Anyone know anything about having an inflamed trachea?

Have you considered smoking? Not a joke. I’ve smoked a pipe for a couple of decades, and I have asthma. Contrary to what you might think, I’ve found that the warm tobacco smoke actually soothes my lungs and throat when they get sore from allergies. At one time, doctors actually prescribed cigarettes for a sore throat.

I’d advise to stay away from drugstore cigarettes, though. They’re full of very nasty chemicals. Get some American Spirit cigarettes or some pure red or black virginia pipe tobacco.

@SmashTheState I have been inhaling steam a couple of times a day. Mostly, I was doing it to try to cough up what was in my lungs, but now I wonder if the heat irritated my trachea possibly. Like I said, my lungs are clear now, and feel elastic again, but my middle chest feels heavy and not right.

No, smoke isn’t the same as steam. In fact, hot steam is very unpleasant to inhale, which is why some smoking pipes have wooden filters for absorbing moisture, or “stingers” for condensing steam from the smoke before it reaches the smoker’s mouth. The dry heat of smoke really helps. Give it a shot.

@SmashTheState I won’t be trying that, but thanks for the information.

Do you have asthma? That’s what happened to me when I was younger. I got sick with bronchitis that turned into pneumonia, spent a few days in the hospital and then after that I had asthma for like 15 years. Chest felt tight, got short of breath, crackling or rumbling feeling in my chest, always had a sort of raw tight or tickly feeling in my trachea. Have you been tested for asthma?

@ANef_is_Enuf I refuse to accept that I have asthma. At least that is where I am at right now in my head. I have never had a lung problem before, and I feel like the “event” I had just needs to be addressed appropriately and I will get better. I think of asthma as something you are born with, but I know you can develop it. I just am obstinate about believing at 52 years old, when I know this started with an illness, that suddenly I have asthma. One doctor actually prescribed an inhaler for me when I was having trouble taking a deep breath, and the inhaler burned my lungs. I tried it three separate times, it definitely was not good. I am now able to take a deep breath like before this happened just sitting here.

I am tempted to take another antibiotic, because when I took the Zithromax I finally was able to break up the rock that was sitting in my lungs, and my lungs also finally became more elastic and I could take a deep breath again, but about 4 days after stopping the Zithromax I start to feel sick again. That to me means the drug was not a high enough dose or not long enough, or maybe more than one bacteria at work. I’ve been through this with infections in other parts of my body, and I am not sure what I want to do, and of course I am somewhat dependent on doctors to prescribe anyway, so it’s not like I just get to decide. With the two other times in my life that I dealt with something similar, I went through more than one doctor and then suddenly one give me a combination of antibiotics that work like nectar from the Gods without me even asking for anything, they just look at me, listen to me, and prescribed. One, I waited almost a year to take the medication, because I felt like nothing would work, and didn’t see a point in dosing myself with more antibiotics with no result. It’s crazy. It’s so random what doctor will get it right.

Why did you suddenly no longer have asthma? Did you maybe take an antibiotic or antifungal and you didn’t realize it was a happy side effect? I think that happened with my lactose intolerance. Suddenly, after 8 years of not tolerating dairy I could eat everything.

I don’t know that I suddenly didn’t have it, I assume I still have asthma, I just haven’t had any noticeable symptoms in years and it seemed to slowly improve over time. Recently I had a couple bouts that felt like a mild asthma attack but I haven’t had or used a rescue inhaler in years.

@ANef_is_Enuf I just have had so many experiences where doctors don’t take me seriously that there was a sudden change caused by an event, and it creates so much anxiety in me when doctors don’t believe me. The worst things I have been through regarding my health (and in my life for that matter) have been related to that very type of situation. I have at times said to doctors in my initial appointments, “I need you most of all to believe me.” I can tell by their answer and facial expression whether they are going to or not. I’ve even brought my husband with me to back me up a couple of times.

Was the rumbling in your chest constant even if you were not breathing in and out? Did it come and go? Did your doctor hear it with his stethoscope?

Not getting involved with this in any way except to say that smoking is never a good idea. Ever.

