gabrielm, my husband has had the same trend of unexplainable "air hunger" as you.

It started like 10 years ago, and the trend happened like yours did.

It started out everyday he had shortness of breath, then for close to a year, it went away, then it came back. He was a snuff user. Of course nicotine will really mess with your heart; and your heart can really mess with your breathing. Everyone thinks smoking is what messes your breathing up, but you never hear anything about snuff.

When he quit snuff, it took an entire year before he could breath again. He was suicidal with the breathing issue. About 6 months after he got better from snuff quitting, he decided to start dipping again. Smart. And he never quit again until 7 months ago.

His breathing wouldn't stop getting worse so after going to every doctor we could think of and going down the list of diagnoses, he decided to see if quitting snuff would do the trick again. If it doesn't, I don't what's going to happen. He has become so hopeless over the years. All I hear is "if it's not better in a year, I'm out of this world." It doesn't matter what I say or do, or his family does, nothing will calm him down. He won't take anything to calm his nerves. If I mention the breathing exercise stuff you have mentioned quite a few times on this thread, he would laugh. Ever heard of an impossible person? Well I have one. Physical exercise doesn't really help him either.

I actually had the breathing situation that you guys have for 1 day a few years back. It was so odd that it only happened for 1 day. I wanted so much to understand more of what he was feeling; it's like my wish was granted. It's not anxiety; but it sure will cause anxiety. It's not GERD; he has GERD symptoms, but that's not what's causing it; it's not helping it, but it's not causing it. It could be adding to it. He had a heart cath done because the heart sonogram showed that his ejection fraction was off, so they did a heart cath. The heart cath showed nothing wrong. He has had numerous blood labs, mri's, ct scans, whatever, and it shows nothing. He had low B12, and it's the same story as yours. He's been to asthma doctors. He has asthma, but it's not bad. He takes an inhaler, and it really doesn't help. He's been to an ENT.

I have read that lung specialists can run a lot more tests than what they do.

He has stayed sick for months now from me bringing home sicknesses from school. I'm a teacher, so I'm in constant contact. He's still getting over a sickness as we speak. He can't stop wheezing and coughing. His ear has been driving him crazy and pressure in his neck. When he gets sick, he gets a lot sicker than anyone I know, and I'm thinking its due to his pre-existing lung problem.

Does yours get worse when you have a cold or anything like that? Does your sicknesses last longer than most peoples?

Do you use any form of nicotine?

I've been so long trying to find a solution that I feel like it's never going to be answered. The answer is out there, but what is it?

I will keep searching; I'll inform you of anything I find.

I'm sorry you have to live with this everyday. You do so much to manage it. It's amazing.