Thick, blood-streaked sputum with some lung hyperinflation?

[Gabor]

For the last 4-5 years, I have been suffering from mucus getting thicker and harder to cough up. This had been thought to be chronic bronchitis.

A couple of weeks ago, during the intesive morning cough, I experienced small proportion of vivid red blood in my sputum, this happened about 3-4 times, during the past 2 months. My lung X-ray was normal. I copy my lung function test results below:

FVC: 92%, FEV1: 102%, FEV1/FVC: 112%, FEF25-75: 107%
TLC: 109%, TGV: 131%, RV: 130%, RV/TLC: 114%
Raw: 68%, sGaw: 145%

This seems to be excellent ventillation but with some clear signs of lung hyperinflation. Do you think that I may have bronchiestasis or ephysemia?

According to that I also have chronic sinusitis with thick nasal dripback and GERD, would you think it would be wise to take a sweat chloride test to rule out CF? I also have a loose, floating stool.

I am a 28 male, and never had pneunomonia or so. But the blood appearing, and the the thick mucus paired with the high residual volume frightens me a bit.

I wake up sometimes experiencing yellowish acid reflux in my mouth. Could all of these be a chronich bronchitis amplified by GERD, or a more severe condition like CF, ephysemia or so? I have taken a C-reactive protein test, which showed no acute inflammation, my blood O2 saturation was 97%. Serum Sodium level was normal.

From here, what kind of additional tests would you recommend, please?

[National Jewish]

This could have been secondary to a ruptured blood vessel, caused by harsh coughing. With your history of chronic sinusitis it could originate in the upper respiratory tract.  It also could be from the lower respiratory tract.  At age 28, with a clear chest x-ray, this is probably a benign event but it should not be ignored.

This bleeding could come from bronchiectasis, with or without CF.  You should be tested for CF.  Given the recurrence of bleeding (not just one time) you should probably have a bronchoscopic exam and a CT scan of your lungs. The first step, however, should be to consult with a pulmonary specialist to determine first hand if either of these tests is warranted.

I wouldn't worry about the alleged hyperinflation but would probably repeat the test in a year or so.

[Inanga]

hi

- i used to have all your symptoms - even had a fundiplication for the GERD to tighten the sphincter and prevent reflux. That didn't help the mucous. Eventually turned out to be food allergies causing excessive respiritory mucous - i'm allergic to wheat, gluten and soy (and dairy I think). I am 99% better after avoiding the wheat/gluteb/soy for a couple of months and now I notice the same problem with dairy so I will eliminate that now. One doctor susected Fobromyalgia - i had chronic fatiqgue, something like Iritable Bowel, chest pains from constant coughing, Hyperventialtion Syndrome from stomach blaoting making it hard for the weak diaphragm to work preoperly (got breathing retraining which helped). I hope this might help you - I was feeling pretty desperate until I worked out the allergies. Best of luck.

[Inanga]

forgot to mention the i over inflated my chest instead of siaphragm breathing and this coused chest pain and panic attacks - feeling of not being able to breathe in enough air - although I was getting too much oxgen and getting dizzy