Anyone who has had pleurisy willing to offer their experiences?
Went to A&E yesterday with chest pain and difficulty breathing, had some tests and have come away with some antibiotics and a diagnosis of pleurisy due to infection (viral or bacterial). Have been fit and healthy prior to the chest pains with workouts going well.
I know all cases are different and I will be following the advice of my doctors, but I would like to know what others recovery times have been so I know what the best and worse case scenarios could be.
Experienced this back in February, initially said maybe a chest infection, then probably pneumonia, then definately pleurisy.
I probably had 2 weeks of zero exercise bar easy walking. Breathing other than very shallow hurt a lot, light doses of co-codamol helped hugely.
It was another 2 weeks before managed any ‘proper’ exercise which was a very easy 10 minute ride. Couple of days later did a very easy hour, then started introducing a little intensity each ride.
End to end was maybe 8 weeks until managed a more typical ride but it was obviously hard work, hard to know what was residual from illness and what was loss of fitness.
According to the doctor mine was viral (can they tell from blood tests?)
Good luck getting over it and make sure you listen to your body
Mine started during a cold road race a few years back. I was in the middle of a bridging effort when I got a sharp stabbing pain in my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack which I found weird as Im a healthy life long athlete in my 20’s. So I pulled the plug on the race and went to the emergency room. ended up being pleurisy. (thankfully) The doctors gave me anti inflammatories, the pain is caused by the layers of the lung separating due to inflammation and then rubbing together, and told me to take it easy for a week or two.
Here’s what I did,
-took their anti-inflammatory as prescribed.
-doubled up with some pretty heavy duty CBD oil 3 or 4 times a day
-avoid smoke, dust, smog, fumes, extreme cold, anything that irritates the lungs. wear one of those asian medical masks if you have too
-I took an entire week and only did lazy mountain-1 and dans. breathe only long and slow thru the nose. bump down the intensity if need be. but you have to go on feel. your lung can’t heal if you keep pissing it off. if you push it it gets all inflamed and you’re back to square one.
-Make sure you’re eating a low inflammatory diet. don’t drink or eat a bunch of sweets because you’re off the bike and bored.
-As with any illness…SLEEEEPPPP.
Mine was quicker than Booms. I think I was back to full on training 2 or 3 weeks from the initial issue (attack/onset). I was also like 26 when it happened so healing comes like magic at that age.
Like everyone has and will say. Take it easier than you think and don’t rush it. its better to lose one extra week to being careful, than continuously pushing it and setting yourself back to square one and dragging it thru an entire season.