Help I can’t breathe!

[3mma35]

Don’t panic - I have been seen in A&E and told nothing serious.

Sorry for the long post

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to cope?

Out of the blue I’ve not been able to breathe properly since Thursday evening:

• short of breath
• faster heart rate
• wake up gasping for air a few times at night
• burping
• drinking and peeing more
• worsens if I talk, eat or move

GP surgery sent me straight to A&E (think I worried the receptionist by not going there in the first place!)

I was given a chest x-ray, blood tests and ECH at A&E, results showed nothing serious, so Dr said likely asthma and gave
me an inhaler, inhaler makes things worse. I had mild asthma as a child (20+ years ago), this doesn’t feel like an asthma attack as it’s been continuous for days.

After DH nagging went to the GP after the weekend , GP saw me within 20 minutes and sent me straight back to the hospital and phoned ahead. I was put on a ward, had more blood tests, monitoring, ECG, and asthma tests. ACP discharged me as they couldn’t find anything wrong, they did offer talking therapies, although I’ve got no symptoms of anxiety or depression so I declined the referral.

Trying to soldier on but just going up and down the stairs leaves me worn out and panting like I’ve sprinted down the street.

Anyone any ideas on how to cope
with life not being able to breathe. I’m trying to sit still, not eat and not talk, so now I’m bored!!

if anyone reads all this - THANK YOU!

What is your actual oxygen levels?

Have you looked at respiratory reflux, esp
ad you mention burping and ‘air hunger’ as they call it.
click here, it’s def something to consider.

jamiekoufman.com/what-is-respiratory-reflux-why-doesnt-my-doctor-know-about-this/

As GP to refer you to lung doctor

It sounds like you've had a cardiac work up - were you experiencing all the same symptoms while you were in hospital that you did at home? Or does it come and go (and inconveniently went while they tested)? If the latter, you could ask if they think a 24 hour ECG at home is worthwhile.

If not that, and the hospital ward thought asthma, did they refer you to a respiratory consultant for follow up?

I am presuming they ruled out pulmonary embolism and chest infection?

Most likely this is not it, but are you coughing at all? Do you feel that you are not in control of your breathing at times? Like you want to breath in, but you have to force it? There was a bout of whooping cough recently. It damages the cilia, the micro hair-like structures in the airways and I really struggled breathing while recovering from it, even after having lots of antibiotics!
For some people the cough is the actual first symptom, but the damaged is done by then. It lasts for months.
For me, there is a cough, a spacmic one, all air goes out of my lungs in one go (so fast it hurts my sinuses, honestly). Then I get hiccups. Then I struggle to get any air in my lungs, for a few seconds. It is like my body thinks my lungs are full, but they are empty! Now that a few months have passed, it is much more suttle. I rarely cough, but I still have issues controlling my breathing rythm at times.
No heart issues, that I know of, though, are associated with it.

Did they check your thyroid? You symptoms are similar to hyperthyroidism.

My experience was that my pernicious anaemia went undiagnosed for a long time. Before diagnosis I was gasping for air, I felt like there was no oxygen in the air I was breathing . ECG / cardiac tests showed no issues. It wasn't apparent on the standard blood tests that they initially ran (but they weren't looking for it I suppose....). Not to suggest this is what's wrong with you, just to share that it was a bit left field given the symptoms. Good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of it soon xx

I don’t know from the hospital - just that they were fine.
At GP it was 98/99.

Thank you, no I hadn’t heard of that.
I did have an over-acidic stomach and reflux many years ago which was caused by taking the pill. It stopped as soon as I stopped taking it but never caused breathing problems.

DH had chronic hyperventilation, where he was breathing too fast for months. It really impacted his life, and some of the symptoms sound like yours. Once he was finally diagnosed, he found breathing exercises really helped. He also had a lot of other tests along the way.

If I’m sat not moving and not talking then my heart rate comes down.
In A&E I’d been sat waiting to be seen so wasn’t too bad.
On the ward they did it quite quickly so I was struggling but they said to stop talking as that was making it worse!

I think the ward said it wasn’t asthma, A&E said asthma. They discharged me as nothing seriously wrong with me. They said I can go on the waiting lists for lung tests if I want but that doesn’t help me breathe whilst I’m waiting and waiting lists are long around here!

