Fed up of feeling like this

[WeirdlyKind]

Sorry, this might be long!

I had Covid in Oct and my second jab in Dec. Since then I've never felt right with my breathing - I often feel short of breath or get a feeling like I'm holding my breath. I've also had rib pain.

I've had chest xrays, blood tests, heart checks (ECG, I think) multiple times and they can't find anything wrong and yet the feeling persists. I feel like it again today, but was throughly checked over yesterday at urgent care who couldn't find anything. Bloods are always clear, pulse ox is always above 96%, even when I get the feeling.

To make things more complicated, if I'm doing something that distracts me from thinking about it, I don't have any issues with my breathing. It's also fine when I'm asleep, according to my partner. It's getting to the point where I'm constantly worrying about my breathing.

I just don't know what to do next. I have a GP appointment at the end of the month. Its worrying me and I don't know what to do next. The doc yesterday seemed to think it could be anxiety, but would it show like this? Anything else I can ask about?

Thank you

Sounds rough! Have you had normal bloods done, like iron/thyroid and so on?

Could it be anxiety related? I have something very similar, where I feel like I can’t take a proper lungful of air. Only ever happens when I have something looming ahead of me - a work deadline, or a big event. It’s got worse since Covid too as my anxiety levels have risen.

You seem to be asking your self a question ....

Not sure what I did - was trying to post something a friend asked me to get an opinion on that! Probably not helped by having a cat climbing on me.

Is it worth asking about iron/thyroid and such too? I was very anaemic in the past and never felt like this

I'm sorry I don't know what that means. Please don't derail the post - I really am desperate for advice!

It sounds to this layman as though it’s nothing to do with covid and everything to do with panic attacks / over breathing / hyperventilating. Ask the GP about that. They might be able to refer you for CBT - I reckon you’re a good candidate for that. Good luck.

If you want more bloods done for iron then just ask the doctor. Judging from your posts though it does sound like anxiety could be a viable option, it can manifest physically in all sorts of ways

Thanks! I've never heard of over breathing so will absolutely ask about that.

Would that include "manual breathing" (not really sure how to explain that - sometimes I feel like I'm thinking "breathe in, breathe out, in, out...."

Does sound like your anxious. When I concentrate too much on my breathing it gets weird! Especially if you are more aware of it now

To answer your question, yes anxiety does cause physical symptoms often including breathing difficulties. Hopefully the doctor will be able to prescribe you anxiety medication and/or CBT.

@WeirdlyKind Hi op I'll try to be of some help I had covid in the summer and my breathing was not good for around 3 months even short walks has me out of breath and lightheaded and as another poster mentioned the more I thought about it the more wound up I got and the worse my breathing seemed to be . To help overcome it I walked every day no matter how slow to get my stamina back up and get fresh air into my lungs when I started to worry about it I'd make sure I could sit down and take very sliw deep breaths throughy nose and after a few weeks I improved .

Sounds like anxiety, which you can get help for. Your pulse ox is fine and you breathe fine when you're asleep so this really seems to be to do with the way you are thinking. Which is good news as you are getting all the oxygen you need.
Discuss with your gp.

I've been back so many times, with them finding nothing, that I'm convinced they've got me down as a hypochondriac! I'm trying not to Google because I know it'll only scare me but I honestly just want to feel normal again, and my GP hasn't been much help.

If you're fine when distracted then you're making yourself short of breath by thinking you can't breathe. The mind is incredibly powerful at deceiving you. It sounds anxiety related. Stay off google, ask your gp for help with anxiety.

This sounds like anxiety Op. I’ve had breathing anxiety before, despite being super fit and healthy. I’ve ended up hyper ventilating and thinking I’m having a heart attack with it. It can be very over powering.
I had CBT which really helped.

It sounds like they’ve tried to explain to you it’s anxiety, but you are too anxious to accept this. Why not go back and discuss it with them and follow their line of treatment for it? And if it doesn’t work then you’ve ruled that out and will have to further investigate your symptoms.

Thank you! I did a four mile walk on Fri and felt okay - managed to squash down any anxiety but yesterday was bad.

You sound like me. I know mine is anxiety/panic attacks tho. I always feel like I need to take deep breaths or am so tense it feels like I can't breathe.
You say when you take your mind of it it's fine when you constantly think of something it seems worse.
Do you feel anxious or panicked?

If you can do a 4 mile walk then you don’t have breathing problems related to physical health. Honestly it’s amazing what anxiety can do, people underestimate how serious it can be, hopefully it’s something you’re able to get help with and feel better soon.

Yesterday was the first time they've mentioned anxiety and even then, they didn't say how I could help it offer any treatment. My GP felt it could be reflux and put me on omprezalone which has made no difference at all. That was after a phone appointment though, with no physical checks.

Day to day I don't feel particularly anxious about anything - my partner had a serious accident in September and was in ICU for seven weeks so I guess it could be related to that but there's not one specific thing I'm anxious about.

I just want to go back to feeling normal and not constantly feeling like my breathing isn't right!

Hi OP, this sounds like it could be anxiety: I would definitely recommend you go to your gp or look online for your local nhs talking therapies service and self refer . CBT or EMDR therapies could help. In the meantime whenever you feel like you can’t catch your breath, try to focus on breathing out for a full, slow, long breath out , rather than focusing on breathing in. Often in anxiety/panic, when people feel like they can’t catch their breath they try to breathe into already full lungs which is impossible. If you focus on a long slow breath out this can help. Good luck OP, I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you! I'll try that. It's like my brain is stuck in a loop worrying about it, which of course only makes things worse.