Chest pain and hoarseness - undiagnosed and frustrated

[WendyWendy]

The concern is for my mom, actually. She has undiagnosed symptoms after 2 months of testing. It\'s frustrating to not know what is causing her pain. She has chest pain that seems to be linked to a hoarseness in her voice.

She has had many tests, all of which have come up with \"normal\" or \"good\" results. Tests include CT scan, chest x-ray, EKG, stress test, endoscopy, colonoscopy, larenoscopy, lots of bloodwork, etc. The only thing that has been discovered through these tests is a small hiatal hernia and benign polyps in the colon that have been removed.

Additional information: my mom was in Uganda for over a week last August. We suspect she may have come in contact with a fungus, bacteria or something that may be showing up now, but all bloodwork is \"normal,\" according to the dr\'s here. She has also taken USANA nutritional products for 9 years now (which are high quality supplements, manufactered with GMP's to USP guidelines for pharmaceuticals).

Do you have any suggestions for further testing? Currently, her dr. gave her a prescription that would be used to treat pleurisy. (if it were pleurisy, wouldn't they have seen that in her chest x-rays?)  If she doesn\'t notice improvement within a week, he will refer her to a pulminologist. Thank you for any advice you can give.  

Warmly, Wendy Curtin

[nangadef]

A related discussion, Hoarseness, chest pain, thyroid pain was started.

[WendyWendy]

Thank you for this feedback.  I think the plan is to have the bronchoscopy next.

One other question, especially concerning her trip to Uganda.  Do you know of any parasite or fungus that should be tested for?  Or...do you know how we could even start that process?  I read an article about someone who was exposed to anthrax as part of the process of making African drums (with animal hide), and I know my mom was in a drum manufacturing facility there.

Thank you again

[National Jewish]

Seeing a pulmonologist who can evaluate the problem is a good idea.  Perhaps this specialist will perform a bronchoscopy.  During this procedure a bronchoscope is passed through the nose into the windpipe to look into the lungs.  A bronchoscope is a flexible tube with a small camera at one end.  Trying to make a diagnosis without finding any abnormal findings is not an easy task.