Recurring shortness of breath

[UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername]

DH is experiencing recurring shortness of breath lately. It's not the sort where you're panting, like after exercise. It's like he can't fill his lungs fully, and has to keep consciously fighting to get a full breath. He's exhausted during it as well; it happened around Easter and he was in bed for 3 days. He had a slightly raised temperature that time too, though during the other 3 episodes, he hasn't. He doesn't have a cough or anything, and the time he had the raised temperature wasn't the first time it happened.

He's in bed now because he didn't get to sleep till very late last night, due to the breathing thing.

He tried my ventolin inhaler during one episode and it didn't make any difference. He tried ringing the GP the time with the temperature, and was diagnosed over the phone with a chest infection (even though he had no cough) and told to ring back in 3 days if it didn't clear up, but it did - temporarily.

Any ideas? I'm going to get him to ring the GP again tomorrow but I don't see him getting very far with that at the moment!

concerned bump

I think all he can do is ring the GP again tomorrow. Obviously if he deteriorates then seek more urgent help.

Could be COVID, hope he can see someone. Other things to explore include air hunger caused by anemia and hypothyroidism amongst others known as dyspnea.

This sounds like the breathlessness i had when anemic. Is he dizzy? Ringing in his ears, pins and needles?

Could be mild covid, not everyone gets all the common symptoms

I had those symptoms for a while and it was blood clots. Ended up as a pulmonary embolism (which is serious and urgent). Can you ask for a D-Dimer blood test, to at least try to rule that out?

(I wonder how many of the people being told 'its not covid' are even being assessed for possible PE, which has a much higher fatality rate.)

I had this at the end of last year and it was a virus. I would call the surgery tomorrow though for advice

He got up, sat downstairs for an hour, had a shower and went back to bed. After the shower, his BP was 120/76 and his pulse was 86 so not too bad. I'll get him to ring in the morning; it just worries me that he already spoke to the GP, the second time it happened (and when he had a raised temperature as well) and he was told it was a chest infection. I've had loads of those before but never without a cough. It may very well be some random virus (or a certain very specific one!), but it has happened 4 times now over the last two months, for two or three days at a time. It doesn't exactly scream 'chest infection' to me.

And of course the kids are on their second bout of tonsillitis in the same span of time (even though we've all been isolating for 7 weeks), and have had random raised temperatures in between, when they've felt fine and been in good form but I've just checked anyway. I'm half hoping at this stage that one or other of them will be sent for covid testing, and they'll all turn out to have it, just for an explanation.

I've had the same - has been on and off - I've not felt I could call the GP when I've felt OK. It's got better on its own but I'm still getting short episodes of being really short braeth now and then.

Really don't know what to do (only ever go the GP if I'm really ill). Not sure there's anything that can be done!