Wierd Feeling in chest/trachea

[robotechman]

for the past few days I have had a wierd feeling in my trachea, and chest area, I want to make sure this is nothing serious, it doesnt seem like it is but I dont know.  Ok I have allergies had a little bit of asthma growing up, but it is basically only when I do a strenuous physical activity and it doesn't get bad.  Suffering from GERD taking Nexium for that.  I also think I may be suffering from tension headaches if that has anything to do with it.

Symptoms:
1. Front of my neck area feels tight, like it is swollen but I looked in my mouth and it doesnt seem that my tonsils are swollen and my neck doesnt hurt it just feels tight.

2. When I breathe in I get a burning sensation in my trachea, and it also seems that when I use something minty like those listerine stips it also burns.  Not bad burning almost feels like heartburn in my trachea and upper lungs.

3. I have no wheezing or difficulty swallowing, sometimes it seems like I am taking shallow breaths, but at night when I am laying down it seems to annoy me more I don't know if that is because I think something is wrong or laying down actually makes it worse.

4.  When I wake up in the morning it feels like the front of my neck is sore, but as the day goes on it goes away and feels normal most of the day.

5. I have a congested feeling in my lungs but I can take deep breaths and there doesn't seem to be an obstructions, wheezing, or anything, and sometimes I have to clear my throat of saliva like it got stuck or something.  Saliva is clear no color to it.

Thanks.

[National Jewish]

Postnasal drip is drainage from the nose and sinuses dripping down the back of the throat.  This can cause irritation of the throat and lungs.  You might feel this irritation as soreness, tightness, swelling, or burning.  Throat clearing helps move the mucus out of the throat.  Postnasal drip commonly gets worse at night when you are laying down.  Generally this irritation feels the worst when you wake up and gets better as the day goes on.

A nasal wash helps remove mucus from the nose and sinuses.  This can temporarily reduce the postnasal drip and lessen the irritation.  A prescription nasal steroid spray decreases nasal swelling and mucus production.  This may prevent the postnasal drip and irritation.  To get the most out of a nasal steroid spray use it after doing a nasal wash.  A nasal steroid spray does not provide immediate relief of symptoms.  It may require several weeks of routine use to become effective.  Please read our Nasal Wash MedFact at http://www.nationaljewish.org/medfacts/nasal.html for more information about this technique.  Share this information with your doctor to see if you would benefit from this daily treatment.

If this weird feeling persists in your trachea and chest, you will need to be evaluated by your doctor to know for sure if this is nothing serious.  From the information that you have provided there are 2 other possible causes for the symptoms that you have described.  The Nexium® (esomeprazole) may not be completely controlling your gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  Also your asthma symptoms may be returning.  Once a person has asthma they always have asthma.  It is possible to go without symptoms, but the symptoms can return at any time.  Both physical activity and GERD can trigger asthma.

[robotechman]

Also it seems that the feeling is a lot worse when I breathe in cold air.  It is almost non-existent when I breathe in air while I am outside.

Also my voice has slightly changed it seems like I am stuck with morning voice and can't get rid of it all the way I still sound like my normal voice but with a little bit of morning voice mixed in if you know what I mean.



Thanks

[Sport]

I just read the post about the wierd feeling in the chest and trachea areas.  I was hoping some answers on the cause of this or what it means would be there, but I guess I have to wait.

My mother has COPD and I live with her.  Since February, she has developed this same thing.  It started out as "once in a while" and not everyday.  But now it seems like it's more often than before.  She also gets that morning voice, but after a couple of clearing her throat, it seems to be gone for the rest of the day.  I think it might just have to do with her nebulizer medication.

She says that, for her, it seems to occur when she wants to eat something.  She calls it a bubble feeling, but that's how she is describing the tightness in her chest.  She did have this wake her up last night in the middle of the night.  That seems like it's a first.  

So any information we can get will be helpful to us to understand this.  We're learning as we go along.  

Her doctor told her that she would probably breathe better in the warmer months than the colder months.  The doctor said that the cold weather can make the lungs constrict more than in warmer weather and this whole thing about COPD is that it's not hard to get breath in...it's the getting it out.

I worry, of course, that means that the diease is advancing faster than we would like it to.

[mortimor]

My father and I have thje same wierd chest feeling but the doctors seem to have no idea what it is. I caught a cold that became a chest cold and infection. I did not treat it right away. There was bo sore throat but consisted of coughing and mucus. The mucus went away and then i went to the doctor and took some antibiotics to make sure the infection wa gone. After the mucus went away this feeling of discomfort and tightening of my wind pipe started and a shortness of breath. I don't notice it constantly and it has been 6 weeks now.I did not notice it when the weather got warm but now that it turned cool again it is back. It is like my breath is being forced out and short. If I am busy I barely notice it but when I sit still like now at the computer I really notice it and my breathing is laboured.The other reader mentioned laying down at night seemed worse but that may be becasue he is idle. I have no stuffiness or congestion, headaches or fever. It really feels like the lungs are laboured but the doctor cant find a thing and said at first maybe I irritated the pipe. But that was 3 weeks ago.
Is this a lingering infection that stronger anti-biotics can help? e could go to the hospital but they are sort of off limits becasue of the overblown SARS scare here in Toronto. Thnakd for your comments

Off topic for a minute, 4 million people here and under 200 get SARS and 15 die in a small section of Toronto at a hospital and the World Health Organization gives a no travel advisory. Destroying the cities convention and tourist industry. They have not even visited the city.Stay away from those two hospitals and you are o.k. Even if you go to the hospital your chances of getting it are slim so dont belive everything you read or see on TV