About three weeks ago I started having trouble breathing. Nothing too serious, just took more effort than a normal breath. The air would almost feel humid as it was breathed in. These episodes would vary between moderate and hardly noticeable. Another symptom was a feeling of swelling in a part of the throat (Voice box area), though they do not always come together. It seems that more recently it has become worse, and its making me nervous. I also have a history of anxiety and thought this might be the cause or contributing factor (though I haven't felt very anxious lately). Another curious thing is that exercise does not cause it to get worse, if anything its better. Stress does seem to trigger the symptoms to get worse, but I also have them even when in a relaxed environment.
I went to the doctor and told him my symptoms, and he did detect a rasp in my breathing, but said he didn't see any swelling. He gave me some medication in a nebulizer and listened again and said it did make the rasp go away. He diagnosed it as Bronchitis and gave me antibiotics and some steriods to help. He noted that if I didn't feel better in a few days, to come back in.
Two days later, nothing had changed and I saw another doctor, other than the fact my heart was racing and I couldn't sleep. She detected only a slight noise in my breathing,and also did not notice any swelling (of course they wouldn't, its not feeling swelled in my mouth, its lower in the throat) and changed the antibiotic saying maybe I needed something more broad-spectrum.
Three days later, and my symptoms had not changed at all. In fact, the swelling I was feeling seems to be constantly on, instead of intermittent. Today when I went outside in the hot humid air, it only made the breathing feel worse. Back to the doctor and they did not believe it was Asthma or Allergies (because I should have been a lot better on the roids) and, now that I think about it, they were confused about what it was. She asked if I could feel the spot when swallowing, and of course I said yes. So she's sending me for a swallow study tomorrow morning. (I am nervous about this now because I feel sick in my stomach and bowels because of these darn meds they had me on.) She also mentioned that the swallowing and breathing sound like they may be unrelated.
I stopped the roids and the Antibiotics for a day and felt MUCH better with my breathing, but my throat felt more swollen than it has been. I took a benadryl and this makes it shrink considerably though now my swallowing still isn't exactly normal, and it doesn't seem to help the breathing.
Hoping to get an answer from the swallow study....I should've asked about the asthma possibilities. Dang it! Perhaps I could call and get a referral or a test done??
Any ideas on this??