To send a link and summary of this article to a friend, click here . You're also coughing or wheezing, your sputum is discolored and you have chills and a fever. You also have chest pain, irregular heartbeat, swelling in your ankles or a history of heart disease. You're short of breath or find it difficult to breathe. What Your Symptom Is Telling You I t's rush hour in your lungs.
Every inhalation is a fight for an exit ramp off that breathing bottleneck.
Congestion means different things to different people. Some use the term to describe a tightness in their lungs, as if a wide strap were affixed firmly across the chest, says Richard L. Sheldon, M.D., a pulmonologist and internist at Beaver Medical Clinic in Banning, California. They also may find it difficult to breathe or feel short of breath. If by congestion you mean a tightness in the chest, it's likely that you have asthma. If this is the case, you may notice a dry cough or wheezing as your constricted and swollen bronchial passages try to move air in and out.