I've been having trouble breathing for about 5 weeks. It's best described as "straw in the throat" or "lungs not filling up enough". The breathing is worse when sitting down, although leaning forward helps. Breathing is better in the morning and gets progressively worse in the evening. I have a mild sore throat and a feeling of a lump in the throat. I also have occasional mild sternum pain. The breathing doesn't get worse with mild exercise and walking. I'm afraid to go running until I figure out what this is.

No wheezing, sinus troubles, nose blockages, or coughing. An allergy test came up positive to dust and cats, although I doubt this is the problem, since the breathing isn't environment dependent. I have no cats.

One crazy episode: 3 weeks ago, at night, I heard a "squeak", and all of a sudden my breathing was great and stayed that way for the next few days. I felt like side of my throat that was previously blocked was suddenly clear. That squeak was accompanied by a brief feeling of liquid draining in my throat and lymph node tenderness. My lymph nodes stayed tender after that for 2 weeks.

So far, one doctor has suggested mild asthma. An inhaler does nothing but give me a minty fresh feeling in my lungs, which is nice, but not terribly helpful. One thing they DID find via ultrasound is a non-toxic multinodular goiter. My TSH levels are normal, so I guess these nodules are just hanging out doing nothing. Both the radiologist doctor and the clinic doctor have said that the nodules are small and this is not affecting my breathing. So what is????

I also have gallbladder symptoms that were diagnosed half a year ago, with an ultrasound showing tiny gall stones. I occasionally get attacks, but they are mild. My breathing does get worse with upper abdominal bloating, which I get pretty frequently. This might be putting pressure on my diaphragm? Who knows.

I've had a blood test that ruled out diabetes,liver disease, hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, and infection (lymphocytes and white blood cell count were normal). Only thing wrong during a physical exam was scoliosis, which I've had since I was a kid.

My latest diagnosis for the breathing difficulties was mild anxiety. I'm not a big fan of this diagnosis. I'm not really anxious about anything, I don't feel like I'm choking and my chest doesn't feel tight. I'm sleeping fine. I've tried abdominal breathing, yoga, etc., but it doesn't really help.

Any thoughts?