Chest Tightness, Nasal Congestion and Wheezing.

I have taken countless medications to treat the above mentioned health issue. All the Chest X-Ray are clear with not problem. The recent Chest XR shows no acute cardiopulmonary disease. The CTA Chest scan shows clear lungs and the heart and pulmonary vasculature is normal. My question to you is: What else can be the problem? Please, I will appreaciate your professional advise or analysis.

[CallunaRose]

It sounds like a chest cold or maybe a sinus infection. Antibiotics can usually clear those things up.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

It is evident from your history that you could most probably be suffering from allergic rhinitis and asthma. Both these diseases are usually triggered by an allergen. These allergens, when exposed to initiate immune mediated reactions which will result in the symptoms you experience. The allergic history usually runs in families. Asthma can be detected by a spirometry test, and it may not be detected with an x ray or a CT scan.

So, the problem can be tackled at three levels.

At the allergen level, where you can consult an allergy specialist, who after doing some skin tests, will be able to specify some allergens. You can either avoid exposure to these allergens or desensitize yourself.

The second level is prevention of the attacks. For this, there are steroidal sprays for allergic rhinitis and steroidal inhalers for asthma. The steroid content is very minimal in both, sprays and inhalers and long-term use will prevent attacks.

When you have an attack, you can use an antihistamine (like Cetzine) for allergic rhinitis. Cetzine is not a steroid and all antihistamines will have some sedatory effects. For wheezing, during the attacks, you can use Asthalin.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.