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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?

Lung Health | Last Active: 20 hours ago | Replies (3358)
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@fefemagee

Hi there, so I thought I was the only person in the world with SOB issues. I have gone to Dr after Dr after Dr to try to resolve it. I have had SOB since 2003. It’s so crazy that there’s not an answer for it. I’ve gone to heart Drs and had a nuclear stress test done, I’ve been to lung Drs. My family Dr insists it’s anxiety. Well it’s not. I’ve asked my Drs if they’ve heard of Air Hunger. They all said no. It’s like the top of my chest will not expand enough for me to get a satisfied breath. When I eat and get full, it’s even worse. To sneeze, I have to concentrate on getting a good really DEEP breath just to sneeze. it’s crazy I can’t sneeze normal. I yawn all the time trying to satisfy my breath. I get anxiety from not being able to get a good deep breath. I get winded when I talk. If I workout, I really can’t breath. I don’t want to live the rest of my life like this. If a Dr had these issues, I bet they’d study and find a way to cure it.

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Replies to "Hi there, so I thought I was the only person in the world with SOB issues...."
Gabe, Volunteer Mentor | @gabrielm | Apr 22, 2023

I know how you feel @fefemagee. It's definitely very frustrating especially when doctors aren't familiar with chronic air hunger. Sounds like you've had pretty much all the tests done. Have you had any bloodwork done to determine any nutrient deficiencies or other possible problems?

It sounds counterintuitive, but after a while of me going through this many years ago, I determined that trying to get a deep breath all the time and sighing and yawning seemed to make the issue worse. I narrowed it down to chronic hyperventilation syndrome, where you're basically hyperventilating trying to get all this air.

The Buteyko Breathing Method taught me to really slow and reduce the volume of my breathing, which greatly helped with the air hunger and also assured me that I don't need to try to take deep breaths all the time. I would suggest looking to incorporate what you can of the method. There are many books by Patrick McKeown on the subject that are worth looking into.

Try resisting the urge to take a deep breath as much as you can. It's uncomfortable at first but over time your body should adjust and not trigger the need (even falsely) to take a large volume of air.

What kind of exercise do you do? Would you say you do intense exercise, or light?

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