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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?
Lung Health | Last Active: 20 hours ago | Replies (3357)Comment receiving replies
Hi Gabe, Volunteer,
Thank you so much for that post. i was going insane because of this symptom. You really give me hope, i find some one has same issue. i have exact same symptoms and i have GERD as well. i believe i have anxiety but not sure. is the anxity caused this SOB symptoms or SOB symptoms caused the anxiety. i have some questions if you can support me in answering this:
1- Does yours associated as well with any tight neck or chest pain?
2-Do you have good days like its very mild and almost gone, and some days its aggressive like you feel hunger for air every 1 or 2 min?
3-Does this drive anxity to you , feeling you are hunger for air all time?
4- did you get used to it and living normal life , even its there?
5- does it happen to you like you used to it then suddenly after more that a year or so it comes back aggressive then it back to bearable state?
6- how much time the bad relapse lasts?
7- Does bad mod or angry/sadness activate it?
i know am asking many question, but i felt despite because i was feeling am recovering in almost 1.5 year then suddenly i felt am back to square 0 . and i need some hope in dealing with it as i felt down and i thought of getting anti-depressant to help
looking to hear from you. and thanks again
Replies to "Hi Gabe, Volunteer, Thank you so much for that post. i was going insane because of..."
I'm glad that you found that you're not alone! It's always good to learn about others having what you have and knowing you're not alone with your symptoms. It's always hard to tell if anxiety came first or the breathing issue causing the anxiety. But it never hurts to learn different ways to manage anxiety regardless since it won't hurt to do so, and perhaps the breathing issue will decrease or go away.
There was a time when I would feel some chest pain/tightness, but that went away some years ago as the breathing issue improved. I do have some not-so-good days mixed in with good days, where the not-so-good ones seem to correlate with sinus issues. If my sinuses are clear, my breathing is much improved. The air hunger feeling is pretty much mild and manageable, and when I am busy doing things like working, hobbies, talking to people, etc., I find that the feeling is pretty much non existent so long as I'm distracted (unless my sinuses are inflamed).
I have learned to manage it throughout the years as best as I can, especially reassuring myself mentally that I am fine, and while uncomfortable, it isn't life-threatening. This helped me with reducing the anxiety part of it. It's been bearable/low-level for a few years now and hasn't come back aggressively since about 2017.
The only emotion that seems to affect it much would be like if am very nervous or something that would cause breathing rate to increase. The air hunger it simply more frequent (same with exercise).
Hopefully that answers your questions and gives you hope.
Have you thought about ways to deal with anxiety? What sort of tests or examinations have you had done by doctors?
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Hi. I can relate to this because I have the same feeling of not being able to take a satisfying deep breath. It is chronic - been going on a year for me. I do have gerd, but I also think it might be LDR. To answer your questions from my experience:
1 - I have pain on the left side of my neck. Like a kink. No chest pain.
2 - Yes good days and bad days. But it never really goes away.
3 - It doesn’t give me anxiety anymore since I’ve had a thorough workup with doctors.
4 - I’m used to it. But it’s annoying.
5 - not applicable
6 - not applicable
7 - sometimes it gets worse if I am stressed but otherwise it is random.