Hello. New user here. I have have stage 1 COPD that was stable and very mild (pretty much no symptoms the vast majority of the time) for 18 years. I had an exposure that finally reduced my function somewhat. It's still being called stage 1, but now I have symptoms all the time. I can still inhale a lot of air, but I can't get it out very well (51% of predicted). I can still ride my bike full blast up a hill for about 60 seconds, but my breathing is very ugly at the top.
Anyway, I have constant lung/chest cavity pain. The new pain is a strange burning sensation in my upper left lung (usually) and upper right lung (rarely). When my breathing was stable, every year or two I'd have a flare up and there would be an acute pain under the ribs below my heart.
I must have hyperinflation due to my lungs not being able to exhale quickly enough. Might this be the cause of the at least the burning sensations? Does anyone have any suggestions about what else might be the source of my pains? I've gotten the costocondritis diagnosis over the years, and perhaps that's what it is, but why would the pain never subside. Costo is supposed to go away after a few weeks, right? Is the solution to stop cardio? Should I experiment with stopping cardio and see what happens? I could quit my cardio for a couple of months and just do yoga and body weight exercises.
Any and all wisdom appreciated!