Hello everyone!
I am wondering - do you pay attention to the nagging voice telling your something is wrong medically, or do you pay attention only to what your doctors say? Or both?
I have been diagnosed (by the numbers) with a severe obstruction although both pulmonologists I have seen in the last month say if is more moderate, based on all the evidence, symptoms, etc. FEV1= 47% but minimal air trapping, great DLCO, TLC etc. CT scan showed only 3-4 tiny pinpricks of emphysema. 13 pack year smoking history. I don't cough, etc. I have a HUGE amount of anxiety about this, and both doctors feel like any breathing symptoms are coming from that. Up until June when I had the spirometry done, I had no symptoms unless you count a hammering heart when dragging a 20 lb. suitcase to the top of a cliff in an Italian village lol. Because of the anxiety over this, I am starting therapy and pulmonary rehab.
Here's the thing: I feel that any symptoms when I do have them (anxiety?) are at the base of my throat. An area both doctors have called the sternal arch. That is where I feel mucus. That is where feels tight. That is where it feels like any inhaled drugs get kicked right back out from. I asked both doctors if I could have a bronchoscope and both said it wasn't necessary. But a nagging feeling tells me I need one, that it would be beneficial to find out what, if anything is going on there (FYI, I had a scope from the nose to the voice box a few months ago and that was normal).
I am trying to not be "that" patient, the one who knows everything lol. But something in my head is telling me to push for this. I normally pay attention to those voices, and they are rarely incorrect.
What am I looking for? I really don't know. Should I be pushing for this?
I am having a GI endoscopy in a couple of weeks since again, the symptoms come from that same area at the base of the throat.
I am not in denial about my COPD which has been recently diagnosed. But something is telling me there is something more to this.
What would you do?