42 active suddenly out of breath

[Whereisthesunny]

i’m 42 active person slightly overweight 5ft 6 13 st, never smoked, don’t drink. have a reasonable diet.
suddenly feel out of breath doing every day tasks walking and even lying down at night.
is this the effect of being overweight or could be other things?

Could possibly be an iron deficiency? Worth a chat with your GP.

Go and get checked out. You can develop asthma at any age. I did after a COVID infection and had similar symptoms.

Being over weight can definitely contribute
Extra fat on your neck, chest, or across your abdomen can make it difficult to breathe deeply and may produce hormones that affect your body's breathing patterns.
However, I would ask for a blood test. Low iron or thyroid issues can cause this.

@Choconuttolata it’s interesting as a couple of month ago i had a bad chest infection and i never get ill. Since then i’ve not been 100% and about a month ago i started feeling out of breath.

I hate to break it to you, but you are not “slightly overweight”, you are bordering on BMI 30, which is obese. I expect your breathing difficulties are weight related. What is your food intake like? Do you eat a lot of junk food? Could you be anemic, low vitamin D, etc?

Mayflower i do understand and agree with you. my diet is good but have issues with portion control and have a sweet tooth

Go see your GP. Might be blood clots in your lungs. I follow a fitness influencer who found that she had them after having breathing trouble. Again it's just a possibility so don't take my word. Also long term use of the pill can cause blood clots.

This is garbage IMHO. The OP has noticed sudden onset breathlessness including when lying down at night. This is highly unlikely to be due to being a couple of stones overweight. OP you REALLY must get this checked out ASAP.

My partner started to feel breathless eg walking up a slight hill.
He ended up phoning an ambulance after having chest pains.

It turned out that his heart rate was sky high and he had atrial fibrillation.,

Make an appointment with the GP (good luck with that!) It could be something simple like iron deficiency. (I always get breathless when ferritin/iron deficient, along with palpitations).

Thanks for this. I will call gp tomorrow to try and book appointment. Hopefully get some answers

I agree with a PP about iron deficiency. Breathlessness and complete inability to do normal activity (walking uphill or upstairs) without getting out of breath was one symptom of my thyroid disorder. Definitely go to your GP.

Hi @Whereisthesunny, my sister’s heart condition was found due to similar symptoms.

She had a bad chest infection and afterwards developed breathlessness. She was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dont put this down to your weight. And don’t let the GP do that either without doing other checks.

And don’t wait to be checked either - my sister did and this resulted in her blacking out during a walk.

This is a dangerous answer. Sudden onset breathlessness is not likely to be caused by the OP’s weight.

Did you have a course of antibiotics? If so, perhaps they didn’t completely clear up the infection.

Agreed, sudden onset breathlessness, you need to speak to a Dr, first, check up, bloods.

I had this related to perimenopause, it sounds like your chest infection is the more likely cause but be aware that as your hormones fluctuate you might notice things changing eg an infection or something you might have shaken off before become more troublesome.

Thank you all. I’ve never had anything like this before and it literally feels when im out of breath during exercise.
Not sure if it changes anything but i feel when i take a big breath a good amount of air going through me. I climbed Cadair Idris a couple of days ago and struggled with the pace first but was ok once i slowed down.
i feel putting this all out here has definitely set my anxiety off and the worry isn’t helping

@EatCrow i was abroad when i got ill and the dr there gave my a 3 day course of antibiotics but cough last another 2-3 weeks . I’ve been feeling fine for a few weeks since apart from the breathlessness

Some time ago I had a really bad gum infection and it took three courses over a period of two and a half months of different antibiotics to shift. One of those involved a three day course which did nothing. I’d get checked out again.

Echoing what the others are saying here, OP. This needs checking out. Breathlessness lying down ran the alarm bells for me. I would push for a cardio screening if you can. Don't be fobbed off.

I had this AND had recently flown like you...I had a collapsed lung, it's called a 'spontaneous pneumothorax'. Get yourself a chest x ray ASAP. I had wheezing when I breathed out and crackling when I breathed out, but that was after ignoring it for a good while, that part took a while to develop.