something for it - I don't remember what. But they acted like I was making up the pain, and refused to give me a note to miss class the next day, which was Monday. I remember leaving the clinic, prescription in hand, trying to walk back to my dorm as it started to spit rain and snow. I was trying not to cry, because it hurt so much to breathe.

I ended up missing half of the next week. I had no way to fill the prescription. I was on foot, and there was no pharmacy on campus. I was really angry and hurt, but I was very young (16 years old), and I mostly blamed myself. They were authority figures, so they had to be right that I was making too much out of it.

I sure have come a long way since then, LOL!

 I've had quite a few bouts with pleurisy since childhood, and they are painful and scary. Mine are most common before I get a cold. Well, probably when I've already gotten it, but the typical cold symptoms haven't set in. Not always though.

If you can take and aspirin or other anti inflammatory as soon as you notice any pain, that can nip it in the bud. Also, do what you can to get your self to a comfortable spot, and if you find some position that is pain free, DON'T move. Trying to take the deep breath or anything that aggravates it, keeps the pain going longer. If you can sit down, then take tiny shallow breathes, even if it means breathing fast like a panting dog to get the same amount of air in, do that and don't inhale to the point that pain increases. 

You may have to be in a funny position and breathing like a freak for a bit, but if you can just not aggravate the pain for a short time, it can subside quite quickly, allowing you to take slightly deeper and deeper breaths. 

I think the aspirin just addresses any inflammation that is causing or contributing, but you get some inflammation as a result as well. It's sort of a vicious cycle. The only good thing is, it seems to be fairly easy, and fast to reverse, if you can only manage to find some way to get the pain stopped.

The fluid resolves on it's own, but also much sooner if you can stop the cycle.

It really is awful, and I hope you don't have to deal with it any more.