Throat Spasms

[thenational]

Hi,

Over the last three years I have been having a lot of breathing problems. I get episodes where my throat closes up and I can't breath or talk for 20 ro 30 seconds. They happen infrequently. I also get acid reflux, anxiety, have a post nasal drip, sore throat, voice hoarseness and wake up with stuff in my chest. I having coughing episodes in the morning and get a bad gag reflux where my throat closes, but the morning episodes I'm not too concerned about. It's the ones I get when I'm not coughing and my throat just closes up suddenly with no warning. It always comes good, but the episodes are terrifying as I am convinced I am going to die during them.

I have chest xrays and they are all clear and am going for a throat examination soon. Csan anyone please shed any light on this for me?

Has anybody else had this when their throat closes up and they can't talk or breath?

[paxitrader]

This sounds a lot like VCD or Vocal Chord Dysfunction to me. And the throat spasms/difficulty breathing can definitely be triggered by things other than allergies.

There is a VERY helpful website about this at National Jewish, where they are very knowledgeable about the problem and have been treating it for years.

Here is a list of common triggers for the throat spasms: http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/vcd/triggers.aspx

As you can see, not all patients have asthma. In fact, two of our children had similar spasms and theirs were triggered by moderate to severe food allergies.

[thenational]

Oh and I was told by a doctor I had asthma, but when I got a second opinion my peak flow readings were fine and and it's definitley not my xchest tightening, but my throat