Persistent Irritated bronchioles for more than ten months: What can it be?

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hi my husband caught a cold last summer and afterward he had minor but persistent chest pains. He visited his regular doctor and she told him that his bronchioles were irritated due to him catching a virus. His x rays came out fine. She also told him that his bronchioles would heal by themselves which could take anywhere from 8 months to a year. It is almost a year now and he still has chest pains. Sometimes they are minor other times, especially during the winter, his chest hurt a lot to a certain extent where he couldn't breathe and felt a constant pressure on his chest. If I leaned on him and put pressure on his chest that would hurt him as well. I don't understand what is going on with him and why it is taking so long for this to go away. What could be wrong? My husband is 23 years old now.

Dear Shaydul: Bronchiolitis is a condition in which there is inflammation of the bronchial wall lining which then leads to symtoms like shortness of breath , wheezing , cough etc. This inflammation can take a while to settle down. However one year seems to be a bit too long and your husband may actually be having a mild form of asthma which leads to similar symptoms. The chest pain occurs due to excessive coughing. I would request you to see your physician again and also get a chest xray and an ECG done to rule out any heart problem, and a lung function test can be done to check for asthma. Also if he does have asthma then he will be needed to start on puffers as sought appropriate. All the best.