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Dry cough, tightness in throat, & air hunger... ?

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Posted 6/12/2014 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
Can Lyme cause this??

The last two days these have been my main symptoms... I've had these in the past in combination with everything else, but the last few days they've been more pronounced.

Before testing through igenex I suspected Bartonella, but all confections came back negative... (Not sure I'm convinced) Can these be from Lyme? Or does this sound like Bart? Babs?

I've been reading that the dry cough and air hunger is often associated with babesia (sp?).

Does anyone else get these symptoms? Tightness in throat too
Posted 6/12/2014 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
I have a slight dry cough that comes and goes. I had air hunger, but now just catch myself having to take a deep breath... and also have a lump in my throat that comes and goes.
Don't know what it is yet...waiting for testing.
Posted 6/12/2014 11:15 AM (GMT 0)
Its most likely from Babesia. May also be FL1953 ( Dr F's Protomyxzoa <sp?> Rhymetica)
Posted 6/12/2014 1:15 PM (GMT 0)
Babesia will cause these symptoms.
Posted 6/12/2014 11:17 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like asthma. I have bouts of asthma which are controlled, more or less, by inhalers. It might be caused by Babesia; I don't know.

Margaret
Posted 6/12/2014 11:19 PM (GMT 0)
I have air hunger from Babesia. I also have Protomyxzoa and when I take my medication for it I experience the symptoms you describe.
Posted 6/12/2014 11:47 PM (GMT 0)
DElmar - I've had air hunger for the longest time, but this tightness in the throat feeling just started 6 days ago - woke up with it last Saturday a.m. and has decided it wants to hang around some. Tell me if this is similar to yours - this throat "tightness" - comes and goes sporadically throughout the day and night. When it happens, it - the tightness - lasts for approx. 5 to 7 seconds and then disappears, only to return whenever. It is such a strange feeling. It is only in the left side of the throat, around the area where tonsils, but maybe closer to the trachea a bit. Just so weird. I know that prior to this I was getting "the chills" on/off everyday for months. As of today, I feel lethargic stuffy head / ears off balance - wish there was a place to go in, get scanned with a device and get a tune-up like we do for our cars. My car's in better shape than I am at this point.
Posted 6/13/2014 12:31 AM (GMT 0)
No the tightness in the throat has been hanging in for days. It's gets better an worse throughout the weeks/month... Haven't figured out the trend exactly yet. But when I have it, it stays around all day... Multiple days.

When I feel like I can't take a deep breath in, it's more because of my throat than my lungs, I think. It's like my throat is swollen on the inside and there's not enough room for the air to flow through (best way I can describe it - feels like my lymph nodes near my jaw are a bit more swollen too)... And this causes a dry cough.

Occasionally I feel it's my lungs giving me a hard time. But, I've had asthma since I was 7, so I know that feeling... This thing with my throat is definitely different.

I'm terribly allergic to mold... And I've read mold is horrible for Lyme too. I moved to FL in February. The rainy season just started. Can mold cause this type of symptom?
Posted 6/13/2014 12:34 AM (GMT 0)
Lymebabe -- does that sound like what you experience ^^
Posted 6/13/2014 12:59 AM (GMT 0)
I feel tightness in my chest from the asthma.

But I also feel tightness in my throat, which lessened a little bit when I had my thyroidectomy, so be careful if you have thyroid issues.

I used to feel (and still kind of feel) like I had a "ball" in my throat.

Is that what you're referring to?

Margaret
Posted 6/13/2014 1:33 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah, kind of. I do have hypothyroid... I went hyper a few weeks back after an a**hole neurologist switched me from 50 mcg of Synthroid to 50 mcg of cytomel and I went so far hyper!! My LLMD was furious!

She cut me back to 12.5 mcg of cytomel, but I think I would prefer to go back to the Synthroid. I assume I'm within normal range now... So why would I still experience the tightness if its thyroid related?

Why did you have to have it removed?
Posted 6/13/2014 1:38 AM (GMT 0)
I had a CT scan of my neck done, which showed one slightly enlarged lymph node near my jaw, but it said my thyroid is clear.
Posted 6/13/2014 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Delmar,

First, my heart rate shot up to 150. It normally runs high, but not 150. At the ER, they discovered I was very hyperthyroid. They kept me overnight, and I was supposed to see my doc. the next day, but he was a jerk, and wouldn't see me.

I was starting to collapse, and unable to walk upstairs, so I went to my ENT, and he had an ultrasound done, which showed nodes, or small tumors, in the thyroid. The nodes were producing thyroid hormone in addition to the thyroid.

Then my stupid doc. called and said I was in a "thyroid storm," which is very dangerous. You risk having a heart attack. Both docs agreed I needed to have it removed, and the ENT did the surgery. The tumors were benign.

Now I see an endocrinologist, and take Synthroid.

Many folks with Lyme suffer from some kind of thyroid problem.

I survived the whole thing fairly well, considering, but get this: The day after my surgery, my father died. We knew he was going to pass away, but it was really tough; I was in the hospital, and didn't know how to respond.

Margaret
Posted 6/13/2014 4:39 AM (GMT 0)
I'm having some similar issues that I'm having trouble getting to the bottom of - just figured I'd share my thoughts if any of them help.

