CONSTANT THROAT CLEARING MAKING IT HARD TO BREATHE!

As far as a bad cold or cough I haven't had a bad cold since last spring.  I get my flu shot every fall but this year I will add the pneumonia shot as well since I have COPD.  When I was smoking I had a much worse cough that was almost all day and worse at night, the cough isn't as bad now, usually more at night and seldom productive.  It's mostly a dry cough that's very shallow. My allergies and this sticky hot climate in this Ohio Valley where I live makes it difficult for many people - most days this summer here have been air quality alert days where they suggest people with respiratory problems stay indoors in the A/C but I need to get out and walk as much as possible.  I need to drink more water though and have recently been trying the high alkaline water to see if that helps. I still have the constant throat clearing but that has gotten somewhat better since I'm using less dairy products - I do love making my smoothies though and putting the Greek yogurt in the smoothie is about the most dairy I use but for an occasional glass of milk.  I really need to switch to soy or almond milk because I've noticed more gassiness and trips to the bathroom when I take in more dairy.  I still use the Spiriva rspimat every morning and like I said I've had an irregular heart beat and palpitations for years - long, long before starting the inhaler.  I have the Ventolin (albuterol)HFA inhaler to use as needed but only used it once because I don't seem to have occasions when my breathing suddenly worsens - it's just consistently hard to breathe and I have to remind myself to take deep breaths once in a while or my breaths are all shallow. I still try to force myself to clear my throat as often as possible because it always feels like phlem is stuck in there but mostly I can't get anything to come up.  I worry about cancer too, though it don't run in my family, just because of the 20 years of smoking.  In 2013 on a routine CT chest scan my record showed a 5mm lung nodule and some old granulomous from an old lung infection I had many years ago (histoplasmosis).  Then the follow up CT scan 6 months later the nodule was not there so they stopped doing the follow up scans.  Now I wonder if I should have insisted they keep following up with the scans since they knew I smoked.  Doctors don't seem to care and insurance don't want to keep paying for doctor visits and testing.  I also have an area in my upper left chest area below my sternum that is always very tender to the touch - maybe a year ago I noticed this.  Sometimes when I bend or turn a certain way I feel a twinge or pulling in that same localized area; that also worries me.  My doctors think most of what I worry about is all in my head but when I read over my health and medical information on "My Chart" online it appears I have many, many health problems.  So why aren't my doctors doing more to help treat and diagnose things so I can improve?  I just feel like they're all waiting for me to die so they can wash their hands of me! Getting old it seems makes you just worthless and doctors just focus on their younger patients.  And like many others who have health problems like mine I get very depressed and mmy anxiety level has reached an all time high just wondering how bad the quality of my life will be as this disease progresses. My doctor wants me to take Seroquel XR for that but that is precribed for bipolar depression, not anxiety so I haven't started taking it yet (plus more side effects!). Am I nuts or can anyone reassure me that maybe I still have some good years left to try and enjoy with my family and grandkids?

Sounds like much of what's going on with me. Like many of us who had bad habits I smoked for almost 20 years - maybe 1/2 pk a day and was just told this Feb. that I had moderate COPD. I had had a cough for a few years and attributed it to smoking and my allergies.  I was told a few years back that I had acid reflux and was put on omeprazole (Prilosec) and now take that daily, 1-2 tablets each day whether I eat or not.  I was told to avoid certain foods, like high acid foods like tomato based sauces, chocolate, coffee, soft drinks and all citrus products - anything high in acid.  Lately I've been trying harder to stick with this diet and the reflux is better but I still get that sourness come up if I'm not careful.  I also had trouble swallowing, always have to chew my food into tiny pieces before swallowing and I had an upper GI scope in March and they had to dilate my esophagus.  I get a lot of mucus and still do a fair amount of shallow dry coughing which I believe is due to the COPD.  I see my ENT later today to talk about the constant throat clearing and see what he suggests. My gastroenterologist said he will start me taking Carafate if the problem don't get better.  I'm very annoyed at myself for the bad habits, sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise and healthy eating habits and worst of all the smoking that all led to the health problems I now have.  Hope you get things figured out soon, changing the diet will help, you can get a list of foods to avoid for the acid reflux online.

Previously I said I was annoyed at my "healthy"  eating habits - I meant to say "unhealthy"  eating habits as I eat more junk food than healthy foods.  This is partly because of dental problems - I wear an upper partial ad am unable to eat foods like salads, many meats, many vegetables etc. because I'm not able to break them down enough to chew and swallow without the food getting stuck in my throat.  I started making myself homemade Smoothies a few months back to get more nutrition and I always add protein powder and fiber powder along with soy milk and different fruits to my smoothies.  Without these my diet would be awful.  I still don't get the vitamins and nutrients I need for my health and just feel drained of all energy almost 24/7.  At 62 it's normal I should be slowing down but my quality of life because of my health problems has plummetted and with anxiet and depression it's only worse.  Take care to help your reflux and coughing problem as best you can so it don't progress and get worse.  Are you a smoker?  If so do everything you can to quit now - it's taken a terrible toll on the quality of my life. Wish I'd made better choices years ago before it got this bad for me.  Best of luck to you!