The only thing that has been done so far since the effusion was discovered was that I was briefly put on plaquenil. However, the rheumatologist has pulled me off of it for the time being because she is concerned that it is driving my white blood cell count down. Me, personally, I think it's more likely that whatever is going on autoimmune related is what's driving the white blood cell count down. At any rate, the only thing that has been done since the discovery of the effusion was the trial of plaquenil. So I guess it's been more of a wait and see approach.

As far as shortness of breath, I haven't noticed too much. I haven't noticed any more difficulty in taking my walks. What I have had lately is some chest pain around or near my heart that I think is something going on with the auto-inflammatory process. Perhaps it is the pericardial effusion I'm feeling.