My son just went through treatment for pleurisy three weeks ago and was at the doctor on Monday this week, where he got results from a whole bunch of tests, which all came back "normal", including clotting, thyroid, and more. He was referred to a cardiologist to make sure that he isn't having any heart problems, in addition with what the ER thought was going on--pleurisy. Now, tonight, he is having some of the same symptoms again-- chest pain and moderate pain when he tries to breathe deeply. This has been going on periodically for years, and I am frustrated that there doesn't seem to be anything to do but give him pain meds, antibiotics, and steroids or do relaxation and hope it goes away. Some docs just wrote it off as "growing pains". His symptoms are gone within minutes of being given the pain meds and don't recur sometimes for months, but now we have two cases within a month. He isn't so bad yet that he wants to go to ER tonight. He's 19, has mild asthma, and has used his inhaler with no effect in this situation. His heart rate is normal and vitals seems normal at this point. Oxygen in 97% and pulse is 70. (We have multiple EMTs in the household.) If this is from pleurisy, what can we do to ward this inflammation from becoming such a problem? Is there any preventative or dietary adjustments or any herbal remedy or anything we can do differently? We don't want to run to the ER and him be on steroids all of the time with this sudden issue. It seems that they call it pleurisy because they rule out heart, blood clots, and other things. Is there a test to confirm pleurisy? Sorry. Lots of questions here.