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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?

Lung Health | Last Active: Oct 23 10:20am | Replies (3405)

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@katgts

hi all, it has been a while and thought I would check in. Since all my physical health checks have come back fine, doctors are leaning more and more towards GAD (generalised anxiety disorder). They tried me on Sertraline, which didn't sit well with me and have now changed me over to Mirtazapine. I think the breathing is getting slowly better, but it is still an issue, although nowhere near as bad as it was in the beginning. If it turns out that this is all because of anxiety that is fine by me and I will get a handle on it. I know a lot of you have had docs say the breathing issues could be because of anxiety but you feel there is something more because you don't feel anxious. I was exactly the same. I have not felt anxious at all, apart from 3 wks ago where I did suffer from a few panic attacks. But since I hadn't felt anxious since the beginning of this, I thought I couldn't possibly be anxious. I have since found out this could be wrong, ie just because you don't feel it, doesn't mean its not there. I wont go into detail as it would take a long time, but the last 10 yrs have been quite difficult and long story short ended up with me becoming my mothers sole carer while she battled breast cancer for the 3rd time in her life, and eventually I lived in hospital and hospice with her for 4 months until she sadly lost the battle March 2018 (she was only 64). Of course this was a horrible time and very stressful and I saw a therapist for a while during and after, but I thought on the whole I had handled my emotions pretty well. The breathing problem started 2 months before the 1st anniversary of her death, and the panic attacks started on the anniversary. I am not one to seek a magic pill to fix my problem, in fact I stay away from medications if I can, but if it is going to help me here, then I am all for it, but hope to resolve my possible anxiety issues and get off the Mirtazapine. I know anxiety may not be the case for anyone here, but if it is being suggested to you, it might be worth opening your mind to it and giving it a go, it can't hurt!

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Replies to "hi all, it has been a while and thought I would check in. Since all my..."

Hi kat, I am just curious what were your main symptoms? Was it mostly just the breathing? All of my doctors have pinned it on anxiety as well, but similar to your experience it was hard for me to accept at first. My doctor does want to start me on a medication similar to sertraline, it is called lexapro, but I am hesitant to start a medication. Did you notice a significant improvement? Has it gotten better at this point now? And how long have you been on the mirtazapine for? Thanks again for your help, and I hope that this problem will eventually go away!!!