I was hospitalized in July (2006) for Pulmonary Emboli (several in both lungs) and have been on warfarin ever since.
About 6 weeks after I got out of the hospital, I developed some new symptoms like shortness of breath and chest constrictions; At first it was just during physical activity, and then it was random. An echo, chest x-ray and chest CT were all normal. A PFT showed "bronchial constriction" which was diagnosed as asthma by some random pulmonologist who read the test, but did not examine me or have my history.
The pulmonologist I DID see ran with this diagnosis and prescribed Singulair. The Singulair interrupted my sleep, so now I'm trying Pulmacort.
I wake up feeling fine, but by noon my symptoms are back. They include shortness of breath and chest tightness with occasional pleuritic pain my chest, flank or back, occasional dry cough, especially when lying down Occasional difficulty speaking. I experience symptoms when I am at rest or active.
I am dubious about the asthma diagnosis because the symptoms don't match mine. I don't wheeze, and no doctor has heard a wheeze. I don't produce mucus. I don't have attacks - I'm just symptomatic, or medicated. The symptoms aren't triggered - they are just *there.* Asthma is not a likely outcome of having had PE.
I'm wondering if this could be Idiopathic Interstitial Lung disease? I can't find any reference to it being the result of Pulmonary Embolism, but since it can start with random lung tissue damage, I don't think it's that far fetched.
Thanks in advance for your help.