@jduffy. I just watched a Ted Talk by Max Strom, and he said something I haven't come across in these postings. From all his years of working on breathing, he has concluded there is a definite correlation between breathing issues and unprocessed grief. I have a physical problem causing my issue, but I'd definitely look at the grief angle if all of the tests and doctor visits showed nothing. On the Ted Talk he told the story of an executive who was having panic attacks. He asks him when they started, and it was at the time of his brother's death. He advised him to process his grief and learned later that they went away when he started working through his grief. I can do the breathing exercises he illustrated in the Ted Talk so will pursue them.

I think you said something in a previous post about using food as medicine. I totally believe in that too and refer often to Andrew Weil, the godfather of integrative medicine, for advice on diet, as well as breathing now. He thinks inflammation is the root cause of a myriad of diseases, so I'm starting to pay close attention to his anti inflammation food pyramid and merge it with Mayo Clinic diet and WW to lose weight before my surgery in the spring. Take care! Nancy