Breathing Questions- Asthma/RAD/Something Else?

[tonyfiore75]

Just recently i had an upper respiratory infection (a few weeks ago). I have since gotten over it but am still coughing a lot. I mostly cough in the morning. The cough is mostly dry and can get to the point of a bark at times. I have had some amount of post nasal drip on and off for the better part of 2 years. This is what I believe is causing me to cough.

My concern is that after coughing for a while I feel like I can't take a really deep breath. I can breath but I feel like if I try and breathe deeply, through my mouth, that it's harder to do so than normal. After some time I calm down and my breathing seemingly goes back to normal. You can hear some stridor if I breathe in very hard as well (only in the a.m. at the time of the 'attack'). Once I leave my apartment and go elsewhere, calm down, etc- it goes away. Is the cough irritiating my bronchial tubes?

Please note that I live in a basement apartment that is somewhat dusty/moldy. Also, I have a cat. I have also recently quit smoking. I noticed that when I smoked the condition was worse. It isn't as intense now. This happened last year as well during the winter and then went away until recently.  

When I went to the doctor and told him about this he said that it's probably RAD and that it will go away in around a month- since I just quit smoking. I don't fully believe him due to the fact that he did not perform a spirometry test on me and just assumed it was an irritation. I am a male, 31 years old.

Thanks!

[National Jewish]

You may have or may not have RAD or asthma.  The cough could be causing the airways to go into spasm and produce the symptoms you are suggesting.  This is not an uncommon finding after a viral illness.  Usually, after a viral illness causing this, the symptoms gradually go away.  If they are persisting and even getting worse, a lung function tests is an easy test to get and see if, indeed, this is the cause of the tightening you are experiencing.

[tonyfiore75]

Thanks for the response! It helps. Is there any real significant difference between RAD and asthma? I know that asthma IS an RAD. I'm just confused as to why my DR. would dismiss it as just an RAD rather than going through the motions of testing me for asthma. I guess if I go back to him in a while and the symptoms persist or get worse then he would do the tests?

Anyway, I just wanted to see if there were any differences between the two.

Thanks again!