Topic: Fluid in / or my lung ??? Anyone has same experience??

The day I ended up in the ER with shortness of breath is the day they found the reocurrence mass to my chest and the cat scan also found a right plerual effusion or build up of fluid just under the rt lung ( not in it) that was pushing up on the lung making it harder to breathe.  So that day they did a thoracentecis to remove the fluid and it was not bad at all.  They sit you up, numb the area with lidocaine injections--not bad, then remove it.  The first time they took out I think 850cc and in 3 weeks I had to have a total of I believe 5 of these procedures.  but each time your breathing is suddenly improved.

Later cat scans have found "small" effusions but nothing that caused me problems and no further procedures were needed for that.

 Can I clarify a little----There is :  pleural effusion which is fluid up in the pleural space (around the lungs) that is pretty easily removed.

Then there is a pulmonary embolism (otherwise known as a PE) that can be a lot more lethal if not found and corrected.  It's a blood clot in the lungs.

Analemma, sounds like you had an effusion rather than a PE or did you have both?  Anyway it sure wasn't small by any means......over 2 liters!!  I bet you could breathe better!  The most they ever took out of me was 850cc and at that point I was really short of breath so I can't imagine 2 liters.  Glad you got relief.

That's great gngn!!  Good for you!   I was given a prescription for furosemide (lasix) tablets when I had swelling to my ankles but never thought it would be used for effusions but it makes sense if it was a small amount of fluid.  Do you know his estimate on how big or small the effusion was??

I know I've had fluid build-ups since I get a little short of breath and actually hear gurgling in my lower lung area when I deep breathe, heck next time I'm going to take a 20mg lasix and see if it helps.