This has been the best forum/conversation I have found since experiencing my random SOB early January. Thank you Gabe and others for continuing this conversation. I am mid 30's, been healthy and athletic all of my life, and started experiencing breathing issues In January. I was diagnosed with hypersomnia 10 years ago which requires me to be on medication to help me stay awake. I finally started taking medication consistently last July, all was well, then started a low dose of Sertraline in November for anxiety. Experienced intense/exhausting yawning for the first week (as I have heard can be a side effect), then was fine after week 2. About 7 weeks after starting, I traveled internationally (to a drier desert climate), and about a week after arriving I started noticing I was unable to complete a deep breath. If I could get myself to yawn, I would feel a bit of relief, but only for minutes. I found this forum soon after and decided to try Buteyko breathing exercises to see if that could help, but it felt difficult to try when I was experiencing an "episode" so I haven't been able to be consistent. One evening I felt my heart pounding, and used my child's stethoscope to have a listen and heard my heart beating in 4s. I was calm and relaxed so this was a surprise. After some time it regulated, but every time I took a deep breath, it would skip and go back to beating in 4s. That felt pretty scary because I believe I am mindful and in-tune with my body and couldn't figure out why all of this was happening. After almost 6t weeks, I couldn't seem to "control" what was happening so I saw a pulmonary doctor who ran some breathing tests/ chest x-rays/etc. She noticed some dilatation of the airways which could indicate possible allergies- so offered an inhaler morning/night- after that didn't help, I started on oral Prednisone to see if that could help my lungs get some relief. After 10 days that didn't seem to help either. While seeing her, I was also seeing a Cardiologist, who found that my heart is indeed beating more than it should, but no actual issues with the heart itself. Stress/exercise test showed that when I was in fast motion, my heart would beat normally, but as soon as I stopped it would start doubling again. Unfortunately, I had to travel back home to the US so I brought my paperwork and saw a Cardiologist here who felt I should be put on a beta-blocker and see what happens. I have not started it because I would like to get an opinion from my primary care doctor and my neurologist to see if they think the combination of low dose of Sertraline could be the cause (this is the only difference in my routine besides traveling to a dryer climate, no history of Covid or breathing/heart issues prior to this). Blood tests showed low-phosphorus levels which as I read is "critical for breathing".
It feels difficult seeing multiple doctors to try to figure out what is happening and wish there is was someone I could see that could go over all of my symptoms, tests, etc and see if they had any ideas... maybe an internal medicine doctor? In the meantime, I was hoping that there was a list here of what to try/ask for from providers when dealing with this shortness/hunger for breath. So far I have had: chest x-ray/CT scan, breath test (which I couldn't compete because I couldn't get a decent breath out), pretty thorough blood tests, ECG, Echocardiogram, exercise stress test, 24 hour Holter monitor.

Any other ideas on what more to look into/test/get support for that I am missing? I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this super long post (I apologize 🙂