Short of breath, no coughing, lots of wheezing

[cdurante]

I am a 30 year old female with a history of pneumothorax due to blebs. I had a thoracotomy on my right lung when I was 16. I started smoking at 17 and had smoked until a week ago. No other significant health problems.

I was having pains in my chest when I would exhale the pain would radiate up to the bottom of my teeth. I have a very hard time taking a deep breath and when I do there is a wheeze coming from the right side of my chest. Consequently I cannot yawn easily and most of the time I find I cannot yawn at all. The pain is not sharp but a dull ache. I have not had any excess of sputum and the little I do have is clear with tiny brown speckles. I have had a no temperature or any other respiratory symptoms aside from a little hoarseness which seems to come and go. Breathing seems easier in the morning when I first get up but by lunch time the tightness and wheezing are in full swing.

I visited the doctor last week and he sent me for chest xrays which came back normal. My O2 is at 98 to 99 and BP 117/62 and my pulse is between 56 and 68 which I was told is normal. He could hear the wheezing in my right chest and it was pretty substantial. He put me on a breathing treatment which seemed to help and gave me a script for medrol ventolin and bacterium for bronchitis which despite the fact I presented with no fever or cough he was sure I had.

I have three days left on my antibiotic and have been taking the steriods and ventolin. The wheeze has become louder and more constant and my breath is shorter. My throat feels tight and my chest feels heavy even after I hit my puffer. I went back to the doctor a couple of days ago and he sent me for another chest xray which again came back normal. Actually he said by comparison of the first one it looked better. He says keep taking the inhaler steriods and antibiotics and my symptoms should magically disappear (even though as of right now they have just been getting worse)

Odd thing is though if I am sitting my breathing is really labored if I am standing and walking around I can take deep breathes many of the times and have little wheezing. There is no cough at all with this whatever I have here.... I mean none. I wake up and my breathing is good but my right chest is really sore .... by the middle of the day my right chest is not sore but my breathing is not good and the pain in teeth and on the top of my chest is really pronounced.

I have never had bronchitis before but everything I have read says it should usually include a cough and a low grade fever. I have had neither. Now the wheezing is something that was present in the last few months of my smoking but sort of came and went however I had no shortness of breath.

The doctor said try mucinex and I am going to tonight and see if there is just mucus that is so caked in there its really not moving around. My question here is .... what are the chances this is just acute bronchitis or did I manage to screw myself with the years of smoking I have done? My lungs look clear but what about my bronchial tree? Can you see that in a chest xray? Can you diagnose a bronchial problem with a chest xray? Has anyone else had these symptoms?