PSA *** Paradoxical Vocal Cord Motion Disorder

[cleatus]

It's real, more commonly called Vocal Cord Disorder.

When asleep, when eating, when talking, or for no apparent reason at all. Can't breathe in or out. Brain concentrates on task, alert the human, move air into and out of lungs. It's fucking terrifying, literally self suffocation. Mouth wide open, diaphragm doing the up-down. Very little air movement with horrible sounds as cords are forced to open the slightest amount. There is muscular pain in throat during and post event. Eyes water and nose runs, a lot. Experience it for yourself, make choking sounds, try harder, go for locked down sound and a general sensation of something's seriously fucked up.

Started happening about 5 years ago, once every 4 to 6 weeks. 2 years ago I got a CPAP and the night events stopped. Day events slowly increased frequency. Last October during annual tele-physical I brought this up with VA PA. The protocol led me to an Pulmonologist first. Oxygen levels were fine and was sent to speech therapy for a swallow test. Barium coated foodstuffs went down fine, Epiglottis function good. Go to a DO that inserts a camera up the nose and down throat, looking for physical damage. All good and back to speech therapist for techniques to help, or relearn how to breathe.

Simple fix. Close mouth. Do 2 quick sniffs thru nose. Repeat as necessary. Somehow this action sends message that allows cords to relax. Also was shown laryngeal massage techniques and received a sheet detailing techniques. 6 months, 4 trips to Medical Center, $$$. All worth it.

[Texter]

Sounds scary AF, glad you got it figured out.

[Dan Druff]

Wow, sounds terrible. At least it seems like you've improved a lot.

Reminds me a little bit of what was going on with me 4 years ago, where I would start choking and having a hard time breathing whenever I'd lie down. Of all things, a dry mouth rinse fixed that problem -- something I just tried randomly. Sometimes it really is the low tech solutions that work.

[Sanlmar]

I see a lot of ads for CPAP devices. I don’t know anything about it. Obstruction in breathing and the brain misfiring must be more common than I ever imagined.

Your episode and Druff’s are prolly less rare than we think.

What would have become of people who suffered breathing difficulties like this 100 years ago or is this some kind of more modern condition like asthma?

Glad you nuked it out Cleatus