What Is Pleurisy And What Causes It?

Pleurisy is a type of breathing condition that occurs when the pleura lining the lungs and chest cavity get irritated. When the pleura are inflamed, they rub against each other and make each breath hurt. This condition is characterized by chest pain that gets worse whenever individuals take a breath, sneeze, or cough. Some patients run a fever or find their shoulders and neck also hurt. In severe cases of pleurisy, fluid can build up between the layers of tissue and potentially put pressure on the lungs, triggering coughing and making it hard to breathe. Pleurisy can have many sorts of underlying causes, and being able to identify and treat the cause is the first step towards managing pleurisy.

Autoimmune Disorders

Autoimmune disorders are a category of disorders caused by a malfunctioning immune system. The immune system is supposed to protect the body by fighting off foreign microbes, but sometimes it overreacts and accidentally starts attacking healthy bodily tissue. There are a wide host of autoimmune disorders, ranging from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis, and almost any sort of autoimmune disorder can cause pleurisy. These conditions cause pleurisy because the antibodies in the immune system start to accidentally attack the pleura. These membranes lining the lungs and the cavity of the chest are supposed to smoothly glide against each other and prevent friction from happening. However, thanks to the mistaken attack of the immune system, the pleura suffer from tiny bits of damage, causing them to swell and become inflamed. This results in the characteristic pain while breathing individuals with pleurisy suffer from. Autoimmune conditions are particularly likely to cause fluid buildup between the pleura, so this condition requires careful monitoring.

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Lung Cancer

In many cases of lung cancer, patients are mistakenly diagnosed with pleurisy in the beginning. This is a fairly common misdiagnosis because the early stages of cancer often cause inflammation and swelling around the lungs. When the swelling and inflammation reaches the pleural membranes, it tends to end up resulting in pleurisy. Almost any type of lung cancer can result in pleurisy, but it is particularly common in individuals who have cancers in the lining of the lungs. Cancer patients who have pleurisy are often diagnosed with chronic pleurisy, meaning the pleurisy is not easily treatable. It is more likely to be long-lasting and worsen over time. The idea of having pleurisy due to cancer is definitely concerning, but it is important to remember it is quite rare. The majority of cases of pleurisy are due to simple infections and fairly easy to treat illnesses.

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Bacterial Infections

Pleurisy is always the result of inflammation, and in general, inflammation is the body's response to an infectious disease. This means one of the potential causes of pleurisy is simply bacterial infections. When the body can tell bacteria have invaded it, it will respond by raising temperatures and producing white blood cells to hunt down the bacteria. Keep in mind a random bacterial infection anywhere in the body is not likely to cause pleurisy. Inflammation tends to be centralized around the threatening infection, so it normally will not reach the lungs unless the bacterial infection itself is in the lungs. A wide range of bacterial infections can affect the lungs, including strep throat, bacterial pneumonia, mycoplasma infections, and Haemophilus influenzae infections. The exact symptoms of these infections vary depending on what type individuals have, but typically a bacterial infection of the lungs causes fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fevers, coughs, and sneezes.

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Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is a rare blood condition where the red blood cells in an individual's bloodstream are shaped like narrow sickles instead of being rounded shapes, which keeps the red blood cells from being able to function properly. This causes a wide host of issues, including anemia, extreme fatigue, jaundice, swelling of the extremities, and chronic pain. Patients with this disease tend to have crises where they experience all of these symptoms quite severely due to a higher than normal buildup of sickle cells. During this time, the overall increase in inflammation and system-wide distress can make a patient end up with pleurisy. Keep in mind individuals with sickle cell disease can also have a life-threatening condition called acute chest syndrome, which causes trouble breathing and sharp chest pains. Therefore, it is important for patients with sickle cell disease to seek medical treatment if they have chest pain instead of simply assuming it is pleurisy.

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Viral Infections

Viral infections are the most common reasons individuals develop pleurisy because they are one of the most common causes of lung issues altogether. Both the flu and common cold are viruses that affect millions of patients worldwide each year. When the body is trying to fight off these viruses, the levels of inflammation throughout the lungs are increased. In some individuals, the inflammation ends up affecting the pleura, causing the characteristic pain with each breath. Of course, it is never fun to be sick with the cold or flu, and having pleurisy tends to greatly increase the discomfort. Though no medications can halt a viral infection immediately, individuals can take anti-inflammatory medications to treat pleurisy. In more mild cases of viral infections, pleurisy can be a fairly brief condition that lasts a few days.