I don't think this is asthma...

[pleasehelpme4]

I will begin my post back when I was born. I was a forceps delivery and somewhere during this process, the doctor did something wrong with his tool and as a result I had nerve damage to my diaphragm. I was in the NICU for 11 days on a ventilator because of this and after that, I was diagnosed with asthma. At the age of 2, I had a follow up visit to see if my diaphragm was working properly. After some kind of X-ray to test it, my parents were told that my diaphragm was working at 50%. I never went back for another visit, but at the age of 4, I was told tat asthma wasn't a big problem for me. I never had asthma attacks so I wasn't bothered with by doctors as far as asthma goes after that.

One morning when I was 12, I woke up with excruciating pain in my ribcage. My mom took me to the ER and they basically checked to see if  I was getting enough oxygen and that my lungs sounded okay and sent me home. I went to the doctors and they put me back on albuterol (sp?) inhalers.

Now, I'm 16 years old and I suffer from frequent bouts of pains pertaining to breathing. Sometimes my ribcage will just randomly start hurting leaving me doubled over in pain. Lately, this has been happening a lot more frequently. Also, the pains in the ribcage can travel from my ribs up to my chest (left side) and sometimes into my shoulder. I almost always feel like I'm short of breath and could take in so much more oxygen than I'm getting. Once in a while, I will notice that my lips are a blue color...It usually doesn't last long, but sometimes it can be for an hour or so. I have had a cough for the past 4+ months. Sometimes it is just a dry cough but I always feel like I have to cough...Other times the cough is extremely wet sounding. When I'm eating and swallow food, I always seem to choke if I'm drinking something and have to cough a lot. If I'm eating, my food feels like it gets stuck in my esophagus. Overall, I just am in pain and it drains me, I'm tired all the time. Just walking slowly up the stairs leaves me so out of breath I feel like I need to sit down (which is even worse than it already would be considering I'm 16, athletic, and play many sports). I feel weak, like oxygen? isn't getting to my arms and legs...When I get out of breath walking up the stairs, my knees and legs also feel weak and in pain. Also, when I feel like I'm not getting oxygen, I sometimes feel light headed/get a headache. Also, my throat hurts (maybe from all the coughing?) but swallowing and sometimes just moving around and breathing causes the sides of my throat to hurt..I know it's not just like muscles hurting, but it's inside my throat (not the walls? of the throat like if you have strep though)

I first went to the doctor's about this back in November. They had very minimal concern about what is going on with me, they sent me for an EKG and when it came back normal, they assumed everything was alright. They just gave me more asthma medicine and without testing, assumed it must be acid reflux and put me on over the counter meds. When that didn't help and I went for another visit, they listened to my lungs. They said they didn't hear any fluids and that I was fine. We mentioned all the stuff that I went through breathing wise as a baby and suggested that maybe I should get some testing done on my lungs besides a PFT (the birthday candle test...I couldn't blow out all the candles so they knew my lungs weren't filling up all the way). They just brushed it off and said come back if it's still bothering me in a few months after using the inhaler more. When it didn't go away, I had another appointment made. When I told them it's still going on, they told me I'm over thinking it and basically told me I was faking all of my symptoms. As someone who HATES going to the doctor, I can guarantee I wouldn't fake symptoms just so I can go there more often.

A close friend of mine was just diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We've both had these troubles breathing and stuff starting around the same time...It really scares me that for 8 months she didn't know what was going on and I am in the same boat but I still have no idea what's going on...It really just freaks me out.

What does this sound like?

[mike160]

The breathing issues you describe sound like excercise induced asthma , the pain in your rib cage and coughing up blood sound like pneumonia(pluersy).

Did you tell your doctor about the pain and blood on your last visit? Did you get a chest x-ray? You really need to give as much information to the doctor as you can when you have a visit. Write your symptoms down(like you did on this post) that way when you see the Doctor  you want forget anything.

What type of sports do you play?Do you have breathing issues just sitting around?Do have those pains when your not doing anything? Hope your feeling better Mike

[pleasehelpme4]

Also, recently I have noticed that when I spit while brushing my teeth, there's blood in the sink. I know you will say it's just my gums bleeding, I thought that too, but after "hocking a loogey" to check if it was my gums, the blood actually came up with a mucous-like substance.

I don't know if this is related, but my cheeks are also very flushed looking and my face, neck, arms, and chest are itchy most of the time. I seem to forget small things during the day that seem like no big deal but I know it's not like me. For example, today in the shower, I accidentally washed my body with face wash. Something I would NEVER do.