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Difficulty Breathing, Chest X-ray Shows Bronchitis, Blood Test Normal. Why Am I Getting This?

Posted on Thu, 4 Oct 2012

Question: I have breathing problem for last two years, I feel difficulty in breathing. Earlier it was very rarely i used to get it. Now a days i am feel breathing difficulty very often. That too from morning to whole day.

Last week i have advised to take chest xray and blood count test Doctor said blood count, hemoglobin all are normal. Chest xray says bronchitis, if i am not wrong.

Why i am getting this, what could be the reason.

Answered by Dr. Arnab Maji (35 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for your query.

See, bronchitis is a variety of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the suggestive feature of it in the chest x-ray will be hyperinflation of lung fields and air trapping. It is causing your shortness of breath. But more often it presents with cough and sputum production.

Smoking is a strong causative factor for it. Besides smoking air pollution, indoor pollution, genetic makeup like alpha1 anti-trypsin deficiency can lead to this condition.

Please let me know about my following queries:
1.     Are you a smoker?
2.     If yes then how long and how many cigarettes do you have per day?
3.     Do you have any family history of such shortness of breath?
4.     What is your professional work?
5.     How is your working environment?
6.     Do you have cough with expectoration?

I think it will be better if you go through a spirometry testing with bronchodilator reversibility testing to detect airway obstruction. In COPD there will be obstructive pattern usually with no reversibility on bronchodilation.

So please answer my queries and do a spirometric examination to confirm your bronchitis. If you really have bronchitis then you may have such kind of symptoms.

Hope I have answered you. Let me know about my queries so that I can guide you further.

Regards,
Dr Arnab Maji

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E

Follow up: Dr. Arnab Maji (7 hours later)

thanks for your revert.

Please find the answers:-

1.. Are you a smoker? - NO
2. If yes then how long and how many cigarettes do you have per day? - NA
3. Do you have any family history of such shortness of breath? - NO
4. What is your professional work? - I AM IN BANKING, IN OPERATION TEAM. BASICALLY SITTING JOB.
5. How is your working environment? - ITS GOOD,
6. Do you have cough with expectoration? - NO, NOT ALWAYS. VERY RARELY I HAVE COUGH WITH EXPECTORATION.

Answered by Dr. Arnab Maji (4 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for writing back to us.

As you have cough with expectoration chronically though rarely along with shortness of breath, I think you may have bronchitis though that needs to be confirmed by spirometry with bronchodialator reversibility.

If spirometry is suggestive of bronchitis or COPD then you need to put on inhalers like levosalbutamol along with formeterol-budesonide combination to releive your breathlessness. Also I suggest you to have an ECG to exclude cardiac causes of breathlessness. Again you get yourself examined by a local pulmonologist to check presence of polyphonic rhonchi and prolonged expiration phase in your chest because these are suggestive of bronchitis changes.

Hope I have answered you. If you have further queries you can ask me freely. Kindly write a review on my answer.

Regards,
Dr Arnab Maji

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar