Pleural Effusion with no other Symptoms, whats going on?

[Mr_Stoll]

On December 21st and 22nd I had a cold, no vomitting but very achy body and very reduced energy. I woke up with sharp pain all over my chest and spine. On the 23rd I felt completely fine. On the 24th I woke up with some very sharp pain in my right chest, it would come and go ever few minutes and at its worst I had to stop moving and wait for it to pass, but it did get better as the day progressed. On the 25th the pain was more constant. Other than feeling the pain I felt fine, short of breath but no fever and no other symptoms. On the 26th it felt better but I decided it was time to visit an ER. I told them everything and they took an X-Ray. I was diagnosed with Pleural Effusion but because I had no fever and no other symptoms they just told me to take advil and try deep breathing. Two days later I felt completely fine.

Then, on January 2nd, I woke up with some pain back in the same spot, the base of my right rib cage. I thought this was because I slept on my right side (a severe trigger before) and it seemed to go away until I did some excersises in the afternoon. It felt much worse so I took it easy the next few days. Then on the 6th it got way worse. I was very short of breath and the pain was all the way up and down my right rib cage and in my right shoulder as well. Moving my right arm would trigger the pain. I also felt cold (very unusual for me) and would sweat in my sleep.

I went back to the ER and this time they decided to admit me and try and remove the fluid. They removed 800 ml of fluid on the 7th. However on the 9nth the X-Ray looked just as bad as before. I then got a chest tube put in me to continually drain fluid. Another 900 ml came out. The whole time I was in the hospital I had no fever, no elevation in white blood cells, no rashes, no nasea, no symptoms that anything at all was wrong except for the build up of fluid in my chest, I wasn’t even coughing up anytging. Oh, and all the tests came back negative, not a single test on my blood work or on the fluid came back positive. They did however confirm the the fluid in my chest was infectious (reactive/fighting something). They also found fatty intrusion on my liver, though none of the doctors thought this was related (and none thought it was serious enough to address at this time).

I was released after being admitted for 8 days. I am on 3 different anti-biotics/fungal. The doctors said they’ve never seen this before and I have no idea if the medicines are treating the exact cause. They are treating me for valley fever, despite that test coming back negative twice. Two days after getting out, my chest felt great, still recovering but I could breath deeply without sharp pain.

This brings me to today, I’ve been out for less than a week, taking the meds, taking it easy, and I’m developing pain again at the base of my right ribcage. Its not as sharp as I remember it being before but deep breaths are painful again. To make things worse my lung capacity is down, not as bad as before but lower than it was a couple days ago. I am 23 years old. A little overweight, I started personal training 2 months before this started and have lost weight. I have no other diagnosed health issues. I rarely drink and don’t smoke. My left lung btw, ha been perfectly healthy the entire time, right lung partially collapsed due to the fluid buildup.

What the hell is going on with me? Why is this coming back? Several doctors looked at my case and all said they’ve never seen anything like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Mr_Stoll]

3rd test came back positve. I have valley fever... though without a fever.