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pleurisy?..
what is pleurisy anyway?

I wouldn't mind but it won't leave me alone!

Anyone else had a bloody nasty cold that just got worse this year?
Is it a sign of the times or am I just getting old and feeble?

I had pleurisy when I was at university. When you breathe in you can hear your lungs gurgle and it feels really tight over your chest like you can't breathe. This is because of the lung lining (i think) being inflamed and irritated.

You need really strong antibiotics as far as I can remember and rest. I think the rest part is really important. Obviously looking after your immune system again after the antibiotics have finished is really important as they have wiped out any good bacteria as well as bad so take loads of those yakult yoghurt drinky things!

If you keep getting it i'd guess that you're becoming resistant to the antibiotics (but im obviously not a doc).

Description i found here:

'Pleurisy or pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleurae (thin, moist membranes that cover the lungs and line the chest cavity).

The pleurae normally reduce the friction between the chest structures as the lungs expand and contract. Inflammation of the plurae causes breathing to become painful and less effective;.

Hope that helps.

Some viruses can be bloody persistent can't they. I picked up a cough in China in 1999 that stayed with me for about 18 months. It's about the only thing made in China that actually lasted that long!

If it goes on for more than a few months, or suddenly gets worst I'd go and see the quack.

Daz,
If you haven't taken antibiotics yet try munching raw garlic every five hours and deep breathing. But keep away from all!!!
Mike Freeman.

Munching raw garlic and breathing heavy?...

...what do you think I am... French?


er... oh yes, I am (well a quarter anyway).

Check the environment in which you live for damp. Years ago I used to live in a flat that was damp and I got chronic bronchitis. Everytime I had antibiotics it would clear and then return. I managed to clear it by taking Siberian Ginseng 500mg every day and never got it again. I think the damp brought it on in the first place.

Thanks for that...
I wonder what they take for colds in Siberia?
Yorkshire Ginseng-substitute?.. Whippet droppings and dock leaves boiled in turpentine!

"Damp" is different to dry cold. In Northern Sweden I walked around in a t shirt in -15C. I mean rising damp that causes fungus spores to form on the inside walls which then spread into the air, which you then breath in. Dry cold is quite healthy, because virus's hate it and cannot survive easily. On the other hand a damp, warm room is like a holiday in the Maldives for a virus, they can multiply at an astonishing rate!

A typical virus colony planning an attack:

[img]http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/yXPw3r2GArA/0.jpg[/img]

Daz, Pleurisy is a chronic infection of the lung which could lead to pneumonia and I expect that you are dosed up with antibiotics?
Mike.

Aaaaaagh... I'm under attack!