Pleurisy

[House of Mustard]

So, I don't really expect this to generate a lot of conversation, but I just wanted to rant.

I've been sick for three weeks.  It started as a stomach flu type thing, with a lot of vomiting and a high fever.  That lasted about five days, and then the fever broke, and I got feeling better -- a slight cough developed, but nothing serious.

And then the cough got worse and worse, to the point where breathing became a problem, and I would cough uncontrollably until I vomited.  (I'm sure you all want to know this.)  Also: I can't walk thirty feet without being completely winded -- whereupon the coughing starts up again.

So I went to the doctor, and he said it was probably a viral infection, which means that there's really nothing he could do for me.  He gave me a cough medicine with codeine to help me sleep (which works, kind of).

And then I started getting sharp chest pains.  And it got worse and worse to the point where I can hardly stand up.  The doctor has diagnosed this as pleurisy, which is an inflammation in the lining between the ribs and the lungs.  And it hurts like fricking heck.  (As a matter of fact, yesterday, trying to get the house ready for Thanksgiving, I was trying to move the kitchen table.  It was the first time in my nearly five-year marraige my wife has ever heard me swear.  I can't even tell you how much this thing hurts.)

Anyway, I'm at work today, because this thing has been going on for three weeks, and I only have a very limited number of sick days.  I took Wednesday off and Thanksgiving, of course, hoping that I would be all rested up and feeling good, but this just keeps hanging on.  I'm looking forward to the weekend, and doing nothing.

Anyway, there's my rant.  It's a good thing I have a lot of pumpkin pie around the house, or this would be unbearable.

[stacer]

Pumpkin pie comforts a number of hurts.

[42]

Well, it is Thanksgiving time. So be grateful you didn't get ebola or anthrax or something like that. Sure you got some of the symptoms, but it can always be worse. Right?

[EUOL]

Sure it could.  

If you want to have an even more purifyingly painful experience, I can send over some freshman papers for you to grade.

[Skar]

So I went to the doctor, and he said it was probably a viral infection, which means that there's really nothing he could do for me.  He gave me a cough medicine with codeine to help me sleep (which works, kind of).

Haha.  That's what doctors say when they either don't know or don't want to make the effort to find out. You'd be amazed how many ailment names are just the latin words for "inflamed" or "something wrong with" with the latin name of the part or system tacked on the end.


They actually teach doctors to make stuff up if they don't know the answer so that the patient's faith in doctors is not shaken.

Have I mentioned that I hate doctors almost universally?

[House of Mustard]

My favorite part was when the doctor (during the first visit) told me "Try not to cough."  A brilliant cure -- if the cough can't be cured with medicine, it will be cured through sheer willpower.

[Prometheus]

Cheers for modern medicine. I don't have it nearly as bad as you do, but I've had this nagging head cold/sore throat syndrome with a few other minor things going on that's been lingering since October I think. That's only about 1000x less severe than what you have going, but I can sympathize with being annoyed at a long-running illness anyway.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Doctors are not trained to make something up to comfort the patient.  We are trained to comfort the patient, though. Ethical doctors will tell you if they're not sure and will probably let you know what they think it is.  Sometimes you really just can't tell because either its too early or too late and the signs have all but disappeared.

That said, there really isn't anything you can do about a viral infection.  That's true whether its a cold or a conjunctivitis.  Traditionally doctors have handed out antibiotics for it, which really do nothing except prevent a superinfection...that's actually more for patient psyche.  

Sorry to hear about the pleurisy.  I've heard just how painful it can be.  Hope it clears up soon.

[Skar]

Doctors are not trained to make something up to comfort the patient.  We are trained to comfort the patient, though.

Says you.  I've spoken with doctors and read articles by doctors who are/were horrified by this particular mindset, which they encountered in medical school.  You are right, though, ethical doctors tell the patient when they are not sure or simply don't know.  
Ask yourself how many times you've actually heard a doctor tell a patient that when he should have, though.

[Skar]

On another note.  Way to go on the Nerdery.  I've enjoyed every article so far.  Very high quality.  Bravo.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Thanks Skar, glad you're enjoying them.

As for doctors letting patients know what they're thinking, I hear that every day.  But that's just because I'm saying it.  The docs I work with do too though.   Technically, I'm no doctor yet, but only a few months away...

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Hmmm... can this develop through other means?

I'm asking because I became readily sick over the weekend. Saturday got a nice fever, etc. Now, I started coughing, thursday. Wasn't too bad. But now it's gotten worse. I'm coughing a lot more, my throat hurts, and every morning I wake up with the worst feeling in my mouth/nose. Plus my nose is stuffed, so huzzah there.

Yeah... it's not too fun.

[stacer]

From what I know, it's not that common to get pleurisy, is it? You could just have a bad cold or a touch of bronchitis or something.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

that could be just your standard flu

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

well Pleurisy is just the inflamation of the lining of the lungs and bouts of repeated coughing could trigger it and prolong it. If Im reading the PDR right its more of a sympton of an infection than a disease in its own right. Not that it isnt painful....