I experience a complication listed under ‘additional’ symptoms of MSA… A Parkinsonism… Multiple System Atrophy.
- Involuntary, uncontrollable sighing or gasping
This happens unpredictably where I suddenly suck in air VERY quickly. Usually it is of no consequence, however I did experience one pretty significant choking episode, exactly one year ago, which I documented.
May 26, 2018 As indicated previously, there are times I experience an involuntary sudden intake of air (gasp), followed by a release (sigh). Today, the ‘gasp’ timing occurred just as I had taken a bite of a toasted grill cheese sandwich… inadvertently sucking crumbs of whole wheat toast into my air passage, which precipitated an inordinate amount of violent coughing. Although breathing was labored, the passageway was never entirely blocked. Within a few minutes, the toast was finally coughed up.
This morning, as I was showering, it happened… that I gasped while attempting to rinse shampoo from my hair. Yikes! No matter that it was Melaleuca Herbal Shampoo… Bubbles impede air flow! I don’t know what kind of sound I made, as I struggled to breathe, but it was enough to panic my sweetheart.
It has been eight hours, and I still have shampoo breath and my voice is raspy, but the coughing has subsided.
I know there is something called aspiration pneumonia… so I looked it up: Aspiration pneumonia is a type of pneumonia that might occur if a person breathes something in instead of swallowing it. The germs from food particles, saliva, vomit, or other substances may infect the airways and lead to aspiration pneumonia.
I suppose it was good that I ingested an herbal concoction… shouldn’t have to worry about infection.
Standing up to Parkinson's 