I was just curious if any of you has heard of Pleurisy? I went to the ER yesterday because I have been having chest pain for the last 4-5 days and my shoulder was starting to hurt and then I began to get shooting pains up my neck, most of my pain in my chest was when I took a deep breath. Since I have a lung disease, I thought at first that perhaps it was a flare up of my sarcoid, so I wanted to see if it would pass. But once I was getting more symptoms I went to the ER to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack or Primary pulmonary hypertension (since I take weight loss rx I get nervous sometimes) Anyway...They said that I have pleurisy, caused by a virus in which the lining of the lungs gets infected, and can fill with fluid. Has anyone heard of this or had an experience with this? They gave me an anti-inflamitory shot in the butt, and sent me home with orders to take my vioxx (I have some left from my last bout of chest pain), and a prescription for percocet.

Hi M.R. - My grandmother had pleurisy, and I don't know much about it, but she lived until age 89, then died from complications of surgery for a broken hip. My point is it doesn't seem to be a dread disease, she seemed healthy until she fell, although she did have problems with her lungs prior. Check out mayoclinic.com and search under "diseases and conditions; it is an excellent site for health info. -Ruby

P.S. - you can also search for your weight loss Rx under the drugs section -R

Wow, I remember that being a problem in the older days, and I hadn't heard the term in ages... I Googled it and found many sites with good info on it... I guess even today it's not that uncommon and you can't die from it...

Yes, I had pleurisy a couple of years ago. After diagnosing (I, too, thought I might be having a heart attack--pretty scary), the doctor told me to take large doses of Advil. Seemed to work.

Thanks guys!! I'm glad to know that there are others who know about it