Ongoing shortness of breath, chest tightness and inflammatory chest

Hi all, I am reaching out to see if anybody has had a similar experience to my own and if anyone has found any resolution to my issue. I am a 25 year old male

I have suffered from shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and an inflammatory feeling in my chest that began in the beginning of 2022.

I am an ex smoker and vaper who did both for a period of 6 years full time at some points and on and off

One night after having some drinks and vaping, I was relaxing on the lounge when out of the blue I started to experience dyspnea. Panic set in immediately as this had never happened before and I ended up calling an ambulance. They did an ecg and measured 02 saturation and they came back normal.

From this point on I have had shortness of breath most of the time with minimal relief. Throughout the following years I have had 2 chest X-rays, multiple spirometries and pulmonary function tests, holter monitor, stress echo, ecg etc which have all come back perfect no COPD etc.

I have suffered a large hiatal hernia and reflux for 10 years which I had repaired 3 months ago with a hernia repair + partial fundoplication.

Oddly enough I have periods of time between 2-3 weeks where my symptoms improve greatly but this is short lived as they will return again every time. Quite obviously smoking and vaping seem to be a trigger of this shortness of breath which prompted me to give up cold turkey end of 2024.

Since my surgery my shortness of breath does appear to be a little more sporadic in nature. Certain seating positions appear to alleviate the symptoms slightly. Since this all began I have been able to take a satisfying breath roughly every 5-6 breaths. Some times I can get 2 or 3 good ones in a row.

It does not appear to get worse under physical exertion and I train in the gym light cardio and strength training on a regular basis.

Leading up to the period this began and also throughout the past few years I have suffered from sickness ie the flu, Covid, colds etc with some lengthened periods of time where I have had no sickness for months in between.

In 2018 I suffered pseudomonas which was a crippling superbug which cause me to lose a lot of weight and cough 24/7 until finally after getting repeatedly told it was asthma a really good doctor ordered a sputum test where I went on a harsh course of antibiotics to get rid of it. I have since been on antibiotics a lot of times for infections.

Going back to 2008 I was diagnosed with sport induced asthma which has been managed with ventolin although I’ve never really relied on it much. I also got pneumonia in 2012 but caught it early before it could develop into something serious.

I am now off PPI medication which I was on for 6+ years and my reflux has been relieved with only minor heartburn every now and again post surgery.

I have an appointment booked January next year with a pulmonologist so we will see how that goes.

At this point the only symptoms I have are dyspnea, tightness of the chest and an inflamed feeling of the chest which has been pretty consistent and not really gotten any worse or better in the last 3.5 years. I have suffered from a lot of anxiety and mental health problems over the years but given that I actually feel relaxed most of the time I don’t think this is the cause. I am starting to suspect chronic airway inflammation as I have rectified the hernia in my chest which I initially thought may have been the cause.

I am praying I have not done any irreparable damage but I understand due to vaping and smoking that this is a possibility. I am tempted to see if I can get a high resolution ct scan of the chest prior to my appointment but am not sure if this is the route I will take. I must say I am very nervous and afraid of the outcome.

I am wondering if due to my mum having auto immune issues my body could be signalling an immune system response which is causing the inflammation in my airways even in absense of triggers or infection. Left untreated I’m afraid of what would happen or what has already happened to my lungs. I have 2 young kids and I cant bear the thought of leaving them prematurely. I guess I should have taken better care of my health when I had the chance. I also can’t stand feeling this way 24/7 and I want my old life back.

Anyways thanks for listening, if anybody could help shed some light on my situation and what direction I should be heading with this that would be much appreciated. I am very much open to holistic/homeopathic methods also as I know with chronic lung conditions research and treatment options are very limited in western medicine. Thanks again.