Windpipe closing after cough

[ItWillBeOK4]

DH and I were just having dinner when he started coughing. I could then hear him struggling for breath so I panicked, jumped up ready to heimlich thinking he was choking but then he started breathing again.

He's adamant he didn't choke on anything and this already happened to him in bed the other night. He'll have a big cough then his windpipe closed and he'll try to breathe in unsuccessfully 3 or 4 times before it opens up again.

It sounds terrifying to me but he said that as he ran a 10k PB last night there can't be anything wrong with him.

Thoughts?

needs to see GP.

I once had this, it was the oddest thing. My airway would close and only someone slapping me hard on the back would open it. I had to wake my DH up
in the middle of the night panicking cos he was being slow to wake and I couldn’t get a breath. I went to work just so my collegues could slap me. I never got to the bottom of it but I had antibiotics for the chest infection and that resolved it. Honestly terrifying. Hope he feels better soon.

Sounds like a laryngospasm.

The vocal cords are the gateway to the lungs and they shut when you swallow / cough or vibrate when talking but at times they can spasm in the closed position and stay that way. It's usually caused by reflux (or anxiety). Worse case scenario is you pass out and the spasm releases (I don't mean that flippantly just that you will always start breathing again)

I've had this a few times. Utterly terrifying, but always fine after.

Laryngospasm.

Youtube shows you how to open the airway up. Not fatal.

Always best to check with GP with breathing problems. However, I had a similar experience with a bad cough and apparently it was laryngiospasms (it was very scary not being able to get any breath for what felt like ages each time - it resolved itself each time though). Could be those?