Sore upper chest

[Leigh2305]

Hi. Wondering if anyone else has had anything similar. My upper chest feels really sore and has for about two weeks. I finished steroids last week as my pf dropped to 500 (usually 650). I have moved house and lots of dust as I’m am waiting for my flooring to be laid. My peak flow is now about 550.

I’m not particularly wheezing or coughing but when I breathe in it hurts at the top of my lungs. It does feel a bit better when I use my reliever inhaler but it’s not particularly changing my peak flow other than by about 20-30

When I started the steroids it was the bottom of my chest that hurt. I feel better after the steroids but as my pf is getting better and my chest isn’t wheezing or coughing I feel that it’s not asthma and maybe allergy to the dust?

My asthma has changed in the last year and I’m on fostair 2x daily and montelukast which has helped with my allergies. But I feel I keep getting new asthma symptoms and not sure if they are asthma or not sometimes

Thanks

[Alw75]

I would contact your doctor again, as your peak flow is no better. its better to be safe than sorry. Were you checked for a chest infection, I know you said that your not coughing, but many years ago I ended up in hospital, had plenty of chest infections before and this time had no symptoms, when they did a chest xray it showed up quite a serious chest infection eventhough I wasn't coughing, maybe worth mentioning

[Leigh2305 in reply to Alw75]

Yeah I was checked and my chest was very clear she said. She was hesitant to prescribe steroids but thought best. My house is quite dusty as it’s concrete floor down and floorboards on the stairs as I’ve just moved in three weeks ago and trying to sort the rest of my flooring.

Dust is a trigger but usually I would cough a lot and wheeze but I’m doing neither. Just hurts when I inhale I then check my peak flow thinking it must have dropped because it’s sore and a bit heavy and it’s not much different.

It’s not too bad when it changes and I can think no this is similar but this feels new now. My steroids finished Friday I felt great Saturday fairly good yesterday and this morning and now lousy again.

I’ve bought a smart peak flow and fev meter to try and get a better handle on my flare ups as this is my second course of steroids this year and fourth since August and fifth or sixth since March. Prior to that I had one set in the preceding 4-5 years and thought of myself as fat and unfit with allergies rather than asthmatic

[twinkly29]

If your peak flow isn't dropping much now and isn't really increasing with ventolin either then, alongside lack of your usual symptoms, I'd guess at it maybe not being an asthma thing.

But then I don't really know what it is either! Do you take antihistamines?

[Leigh2305 in reply to twinkly29]

I’m on montelukast which has helped massively with my allergies. I might actually try though to see if it makes any difference. As I don’t know if I’m irritated from the flooring, well lack of down. It improves when I go upstairs where the carpets are. So I know the problem is the flooring just not sure what it’s causing as it feels irritated when I breathe and finally starting to drop my peak flow after about 6 hours of hurting

[twinkly29 in reply to Leigh2305]

I would try an antihistamine like cetirizine hydrochloride or chlorphenamine (Piriton). Montelukast isn't an antihistamine but, if it is an allergy thing, an antihistamine will help.

[Poobah]

I get this when I get a cold or chest infection, a raw feeling like a sore throat, but in my lungs. At the first signs I start gargling with Listerine and then I stuck on VitC/zinc lozenges, making sure I'm well hydrated, warm and rested . Sometimes that's enough and the feeling passes. If it doesn't pass then I increase my inhaled meds and call my GP. I have emergency steroids & antibiotics, but the GP will often ask me to start the steroids and hold off taking the antibiotics as a virus is always an obvious culprit. Antibiotics are introduced if I start coughing up dirty mucus, but this doesn't happen as much as it did in the past.

As you say, you've moved home and are exposed to all types of dust while refurbishing your new home. Are you able to tolerate a mask while you're working on this? Your chest is obviously irritated and inflamed. Mucus may follow because of the inflammation and it's at this stage that an infection could set in. So steroids will dampen down the inflammation and may prevent potential infection. Ongoing exposure to the triggers may require ongoing steroids. Best talk to your GP.

And good luck in your new home. Hope you have many happy years there.

[Leigh2305 in reply to Poobah]

Thanks. That’s exactly how it feels like a sore throat in my chest. I’ve put a request in with the doctors she mentioned referring me to the asthma clinic but wasn’t sure if I need it. I think I do as the fostair has improved my asthma where my peak flow isn’t dropping really low but my flare ups last months and months

[Poobah]

Definitely a good idea to get on top of it now otherwise it will get a hold and drag on for months.

[achyknitter]

Could this be a chest infection? I have had three chest infections this winter and none of them gave me the usual symptoms of coughing up phlegm and high temperature. Otherwise, have you tried antihistamine for a possible dust allergy?

[CotswoldSquirrel]

I get a sore upper chest after an attack/bad flare up. It's almost like my muscles have been striving so hard to keep me going that once they can relax a little, they realise how hard they've worked 🤣For me, it's not so much a symptom but a result of the flare up or attack.