5 weeks and constantly breathless

[MockCroc]

Hi
I have found a bunch of threads about breathlessness at 20+ weeks but I have it at the moment and I am hardly out of the starting gate. Is this normal? I have no ms but some stomach pain and am very tired. But I constantly feel as though I am either forgetting to breathe or need to breathe more deeply. This is the case even when I am sitting down.

Has anyone else had this? I am feeling a bit paranoid about losing the baby anyway because I'm in those insecure first few weeks, but this is weirding me out!
MC x

Don't worry, all sounds completely normal to me. I had exactly the same experience between 5 and 10 weeks. It was worse when I was doing nothing like reading in bed and I would feel this urge to take really deep breaths, but couldn't quite fill my lungs enough, it disappeared at around 10 weeks.

i would see your doctor I have heard anemia can cause this?
or perhaps anxiety I actually get that feelign alot rhgouh anxiety it depends how axnsious you are really feeling. Either way your doctor may be able to help :)

I always get this in pregnancy (now 30wks with 3rd and still getting mega breathlessness). Mine is due to low blood pressure - very common in pregnancy, particularly during the 1st trimester. I'll bet when midwife does your BP at booking its low. Mine is always around 90/50, which midwife tells me is at the low end of the scale. Just keep hydrated and sit down if you begin to feel dizzy with it too. I fainted shortly after my 12wk scan this pregnancy in M&S coffee shop. Mortified! Congrats on your pregnancy!

It could be anxiety or anaemia, or just general pregnancy symptoms but I would get it checked out as there are other causes that, although unlikely, should be ruled out. I would call NHS Direct and ask them.

hey hun i was breathless at around this time too (and like you couldn't find anything on here), although a few other people on here said they were too.

I can't remember when it stopped, but i am 22 weeks now and i get out of breath easily.. but nothig like when i was 5-8 weeks ish

I would definitely see your GP/local midwife to get this checked out. Odds are it is not serious but even early in pregnancy you have an increased tendency to develop clots. You need someone to take a history from you and examine you to see if you require any further investigations to exclude what is known as a PE (pulmonary embolism) which can occur (and I have seen) in first trimester.

Definitely get it checked out. I had breathlessness and it turned out I had a pregnancy-related heart murmur caused by the extra blood volume in the body, though these don't normally appear until around 20 weeks.

Hello everyone
Thank you so much for your replies! It is nice to know I am not going mad - this was a symptom I certainly never expected. I saw my GP this morning. She was perfectly pleasant but not very interested: said that it was probably just a pregnancy symptom and even if it was a clot they can't do a blood test for it because pregnancy gives a false positive. She also said that they will test me for anaemia but only once I have my 8 weeks midwife appointment (I rather got the impression that the NHS won't spend money on me until I am further long and it is more likely the pregnancy will continue). I was slightly surprised that she didn't check my BP or my chest. So I will continue to huff and puff and see what happens if I make it through to see the midwife in 3 weeks. But it is nice to know that I am not alone with this odd symptom!
Many thanks
MC x

Yup me too re: breathlessness. I found doing yoga style breathing exercises helpful, breathing deeply from the tummy rather than shallow breathing from the chest xxx