Wow, after reading the article I can relate.  I was suffering severely from wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, sinus, and hoarseness.  I went to urgent several times for hoarseness and was given antibiotics.  Finally I went to ENT about my throat for the hoarseness.  It was discovered that my sinusus were swollen and irriated.  I was given a script for antibiotics, Nasonex, and was to flush my sinsuses twice a day.  On my follow up appointment I had a CT scan and it showed my sinuses were clear and in good shape.  I was referred to a specialist to look at my larynx.  He said I have GERDS which was irriating my esophogus.  My asthma scripts had no refills and my internal med doctor wanted me to come in before he would refill them.  I've been off my inhaler over a month now and my breathing is much, much better.  I was using Xophenex and believe it was not helping my asthma.  But I do so how all of those symptoms tie in.

James Thompson, MD

3/16/09 10:03am

Hi Roz,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I see dozens of patients with similar scenarios as yours each year. Sometimes people have sinus problems, GERD, and asthma bothering them all at the same time. This means treatment is needed for all three problems simultaneously. Otherwise they won't have a complete response and will continue to have symptoms. If you look at anatomy charts (very accessible on the Internet) it is easier to understand how throat, sinus and lung problems can converge to complicate each other.

 

Almost every day I explain to patients that the drainage in their throat (or cough) may be resulting from sinus related postnasal drip, or mucus coming up from the chest (asthma) or reflux from the stomach (GERD) or a combination of 2 or more of these processes.

 

Thanks again for your comments,

 

J. Thompson, MD