Constant Shortness of Breath

[zambrotta19]

Hi,im a 22 year old male and i've been dealing with this constant shortness of breath for over 6-7 years now. I written on a forum about this before but just hadd to write one again. Its hard to say but doctors have no idea what's wrong with me.I see so mnay people dealing with this problem and it seems like theres no diagnosis. It just strated outta the blue I went to take a deep breath and i couldnt get that last bit of hair to satisfy the breath and this whole vicious cycle started. After that for about 2 years i was constantly taking deep breaths and not able to get a satisfied breath. I WAS CONSTANTLY YAWNING>SIGNING AND TAKIN UNSATISFIED DEEP BREATH ALL DAY LONG. I had reached the point when i was staying home in my bed just hoping i would die so it would stop.  After 2 years or so it seemed to just go away. It then came back right after i smoked a cigarette . Ever since then its been an ongoing struggle. I feel as if i have no control of my life, and im constantly thinking of my breathing. I feel hopeless and feel as if no one understands what im going through or that i have this disease that doctors cant detect. My doctor has put me on xanax for anxiety and it seemed to cut the edge off a lil but its still there. Its not as bad as when i first got it but it still disrupts my life. I can only work 2 days, i don't go to school  and i don't have much of a happy life .I've gone to cardiologist, ent's, gi's, pulmonary doctors. I've gone through xrays, PFT, EKG, stress tests, endoscopy . Only thing i have is GERD/LPR with sinsation of lump in throat and a very small irregular heart beat. I also am constantly clearing my throat.I heard that can be because of the Gerd/LPR. I just took a new PFT test and my breathing is normal. i did have a deviated septum but got that fixed..My lung specialist says its just all in my head and that i have this because ive become aware of my breathing pattern. i've used advair, singular and breathing pumps for asthma with no results. when im sitting or laying down its seems to be fine but when i stand up or move it kicks in more. I'm losing hope on what's going on with me. Does anyone have this?If so can anyone recommend anything else i should look for? the only thing i really want to do is a MRI or CT scan but doctors say 99 percent sure nothing will show.Has anyone heard of chronic hyperventilation syndrome? or phrenic nerve damage? if anyone can be of help please email me or post a message?

[John290]

Oh my God its like reading a story of exactly my life experience.  I woke up one day and just felt like i couldnt breath, it was as if every breath i took didnt get enough oxygen.  I was aware of my breathing 24 hrs a day (except while asleep), 7 days a week for about 2 years.  Everything you have said is exactly what i went through.  I have seen every doctor/specialist under the sun about this, who all told me i was fine and it was in my head.  But guess what??  Your in luck.  I finally went to a phycologist who noticed my short breathing straight away.  Sometimes with anxiety you dont realise you have it until your in the middle of it.  He gave me a CD with breathing exercises on it.  It teaches you to slow your breathing down and breath into the lower part of your stomach, instead of up high in the chest where im assuming you would be breathing.  I did these exercises twice a day for about 10 min each time.  To be honest for about 6-7 weeks it did nothing, but one day i woke up and realised i didnt have to think about my breathing anymore.  I still do these exercises about 4 times a week now just to keep things in check.  Trust me, your body has gotten itself into a routine of bad breathing...you just have to break that pattern.  This can sometimes take a bit but stick at it.  I was so pissed off that after seeing numerous specialists and doctors(and thousands of dollars), none of them picked this up.  You need to find a relaxation centre of some type, one that sells meditation CDs and books.  They always have breathing exercise CD's.  I would love to give you the one i have.
By the way.....just a quick bit of advice, anxiety causes every sympton known to man, all which seem life threatening.  I know this from experience, you are fine, dont waste your time with doctors now as you have had all the tests which say your fine and most know nothing about anxiety (apart from drugs).  You just need to keep reminding yourself it is not life threatening.
Please let me know how you go, i really hope this helps because i know exactly what you are going through.  

