Short of breath

[Sarahjeanne]

      I'm only 18 and lately every time I take a shower I feel very faint and short of breath after a few minutes I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for a while and I find myself almost struggling for air. It makes me really dizzy and most of the time I have to sit down or get out of the shower so I can sit down. I thought maybe the steam did it but I’ve put the water nearly cold so I wouldn’t have this problem and I still feel like I’m struggling to breathe. I feel short of breath at other times randomly throughout the day also (the shower just seems to make it 10x worse.). I feel like I have to take really large breaths too often because I feel like there’s some sort of pressure in my chest. Please help. Do I have some sort of asthma?
Thank you.
            -Sarah.

[National Jewish Health]

This could be asthma and you should be checked for that, but this sounds more like anxiety attacks, in some cases referred to as panic attacks.  At age 18, this is very unlikely to be serious disease of your heart or lungs, but at minimum, you should have a physical exam of your heart and lungs, a simple breathing test called spirometry and a chest x-ray.  If these are all normal you should discuss the possibility of this being anxiety, with your doctor, and consider a trial of an anti-anxiety drug.  Anxiety is one of those things that can sneak-up on a person, without you being aware of it.

[krista]

It actually sounds like anxiety to me.... I use to have that in the shower too.  

[ToBePyschologist_217]

yes i agree with krista about the anxiety.

i myself do suffer from asthma problems since i was 6.

i do now and again feel faint & dizzy in the shower.

i think that you need to get this checked out by your doctor. it might be something unrelated to asthma but the best possible way to find ths out for sure is to see your local GP.

i hope this has helped?.

[TinaFairae]

A related discussion, Shortness of Breath in shower was started.