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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?

Lung Health | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (3422)

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@tamaracaitlin

Strange question. I haven't posted on here in a while. To update, still have mysterious shortness of breath. Woohoo. It's been , I think 4 years now. Anyways, I'm going on a vacation at the end of February and I haven't been on a plane since my sob began. I guess I'm worried it will be worse on a plane, what with the lack of oxygen. Have any of you been on a plane with your sob? Did it feel any different? Really don't want to have a panic attack on a plane.
Any replies would be helpful.

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Replies to "Strange question. I haven't posted on here in a while. To update, still have mysterious shortness..."

@tamaracaitlin, that's interesting that you bring that up! Planes used to scare me some a while back mostly because of just sitting there. I have found that the mental aspect of just telling myself that it's no different than me going on a long drive, or sitting at my desk at work, definitely helps with that. I also just keep myself distracted as much as possible, i.e. watching the in flight entertainment, playing Sudoku on my phone, reading, etc. All these things have helped me to not worry about flying. I don't think there's a lack of oxygen on the plane, but it might feel different simply because you're flying, but it doesn't really bother me, so long as I do some of the things above, and if I can keep my sinuses clear. If you're traveling with someone, that also tends to helps me a lot because the focus of the conversation. I was having a particularly rough time a few months ago on a work trip traveling to New York only because my sinuses were flaring up, but I ended talking to a nice lady the whole way and that helped me get through it. So just mentally telling yourself you'll be fine, plenty of options for focusing on something, and conversation. Let me know how it goes! It's not bad at all so long as you have tools in the toolbox. Oh one more thing...breathing exercises and slow breathing while you're in flight. Once I am able to get the satisfying breath, I exhale as slowly as I can.