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Constant Shortness of Breath

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?
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Avatar universal
OMG so im not the only one feel SOB , i 32  years old and had been a smoker for 9 years, on 24 dec 2014 i made a promise to my self to stop smoking as one of my family member died of lung cancer, i wanted to live a happy and non smokers life, little did i know that on the 3rd day while i was sitting with a friend causally felt like yawing and had a sudden shortness of breath, when to the Dr who told me as the weather is cold around -1 to 6 (believe me for my country where we are used to 35+ degrees weather is cold) i might have chest infection, i have also started to suffer from acid reflex since last nigh, i couldn't sleep coz of it, i have read in many posts that many smokers who quit feel this "nicotine withdrawal" but my DR says that not it, i have been coughing a lot and throwing out a lot of mucus....still i have SOB, i just want to be normal again :(
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Avatar universal
I am so relieved to come across this thread today as I am suffering from the same symptoms many of you are experiencing.

I am a 24 year old female. My whole life I've had bad anxiety problems. I sometimes would have panic attacks where I'd feel dizzy and weak, but never problems breathing.

About a year ago, I started experiencing this shortness of breath that would just come on randomly. It first started in the evenings on car rides home from work and it would stop by the time I got home. Then it started happening more and more often, in the morning, afternoon, evening. It gets worse when I'm rushing to do errands and chores, and worse when I'm eating meals. It tends to go away when I'm with family and friends and enjoying myself and comes right back again when I return to normal life.

It's like I can't breath in the full breath of air-- there's this tightness right around my diaphragm that won't allow me to get that last little bit of oxygen I need. I constantly feel tired and yawn, I have no energy to do the things I used to love. I can't run or do strenuous exercise like I used to. It's sometimes hard to get through a yoga class when I can't take a full breath. It's hard for me to eat meals sometimes because I don't have enough air.

Constant sore back/neck/ chest muscles. I wake up several times during the night, bad sleep.  

A list of doctors/medications/procedures I've had:
- Pulmonary function test (mildly decreased obviously)
- Several steroid daily inhalers - no change
- Albuterol inhalers - no change
- Abdomen xray- negative
- EKG- no findings
- Singulair - mild improvement (I also have bad seasonal allergies)
- Dexilant anti-reflux medication- no change
- Carafate anti reflux medication- no change
- 2 months of anti-reflux diet- no change
- Upper endoscopy-- no findings
- Colonoscopy-- no findings
- CT scan of abdomen/pelvis-- no findings
- seeing a great therapist x 10 months - mild improvement


My GI doctor wants to start me on Prozac now. I'm weary of starting an anti depressant medication because I'm not depressed. I'm frustrated that I can't figure out what's wrong with me. Slowly accepting that this may be all psychological.

My therapist thinks it would be a good idea to add a medication along with therapy. Maybe I should see a psychiatrist and look into other anti anxiety medications that wouldn't be as potent as Prozac is.



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Have you found any resolution? My problems started at age 23 as well. I am now 26. Your story sounds so much like mine that I was wondering if I wrote it haha! Because I have been on these sites searching for answers for three years now. I was recently diagnosed with Addison's Disease which can cause the shortness of breath/constant air hunger and yawning. I hope you've found some relief and are able to get back to me on this...even though it's been three years since your comment!
10726976 tn?1412303977
I'm struggling with occasional shortness of breath too. It comes and goes, but when it comes it usually stays all day. That need to yawn to get a breath, maybe one breath in seven is deep enough to qualify as "catching my breath." I have had panic attacks--racing heart, sense of unreality, shortness of breath, and gone to the ER three times. I always check out fine in terms of heart (EKG) and lungs. I've had Lorazepam prescribed for the acute panic attacks, and it helps, but the shortness of breath has come recently all by itself, and the drug doesn't seem to help. My mother suffered from anxiety, and shortness of breath in particular--but it never hit me till I was in my late fifties (I'm 63 now). I'm pretty sure it is anxiety--distraction sometimes makes it better and so does sleep, as others have noted. I don't have a stressful work life, but I do work on deadlines and tend to be a worrier. Glad to hear from everyone and share support here.
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Avatar universal
That's so wierd, mine started in a car journey aswell, it's not so bad but I'm worried it's going to get worse, do you have anything which could help me?
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Avatar universal
Just started 6 days ago for me. I'm a 30 year old male, always been healthy. Was driving to work last Tuesday at 4am and started yawning like I was really tired or something. Yawned for 40 minutes the whole way there. Got to work, went away. Same thing happened the next morning. Then on the third day, it never went away. I've been short of breath ever since, and it feels like it MIGHT be getting a tad worse? Idk it's hard to say. But I went to the ER and no lung cancer, no pneumo, now I'm waiting to see my dr for some more tests. They said it was "anxiety" but I've never had anxiety problems.

This just came literally out of NO WHERE, all I can do is pray to God that He has mercy because these drs don't seem to know what's causing this. Something is going on. There's too many people experiencing this without any history of anxiety for it to just be chalked up as "anxiety".
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Avatar universal
Just started 6 days ago for me. I'm a 30 year old male, always been healthy. Was driving to work last Tuesday at 4am and started yawning like I was really tired or something. Yawned for 40 minutes the whole way there. Got to work, went away. Same thing happened the next morning. Then on the third day, it never went away. I've been short of breath ever since, and it feels like it MIGHT be getting a tad worse? Idk it's hard to say. But I went to the ER and no lung cancer, no pneumo, now I'm waiting to see my dr for some more tests. They said it was "anxiety" but I've never had anxiety problems.

This just came literally out of NO WHERE, all I can do is pray to God that He has mercy because these drs don't seem to know what's causing this. Something is going on. There's too many people experiencing this without any history of anxiety for it to just be chalked up as "anxiety".
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