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tirez
18-03-18, 12:44
I'm 34 years' old and new to this forum.

In mid-December last year, I caught a pretty bad cold that gave me a dry tickly cough that eventually began to subside. Then, some weeks later, I got the beginnings of a cold again, but this time with a chesty cough.

Although the cough has largely disappeared, I am still getting various symptoms, such as shortness of breath (at rest), tight chest and a rattling sound when I breathe.

The weird thing about my cough at the moment is that when I wake up I don't have any need to cough, but if I intentionally test it a few times and get up and about, it seems to slowly translate into a rattly chest (ie, when I breathe in and out, it makes a crackling sound from my chest). The same thing happens in the evening sometimes, although I rarely have problems during the day.

I cycle a lot (around 15 miles per day) and have a pretty healthy diet, smoke very occasionally (maybe a few times a year, if that - although I try to stop that from happening by cutting down on the all-night parties these days!). I never seem to feel the tight chest and difficulty breathing when I'm on the bike; although I do notice sometimes that I can't quite breathe as much as I should be able to sometimes, like when I'm stopped at a traffic light, for example.

I have been reasonably prone to colds going to my chest in the past (not always and I can't remember if any of the colds I had last year translated into a cough as well - my intuition is that they didn't).

The doctors have thrown everything at this: antibiotics (I've just finished one 24-hour dose), nasal spray, acid reflux meds, inhalers, antihistamines etc. They're still telling me that it's nothing to worry about, and every time I visit the GP they say my chest sounds clear (but the rattling sound never surfaces when I'm at the doc). I have had a chest x-ray, but it came back as clear.

Given that nothing has worked, I really don't know what else it could be apart from lung cancer. I'm having a really hard time believing that anxiety could be causing ongoing rattly/crackly sounds in my chest and shortness of breath/tight chest sensation. The fact this has been going on since mid-December is worrying me as well.

On the diet/exercise front, I honestly don't know how I could eat any healthier or do any more exercise. Before I started university in September I used to run 3 or 4 times a week, as well as the 15 mile + bike rides every day, and I even did a bike tour of Holland last year with my girlfriend, so imagined I was in pretty good shape.

Has anyone had any symptoms like this? I thought the crackly sound when I breathe was wheezing, but the GP told me that word is only used to describe laboured breathing, so I don't know how else to describe the crackling/bubbling/rattling sound when I breathe sometimes.

My anxiety over this is in overdrive at the moment...:weep:

NervUs
18-03-18, 17:38
You have lots of signs that point away from cancer, esp improving symptoms and a clear xray.

Last year, I started developing coughs and wheezing for months after every cold. I did respond to inhalers, but I feared the worst. I finally pushed for a referral, and it was determined I have asthma. Asthma can be triggered by a cold, and it does cause overproduction of mucus (rattly chest).

If you have had congestion for this long, maybe you can go back and say you would like to get this investigated further. What you're describing fits asthma, though, or maybe chronic bronchitis. Without a doctor involved, this is only speculation, though.

tirez
18-03-18, 18:09
Thanks for your reply NervUs.

I should've said too, that I went to the asthma clinic and performed a spirometry test. All came out normal - the only observation from my GP was that one reading that had to be 0.7 or higher to be considered normal was at 0.79, and he said that for someone like me he expected it to be higher.

NervUs
19-03-18, 01:42
My spirometry was normal too, but they still determined asthma.

Anyway, maybe you could give it another week to see if the congestion improves, but go back if it doesn't and ask for answers. I had to push too.

tirez
19-03-18, 19:46
Thanks again NervUs.

I'm going to push as you suggest. With your asthma - was it a case of shortness of breath/chest tightness/etc kind of always being there, or were there occasions when it was really pronounced?

tirez
24-03-18, 12:32
Oh, and another thing - is it possible to have chronic bronchitis with a normal spirometry?

And does anyone know the extent to which anxiety might be causing shortness of breath, tight chest, rattling/crackling sound when breathing etc?

Scass
24-03-18, 18:36
I don’t think anxiety would cause the chest crackle, but could you have catarrh maybe?

When I had bronchitis, my peak flow (assume it’s the same as a spirometer?) was lower than normal. Not a lot, but it was.


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