I get this tightness in my throat that feels like someone is literally gripping me by the throat and choking me. For a while I thought it was allergic reactions to things - it would trigger the worst panic attacks, kind of a nightmare. Eventually I got desensitized to it (if something scary happens enough without anything bad happening sometimes somehow we can get used to the weirdest things!)

I was looking into acid/bile reflux/GERD as a possible cause. Supposedly some people who have this issue don't actually feel the typical heartburn symptoms, making it harder to diagnose. I guess it's the acid or bile coming up from the stomach that causes inflammation in the throat? I'd try doing a little research on diet/lifestyle changes for GERD and implementing them and seeing if it helps the throat problems. That would cause a dry cough as well, and that feeling of not being able to breathe but through your throat, not the chest. The doctors I've seen about this issue haven't been especially helpful - GI docs I've seen have been so terrible and behind the times (none of 'em have so much as heard of probiotics!) and unfortunately it seems like a lot of docs still use a really rudimentary thought process to treat reflux - "if it's acid coming up that causes symptoms, let's give you an acid blocker to lower the acid - problem solved!" ...but with GERD the issue is actually inappropriate contraction of the lower esophageal sphincter allowing acid to come up, and lowering the stomach acid overall actually can make this problem worse (plus lowering your stomach acid is actually pretty bad for your health)

I've also been looking into chronic sinus issues as being related to this - recently had a mold outbreak in my apartment and it seems that flared up my sinus issues plus gave me asthma (like I needed that on top of everything else!) ...been kind of wondering if all of these issues are related...sinus issues can affect the throat too - the whole area is so connected that it gets so confusing!

I've noticed that anxiety medications (which relax muscles) do seem to help with the throat tightness (I end up taking them pretty often when I have the throat issues because it triggers panic attacks) - maybe until you figure out the cause of the problem you could try looking into anything that relaxes the muscles...

I'm sorry for the way I'm babbling - serious bout of lyme brain lately making my thoughts pretty disorganized - I hope you find some answers and relief soon!
Posted 6/13/2014 5:13 AM (GMT 0)
No that's very helpful, actually. You're not babbling at all. I'm realizing now that my asthma symptoms got worse about the time I stopped the Omeprazole my ENT doctor is always trying to get me to take, because I kept hearing how bad the stuff was for you.

But every time he scopes me, he says, "What happened to you?" and I haven't even realized my symptoms.

I'm still not taking the acid reflux medicine, and it occurs to me now, that I have often heard GERD associated with asthma (along with post-nasal drip, i.e. sinusitis).

Borderlyme, I'd really like to know how else you treat your GERD. Do you think anti-anxiety meds are the only solution? I take Gabapentin and Restoril at night for sleep (and supposedly pain, ha ha), and I would assume those two would pretty much take care of anxiety and relax the muscles?

It seems to me though, that yet another medicine (yes, I'm hypocritical) to solve the problem isn't solving the problem is it?

I've tried Betaine HCL, since everyone seems to rave about it, and it (along with that d---ed apple-cider vinegar) just made my GERD worse. I think my Enzymedica Digestive Enzymes probably help the most, along with the dehumidifier and air purifier, but that doesn't solve the muscle sphincter problem, which I probably have on both ends (oops, pardon).

Margaret

Margaret
Posted 6/13/2014 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
I'm still working on the GERD - I feel like I've kind of been doing a lot of things that I know are bad for it lately without meaning to...stress and being out of my element (been staying at my parents' house for 3 weeks now because of the mold issue in my apartment) has me out of all my good habits!

I'm hoping to figure out what's actually causing the stomach acid to come up in the first place because obviously fixing that would be the best place to start - I've had possible issues with parasites so I'm wondering if that could have something to do with it? That and my gut flora is probably pretty imbalanced right about now.

As far as symptom management, eating regularly helps - I get into this terrible habit of not eating until late in the afternoon and then eating a lot at night, both of which are bad ideas for GERD. Eating small, regular meals and eating frequently should help, basically not letting yourself get stomach-churning hungry! Also avoiding alcohol. Aloe and certain teas (chamomile and ones for heartburn - with things like spearmint, marshmallow, slippery elm) help with soothing the irritation, and my guess is the meditation/breathing exercises that I've been slacking on doing would probably be helpful right about now as well!

I've actually been getting heartburn lately which despite all the other GERD symptoms I rarely get, and weirdly enough a teaspoon of yellow mustard helps (just one of the random "natural remedies for GERD" things I looked up that happened to seem to help)

Some people think that low stomach acid can actually be the cause of GERD, that that's what's responsible for the lower esophageal sphincter contracting or relaxing (I forget which) to let stomach acid go up to your throat - this theory made sense to me given the fact that a lot of my lyme-related issues would leave me with low stomach acid...so it's kind of a weird balance of trying to increase my stomach acid overall while simultaneously trying to not increase it while it's flaring up...this article/series of articles was really interesting to me when I first started trying to sort this out...

http://chriskresser.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-but-doesnt-about-heartburn-gerd

Hopefully some of this helps you find solutions that make sense for you (and then you can share them with me!!) Keep me posted!
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