Is it asthma or something else?

[hlundin]

I have been having chest pain, tightness in throat and chest pain. I have been in and out of the doctors for the past two months. They say my lungs are clear. I have been given steriods and have been giving myself breathing treatments at home. I am on advair, sigular, and xolair, nothing is working. I have been trying aromatherapy to relieve the pressure and constant tightness but it is only temporary. I am having difficulty sleeping because I keep waking up with shortness of breath. I need any advice. Is this asthma or do I have something else the doctors are not catching? I do not know what to do anymore.

[Jaquta]

GERD is another possibility as is LPRD.

A proton-pump inhibitor may reduce symptoms.

I would try raising the head end of your bed by placing books underneath it and also see if that helps.

You may like to discuss the possibility of this with your doctor.

[hlundin]

I have had an EKG, a cat scan, and both came back negative. My heart rate, oxygen level, and lungs are appearing to be normal. But I am still having lots of pressure on my chest and tightness in throat and I am getting no where going to the doctor. All I am getting is huge bills because my insurance keeps finding loop holes to bill me. I have no idea what to do any more at this point I do not want to go to any more doctors.

[caregiver222]

You need a complete cardiac work-up to include a stress test to rule out cardiogenic etiology.

Waking up with shortness of breath (air hunger) with an asthmatic co-factor is a hall mark of right heart failure, and cor pulmonale. This DOES NOT MEAN you have this condition, but a multidisciplinary approach is needed.

As Tammy suggested, pulmonary function tests are also indicated.

[Tammy2009]

You need pulmonary function tests to see if there is an obstruction that responds to a bronchodilator.  A methacholine challenge test will show how reactive your lungs are and help to determine if it is asthma or not.  

There are many other causes for chest pain ad tightness like stress, anixety, cardiac problems etc.  

Tests need to be done instead of just trying randomly different drugs, steroids can take weeks to a couple of months to clear up the inflammation and improve breathing.