Feels like air not going into left lung!

[JayFromLA]

This has been going on for almost a year now - I've been to a number of doctors including a pulmanologist and none of them feel it is a problem with my lungs,but instead with the muscle around it - but I do not think this is correct. I did have slightly reduced lung capacity, but the doc thought that could be caused by muscle problems.

It started as a strange achiness on the left side of my neck and now it feels like it extends into my left lung  - but here's the weird part (and the part that the doctor seriously almost laughed at) -- it doesn't feel like air goes into my left lung! Although I realize this isn't possible, it still feels that way... when I take a deep breath, it feels like all the air fills my right lung.  

I went through a year period where I picked up a social smoking habit - a couple of cigs a day maybe and I have since quit doing that, but I feel like this began around that time - although again, the docs seem to think this isn't due to that. I never cough. CT Scan was clean except for some slight inflammation in the left lung which the doc said I would never be able to feel. Could it be some kind of allergic reaction?

Any ideas? This is driving me CrAzY!!!!

Thank you VERY much for reading this and any advise you provide.

[desmax3]

A related discussion, breathing problem was started.

[Richter_Belmont]

i also had this case. when you inhale the air doesnt go to the left lung. i think its the nose. i have little problem on my nose. because i have sinusitis, i frequently blow my nose and sniff. i felt this tissue moving and it affects the air that coming inside my nose.

because of this when ever i wake up after sleep ,i felt pain on my left chest,  

this pain on the neck. i also felt this and the pain on the lungs.

i think you should consult again another ENT specialist. ask him about the situation of your nose.

[JayFromLA]

thanks for your response.

I actually did have an MRI of the cervical spine which was negative.

There are a couple other things - pain in my left shoulder (same side as the other stuff) - and a fullness feeling in my left ear which has been going on for a little longer than the other issues - about a year. I've been to an ENT who couldn't find anything wrong with my ear, but it drives me almost as crazy as the lung. It's the kind of feeling you get when you need to hold your nose and blow to pop your ear, except it never quite pops.

One other thing - I had some pain in my pelvis which seems to have cleared tremendously with a cortizone shot (now it's more of a sensation there than a pain)

I feel like all of these things have to be related, but I think many of the doctors think I'm crazy.

- jason

[National Jewish Health]

The feeling that air is not entering your left lung is real, but the body can deceive us into believing that something is happening, that isn't.  Well described examples of this are:  
1) referred pain, where the pain is felt some distance away from the actual site of the disease; and
2) "phantom pain", where amputees feel pain in a no-longer existent leg.

The CT scan, pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and your doctor’s physical examination should resolve the question of air not filling your left lung.  Such a feeling might occur with paralysis of the left part of your diaphragm.

The clue may be that this began with, "...a strange achiness on the left side of my neck".  You should have a careful examination of your neck, the nerves that traverse the left side of your neck and the part of your spine where those nerves emerge.  This may require an MRI of the neck and/or spine.  The CT scan of your lungs would not have included these structures.

Good luck.