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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?
Lung Health | Last Active: Oct 23 10:20am | Replies (3405)Comment receiving replies
Hi Gabe,
I just had to reach out to you as my story might be very similar to yours.
I have been suffering from the inability to take a deep satisfying breath, on and off, since 2000. Like you I have been through a barrage of test, and my lung functions (at least at that time) were all normal. Yet, on most days, I feel like I am breathing through a sponge that's lodged in my throat, and am forced to take a deep breath every 7 or 8th breath. However, that satisfaction of that deep breath seems to just stop at 80% and I feel like I am starved for oxygen. Now, the most paradoxical thing is, I have ran marathons, and even an Ironman, and these symptoms have never really prevented me from training, and or racing hard. In fact, the opposite seemed to be true, and my breathing would actually improve, even after hard and long races. For a while there, there was a decent stretch of years, where I thought I have beat my breathing issue, as it felt like it was completely gone. It's also worth noting that I was continually running at that time (5-6) days of training a week year after year. Fast forward to 2019 and my 1st and only bout with Covid, it felt like the breathing issue arose again, and It is now back. Like you have mentioned in your initial statement, there is no rhyme or reason when it shows up. It can be high humidity, or low, cold or a hot day, rain or drought. On some days I can breath just fine, and on others (like today) I am suffering. I feel like I am fighting to breath, though if I were to measure my oxygen saturation, I am almost certain I would be close to 100%. I am at a complete loss, and am now at the point where I feel like I need go see a pulmonologist again. I always wonder if the test they performed on my 20 years ago, were just not as sensitive of the tests they may have currently. I guess I'll find out soon here. On the flip side, I am also concerned that if they do find something and are unable to fix it, that I'll be in a worse situation due to added stress of knowing what it is, but being unable to do anything against it. Oy vey... these double edge swords aren't fun. Anywho... while I await my appt, I am going to try the breathing exercise you have mentioned. I feel like I have done that already unknowing that it was an actual thing, but I do feel like it helped. Though I no longer run, I do play pickleball almost daily 4-5 hours a day. And when I say play, I play hard and active. When I am in it, my breathing, just like with running, doesn't really have any negative effects. I still feel like I need that deep satisfying breath here and there, but even if I don't get it, I am still okay to play, if that makes any sense. Needless to say...this is all so very frustrating.
Replies to "Hi Gabe, I just had to reach out to you as my story might be very..."
Hi @goran, Yup sounds pretty similar to what I went through. Though now I seem to have the symptoms at bay for the most part. It's always there to some degree but it's fairly mild and manageable from day to day.
When you exercise it seems you push yourself pretty hard. At the end of 2017, I was also running pretty hard and had an episode where I couldn't catch a deep breath while running and it has remained ever since. So now I do mild to moderate exercise with controlled nasal breathing.
Do you breathe through your mouth a lot? Whether during exercise, at night, while resting, etc. I had to learn to nasal breathe all throughout the day and during any activity. When this all started for me, my O2 levels were also 100%. When I realized I was overbreathing, breathing through my mouth and trying hard to get deep breaths, I surmised that this reflected in my O2 levels when they read 100%. When I learned to slow and calm my breathing and learned nasal breathing, my O2 levels dropped to around 93-95% which is normal for me.
Are you aware of any other health issues or anything going on such as GI issues, allergies, nutrient deficiencies, etc.?
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hi Goran. do u have a pulse oximeter to actually check ur PO. I've had the extreme shortness of breath just moving around in our one story house. when I was sitting inbetween activities I would desat to hi 80s. even happened at pulmonologist office with no concern from them. I finally read all the hard copies of my chest xrays since 2016 and thecommon thread was some mild atelectasis in the base which has only increased thru the years. my PFTs are normal..... after using an 02 ring i am now using 02 24/7 as it and sleep study showed desats to 79% and also 80s during the day. since I started 02 I can move about the house, go up stairs, ride my bike and walk the dog. I have more energy and my BP has come down too! it's so frustrating when drs aren't listening or following up on things.