[enitsirhc]

WOW I'M GOING TO THE DOCTOR FOR THIS TODAY I BEEN VERY SHORT OF BREATH LIKE CAN'T EVEN FINISH A COMPLETE SENTENCE!  I ALSO HAVE A FEELING LIKE A BALL IN MY THROAT LIKE A CHOKING SENSATION.  I DO HAVE ACID REFLUX SO I DUNNO

[zambrotta19]

john thnaks alot-where did you purchase the cd from? can i buy it online?

[John290]

My Psychologist gave me the CD but im sure you could get one online or from a meditation shop of some type.  Maybe try googling "Breathing Exercise CDs" or something like that.  Where abouts do you live? Country? City?

[zambrotta19]

hi john, sorry have been really busy and havent had a chnace to post a response-i live in new york city-urself?

[matt611]

hi john,

oh what a relief to read your story.  As I type this my chest is hurting because ive just had a cigarette and its been like this for weeks now.  I take a lot of painkillers because im addicted to them and have recently started to cut down.  This in itself causes anxiety. but i have been a nervous person since as long as i can remember.  I am a recovering alcoholic and when I was drinking (over 25 years) I rarely had an anxiety attack.  Since being sober for 5 years I have then regularly and they are truely terryfying.  The first time this happened I called an ambulance because I thought i had overdosed because I couldnt breathe only to be told it was an anxiety attack.  I have had since cutting down my pills a constant pain in my chest and the constant feeling of shortness of breath is horrible.  I know its psychological but that doesnt help whilst in the throes of one of these attacks and if an attack really takes hold of me I get tongue rolling and twitching which can go on for days.  Breathing into a paper bag does nothing for me.  

What a relief to find this forum.

many thanks everyone
helen

[brittany1213d]

This just started to me a few days ago.
i can't handle it anymore :[
i dont even know what started it.
it just started. and now its like all day.
and it's annoying and im scared.
i went to the doctors. "its all in ur head"
... maybe it is. but i want it to stop :[... im going back to tomorrow just for them to think im pyscho again.
and the only time im fine these past couple of days is sleeping or when im keeping my mind busy with friends.

i just want medication something
im a 17 yr old girl. and i just want it to stop :[
ive never had this problem before.

[tgirl143]

Wow; I always thought I was crazy.  I have not had normal breathing for about 6 years now and it's horrible.  Every day I think that I have this horrible disease that the doctors didn't see or didn't diagnose.  I have taken a CT scan, lung x-ray, EKG for the heart and they were all normal.  I am convinced that all the doctors are wrong and that they all mis-diagnosed me.  But, I am an anxious person and this is probably just anxiety.  I really hope that's all it is.  I will try breathing exercises and see if they work.  I want my life back!

[MissAshley2009]

Your concentrating on it too much..
Trust me i deal with this everyday. at first i thought it was a mixture of my anxiety and my obsessive smoking habit but i learned that all it was was my over awareness of what i thought was going on. Your not crazy but your brain is sending the wrong signals through your body. im not sure how to tell you to get it to stop except try not to think about it and concentrate on something else. This is actually how i started having my panic attack. i would be smoke and feel like i couldnt breath so i'd keep taking deep breath after deep breath which would make me hyperventalate (spelling?)

[despairing]

I have been dealing with intense shortness of breath for over 7 years. Zambrotta's post sums up my experience pretty well. My shortness of breath is excruciating, constant, day and night.  I litterally feel as though I am suffocating. I hate it with every fiber of my being. It affects every area of my life.  I've been on xanax for over a year now and it's the only thing that seems to help, but it's only meant for short term treatment (3 to 4 months), and I've built a tolerance and the relief it provides isn't complete anyway.  I don't know what to do, but I promise my "awareness" of it is not the problem - I'm not concentrating on it too much or anything like that. It's horrible! I've prayed, seen doctors... I'm at my wits end, and often I feel I'd rather be dead than to go on living like this.  I am miserable.

