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Introduction and some questions
Hy everybody, I am fairly new at this, I am a 26 year old male, living in Austria originaly from Hungary. Two years ago I started to have trouble breathing, first I thought it was a cold or something, I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with chronic bronchitis. He prescribed me a Ventolin inhaler and some antibiotics. After a while I got better. But it began a few month again, ok I thought it was the bronchitis acting up again. Now just before christmas I got really bad. I went to the emergency room and they did bloow work, put me on a heart monitor, some chest x rays and coulnd't find anything, they sad that I had a panic attack. It felt like I am going to die and counld't breath. So my question is could it be anxiety syndrom? I am not feeling good since, but my symptomps come and go. There are days when I can't sleep. I wake up in a rush feeling like my heart stoped or I stoped breathing. My symptoms get worse at night. Even on new years eve after drinking, and in the middle of the party I wasnt feeling ok. Should I go to another doctor ? What should he investigate? I am still not conviced that is a mental problem. Symptoms : trouble breathing, nod in neck, feeling like I can't swallow, lightheadededness, and of course I am paniking after a while because I think I am going to suffocate. I don't knwo what to do, I just moved in Austria and don't have a job yet and no insurance. I am thinking of going home for another full medical.
Welcome to the forum, glad you found us and I hope we can help you.
I do want you to understand that on this side of the MedHelp Forum, we are NOT doctors. Anything we tell you is strictly our opinion formed from our own personal experiences.
When you originally went to the doctor with trouble breathing, was this the first time you had experienced this? What tests did your doctor order? Did you have a chest X-ray? Was a sputum sample taken and either looked at under a microscope or sent to a lab for culture?
I somehow got the impression that nothing much was done in the way of tests and he sort of magically arrived at a diagnosis of chronic bronchitis without any eveidence.
That is why I asked if this visit with the difficulty breathing was your first time to experience this. Any condition that is "chronic" means it is recurring, you get it a lot/frequently/regularly etc. A problem that happens only once is NOT chronic.
Bronchitis usually starts out very much like the common cold, but then a dry, hacking cough can present itself. Usually with bronchitis, after a day or two of dry coughing, you will begin to cough up a white or yellowish colored sputum. This will then turn yellow or green as the cough becomes worse. People with bronchitis often have a fairly high fever along with all the regular symptoms of a bad cold. (aches, pains,chills etc) The fever can last anywhere from 3-5 days after which the symptoms begin to improve, but the cough can hang on for several weeks. (Were you THIS sick when you saw the first doctor?) IF the airways are obstructed you may feel short of breath. Wheezing after coughing, is common and pneumonia may develope. A diagnosis of bronchitis is usually made on the basis of the symptoms, ESPECIALLY the apperarance of the coughed--up sputum. If symptoms persist, a chest X-ray is usually taken to look for the presence of pneumonia.
I will credit your doctor with putting you on antibiotics, but without a culture, it was a total guess on his part as to what type of organism he was trying to fight.
Did he consider asthma? Did he suggest you see a pulmanologist to rule that out?
Time passes and I'm assuming by now you have moved to Austria. Around Christmas you get a very bad "attack" and go to the ER. There they do the standard emergency room tests, heart, blood work, X-rays and everything comes back perfectly normal. They don't tell you that you've got bronchitis. (the X-ray would have shown them not only if you had bronchitis AT THAT TIME, but if you ALSO suffered from chronic bronchitis) But they didn't. Based on your tests and how you presented to them psychologically, they had no medical reason to diagnose you with anything but a panic attack.
Your description of how you felt is classic for panic.
If you did not present to the FIRST doctor with any symptoms other than feeling like you were having difficulty breathing, I think it could be a strong possibility that doctor totally misdiagnosed with chronic bronchitis rather than a panic disorder. A diagnosis of anxiety and/or panic should never be put on the table until every other possibility is ruled out.
I would strongly urge you to see another doctor, even if that apparently means going back to Hungary. But please find a different doctor than the first one you saw. I'm sorry, but his diagnosis was too quick and based on no medical eveidence. If I knew how to say "quack" in Hungarian, I would. You have symptoms that need further investigation and testing and I would also urge you to not close your mind to this being anxiety or panic related. Those things can be cured as well.
I hope you will keep us informed.
Peace
Greenlydia
I do want you to understand that on this side of the MedHelp Forum, we are NOT doctors. Anything we tell you is strictly our opinion formed from our own personal experiences.
When you originally went to the doctor with trouble breathing, was this the first time you had experienced this? What tests did your doctor order? Did you have a chest X-ray? Was a sputum sample taken and either looked at under a microscope or sent to a lab for culture?
I somehow got the impression that nothing much was done in the way of tests and he sort of magically arrived at a diagnosis of chronic bronchitis without any eveidence.
That is why I asked if this visit with the difficulty breathing was your first time to experience this. Any condition that is "chronic" means it is recurring, you get it a lot/frequently/regularly etc. A problem that happens only once is NOT chronic.
Bronchitis usually starts out very much like the common cold, but then a dry, hacking cough can present itself. Usually with bronchitis, after a day or two of dry coughing, you will begin to cough up a white or yellowish colored sputum. This will then turn yellow or green as the cough becomes worse. People with bronchitis often have a fairly high fever along with all the regular symptoms of a bad cold. (aches, pains,chills etc) The fever can last anywhere from 3-5 days after which the symptoms begin to improve, but the cough can hang on for several weeks. (Were you THIS sick when you saw the first doctor?) IF the airways are obstructed you may feel short of breath. Wheezing after coughing, is common and pneumonia may develope. A diagnosis of bronchitis is usually made on the basis of the symptoms, ESPECIALLY the apperarance of the coughed--up sputum. If symptoms persist, a chest X-ray is usually taken to look for the presence of pneumonia.
I will credit your doctor with putting you on antibiotics, but without a culture, it was a total guess on his part as to what type of organism he was trying to fight.
Did he consider asthma? Did he suggest you see a pulmanologist to rule that out?
Time passes and I'm assuming by now you have moved to Austria. Around Christmas you get a very bad "attack" and go to the ER. There they do the standard emergency room tests, heart, blood work, X-rays and everything comes back perfectly normal. They don't tell you that you've got bronchitis. (the X-ray would have shown them not only if you had bronchitis AT THAT TIME, but if you ALSO suffered from chronic bronchitis) But they didn't. Based on your tests and how you presented to them psychologically, they had no medical reason to diagnose you with anything but a panic attack.
Your description of how you felt is classic for panic.
If you did not present to the FIRST doctor with any symptoms other than feeling like you were having difficulty breathing, I think it could be a strong possibility that doctor totally misdiagnosed with chronic bronchitis rather than a panic disorder. A diagnosis of anxiety and/or panic should never be put on the table until every other possibility is ruled out.
I would strongly urge you to see another doctor, even if that apparently means going back to Hungary. But please find a different doctor than the first one you saw. I'm sorry, but his diagnosis was too quick and based on no medical eveidence. If I knew how to say "quack" in Hungarian, I would. You have symptoms that need further investigation and testing and I would also urge you to not close your mind to this being anxiety or panic related. Those things can be cured as well.
I hope you will keep us informed.
Peace
Greenlydia
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