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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?
Lung Health | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (3422)Comment receiving replies
Just checking in to see how everyone is doing? My symptoms are still happening. I saw a cardiologist and had a stress/echo done two days ago. He said I was in great shape and the issue was definitely not my heart. He also doesn't think its my lungs either since I was able to run fast on an incline. My problem really does seem to be worse when I am at rest or sitting. Even when I am trying to "relax" and watch a show I think I notice my symptoms even more. And then the viscous cycle begins. I notice that I can't get a deep breath, start to panic and imagine something must be really wrong and then I try to breathe again, can't get a good breath and my fear is confirmed. And on, and on. I just started a very low dose (2.5mg) of lexapro yesterday. I'm just so desperate to feel better I decided to see if it helps. It also just feels like something is not right in my chest. Like pressure or a fullness and sometimes I notice the slightest wheeze I think. I am chronically sleep deprived so that does not help..hope everyone else is hanging in there! I do want to stay positive and believe that my thoughts can influence how I feel and possibly aid in healing whatever is going on but SOB is a hard one to ignore and act like nothing is wrong. This has been happening consistently, without any relief, for almost 3 months straight now.
Replies to "Just checking in to see how everyone is doing? My symptoms are still happening. I saw..."
@nycmom I'd like to offer some of my own experience. I have thoracic outlet syndrome which does cause chest discomfort and spasms and it has affected my ability to breathe correctly. What happens is the scalene muscles in the neck can elevate the first rib and tightness across the chest muscles can interfere with the ribs expanding properly. TOS is aggravated by slouching and poor posture. When you mentioned resting and relaxation causing your symptoms, I was wondering if your posture was contributing to the problem, and if it might be TOS. I might suggest seeking the advice of a physical therapist who is familiar with TOS. You can see a specialist MD at a university medical center that treats TOS. A lot of doctors don't understand it and miss the diagnosis, and there are different variations of it. Mayo is a good place for this. I came to Mayo because I needed spine surgery, and also had TOS which was affecting my neck. What helps TOS for treatment is myofascial release. TOS can be caused by an injury or repetitive stress and your physical build can affect it too. Here are some links about TOS and our discussion about Myofascial Release. One of these articles talks about a case similar to yours where a patient was evaluated by a cardiologist and for lung function and all of it was normal.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353988
https://www.painscience.com/articles/respiration-connection.php
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3501918/
https://share.upmc.com/2016/08/thoracic-outlet-syndrome-symptoms-and-causes/
https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Same symptoms for me. My family doc, cardiologist and pulmonary docs all said it was anxiety Suggested I go on anti-depressants. It was the support and info I received from here that actually helped me. It was suggested here that i see an ENT. Doc. I ended up having a severe case of silent reflux that was so bad, it was closing up my throat, causing me difficulty takings deep breath. I was prescribed 2 antacids and after 6 weeks I am finally back to my old self. I am totally off coffee and other acid producing foods because of the reflux. It was hard to completely stop coffee but I am sleeping better than I have in years.
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What's Lexapro for again?
These breathing problems take SO long to figure out. I am on 5 months now. Many people here have logged years. Worst place to have
problems because breathing issues can be due to soooo many issues.
Apologies if I mentioned this already: My echo did show inflammation around my heart that they first diagnosed as pericarditis, and then months later they took a stress MRI and think I had myocarditis because my heart is now scarred. Cardiologist however isn't convinced breathing (and chest pain, tightness) problems are from heart, & pulmonologist thinks acid reflux could be causing lung inflammation which is causing my inability to take a deep breath (randomly I just get these breathing attacks where I can't get a deep, complete breath to go down, and my body only calms down when I finally am able to get a deep breath to go down and hold it for about 10-15 seconds). For me all of my breathing issues and chest pain are in the right side of my chest. And like you, I feel like something is just not right.
I am having a second opinion with a cardiologist who has experience with myocarditis/pericarditis later this month, and my primary care doctor thinks I need to have a gastroenterologist check things out next month. I have also been prescribed inhalers, they've allowed some temporary relief.
Some things I think have helped a little that may help you:
-Incentive spirometer to strengthen lungs
-Technique for when you kind of feel like you are hyperventilating: block one nostril and breathe in through nose, out through mouth
-Xanax or lorazepam
-if they haven't sent you to a pulmonologist yet, ask about an Albuterol inhaler for when you start feeling sob.
For me this all started all of a sudden 5 months ago. Never had any of these symptoms before. But I am better at this very moment than I was 4 months ago. Did they do blood tests for viruses and respiratory panels for you? Sometimes strep can be sneaky and my doctor had me do an hiv test (negative). (But I did end up with strep throat last month.)
Please let us know if you get any updates on a diagnosis!