It depends. My pulmonary embolism was extremely painful. Think about it like this: when you breathe you get a very sharp pain, so sharp it startles you, and when you get startled you automatically take another breath. A never ending cycle of pain. Mine was exactly like that. I survived three days with it. Pulmonary embolisms don't kill you when they are in your lungs, the clot would be thrown to either your brain or your heart, and that is where it would kill you. If you only had the clot in your lung for a few hours and then it went to your brain or heart then it wouldn't be too bad. It would hurt a lot in your brain and it could burst a vessel which would cause death, or it would cause a heart attack which would be much more survivable.

I'm looking at this answer above me and I find it so misinformed and so wrong, that I need to post this. PEs hurt. Yes, they are painful. Small or massive, they hurt. Not all PEs completely occlude blood flow, some restrict it. Contrary to what the person above wrote, "Pulmonary embolisms don't kill you when they are in your lungs", a PULMONARY embolus IS in the lungs!! This is why it's termed "pulmonary". And make no mistake, yes it can kill. Emboli don't stay in the lungs for "a few hours." PEs originate as DVTs primarily in the upper leg. Cerebral emboli usually originate in the left atrium of the heart . An embolus in the brain doesn't necessarily kill and the vessel it's in doesn't burst either. This is an ischemic stroke and people can survive them. I have no idea where this person got the idea that a cerebral embolus wouldn't be too bad. There really are not emboli in the heart. This is where they sometimes originate, such as with atrial fibrillation and chronic heart failure. The mitral and aortic valves are large enough to accommodate a partial thrombus. Generally, it's a piece of a thrombus that breaks free and migrates, not the entire thing. If a small embolus were to be passed through the aortic valve and lodge in the coronary artery that branches immediately off this artery, this would occlude blood supply to a portion of the heart and result in an acute myocardial infarction. I'm afraid the person above me knows very little about human physiology, DVTs, PEs, and emboli in general.

The medical term for a cough is tussis.

Whooping cough is pertussis; one common brand of cough medicine is Robitussin.

, which generates ATP in your cells, requires

oxygen

to take place, also, it generates CO2 as a waste product.

The respiratory system allows oxygen to diffuse into your blood, and

carbon dioxide

to diffuse out. The blood then carries the oxygen to the cells, so cellular respiration to continue. When the blood reaches the cells, it also takes the carbon dioxide out of the cells, and carries it to the lungs to get rid of it.

Yes, Vasoconstriction is the constricting (narrowing) of the arterioles supplying the the blood to capillaries close the skin surface. Heat is lost from the blood that does pass close to the surface (via radiation).

Vasocontriction however, allows much of the blood to pass below the fatty adipose tissue rather than close to the surface.

Vasodilation is the dilation (enlargening) of the arteriole that supplies blood to the capillaries. Therefore less blood flows beneath the adipose tissue, and much more flows close the skins surface. Much more heat is lost via radiation this way.

Vasoconstriction is co-ordinated via the sympathetic nervous system (stimulates effectors like the smooth muscle)

Vasodilation is co-ordinated via the parasympathetic nervous system (inhibits effectors like the smooth muscle)

An individual's susceptibility to certain diseases or conditions can be affected by:

• genetics
• immediate family medical history
• personal medical history
• personal lifestyle
• personal or community environment
• personal dietary habits
• smoking
• use of tobacco products
• exposure to chemicals or carcinogens

Pleurisy affects the membranes that line the chest cavity and around the lungs. These 2 layers of membranes are separated by a thin layer of fluid that allows them to move smoothly by one another with each breath. If the membranes swell, they rub against each another, causing sharp pain when breathing and/or coughing. This symptom/condition is called pleuritis or pleurisy. Usually, there is no pain between breaths. More symptoms may involve shortness of breath, dry cough, or fever/chills.

Pleurisy is not a disease by itself--it is a symptom of another condition, such as viral infection, bacterial infection (i.e. pneumonia or tuberculosis), or an auto-immune condition (like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis). As such, pleurisy is not contagious, BUT some of its possible underlying conditions, such as tuberculosis, can be VERY contagious, especially to young children and people with low- or non-functioning immune systems (from AIDS, MDS [not muscular dystrophy, but myo-dysplastic syndrome], Leukemia, etc.).

In addition to being caused by sickness, pleurisy can also show up after a chest injury or heart surgery. Occassionally its cause is undetermined. To try to diagnose the underlying cause, physicians may listen to the lungs with a stethoscope, look at an X-ray, run blood tests, and/or remove a fluid sample from the chest with a needle.

The symptoms of pleurisy can be diminished by treating the underlying cause. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to help symptoms in the case of viral infections, which are usually left to run their course. Codeine can be used to diminish coughing and pain.

As a possible complication of many illnesses, pleurisy can be chronic or reoccur, with different levels of severity. Persons with severe chest pain that goes away when they hold their breath, or go along with a fever, may want to see their doctor to diagnose possible pleurisy and any other issues at hand.