chest tightness :(

[edwinaclare]

hi all, im a 15 year old girl who is fit and healthy apart from this fustrating weird tightness that I have been suffering from for 8 months now. back in 2009, I went on hoilday from my home in NZ to England which is a long filght of around 24 hours. Within a few days of arriving in the UK, I began to experience a mild chest tightness that wouldnt ease with taking asthma inhalers. i suffered with the tightness for about the first 4 weeks of my 5 week hoilday there. it was strange because after 4 weeks of continous tightness, one morning i woke up and it felt as if a large weight had been lifted from my chest and it felt as though i could breath freely and normally as i did in the past. I was happy! haha so then i finished my hoilday in the UK and flew back to NZ. my lungs were fine and felt 100% normal. i had no problems what so ever until september 2010 when I had my tonsils removed during a 45 minute operation. I had them removed because they were swollen and infected and the doctor advised me to have them removed. So after the operation, my lungs were still feeling normal and i could breath easily and freely. I went home to recover. About a week after the operation and when my throat was almost fully recovered, I had gone back to school and was leading a normal, chest tightness free life until the next day. My chest slowly began to feel as though the weight was coming back onto it and i was getting more and more worried because I dont like having that tightness. So, that tightness hasnt gone away since that week after my operation. I have visited so many doctors and specialists. I have taken antibiotics because after an x ray the doctors took, they thought that there was a little bit of pneumona in the bottom of my left lung but the specialist confirmed that it wasnt.I have taken steriods to try to get the muscles to relax but with no improvment of the tightness. I have has heart monitors and 2 x rays. I have done numerous amounts of lung tests such as blowing fastly out into a machine and many more lung function tests but my specialist confirmed that all my lung tests have come up 100% normal with NO sign of asthma. He has given me nose sprays to try to clear my blocked nose to see if that would make a difference with my lung tightness. But so far it hasnt made any difference. I am just so confused and I have no idea what is wrong with my lungs. When ever I take the ventolin asthma inhaler to try to easy the tightness, it doesnt make any difference at all. I dont know what to do. I need help because this is ruining my life as i cannot go somewhere without worring about the tightness. I am sure that it is not because of stress because i am not stressed at all and even if i am lying down, extremly relaxed, it wont go away at all. it is really annoying me. I have noticed that i am really tired all the time even if I get 12 hours of sleep. I have quite a few headaches and I am even loosing some of my memory and find it hard to concentrate for long amounts of time. I never notices these symptoms before the tightness came. Sometimes I get really sad about it because I thint that there is no cure for it and that i will have to suffer with it for the rest of my life. :( I really dont know what to do because nothing is working to make it go away or at least fade slightly. I wuld be really grateful if someone comes up with any answers for me because i will try ANYTHING anything it takes to make it go away. Thank you so much for reading this. :)

[LivingInHope]

Have you had your iron and ferritin (iron stores) levels checked lately?  Many menstruating females have a problem with iron deficiency according to an internist I had in the past.  Symptoms of iron deficiency can including rapid heart rate, shortness of breath with exertion, decreased concentration, poor memory, headache, and fatigue.  A person can notice symptoms (at least I did) even if the iron deficiency has not yet caused any abnormal number in your complete blood count.  So, I recommend you ask your doctor for these tests, including iron saturation percentage level.

Also, I wouldn't entirely rule out your being stressed, even though you don't think that you are.  It could be a vicious cycle going on.  Your chest felt tight, so you worry about it, which in turn, can cause tense muscles.  You really don't want to take steroids too long, if you can help it, as this can potentially cause serious side effects.  I had a thought about blood clot in the lung, since you mentioned long flight and surgery, but your chest x-ray and testing are currently proving your lungs are fine, correct?  Did they also check you for costochondritis?  That can make it hurt to breathe.

Try to think optimistically about your chest tightness- it just may improve!

[bsmsl]

Hello and welcome to the community.

The one thing that stands out as having not been evaluated is GERD.  There is a type of GERD that only affects the respiratory system and can cause the symptoms you are experiencing.  i would recommend that you discus this possibility with your doctors.  

Let us know how you are doing.

God bless.