Information on Pleurisy please?

Question

My friend has just been diagnosed with Pleurisy and is living on her own in a hostel. I'm really worried about her as I don't know how to help her. Please can you help me to help her? I'm not an expert on Pleurisy and need some more information so I know where I can help her.

Answer 1

All i know is there is 2 conditions of it. wet and dry. It is an inflammation of the lining around the lungs. I had it about 7 years ago. It can cause great pain when breathing. Wet is when there is a fluid build up in the lining and dry is where the lining is simply inflamed and "grinding" up and down when your breathing. I think this is corrct from what i was told but obviously more detailed info can be found by googling it. A course of antibiotics and painkillers should see off the infection but it can take months for your breathing to stop scraping or grinding. As i found out.

Answer 2

What Is PleurisyPleurisy?


Pleurisy, also called pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, which is the moist, double-layered membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the rib cage. The condition can make breathing extremely painful, and sometimes it is associated with another condition called pleural effusion where excess fluid fills the area between the membrane's layers.



The double-layered pleura protects and lubricates the surface of the lungs as they inflate and deflate within the rib cage. Normally, a thin, fluid-filled gap -- the pleural space -- allows the two layers of the pleural membrane to slide gently past each other. But when these layers become inflamed, their roughened surfaces rub painfully together like two pieces of sandpaper with every breath, sneeze, and cough.

In some cases of pleurisy, excess fluid seeps into the pleural space, resulting in pleural effusion. This fluid buildup usually has a lubricating effect, relieving the pain associated with pleurisy as it reduces friction between the membrane's layers. But at the same time, the added fluid puts tremendous pressure on the lungs, reducing their ability to move freely and causing shortness of breath. In some cases of pleural effusion, this excess liquid can become infected.

What Causes It?

Viral infection is probably the most common cause of pleurisy. Other diseases that can cause pleurisy are lung infections, such as pneumoniapneumonia and tuberculosis, and other diseases such as systemic lupuslupus erythematosus (lupus), rheumatoid arthritisrheumatoid arthritis, cancercancer, liver and kidney diseasekidney disease, heart failureheart failure and pulmonary embolismpulmonary embolism. Other causes include chest injuries and drug reactions.

Pleurisy and pleural effusion are generally only as serious as the underlying disease causing it. If you have either of these conditions, you may already be undergoing treatment for the underlying disease; if not, seek medical attention immediately.

A pleural effusion can occur without pleurisy, as is the case in heart failure.

Answer 3

Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura- a two-ply membrane that both encloses the lung and lines the chest cavity.

People have two pleurae, one around each lung. The pleurae act as a protective wrapping, fitting snugly over your lungs. Pleurae are made up of two layers. Normally, there is no space between the inner and outer layer. The layers are joined at the edges, so that the pleura might be compared to a closed balloon, completely empty of air and wrapped tightly around the outside of each of the lungs.

Normally, there is nothing but a thin layer of Iubricating layer of fluid between the inner pleural lining and the outer one. The smooth pleura linings and lubricating fluid allow your lungs to move freely in your chest, as they do in normal breathing.

In people with pleurisy, the two layers of pleura get inflamed (red & swollen). This can create a space between the layers called the pleural cavity (cavity means space). In wet pleurisy, this space can fill up with fluid that can get infected.

What causes pleurisy?
Pleurisy can arise from various causes and take various ways to develop, sometimes with excess fluid in the pleural cavity ("wet pleurisy") and sometimes without ("dry pleurisy"), sometimes accompanied by no pain sometimes very painful.

There are two kinds of pleurisy. A "primary" pleurisy is an inflammation arising in the pleural tissues themselves, from a germ that attacked them directly, or perhaps from an injury or growth. A "secondary" pleurisy is an added effect from some other chest disease - pneumonia, for instance - in which the germs reach the pleura as well as the lungs themselves, or tuberculosis, or lung abscess, or tumour of the lung; almost anything wrong in the chest.

The symptoms and course of primary and secondary pleurisy may be exactly the same, with only the cause different.

