Vocal cord dysfunction?

[Smegs1978]

Currently in hospital, admission number 5 of 2020 (not including the 3 visits to a and e that didn’t need admission)

Just been seen by a consultant and he thinks all these admissions could possibly be related to a condition called Vocal Cord Dysfunction rather than severe asthma.

Never heard of this condition before however how he explained it to me made so much sense.

So I’ve had asthma for 30+ years and it may turn out to be a totally different condition?

[Jackwabbit]

My wife has been told she has asthma all her life 64 years. Last year when she was at Brompton hospital they put a camera down up her nose & down into her throat to look at her vocal cords & they are now saying she has hyper sensitive larynx. They tried her on Gabapantin to try and ease the coughing. that didn't work so now they are trying her on something else. The only thing that stops her coughing is prednisolone steroids or strong pain killers.

[Jjude1003]

I too was diagnosed with VCD at one point and thought maybe it was actually the cause of my breathing difficulties and not asthma. I found that wasn't the case. VCD can be triggered by stress and in my case I think I was so distraught over not being able to breathe that it exacerbated the VCD. I saw a speech therapist and she gave me some exercises to do and after several months another ENT exam resulted in my vocal chords being normal but the breathing difficulty remained. The frustrating challenge with asthma is it can be a multivariate equation (food, environment, exercise, viruses, vocal chords, etc.). It's enough to drive you craze trying to figure it out. I'd definitely pursue the VCD to see how much it affects your overall condition but I unfortunately discovered it wasn't the silver bullet.