I have been doctoring for 7 months with a cough and inability to breathe. The cough started last June. I waited until July to see my family doctor. He gave me cough medicine with codeine, an inhaler, and put me on prednisone. When I went back the next week for a follow-up, the cough was worse and I was struggling to breathe. He gave me another round of prednisone and changed the inhaler. At my follow-up visit with his the next week, he threw up his hands and sent me to a lung specialist and a heart specialist. Loooooooooooooooong story short, after EKGs and a nuclear stress tests, the heart doctor said, Whatever is causing your airway constriction, it s not coming from your heart. The lung specialist sent me for x-rays of the upper chest and neck, CT scans of the upper chest and neck, breathing tests at a local hospital, etc., and finally said, Whatever is causing your breathing issues, it s not coming from your lungs. So I find myself 7 months down the road, stil unable to breathe. The cough is virtually gone. Some days are good - - no breathing issues. Some days are HORRIBLE. I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest, I feel like I m breathing through a sponge, and my whole chest aches. Odd as it may seem, if I lift my breasts with my hands, I can breathe better. ANY IDEAS?