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Mysterious shortness of breath: What has helped you?

Lung Health | Last Active: Oct 23 10:20am | Replies (3405)

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@debwks0504

Not seen a dr specifically for this. I seemed to get what appeared to be sinus infections quite a few times a year, ending up on steroids, and antibiotics. Those drugs helped, But I also, sometimes during these sinus episodes, feel my asthma meds (asthma always appeared worse at this time) -Advair, and levalbuterol did NOT help the breathing issue. I felt tightness between the center of my chest and along the esophagus to my throat. My lungs were always seen to be clear, blood work fine - and often little congestion in my sinuses. I, often now, have to yawn to get a deep cleansing breath, many times during the day. Feels great for a moment - then the air hunger starts again. I feel I DO have a minor issue w/GERD, but rarely feel any acid moving up from my stomach, and don’t feel the GERD meds have done anything for this breathing issue, The only reason I started on the GERD meds is because my allergy dr sent me to a gastroenterologist, who found my vitals normal, lungs normal, spirometry normal. So I can’t, and the drs can’t seem to help with the issue. My main issues are yawning to get deep breath, and not being able to sleep flat on the bed (side sleeping helps SOME). I have had exercise induced asthma (along with allergens), lots of bronchitis growing up, never had pneumonia that I know of, and have never been hospitalized for asthma issues. There are times I feel maybe anxiety may have a small part in it, Who knows.

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Replies to "Not seen a dr specifically for this. I seemed to get what appeared to be sinus..."

Hi @debwks0504, Do you think the breathing issue is related to the sinus and asthma issues? I know asthma can cause various breathing sensations like suffocation, air hunger, obstructed air ways, etc. How long have you been dealing with the air hunger?

Sinus infections/inhalational allergies do have relationships with GERD so it's possible that there was a causal relationship there. You mention sleeping on your side and it's likely that you find it easier sleeping on your left side than your right. There are a ton of factors which doctors can't account for in testing. They can't check changes in pulmonary surfactant which might impact gas exchange in the lungs and they can't account for every factor which will affect the hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve, reducing delivery of oxygen to tissues. Those are just two examples of the flaws in medical assurances that problems must relate to anxiety or other psychological issues. I have finally been able to prove to my brother, who had long believed the psychological opinions relating to my respiratory failure, that my condition was caused by liver failure nine years ago; he was the one person who witnessed my skin having turned orange because of my livers inability to eliminate bilirubin at the time.