lupus and lungs

medicinehatjenn · Newbie Alert Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 1

I have a very tight chest and back and it hurts when i breath??? help

MARYCAIN · King of the Jungle Joined: 03 Aug 2006 Posts: 1576

There are a lot of ways lupus can affect your lungs and heart, including pleurisy, pericarditis, and other conditions that can cause the symptoms you're describing. If these symptoms are new and you haven't had them before, this is not a good situation for self-diagnosis. You really need to get in touch with your doctor right away. If you can't get in touch with your doctor, and you are having severe pain or shortness of breath, you should go to urgent care or an ER. These symptoms will often turn out to be pleurisy, which is very common in lupus, but there are other, more serious problems which can also be caused by lupus - so this is something where your doctor really needs to be involved. Call, please!

masterst2 · Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: lupus and lungs

the first time i had pleurisy, i remember just thinking my ribs were broken; i couldn't lay down, i couldn't sit up, and on and on; so the second time, i went to the hospital. and they treated it as if it were no big deal, so since then, i have done the same--that is, been in pain with no help, just a little ibuprofen and some sleeping medication. however, recently, i have been having an intense cough, occuring anytime i exhale. some days are heavy, some are light, but it's driving me a little crazy but i hate to go back to the dr. and get another huge bill for them to tell me i can't do anything. does anyone know, is this still pleurisy, something worse, or just affecting me in a different way.