[tony_aka_age]

This is almost exactly like my story I will feel suffocated or I concentrate to hard on breathing that it scares me into anxiety. I've been like this for 8 months now and its been horrible. But one thing I must tell you is to never give up, I've gone to seen one doctor for medication and only went like 3 days to a therapist (stop going because I couldn't afford it). I've spent my 8 horrible months with anxiety and I've been stuck at home because I'm so afraid of many things now, and I've never been one to scare easy and I've never had this problem and like most people it just popped up out of nowhere and BAM anxiety attacks. Right now I've lessened my attacks to the point if they occur I can stop them and without losing control. My problem though is the fear, and I've always distracted myself everytime, but I tell you to not do this everytime because if you want to beat your fears sometimes you have to face them head on. You can control your emotions, if you want to get angry you can right away, if you want to be calm, sad, cry you can do these easily. Fear is an emotion and in time it can be controlled as well. Thats why I tell you to never give up and fight for the life that you once had because who else is going to do it for you. I fight for my life everyday and I will not stop until I regain the normal life I once had and I will be rooting for all of you that are in the same boat as myself. Oh and also what John says helps a lot as well. practice some breathing exercises and never give up!

Good Luck to All

[Ray_Smith_37]

I suffered from this exact same thing for nearly a year. It started suddenly in a car ride one day and just didn't leave. Went to doctor after doctor...couldn't find anything wrong with me. Nine months later I had a panic attack from it and embarrassingly went to the hospital. I had a this great doctor simply tell me I had a chronic stress disorder (anxiety disorder, whatever.) and the next day I could feel my symptoms fade away. They returned once but All I say to myself is "your brain is tricking you. Don't worry." I repeat that and and just let myself be totrtured and accept it and soon enough I'm thinking of something else and it isn't there... so...what I'm saying is...this isn't a permanent situation.

[MakeThatSacrifice]

Oh, my god I can't even believe how many people have experienced this. I was sure I was alone, I quit smoking and tried everything I could think of to get rid of it! People who have never experienced it have no idea how horrible it is, it effects everything, my friends would tell me to start exercising more, which I knew couldn't be my problem because it would happen first thing when I would wake up and be with me all day, regardless of how active or inactive I was! It's tough trying to explain it to other people, I was getting really frustrated and worried that it was something very serious!

[r9c]

This is very true..i experienced this sensation a lot..done all test before..all fine..
one time it was so bad the breathing i went to the A&E dept and they check my oxygen level on my thumb using pulse oxi i think..its show 100%  oxygen level..i was like..i hardly breathe but my oxygen saturation level is 100% and then i proceed to see the doctor..he listen to my heart and lungs..it was 100% fine..and my symptoms disappeared slowly..
i just couldnt believe its just Anxiety...how horrible

[tony_aka_age]

Thats what happened to me also, I was just riding along in the car and I had a feeling of suffocation and that was my first and only worst anxiety attack I had in history. But I fought if by myself for 6 months until I saw a doctor. In the end it was all in my head and slowly I'm taking control of my life. I fell to horrible anxiety attacks where I get the pins and needles feeling on my hands, feet, stomach, and face. I had depression because I couldn't understand what was going on with me and I had no idea how to fight it. I was always negative and fearful of so many things that just added to my anxiety. I've had friends who couldn't understand what I was going through and would tell me to exercise, but that didn't work. In the end it's all in your head and even sometimes I have small anxiety attacks and I let them take over me since nothing bad has ever happened to me and they just go away because I know they can't hurt me. Right now I'm just trying to face a few of my fears like being in the car, going out with friends, leaving town to other places.

[care_berry]

Guys, I really don't think it's all in your head. I think a lot of doctors say that when they can't tell us what our diagnosis is. I had suffered from the breathlessness thing for years before I found out it was really a gluten allergy. I've posted about this here before. I no longer suffer from it after getting rid of all gluten from my diet.