laryngeal spasm

[mokita]

what causes laryngeal spasm and is there any medication to prevent an attack.


This discussion is related to Laryngeal Muscle Tension/breathing distress.

[Olly123]

I've just (a few moments ago) had a trachea spasm; I've had them before (really scary, especially when it wakes you up from a deep sleep). I think it happens spontaneously, and is precipitated by swallowing liquid - even spittle - at the very moment of an inhalation. As has been said, the trick is to not panic, and that ain't easy!

[JaneyFromNY]

I am also, like so many others, so happy to have found this forum.  I have laryngeal spasms also.  For years I didn't know what was happening to me in the middle of the night.  I just thought it was my bad sinus problems and it was mucous in my throat.  Last month, August 2012 I started with what I thought was a sinus infection.  Went to the doc, was put on antibiotics .  I also took  advil cold and sinus and other sinus related things.  I started having these attacks again when I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air. How horrifying !  I felt like the mucous in my throat was covering my air way.  I went back to the doc.  They put me on the medi pack of presidone. ( excuse my spelling)  Nothing worked.  I had another attack of not breathing .  This time my husband insisted we go to the ER .  By the time I got there, of course the breathing was fine and they didn't know what t do with me.    I went to the doc again and this time it happened in the docs office!  Now they finally understood what I was talking about.  This lasted 20 minutes, and I thought for sure I was going to die. They called 911 and I went back to the ER .  Again when I got there they said everything was fine and sent me home with asthma inhalers.   I went to and ENT doc yesterday and he told me , after his examination that he thinks it is Laryngeal spasm and laryngoharyngeal reflux.  I am now taking 80mg of nexium a day.  He told me to come back in 2 weeks,  I am praying to God this works.  This is just awful and i feel helpless.  I am going to use everyones ideas.  I read all the comments from the beginning of this forum.   Thank you to everyone.  

[Ton75]

In addition to Tomb333; when you have a spasm bend your head backwards and stretch you arms above the head. Try to inhale only through the nose.

[Tomb333]

Hi. I've found that when I have a spasm, and I can't breath in, if I just try to stay calm and breath out a little bit, I'm then able to take a small breath in.  I repeat this again and again until I have better control of my "in" breaths.  Good Luck to you

[ggreg]

ALL, Oh my gosh, I am SO relieved to have found this thread!  I post regularly in a couple other forums unrelated to respiratory stuff, but I've had two of these laryngeal spasms, and so I decided I'd try to find a place in here that would explain what was going on, and I wound up at this thread.

Just a few minutes ago, I had a spasm.  Since I had had one once before, I knew what it was, altho I still didn't know what to call it or what to do about it.  That's why I came here right afterwards.  Anyhow, it really came out of NOWHERE and I didn't have any advanced sign of it.  I suddenly just start coughing, and I thought my throat SWELLS, to where I cannot breathe in or out!  Absolutely terrifying!  So, I kept trying to breathe in, there's a huge wheeze sound, and no air goes in!  Tears rolling down my cheeks, and I'm feeling a big tingling sensation throughout my body, legs and arms.  I almost woke up my husband, thinking I might pass out, but then I got control of it by trying very hard to relax.  I also drank some drink I had handy, really was working to get that to my mouth, the dog came in and was worried.  Finally I got a good breath.

I coughed and coughed for a while, blew my nose, and decided to pour some milk and stand outside on the back deck to breathe in some fresh air, lots of humidity out there, and then I really felt I was going to be okay.  I was thinking we had just bought filters for the A/C, and that since we hadn't changed them in so very long, that that was what was causing these two spasms I've had, I guess within a month of each other.  We still haven't changed the filters, but will tomorrow.

I am SO glad to read of various remedies, and Magnesium will be on my list to get tomorrow while I'm out.  I really liked the freezer idea, to put my head in there, since immediate relief is imperative.  For me, I think mine is caused because I had cancer last year (breast), and when my hair fell out from chemo, so did the hairs in my nose, but I don't think they quite grew back or something, but my Dad also had cancer, and ever since then, both of us have VERY runny noses.  In addition, my throat has been dry and wheezy for many years, probably the dryness is from the meds I have to take because of a back injury, and the wheeze, NOBODY knows what the heck that is, I've had it for more than ten years.  But when one of these takes over, that wheeze sounds like a freight train.

I can't help but think there's a little cloggy place where the air and food tubes are, and perhaps when post nasal drip piles up, it just explodes, and this causes my throat to swell up, which I now see is actually a spasm that is tightening the throat, from reading here.  Sorry I wrote so much.  I just wanted to describe in detail my situation, as others have, so people like me who also want to know what the heck just happened, that I felt almost killed me, can find some relevance and relief in our stories.  GG

[Tomb333]

My first spasm occurred on July 7 Th 2012.  Since then I've had 4 full fledged episodes and every night I wake with something that feels like something's coming on. With Each of the major bouts I took a trip to the emergency room where I asked and received O2 .  I found that dispute Drs telling me O2 really doesn't do anything for me , it seems to get me over the edge.  All of my episodes ( every night) come to me in the night , so I find that I can treat them with some benedral and a decongestant tablet before I sleep. For the most part , this cocktail seems to work well.  When I'm driving and feel some tightness in my upper chestv, I turn on the AC and direct the air flow to my face.  This too helps lessen the symptoms.  I'm interested in trying the magnesium therapy I read about.  Good luck to all of you.  I'll keep you up to date .