NWgirl wrote: That said, could it be continuing because of some nutritional deficiency?
Belle, if you want to give it a try to what rp1954 is saying, that would mean that you should
lower (or eliminate) all saturated and trans fats of your diet, during a time, and use only medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) fats. Which means: try and use
coconut oil in all. Don't use whole milk, cream, ice cream, whole-milk cheeses, meats with fat (beef, poultry with skin, or lamb) (all that is saturated fat) or (worse) margarine and all the stuff with trans fats (all those manufactured cookies, crackers, donuts, french fries, etc.).
(If you want an explanation: it may seem silly and little, but it makes sense.
The MCT fats (say, coconut oil) are absorbed directly into the portal venous blood; instead, saturated and trans fats are absorbed via the lymphatic system. If one 'gives a vacation' to the lymphatics, you're creating favorable conditions for healing of the effusion. It's the way that kind of pleural effusion (chylothorax) that rp1954 mentioned is treated in
children (1974) and also the recommended diet for those adults who had a pulmonary resection and mediastinal lymph nodes taken off (
2014)
I had to read a bit about fats because, sadly, my daughter has epilepsy and ketogenic diets (based on fats; one of them,
MCT based) are one of the treatments for that condition. Also, I had pleurisy past month so I had to remember about MCT. I think it helped me to finally get better...
Nobody says it's a cure but, for a while, it can't hurt if you eliminate the saturated fats and use coconut oil, and it may help to heal...