An 84-Year-Old Physician With Progressive Dyspnea and Bilateral Upper Lobe Opacities

Abstract

An 84-year-old physician was seen in the pulmonary clinic with 10 days of progressive exertional dyspnea, night sweats, and dry cough. For the past 5 months, he had been taking ibuprofen for lumbar radiculopathy from spinal stenosis. Ten days earlier, ibuprofen was switched to naproxen 250 mg twice daily because of its longer half-life. He denied fever, weight loss, rash, dysphagia, proximal muscle weakness, wheeze, sinus congestion, and peripheral numbness/tingling. Medical history included paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, hypertension, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and OSA. Long-term medications included aspirin, flecainide, atorvastatin, amlodipine, levothyroxine, and candesartan. He was a lifelong nonsmoker. There was no history of recent travel.