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Understanding Pleurisy: Information, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention
The Basics | Symptoms | Diagnosis and Treatment
Symptoms
What Are the Symptoms of Pleurisy?
Symptoms of pleurisy include the following:
- Severe, fleeting, sharp, pain in your chest, often on one side only, when breathing deeply, coughing, moving, sneezing or even talking.
- Severe chest pain that goes away when you hold your breath.
- When pleurisy occurs in certain locations of the lungs, the pain can be felt in other parts of the body such as the neck, shoulder or abdomen.
- Rapid, shallow breathing in response to the pain.
Call your doctor if you have even a slight fever with these other symptoms. Fever could be a sign of a lung infection.
What Are the Symptoms of Pleural Effusion?
The symptoms of pleural effusion include:
- Shortness of breath
- A dry cough
Call Your Doctor If:
- You are experiencing pleurisy symptoms, particularly if you have not been diagnosed for an underlying disease that could be causing this lung condition; pleurisy and pleural effusion can be symptoms of such serious diseases as pneumonia and lung cancer.
- You experience symptoms accompanied by fever, no matter how slight. You may have a type of infection that requires treatment with antibiotics.
The Basics | Symptoms | Diagnosis and Treatment