It sounds like that but without the cough. Hope you feel better soon.

how is your abdomen feeling, any hardness or swelling , did they do a full abdo exam? a lot of your symptoms sound as if you have upwards pressure on your diaphragm and pressure on your internals.Are u constipated? if you google diaphragmatic breathing exercises and try those otherwise google breathing exercises for calm or try some mindfullness /meditation (lots on google) if focusing on your breathing makes you worse. Sometimes using a straw to blow in a glass of water can help resettle your breathing.Air hunger can be triggered by a few things...thyroid, anaemia for eg. but also stress and anxiety so don't discount the latter....if they suggested talking therapies then that may be a component. i take it you aren't a smoker,vaper,drinker or very obese?

Sorry, bear with me there’s a lot of questions - didn’t expect that!! Thank you all

Is there anything that helps you when you can’t get air in?

I’ve been trying to stay calm (repurposing the decade old hypnobirthing focus!), remind myself there’s nothing seriously wrong with me and that I’ll be able to breathe again, I can only do small breaths though, it’s like something is stopping it.

I think so, I had a lot of health problems the back end of last year and I’m sure I had it checked then if not. My GP surgery are very thorough, not like some of the nightmare ones on here!

Yes I’m gasping sometimes, especially when I wake up at night.
that’s awful you were undiagnosed for so long, was there anything that helped you whilst they didn’t know what it was?

Hope you are a lot better now.

You say you have no signs of anxiety but this is a sign of possible anxiety. I would not discount that possibility.

Sorry to hear that. I’m hoping I can just carry on as the hospital said there’s nothing wrong.

I do Pilates for pelvic health / prolapse which has a lot of breathing exercises and I’ve been trying to do some hypnobirthing breaths when I can to stay calm.

Is there anything that helped your husband when he was breathing too fast? I’m breathing fast as I can’t take a deep breath most of the time. It’s just come on so suddenly as well!

Hope DH is a lot better now.

I am a bit bloated but nothing hard as such. They did examine my abdo and legs.

Not constipated as I have post natal FI and pelvic organ prolapse so I have to take laxatives daily and irrigate often (sorry if TMI)

I’ve had a problem with a hypertonic pelvic floor (which is a lot better now) so do breathing exercises to help with that. Although good point yes feel like concentrating on my breathing probably isn’t helping at times!
Also meditate and pray at least once a day, I enjoyed guided meditation when I was pregnant so will try that again - thank you.

Ive not totally discounted talking therapies, I can access them through work quicker than through the NHS and have used the work one when I’ve just been feeling overwhelmed. I’ve got no symptoms of anxiety or depression and did have post natally (6 years ago) so know the symptoms. I didn’t think an NHS referral would help right now. It’s an 18 month waiting list for a 6 week course and then they discharge you. I hope I’m better before then!!

Not a smoker, vaper, drinker or obese

What inhaler did they give you?

@3mma35 no, there was no breathing technique that would have helped. I was gasping because I was struggling to absorb oxygen due to the b12 deficiency. Once diagnosed I had 12 loading dose injections of b12, a course of high dose folate and and 4 iron infusions before I felt ok. But it's fine now. Just getting the diagnosis was difficult. Nobody in primary care seemed to recognise it from my blood tests. I hope you get to the bottom of it and feel better soon.

The breathing exercises DH tried were very simple ones, such as the ones described here: https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/breathing-techniques-to-ease-breathlessness/ He is much better now, thank you.

It might be worth getting a pulse oximeter to check if your oxygen levels are OK (consistently above 95%); they are high with chronic hyperventilation (as well as during a panic attack) but low if your body can't absorb oxygen, e.g. asthma.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

I had this with long Covid.

Thank you.

I was discounting it as I had depression and anxiety with pregnancies/post natal this doesn’t feel anything like that and nothing has changed either hormonally, or in life generally that would trigger it. When I am stressed I have other physical signs and I’m not stressed atm either! It’s hard to think it might just suddenly have appeared with no other symptoms and no obvious reason for it. Before it was a very clear change and evident worrying.

I’m doing things that helped when I had anxiety during pregnancy like mindfulness and journalling, I’ll keep it up and 🤞 it often takes time with anxiety doesn’t it.