How do you find the cause of shortness of breath?

@leelou03 With all of your lung issues, has anyone suggested pulmonary rehab for you?
Pulmonary rehab can teach you to maximize the effectiveness of your breathing even though your lungs are challenged, give you exercises to strengthen them and your chest and diaphragm muscles, and breathing strategies for when you are short of breath.
Have you a complete medication evaluation to make sure some of the meds you take are not interfering with the effectiveness of others? The Clinical Pharmacist was the one who figured out that the medication used to control my heart rate was lessening the effectiveness of my asthma meds. He taught me how to determine whether a new prescription might do the same.
These are just two ways you might be able to improve your quality of llife while dealing with chronic conditions.
Sue

I'm taking pulmonary therapy, doing exercises and breathing exercises, I only have inhalers for COPD and asthma, unless I get infections respiratory, which I get a lot.
I'm trying to a different pulmonologist, mine just doesn't care it seems. He doesn't look at me when I address him or vise versa
So hopefully I can get better help
Thank you for commenting
Hope all is well

He sounds like my pulmonologist. All he does is provide inhalers and a one yearly breath test. And he’s Pakistani and difficult to understand.
The spot on my lungs was found by my ENT’s ctscan.
And he personally told the receptionist to get my pulmonologist on the phone. I didn’t get a response until I called him the next day. Then he sent me for a cat scan and I called him 2 weeks later and a receptionist told me that my spot had resolved. How does she know that?

Anyway, I was having problems breathing normally for 2 years until it started to hurt my throat and he found that my right vocal cord was stuck in the closed position.
When you breathe it comes out of the cords as you would not be able to breathe. If both are closed I could die from suffocation. I am presently only using my left vocal cord to swallow and talk. Eventually with only one vocal cord you stand to choke ( keep liquids near you at meals).
Your breath goes through your vocal cords so if you only have one cord your breathing may become difficult. You will know as it doesn’t affect you right away. My nurse recommended an ENT and he found all these things including my esophagus shrinking at the abdominal area. I’ve done 80 minutes of a double MRI, 2 specialized X-rays , to swallow X-rays that showed my esophagus narrowing at the abdomen. I didn’t realize that it was that long.
I’ve also had 2 speech therapist make me eat dry crackers to see if I could swallow them normally. Mine needs to be expanded at the bottom. That is done with a long endoscopy under sedation. So did you get any results from an ENT to check your vocal cords?
That’s how we found out.
Unfortunately an endoscopy was performed twice in a week through my nose and down to my throat. It just tickled because he numbed my nose. But I have a hospital outpatient appointment for the long endoscopy with the ability to open my esophagus and my non working vocal. My pulmonologist does sleep studies and prescribes inhalers mostly.

Sounds like you have had a really hard time. I'm sorry for that. Some of these doctors don't care or give up on a person, it seems
No I haven't been to an ENT lately, just had my CT scan. I have had my esophagus stretched and an exam from that end lol. I'm suppose to have a collapsing airway, there's a name for it. My pulmonologist has never done anything or mentioned that anymore. I hope I get another lung doc.
I wish I was close to a Mayo clinic, Our hospital is supposed to have connection with Mayo for the doctors, I wish us patients could connect with doctors.. I'm praying for you. I'll keep in touch. Thank you for replying

What is a clinical pharmacist?

I replied to your post and it took me almost an hour. It was really detailed but my WiFi was too weak so I brought my phone to another location that has a fairly strong signal and it switched from one channel to the stronger one and when I tried to go to what I wrote it was all gone. I want to throw the hub right out the window!!
I had posted my response to you and when I hit the “Post Comment “ the WiFi signal wasn’t strong enough. All I got was the dreaded circle and it wouldn’t move so I went to the stronger signal and my post disappeared. Ugh!

A clinical pharmacist is one who works with patients and doctors to manage complex medication regimens. It is very common for meds to interact with one another in unintended ways, sometimes cancelling one another, other times causing more severe side effects. These can easily go unnoticed when more than one doctor is prescribing, especially if prescriptions are filled at multiple pharmacies, or meds change often.
A clinical pharmacist first reviews the patients conditions, and often asks about any new or unusual side effects they are experiencing. Then the pharmacist reviews all medications and supplements, including often overlooked items like vitamins, Tylenol, pain rubs, eye and nose drops...Then a report is prepared, recommending any changes. Often overmedication is identified, as are prescriptions that are no longer needed, but just didn't get discontinued - often due to a person having more than one provider. In some cases, pharmacists may be aware of a safer med, one with less side effects, a combination med to replace two or more single drugs. They can also tell you what time of day to take meds, when two or more should not be taken together, even which supplements or over the counter meds to avoid.

Where to find a clinical pharmacist? Many large drug chains have one or two who can be consulted. Hospitals have them, and since new meds are often added during a hospital stay that is a good time for a full review. Many large clinical practices have them on staff.

There are also nurses, often Certified Nurse Practitioners, who have specialized training in medication management and can provide this service.
Sue

Yes I am doing the above.plus I've added a one on one COPD education. I start that in 2 weeks. I also found a new pulmonologist at St. Luke's in Kansas City, A new gastroenterologist in my town
I feel better about that

Thanks for taking the time to send this response ... have been looking for that capability for years. Does Mayo have those professionals and if so how do we make appointments with them? I'd like to do so on my next trip to Rochester if possible.

I would call your Mayo contact to make the request. They do have people doing this in their facilities and remotely.