Answer 4

Hi >
Firstly, my sympathies, as I have had two bouts of Pleurisy over the last five years.
I say "bouts", as although having had the chest pains, and great difficulty in breathing properly, they were almost immediatly releived by a steroid injection, and fixed with a course of anti-biotics.
A most uncomfortable and worrying thing to have, but now I feel fine. I an unsure what the causes were, but fluid within the lungs is a right nuisance, to say the least.
Nevertheless, ask for that one little injection of a steroid - it seems to remove the symptoms in half an hour or so, then the pills over a couple of weeks do the trick.
All the Best,

Bob.

Answer 5

Pleurisy is a swelling or infection in the sac around the lung. It hurts for these people to breathe. There are different kinds and treatment may be some time -especially if there are other complicating factors involved (suppressed immune system, diabetes etc). It is hard to say what you can do to help. Be there and be a support to her. Be an encouragement to her with all that she is facing and encourage her to do what she is able. Respect the fact that she may need to go lie down quicker than you might think.

Answer 6

Well it depends which she has. There's dry pleurisy, which is from a germ that attacked her lungs and is causing her to dry cough and give her a lot of pain. Then wet pleurisy, which has her bringing up fluid, and she got it from pneumonia or TB. Either is painful and she must be seen by a doctor, get meds and bedrest for a few weeks. Its not contagious, but she needs not to get feverish or be moving about.

Answer 7

I have had pleurisy before - its having fluid on the pleura membrane that surrounds the lung and is very painful on breathing in / out. It can be treated with anti-biotics, anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen / diclofenac. Your friend needs to see a GP asap to get some treatment for this condition.
If your friend smoke they need to quit straight away as this will irritate her lungs no end.
Check Net Doctor on the web for more info.

Answer 8

What is pleurisy?

Pleurisy is inflammation of the linings around the lungs (the pleura). There are two layers of pleura: one covering the lung (termed the visceral pleura) and the other covering the inner wall of the chest (the parietal pleura). These two layers are lubricated by pleural fluid.

Pleurisy is frequently associated with the accumulation of extra fluid in the space between the two layers of pleura. This fluid is referred to as a pleural effusion. Pleurisy is also referred to as pleuritis.

The pain fibers of the lung are located in the pleura. When this tissue becomes inflamed, it results in a sharp pain in the chest that is worse with breathing in, aka pleurisy. Other symptoms of pleurisy can include cough, chest tenderness, and shortness of breath.

Pleurisy can be caused by any of the following conditions:

Infections: bacterial (including those that cause tuberculosis), fungus, parasites, or viruses
Inhaled chemicals or toxic substances: exposure to some cleaning agents like ammonia
Collagen vascular diseases: lupus, rheumatoid arthritis
Cancers: for example, the spread of lung cancer or breast cancer to the pleura
Tumors of the pleura: mesothelioma or sarcoma
Congestion: heart failure
Pulmonary embolism: blood clot inside the blood vessels to the lungs. These clots sometimes severely reduce blood and oxygen to portions of the lung and can result in death to that portion of lung tissue (termed lung infarction). This, too, can cause pleurisy.
Obstruction of lymph channels: as a result of centrally located lung tumors
Trauma: rib fractures or irritation from chest tubes used to drain air or fluid from the pleural cavity in the chest
Certain drugs: drugs that can cause lupus-like syndromes (such as Hydralazine, Procan, Dilantin, and others)
Abdominal processes: such as pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver
Lung infarction: lung tissue death due to lack of oxygen from poor blood supply.

Fore more info just click the site below. Hope this will help you

Answer 9

Pleurisy is inflammation of the pleura, which covers the lung, may cause pain during breathing as friction occurs between the lung and the pleura, could be viral, bacterial, or due an underlying cause in the lung parenchyma, she' just needs antibiotics and analgesics and anti-inflammatory....

Answer 10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurisy

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/7/1680_53636.htm

http://www.healthsquare.com/ndfiles/nd0405.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pleurisy/DS00244

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001371.htm

If u are feeling bore by the humble-jumble of words, simply understand that it is involvement of covering of the lungs in some disease process and causes are almost same as those for pneumonia or pneumoniris,i.e. inflammation of lungs.

In Indian subcontinent, most common cause is Tuberculosis and in western countries, where tuberculosis is rare now, viral and bacterial[pyogenic] pleurisy are common. All the three are easily treated by medicines. ''Rare causes are rarely seen''