Lungs/Hoarseness

[Joe Hayes]

The worry train is stopping at the lung station today.

I've experienced some coughing and hoarseness this summer, among other things. It was clearly worse at times earlier in the year. I am thinking that stuff usually doesn't go in and out with cancer and should have gotten progressively worse?

---------- Post added at 13:01 ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 ----------

Also that if something were going on in the lungs affecting breathing and coughing, it'd likely make itself at least somewhat apparent when doc listened to lungs?

[Joe Hayes]

Anyone? Oxygen saturation is consistently BTW 97-100, 99 at last appt. That has to be good too yes?

[Stephenie.welch]

Cancer issues get worse and worse. It doesn't pick and choose when it wants to mess with you.
You are fine. Your o2 sats clearly show that.

[Joe Hayes]

Thanks. Also seems like if there was an obstruction my airways wouldn't sound clear or chest X-ray would have showed some effusion.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Lung cancer is aggressive, Joe. It typically presents at late stages, including terminal. It won't come & go.

My GF's mum has lung cancer. Within weeks of symptoms developing she was admitted to hospital for tests (and breathing support) and within weeks of that, post discharge, she could just about make it up her stairs once a day. She is terminal.

It really doesn't come & go, it's an aggressive cancer. It won't be missed in tests and whilst tests can be inconclusive, doctors would keep pursuing other tests until they understood the issue. Whilst an x-ray may not be enough, it would show up something that would mean further testing, as it did for my GF's mum.

So, please don't worry about lung cancer, the fact yours is intermittent points away from that. It could be allergies.

Anxiety/panic cause havoc with breathing. I have asthma and the tightness from muscular tension, the need to yawn, the need to take deep breaths, etc can be an issue for me since it can worsen the asthma if I'm not careful. I'm not saying that I think you may have asthma, I'm just demonstrating how the issues with breathing & anxiety can influence my asthma in that they are sufficient enough to do so and that without asthma you can have similar issues purely due to anxiety. Does that make sense?

Your doctor can easily check for a blockage. They can test you to determine if there is any unexpected noise when you breath in & out, they can test your outbreath to check it's within expected range, etc. All of that is easily done in the examination there & then. If they hear some noises or have a concern over something, they can try a chest x-ray and go from there. So, your doctor can easily investigate it for you.

[Joe Hayes]

Thank you Terry. That does make me feel a bit better. The cough was definitely worse as was the hoarseness.
It is a bit worse when I exercise so I do wonder about exercise induced asthma type stuff.

[Joe Hayes]

I wanted to circle back here and thank Terry for such a great, indepth response.

[emnemz]

hi hope u dont mind me jumping in, just wanted to say terrys comment is really interesting. i panic about ym lungs constantly. always coughing and wheezing. but i do have brittle asthma, so with anxiety causing asthma symptoms, maybe it makes mine worse.. x

[Joe Hayes]

And to follow up, I got a ct scan for chest and it came back fine. The cough, I think, is gerd-related or exercise induced.

[aaronrh76]

I am right there with you, minus the hoarseness. I have had a persistant cough since around May, and the doctor said it was allergies. I haven't had a ct scan but had a chest xray that came back clear. I definitely feel better as I haven't had any mental breakdowns lately, but still get a nagging sensation now and again. Is this chest pain because of my bad posture or is it something more sinister? This cough really allergies? GERD? or something else. It really is getting annoying. Its actually the chest pain that worries me as that has gotten slightly worse over time, not the cough which is intermittent.