Is there an over the counter medication that helps to loosen up a tight chest to breath easier (pleurisy, pleuritic pain & pressure) I don't want to take an antihistimine that will cause palpetations or restlessness but do want to breath easier. Aside from using an air filteration unit, keeping an open window, sitting up in bed, I'm very uncomfortable and not sleeping. Any Ideas? :(

ps-last night tried an old combivent inhaler but had palpetations.

Quote from Gemi:

Is there an over the counter medication that helps to loosen up a tight chest to breath easier (pleurisy, pleuritic pain & pressure) I don't want to take an antihistimine that will cause palpetations or restlessness but do want to breath easier. Aside from using an air filteration unit, keeping an open window, sitting up in bed, I'm very uncomfortable and not sleeping. Any Ideas? :(

ps-last night tried an old combivent inhaler but had palpetations.

Well..if you don't want palpitations your kind of limited on choices here.
Do you know what the pleurisy is from? Asthma? If so..a bronchodilator is really your only choice. I find that nothing works better for pleurisy caused by asthma than xopenex till the pain is gone, a pred burst & regular advil. Yes your heart will race. Welcome to the wonderful world of asthma. LOL

Yeah...Most bronchodilators can cause cardiac side effects. You may consider asking your doctor to try atrovent. Your combivent contains both atrovent and albuterol. The albuterol and most other bronchodilators are beta agonists. This means that your heart may race. The atrovent is an anticholinergic. It may not make your heart race and still provide some relief. It's a drug USUALLY prescribed for COPD patients, but I find I get some good results with it. The propellent bothers me so I have to make sure and use a spacer.