Laryngeal spasm

I've had viral bronchitis for 3 weeks now. In the last week, I guess my lungs/airway have gotten so irritated by coughing that my vocal cords are spasming. This happens regularly in the middle of the night, and I wake up feeling like I'm choking - can't inhale at all, only exhale, can't speak, reflexive swallowing and spitting up saliva. It passes in 20-30 seconds, but it feels like a lot longer time when I can't breathe. Then I'm all panicky and sweaty, and it takes awhile before I feel like everything has settled back down.

Doc says if it's bad enough, I'll pass out and the vocal cords will relax when I'm unconscious. Great.

He gave me a prescription steroid inhaler for something called qvar, take twice daily... May take 5-7 days to have an effect.

Today is day 2. So I'm sitting here at 1 am trying to calm back down after another spasm incident, and maybe go back to sleep. Didn't sleep much last night at all.

Anyone here ever have something like this? Treatment?

Medical edibles are sounding good. Maybe I could sleep then. May have to locate some.

And here I am again, 2.5 hours later, another incident. Guess that's it for sleep tonight.

I haven't heard of this particular problem but it sounds serious to me. See if your doc will send you to an ENT asap. I'd stay away from the cannabis--if it happens again you want to be sure to wake up right away.

Doc says it's not serious, just unpleasant. He feels confident that it's caused by the bronchial irritation, so once that is calmed down, the laryngeal issues won't be triggered.

I hope the steroid inhaler starts kicking in soon.

As an asthmatic I can sympathize with your feeling of suffocating. I can't offer you any advice on your larynx, but with the panic. It took me a long time to develop a sense of calm. It involves visualization. I see myself as swimming underwater. So I'm not breathing. The panic is in your head. I'm sorry this sounds so hokey. I wish I could explain it better. It's almost a Zen thing. Hope you get some relief soon, cause it really sucks.

Paroxysmal vocal cord spasm. See it in cases like yours and in very anxious people. Calming yourself (spiritually or pharmaceutically) is the best treatment bits the opposite of asthma where it gets harder to exhale. Super terrifying, but your doc is right, if you pass out your chords will open and you will breathe. Try a nice hot shower before bed to humidify and a NyQuil. Good luck, this will pass

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Originally Posted by detrusor

Paroxysmal vocal cord spasm. See it in cases like yours and in very anxious people. Calming yourself (spiritually or pharmaceutically) is the best treatment bits the opposite of asthma where it gets harder to exhale. Super terrifying, but your doc is right, if you pass out your chords will open and you will breathe. Try a nice hot shower before bed to humidify and a NyQuil. Good luck, this will pass

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During a spasm incident, I can exhale fine, but cannot inhale. Low humidity where I live (Nevada), so I've been trying breathing in hot steam before bed (towel over head, over pot of boiling water), but it doesn't seem to help all that much. Can't hurt, I guess, so I'll keep trying it. Maybe I'll add Nyquil to the mix too.

I just wish I could sleep.

Hope you slept better last night. From my go to medical resource--Wikipedia--which has excellent articles on every medical condition I have ever researched "Anyone suspecting this condition should be evaluated by a physician and the vocal folds (voice box) should be looked at to rule out any sort of obstruction that may create difficulty breathing." Looking at the cords is done by an ENT using a mirror similar to the one a dentist uses. It's very quick and generally there's no discomfort (although when we did it to each other in medical school my partner couldn't keep me from gagging and neither could the ENT resident teaching the class, who blamed me for being "squirrely"--which is true but irrelevant.)

Slept a little bit better, still had one incident. Nyquil helped.

Doc on Monday did take a look, but I wasn't paying attention to what instrument he was using.

Too bad doc won't give you a week of night time Valium... relax the smooth muscle, calm the anxiety, help with sleep.

Sorry to hear about this, it sounds horrible. Had something similar, but not as bad when I cracked my larynx and would get periods of time when I felt like I was having trouble breathing-- though I could inhale/exhale at all times. Got that ENT tube both down the throat and through the nose to throat... Never fun.

Doc said the steroid inhaler could take 5-7 days to take effect, and wanted me to use it for 10 days. Not sure if it's kicking in yet, but only one incident tonight - more mild than prior ones. Sitting up surfing for a few minutes, then back to bed.

After looking at your avatar, the cause of your problem is obvious. The solution escapes me. Glad you're doing a bit better.

Feeling much better in the daytime today, thanks. No more sore throat feeling, very little coughing.

Maybe my combination of inhaler + Nyquil + ibuprofen + Chloraseptic is working!

Qvar inhaler alone wasn't cutting it -- spasms came back in full force over last weekend, including harsh sore throat. Back to the doc on Monday; prescription for methylprednisolone (6-day oral steroid pack). Now on day 3 of taking the pills, and even though I woke up twice last night choking, I'm actually feeling better today. Sore throat is mostly gone.

If I could just sleep through the night, I think I'd heal a lot faster.

Further update, in case anyone happens to get this at some later date, and wants to know what worked for me:

6-day methylprednisolone pack finished; two days later, the choking spasms returned. Went back to doc, who got me in to see an ENT doc immediately. Diagnosis after sticking a scope up my nose to look at my vocal cords: laryngopharyngeal reflux, aka silent reflux. Apparently a tiny bit of stomach acid is refluxing up and irritating the already-highly-irritated vocal cords, causing them to spasm. I have no noticeable reflux symptoms -- no feeling of heartburn or upset stomach.

Doc gave me a pile of samples of Dexilant, a proton pump inhibitor used to treat reflux, and instruction to stop consumption of everything that tends to cause stomach acid to increase: beer, diet soda, coffee, milk, and don't eat anything 3 hours before bedtime. Also don't take any glucosamine or ibuprofen. Doc also suggested a heavy-duty OTC antacid called Gaviscon -- these taste terrible, but I take one in the evenings.

Following instructions, the spasms stopped 2 days later. Still have a sore throat, but all other symptoms appear to have disappeared, and I can sleep through the night. I'll keep taking the Dexilant until I've used up the samples. I'll stay off the irritating foods/liquids until the sore throat disappears -- however, I'm back to having breakfast cereal (milk) and limit myself to 1 coffee per day, in the morning.

good news on making progress.

still no.....beer tho?

Beer is probably the easiest thing for me to give up, on the "do not consume" list.

I was really craving a diet coke this weekend though...

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Slept a little bit better, still had one incident. Nyquil helped.

Doc on Monday did take a look, but I wasn't paying attention to what instrument he was using.

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It wasn't pinkish, somewhat cylindrical and 5 or 6" long, was it?

It was black and about 10" long. Why?

Fuck... I had both of these a few years ago. The reflux kept happening until I stopped drinking red wine and having any food or alcohol less than 4 hours before lying down. Beer is ok. Whiskey not as bad as red wine.

one word: vaporizer you stupid hippie (and three free words)