One thing that has helped me with anxiety tightness,and pain in the chest is to make myself yarn. Then after about ten yarns,my chest pain loosens up,and I have less anxiety pain in my chest. I don't know why it helps me,but it does. No one taught me this. I discovered it myself. BF

Dear Steve,

this is very helpful - thank you. i do have problems with anxiety from time to time although not often any more.

you know, there is probably a physiological reason as to why this works... it may distend the diaphragm, similar to the way that abdominal breathing works.

i don't think the particular problem i had these few days was related to anxiety. my pdoc said it could have been an anxiety-equivalent, so i accept it as a possibility. the fact that i had just increased the Zoloft dosage makes an interesting coincidence in that regard. i have no way to prove it was one thing or not another. but i do kinda think it was respiratory this time.

i have had pain/chest pressure and the feeling of gasping for air when anxious before, but there were distinct differences in how this felt. both the pain/pressure and the breathing were different:

- with anxiety, i never felt there was anything wrong with my breathing before, just a vague sense of gasping.

this time, my breathing felt rough.

- with anxiety, i have felt like someone was pushing down on my sternum with the heel of their hand.

this time, it felt like something was clenching a fist in there. there was a tight, burning sensation.

this morning i have the xray and spirometry, but i have been fine for a while. i seriously don't think they will find anything with these tests. maybe if i'd been having symptoms....

i really think it is allergies... since that is all that is wrong with my sinuses... i seem to have blown up, allergy-wise this year.

Waves,

You have been busy -- lab work and now this.
I hope that your day goes well.

M.

the tech who did the xray asked me more questions than my doctor did. like if i had a fever etc.

the other doctor, who did the spirometry, asked me up and down about asthma after hearing my symptoms. he gave me the results right away. it was fine/good.

i asked him if there were other tests i could do. he said i might have bronchial hyperreactivity - essentially a mild form of asthma - that can produce cough and the type of symptoms i have. he said i'd need a specific test to help diagnose that - a spirometry with methacholine challenge - but it was only worth doing if the problem persisted. i said well it's been going on since spring. he said, oh well they you should do that. he repeated, syllabizing, "METH-A-CHO-LINE" - and said to remember that. lol.

well. you know. i had asked my GP about exactly that, but he wrote me off. it would have cost me the same to do that, as it did to do the simple spirometry (not cheap)! GRRRRR.

i am thinking things might improve spontaneously in a bit, since we are almost into fall. maybe i should just hold off and pick this up again next spring, if things ramp up again.

~ waves ~

Waves This sounds like what I have. I've never heard of the term,"Bronchial hyperreactivity" before. This sounds like what I have. I've been coughing for about a hour,and a half now. It's starting to subside.

I don't know why but I think that It's been my fault for having this. I guess that It's been a long time false guilt. I don't smoke,or drink,or take illegal drugs.

I can't help these deep coughs,followed by more coughing that happens over a long period of time. I think that my allergies trigger the bronchial activity. This has been a very real problem for many years now. This problem really gets on my nerves,and I know that it's unpleasent to the people,and pets around me.

A medicine called Durahist use to help me with this problem. In the last couple of years it's been hard getting it at pharmacies.

A pharmacy owner said that this is the only medicine that helps some people with allergies. BF

Dear Steve,

bronchial hyperreactivity/hyperresponsiveness is a condition present in both normal and disease states.

it is normal, following an upper respiratory infection, while the body is cleaning out the "battlefields," and should resolve soon afterwards. it is not normal for it to be present all the time. when it is, it can be a symptom of:

- asthma, especially cough-variant asthma.

your situation sounds very suspicious for this, and mine is somewhat, because in both our cases the cough is triggered/worsened by allergens and irritants.

with cough-variant asthma, cough can be the only symptom. lung function is normal with baseline spirometry. the only way to detect it is with a methacholine inhalation challenge (MIC) - this is the test that the doc who did my spirometry suggested i have done.

Donna made me aware of this type of asthma and then i looked it up... i had always ruled out asthma completely, because i don't have wheezing and until recently did not have shortness of breath either... and have plenty of cough without the shortness of breath.

- PNDS - post-nasal drip syndrome. i do have this, and have noticed it can cause me to cough, but the cough can also occur independently, and i don't think tightness and shortness of breath go with post-nasal drip, but i'm not sure about that.

- GERD - gastro-esophageal reflux disease. cough tends to be worse after eating.

this article discusses all these things and treatment:

http://www.nlhep.org/books/pul_Pre/chronic-cough.html



~ waves ~

wondering... have you ever been given a corticosteroid inhaler and did it help?

i am going to look up Durahist to see if they have it in this country....

I haven't been given a inhaler in years. These illnesses are so complex. To go to a allergy doctor would be to expensive for me right now. I'm having to pay for a new pair of eye glasses,and the examination.

Sometimes when I'm half asleep,I can hear a slight wheezing noise when I'm breathing. I don't know what these groups of respiratory problems are. BF

Brokenfriend

I'm sorry you are having these problems and not able to get help.

Wishing I could help you.

But it sure sounds like bronchial things or asthma.

Donna