| Help! My ENT diagnosed me with vocal chord paralysis and did a tracheostomy on me.
Just over three months ago, I woke up in the morning having difficulty breathing. I've had this happen countless times over the past 8 years (since I was in the marching band in high school). I'd been diagnosed with excercise-induced asthma after several fainting spells in high school, but the albuterol has never seemed to help what feels like the tightening in my throat, not my chest. This time, as with other times, after 2 nebulizer treatments and an adult croupe breathing treatment, the doc referred me to an ENT. The next morning, the ENT did a scope of my throat, said my vocal chords were paralyzed/spasming, and rushed me over to the hospital for an emergency tracheostomy. Now, she still sees periodic spasming in my vocal chords, and says it takes time before they'll be well again, though I haven't felt any noticable improvement, except I can unplug my trach when I'm not getting enough air. I went to my family doc to get a referral to a second opinion ENT, and my family doctor performed a spirometry test that came back "abnormal". She then referred me to a pulmonologist, in addition to the neurologist my ENT referred me to. I visited with the pulmonologist today, and he says it's very possible I could have vocal chord dysfunction syndrome. No doctor (and I've been to countless ENT's, ER's, walk-in clinics, and family physicians) has ever discussed this possibility with me, and from what I've read so far online, it sounds a lot like what I've been going through. What are some key points I would notice with VCD? What kind of treatments are available for it? Is there ever an actual "cure"? Does having a tracheostomy help or hinder VCD? I'd appreciate any and all help offered...at long last, maybe, finally, I'll be at a little less of a loss as to what's going on.
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