Well, I may be misunderstanding you, but I think an illness followed by the development of asthma isn’t impossible or uncommon? That’s exactly how I developed asthma (same thing happened to my best friend and my dad, both got it in adulthood after a respiratory infection.) But you’re saying you think it was something else triggered by the illness?

I forget the details because it’s been many years and it did change over time. I feel like early on there was a consistent rumbling/crackling sensation, but most of the time I would say it came and went after time passed. And probably like most asthmatics it is more noticeable if I tried to take a deep breath. Definitely would have flare ups triggered by other things (cold air, smoke, exercise, cold air still kinda gets me from time to time.) Those inhalers don’t always feel great even when you need them, so that doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad. As to the stethoscope I don’t know, can’t remember. I know I had spirometer testing and breathing treatments and all that, imaging, I just don’t remember the other details but I feel like the testing for asthma is fairly cut and dry.

@ANef_is_Enuf I can breath deeply now, my lungs feel fine and can expand fully front and back and down to the bottom of my rib cage. That’s not a problem. I have no idea what the testing is, I can google it. The reason I’m being stubborn is because doctors often treat symptoms not underlying causes, and I feel like that has left me sick for many years of my life when I didn’t have to be.

@Caravanfan I didn’t expect you to. Of course I won’t smoke. Lol. I’m sure you saw my answer to that above. I don’t know if someone sent you the Q, but it wasn’t me.

@ANef_is_Enuf I can hold my breath over a minute, would you have been able to do that when your asthma was acting up? I know very little about asthma. I think of asthmatics as not being able to get enough breath.

I know when asthma is bad enough your oxygen level goes down, which means you will also feel tired.

@JLeslie Most people have a blood oxygen saturation of around 99%. I’m asthmatic, and my blood oxygen ranges from around 92% to 96%. That’s the difference. My lungs are less efficient and process a smaller volume of air. I have less excess efficiency to spare, so I get winded faster, and anything which reduces lung efficiency, like pepper spray or tear gas can actually kill me instead of just leaving me gasping.

I experienced a bilateral pulmonary embolism a few months ago which greatly impaired my ability to breathe, and I came so close to dying that I was told if I’d gone back to sleep instead of calling for an ambulance, I’d never have woken up again. My blood oxygenation would have quietly slipped below the level necessary to sustain life. It’s why there’s a very good chance COVID-19 will kill me. If I get it – and I will eventually get it if there’s no vaccine – then between my asthma, my diabetes, and the impairment from the blood clots which peppered my lungs, I don’t have the excess oxygen capacity to spare until I recover.

I wound up sleeping flat last night and the pain and irritation moved more to my nose and throat. The throat I fixed with a few swallows. I also had the rumble in my chest really strong when I woke up. I feel more sure than ever it’s a bacterial infection.

I’m going to take the new antibiotic, but I looked it up and it’s the minimum dosage for what I think I have, which is annoying to me the last thing I want to do is take antibiotics multiple times, yet here I am. Also, the Zpak I took is not the dosage recommended either, which might be why it helped while on the drug, but not enough to bang it out. This is the type of reason bacteria builds resistance.

So frustrating. If I beg for more I’ll be the crazy one, I’ll just have to hope it’s enough, and if not go to a specialist who won’t be afraid to prescribe the bigger dose. I don’t know for sure this new drug will make me feel better of course. I’ll let you know in 3 days if I see a lot of improvement.

@SmashTheState My pulse-ox is always 98–99 when tested. I don’t know what it is right now. Even when my number is 99 I can feel like I need oxygen, but it happens in the middle of the night if my heart rate is very slow (45) and my arrhythmia gets very pronounced. It usually happens when I need more thyroid medication. Also, I try to keep my iron up into normal range. I test all of that with blood tests, it’s not guessing, I’m not recommending you take anything. It sounds like your thing is the lungs literally not exchanging the gases. I don’t know how that mechanism works. I do feel great when they give me oxygen, sometimes I wish I had oxygen at home or a room very full of plants I can notice it too.

About 62 hours from taking the first antibiotic pill and my trachea is MUCH better. Such a relief. Not 100% all over better healthy feeling, this med makes me a little nauseas and tired (which I knew it might, I took it 20 years ago and I remember it being not ideal).

Let’s hope it’s enough and pounds whatever has been wrong out of my system.