Dear Baileywins,
My husband and I were each diagnosed with VCD, several years ago, by the expert and kind docs at National Jewish Hospital. They helped us to be able to stop each VCD attack, using Speech Therapy, along with Abdominal Breathing techniques.
Nat'l Jewish Hospital is most expert at diagnosing VCD, asthma, sleep apnea, auto-immune diseases, etc. They have several methods of treatment for VCD, depending on each patient's case.
After we were able to stop each VCD attack, we needed to figure out all our underlying causes of our VCD. In our cases, sinus problems and a form of gastric reflux were factors. Other VCD patients have these &/or other factors, (like asthma, sleep apnea, irritants, indoor air pollution, and many other possible factors, etc.), contributing to their VCD.
Once we worked on controlling our underlying causes, our VCD attacks stopped happening.
I created a website about VCD, that includes links to National Jewish Hospital's website. If you would like to compare notes, you can email me at ***@****
I hope you get correctly diagnosed soon, so that you will have treatment choices.
Sincerely, Concerned lady
The diagnosis most commonly associated with the symptoms you have described is called Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD). It can happen to healthy people, is not related to allergy, and is found more in females than males. The best approach to this problem is to make the diagnosis and treat the problem. A simple pulmonary function test can be of great help in this process. I would suggest speaking with the doctor about the problem and making the diagnosis.
For further information, please read our Vocal Cord Dysfunction MedFact at http://www.nationaljewish.org/medfacts/vocal.html. You are welcome to share this information with your doctor.