Frustrated diagnosis

[Hawkeye110]

I was recently hospitalized  for a week because my lungs were so swollen the bottoms of both of my lungs swelled shut.  I have been out of the hospital and on many meds for three weeks and now my symptoms are returning.  My original symptoms were, wheezing in the throat, snoring, fatique, inactivity, hypersensitive to All odors, and tightness in the throat (like a large rubber band around my neck). I don't havethe "Normal" wheeze in my chest and No mucus, completely dry.

I have had Cat scans, Nuclear MRI's, stress test (which I couldn't pass due to the wheezing) Xrays, Ultra sounds,and blood drawn and been treated for acid reflux, my heart is perfect, my blood pressure is 90 over 68, no fever, no infection, no reflux.  At this time they think it is Asthma or Obstructive Airway disorder and treating me as such, but the 4 meds they have me on don't seem to help.  I have never had an allergy, I have never been sick and was a perfectly active, thin 43 year old working mom three months ago.  I just can't accept the fact that I can't do normal activities, nor go into a store  with any smells without my "Asthma" causing me  to loose my breath and start wheezing, I have difficulty walking from my car into a store without the wheezing returning.  Once removed from the odor or if I lay down, all systems disappear accept the tightness in the throat and shortness of breath which is constant and no meds take it away. ( (meds include, prednizone (now finished) , albuteral ( inhaler and in breathing treatments), flovent, and singular.)) I feel great in the morning before I get out of bed, once I start moving it gets worse and by night time, I am miserable.

Is there anything else that I could be suffering from, I feel like my doctor has just decided it was asthma and stopped looking for anything else.

[National Jewish Health]

You may well have asthma or an asthma-like disorder called, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS).  But much of what you describe suggests that the problem may reside in your throat; specifically in the voice box and probably involving your vocal cords.  This could be one of a number of conditions that involve the vocal cords including:  
1) Vocal cord dysfunction, diagnosable by direct exam of the vocal cords or by pulmonary function tests (PFTs) with assessment of the inspiratory flow-volume loop; 2) angioedema, an allergic reaction that specifically targets the vocal cords and causes them to swell; and 3) tumors or polyps of the voice box, each almost always benign.

You should request that your doctor arrange for a direct examination of your voice box and vocal cords, with the use of a fiberoptic laryngoscope, and order complete pulmonary function tests (PFTs), before and after a bronchodilator.