He has come close. I inform all family and let them know exactly what he's doing. I told him I will not let it go silent. The way I deal with it is I stay calm and talk to him. This works better than anything. His family loves and spoils him, but they get aggravated and short with him because he complains about it a lot and they just tell him he's crazy and joke around about it. Not knowing the answer makes people impatient with the person with the problem. But, it's not a joke and they don't understand how serious he really is about it. I have to also note that he is a clown and jokes around about everything, so people around him know him as this, and think he's just being goofy and dramatic when he's really not. I explain this to him and he understands what I mean.

He won't join any kind of group, I've suggested it a few times. He is very impossible. It's very hard to suggest something; as soon as the words come out, he shoots it down. He's grown very tired of it. He wants to be able to exercise, but he can't. He can walk about a quarter of a mile (but not everyday.) And it will sometimes make it worse.

It's very weird because his breathing will be satisfying, then it will cut off. Then it will come back, and go away again. But it's only satisfying 10% or less of the time. He says it is cut off at the top of his chest. It's not GERD. I was so convinced it was for a while, but it's not. He goes to a GI and he's took the different medicines. He knows that GERD is an issue with him, but he also knows the difference in what GERD does to his breathing as opposed to whatever this does to his breathing. I'm hoping this nicotine quitting will make it stop. It could have been a coincidence before. He may not have quit and it would have still gotten better. I'm going toward the culprit being nicotine because this is the only thing I know that's left.