Please read me and help if you can:(

[cahcinderella]

Hi, everyone,I have been having some uncomfortable breathing sensations ever since I quit smoking in early February. It started out where I couldn't get to that point when you take a deep breath....you know, that satisfying point before you then exhale. Then after a few weeks suffering with that it turned in to what it is today, which is a very extreme dry sensation in the back of my throat going down a short way into my esophagus. It is cool and burns at the same time. It is getting to the point where when I breath through my nostrils it is burning and cool at the same time as well. I don't know if this has a true medical origin or if it is a manifestation of anxiety. I notice that I hold my breath a lot unconsciously and chest breath at times too. I have been practicing deep breathing using my diaphragm but so far it is not relieving these torturous symptoms. This extremely uncomfortable sensation is ruining my quality of life. The only relief I get is when I am sleeping which leaRAB me to sleeping as long as possible upwarRAB of 12 hours when I don't have to get up for anything. Please, Please, if someone out there can give me some advice or any input on what this could be, anything at all that may help me or shed some light on this would be greatly appreciated. I started smoking again a couple of days ago because I thought since this all started when I quit maybe it would go away if I started again, but it hasn't gone away. I am ready to give up on going to school, working, and go on disability I don't know what else to do. I suck on cough drops or mints to mask the feeling and I feel better but my throat is now starting to get sore from all the cough drops and mints...like it's burnt. Please respond if you have any idea what this is. Sorry for my desperation.

 

[LadogaLink]

Hi, Cahcinderella! Hope you're feeling some better today. You don't mention having seen a physician about this problem. Please make an appt immediately. In the meantime, I'm wondering if a sinus drainage may be causing part of your problem. It can cause a dry, sore, enlarged feeling, and the passage of air over that area can be uncomfortable. I can understand that you're anxious about this situation, as any thinking person would me, but all your symptoms together don't sound to me to be like the usual anxiety episode. Please give up the smoking. Been there; done that. And then I saw an X-ray of my lungs. Thought there'd be warning if I needed to stop, but there wasn't. The warning is what it's always been, but not from the way my body feels---what we've been told since grade school days: DON'T SMOKE. Your inability to take the deep breath that satisfies you may be COPD, emphysema, asthma, or something else. You need a dr's evaluation to determine the extent of the problem and what you can do to reverse it. Back to the feeling in your throat, you also need a dr's evaluation to determine the extent of that problem and what you can do to reverse it. The throat problem might be somewhat alleviated by gargling with fairly warm to hot (not hot enough to burn) salt water. Gargle a small to medium mouthfull of it at a time, spitting, then doing it again. Another pain reliever for that throat area is sniffing warm water on your hand, sprinkled with salt, slowly into your nose, initially just barely letting some get far enough up to reach the point that it will then rund down into your throat. I'd use distilled water or another pure water, but not the chemical laden tap water on those delicate tissues, for both gargling and sniffing. The first couple of times you sniff, you might want to omit the salt, until you get used to doing it. Gradually you'll be able to sniff up more and more of the warm water. Warm water, not hot; you certainly don't want to burn those delicate tissues either. Another thing that may be helpful, after the throat tissue is no longer dry, is to make a little steam tent. Hold your head over very hot water (but not hot enough for a steam burn), with a towel draped around your head and face and the container of hot water. You can do that for as long as it feels comfortable. You might later try melting in the hot water a glob of a mentholated salve used for head and chest colRAB. You don't need a great big container of water. A saucepan should be fine. You just need enough to generate the steam for approx 20 min, more or less. You can use these different treatments as often as they're providing comfort. Sleep apnea often causes a sore throat much as you describe, but, unfortunately, many illnesses can cause those symptoms. Olive leaf extract can be helpful in the 12 capsules a day dosage for acute problems with sinus drainage, but you'd need to study how to use it in order to avoid a Herxheimer effect. Any drug store should have a spray bottle of a red liquid that is soothing and comforting to the thoroat; follow package directions. Hope these suggestions will provide some comfort to you until you see a physician. Both of these conditions that you describe could be very serious ones, and only a dr can determine their causes. Please make an appt ASAP, as in yesterday! Best wishes to you in finding solutions. Please let us know what happens.