Struggling to breathe, any advice?

[vix1980]

Especially at night, it seems to get worse as soon as i lie down at night, last night i woke several times struggling to breathe, its like im full of phlegm except im not, i have a few sips of a drink and swallow a few times and it goes but its quite scary when i first wake up and cant breath.

it was so bad last night i jumped up, opened a window and stuck my head out cos i actually thought i was going to die it was so hard to breath. im not overweight, dont have food a few hours before bed, cant think of anything else to try, i spoke to midwife last time but she dismissed it and said all pregnant woman struggle to breathe, i understand the baby is taking over the room my lungs use and i get that, i can still breathe, this is mostly at night, then turns into panic when i cant get a breath. anyone else had similar or know what i can do for it?

How are you lying when you wake up? Is it possible that some sleep positions are worse than others? For instance I'd avoid lying on your back with too many pillows under your head as this could be leaving you with your chin pushed into your chest - restricting your airways. I don't know how far through pregnancy you are, but I've heard that as it progresses you should try and avoid sleeping on your back or right side as these positions can constrict your circulation - I don't know if this would result in symptoms of breathlessness though.

I have mild asthma so understand how terrifying it can be to struggle to breathe. My asthma has actually been better during pregnancy though occasionally earlier in pregnancy I'd get a tight chest which made breathing uncomfortable for a while as baby/uterus/whatever must have been pressing up into my ribs/diaphram/lungs. Luckily this didn't last for long, I guess the baby must have moved positions or I adjusted, though I expect it may happen again as baby grows.

My worst experience breathing wise during pregnancy was having a dream where I had an asthma attack and waking up believing I couldn't breathe. I took my inhalers and stood at an open window to get in the cool air, but I couldn't ever figure out whether I'd had an actual attack or not (there was nothing to trigger it off and it settled down fairly quickly). It may have been triggered by the dream, or maybe I had an unexplained breathlessness like you and my dream incorporated it. I don't even remember if I was even breathless when I first woke up - it could have been panic at the dream.

Go back to your midwife or GP if this continues to affect you. Its one thing saying that pregnant women are more likely to get out of breath sooner during exertion because of your insides being squished up, quite another for you to be waking in the night unable to breathe reguarly.

Hi, sorry should of said im 31 weeks and ive never had anything like last nights episode before, i used to suffer with asthma as a child so i know how it feels across my chest and it was exactly like that, i was lying on my back when i work up as i struggled to get upright to get a drink.

as soon as i had the air at the window i kind of calmed down but felt so incredibly hot just stripped off my top and lay on my left hand side which seemed to calm me down quite a lot and i was able to control my breathing. it was just so scary, d even said he heard me breathing and lay there waiting for the next breath, when it didnt come he touched me to see if i was ok. i will have to mention it to the gp or midwife (even though she actually doesnt see it as a problem that much). i think maybe ill ask for another inhaler too as i havent had 1 for quite a number of years. just really scared of it happening again though.

lie on your left!

I've had similar experiences recently to yours vix. When I mentioned it to my midwife she explained that everything gets so squashed, it's perfectly normal, even palpitations which I was waking up to nightly, feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest! I actually thought my dh would be woken by the banging in my chest!
I've stopped wearing anything in bed, lying on 3 pillows on my left and having a fan on my bedside table that I can turn off and on throughout the night. It's really helped me. I've also got an inhaler and have used it whenever my chest has felt tight.
It may be down to anxiety about the impending birth too (I know mine is) so I try to have happy thoughts before drifting off!

Hope things improve for you.

I do lie on my left, i cant always control which side i wake up on though, but whenever i do wake up i turn onto my left again as i find it comfier, its still happening though so think i will ask for an inhaler gemmakate i have exactly the same symptoms as you, heart pounding and it always surprises me that nobody else can hear it. god i cant wait for all this to be over so i can go back to being (relatively) normal

well yeah... except for having a newborn baby to look after through the day and night it'll be normal

i also get this coz i curl up in a ball i find lying on my side with my head tilted slightly up clears the airways a bit hope this helps

Yes I used to get this and found it worse once I started thinking about it.

Have another chat with your GP though to reassure yourself.

Spiritedwolf True but at least i should have no problem breathing!

I tried again lying on my sides, this time using a different pillow, it did help a bit but then after a while went back to the same, also slept with vaporub on and it made no difference whatsoever. it feels like im getting a bad cold or something, except i feel totally fine. have an appt with the doctor on tuesday so fingers crossed till then.