Plastic Bronchitis?

[bssutton27]

Hello,

I have had an undiagnosed breathing problem off and on since 1995.  My symptoms are shortness of breath, wheezing on exhale, hacking up of clear mucous that is perfectly tube shaped.  There was a brief two year period where it went away and came back strong in 2001 and has been worsening ever since.  I am a non-smoker and do not have asthma.  PFT testing has been normal.  Ct's and Xrays have not shown anything significant.  I have been prescribed just about every inhaler known to man, including Advair and those do not help.  I have recently been put on a Mucomyst treatment twice daily and that has helped some, but not much. It seems like I can breathe in deeply, but get no benefit from the breath.  The best way to describe it is that my lungs feel like they weigh 100 pounds.  They just always feel very heavy.  I was hoping someone might have similar symptoms and had a diagnosis.  It was recently suggested by my specialist that I might have plastic bronchitis, but after reading the material he gave me, not so sure. Thanks.

[DrMerritt]

I have a patient with plastic bronchitis, and it is related to an allergy to mammal protein.  She would cough casts and swell in her neck when she ate beef, pork or milk.  She had symptoms when she inhaled animal dander.  The allergy is to a sugar-protein called alpha-gal.  There is a test available through Virocor-IBT.  If you have any questions, call my office.
Tina Hatley Merritt MD
479-254-9777 Bentonville, AR

[sstitanic2]

When will you go for the bronchoscopy? Your condition is a real puzzler. If you would like after your test to let me know what they find. I will continue to pray for you. God bless and keep you.

[bssutton27]

No, I have never worked in any hazardous occupations.

I have had two pulmonolgist and am working with a third.  I have had two PFT test with normal results.  It seems like the next step is bronchoscopy to see what might be going on.

Thanks for the prayers, same to you.

[sstitanic2]

It sounds like your lungs are not expelling the bad air. I have what seems to be the same thing. The lung doctor has me down as copd. I can breath in but have a problem getting the bad air out. My lungs feel very heavy a lot of the time too. I would think that you would have been given breathing tests, Maybe you need to get a good lung doctor if you haven't already. Let me know what you find out. Have you worked in the plastics industry? My thoughts and prayers go with you.