Desperate for help...

[JahNah]

A little background info: I'm a 30 year old morbidly obese diabetic (blood sugar well controlled, weight loss steady since 01/09). Smoked for 10 years, quit 11/07. Was thought to have asthma since late teens due to occasional wheezing and shortness of breath. Doc finally sent for PFT, which came back normal. The wheezing seems to get a lot worse when I'm sick, but it's usually manageable.

August 12th I got sick with what the doc told me was a common cold... stuffy nose, wheezing, coughing. I seemed to get a little better after a week, but a few weeks later got worse and went back to the doc to get antibiotics. Stuffy nose is gone, but there's still something going on in my chest.

So basically, since I got sick, I have this constant wheeze, which gets tons worse when I sleep. The weird thing is, my peak flow readings are always normal. It almost feels as if there's plegm in my lungs that I just can't cough up. The albuterol inhaler does pretty much nothing to help me, but the nebulizer treatment will help temporarily. I wake up a few times during the night because the wheeze is so loud and have to give myself a neb treatment.

Saw a lung specialist right before I got sick, who concluded I might have vocal chord disorder. My primary care is baffled as to what's wrong with me. Can anyone give me any insight? I'm desperate and feel like I'll never get better...

[allmymarbles]

For allergies affecting the throat, I take enough of a sip of liquid Benadryl to coat my throat. What follows is cough, the expelling of mucus, and that's it. Works like a charm.

[Victoireh]

Asthma and chronic bronchitis have two different pathways where it concerns inflammation/mucous. The mucous in chronic bronchitis responds much less to inhaled steroids then it does in asthma. Plus from my understanding steroid inhalers are only given in the severe cases of chronic bronchitis whereas it is the mainstay therapy in asthma. The albuterol inhaler might not be enough, but I have to agree with Flatman, that the source of the wheezing can come from being obese, it can also be GERD has something to do with it, or sleep apnea. It's good that your peak flows are normal, but these other conditions could also be compounding your breathing problems.

[allmymarbles]

Take 500 mg. vitamin B5 to thin the mucus. There are no side effects. I take 1000 mg. for chronic bronchitis. I now have much less mucus and expel it easily.

I suspect some of your breathing problem may has to do with your weight.

[Flattman]

What you seem to be describing is an 'audible wheeze' (When I consider wheezing, I think of the kind that can only be heard with a stethoscope and involves the lower airways within the lungs).  Audible wheezes involve the throat and upper airway.  Swelling can cause it, for instance with allergies/inflammation.  Morbid obesity itself could be the cause of audible wheezing as well as shortness of breath.

Have you had a sleep study for OSA?