Tight chest/short breath all the time/cant be physical/bloating

Hello, whenever I try to take a deep breath, i dont always get a full breath, my chest is tight and there are episodes (perhaps from anxiousness)when i cant get a full breath for a prolonged amount of time and even have to breath manually. I have palpatations and when i try to do physical things like sing, climb a long flight of stairs, jog, etc i get really short of breath and i feel my heart pounding. sometimes at night i wake up with shortness of breath and just try to relax myself until i fall asleep no matter how i try change my diet, i easily get bloated.

Im 25 years old, 6'0 140lbs. Right now my docs are naming anxiety/panic attacks as the culprit. I've had EKG, chest x-ray, and going next week for pulmonary and heart echo.

My main questions are; if I take the pulmonary function tests while my chest is tight and breath is short, and my results are normal, that means I dont have asthma right?

Under the above circumstances, with shortness of breath, tight chest, etc. would an echo still show normal results even if i am unable to exercise?

Lastly, Other than bloating I dont seem to notice other symtpoms from GERD. Are there any accurate ways to disgnose wether or not I have GERD (that may be affecting my breathing) without doing a barium swallo or anything invasive?

thanks

[Dweebie]

Well, I can tell you that a Pulmonary Functions test would show any abnormalities, especially if you have tight chest during the test.  They may do a before and after bronchodialator
to determine if their are any changes in the test after you breathe the bronchodialator. Asthma is when you cant get the air out..  As far as the not being able to take a deep breath: Stop, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth nice and slow about ten times, and soon you will need to yawn..I have the same issue of not being able to take deep breaths. I have a relaxation tape that I listen to at night sometimes and it tells me to breathe in and out, it works,
I can actually breathe deep..  Anyway, during the day I will do the same thing, and it helps me to get a deep breath when I need one.  TRY IT..
One more thing, maybe you need to have a stress test ( a tredmill test that makes you walk really fast and up hills, if your heart is palpitating with exercise, this should do it and the doc would be sitting their looking at the heart rhythm while you are on the tredmill....Hope this helps.

[Swollen Colon]

I have suffered from the same symptomalogy as you for the majority of my life, and I've gone to multiple Medical Doctors, had the full gamut of tests done, and been told that I'm "fine" physically, but may have anxiety. From there, I'm referred to a psychologist AND a psychiatrist, who invariably come to the conclusion that yup, I HAVE ANXIETY, along with other bi-polar related issues. Finally, I went to a Naturopathic Doctor (an ND, not an MD), here in Albuquerque, NM. He did a series of non-intrusive (albeit peculiar) tests on me and in less than 10 minutes, diagnosed me with a swollen right testical, swollen and bloated colon, an intestinal infection, toxic liver and kidneys along with general toxemia and the onset of kidney stones. To say the least, I was impressed. He even asked me what color my eyes are, as he looked into them with a light. I said, "Well, they're brown, of course." To this, the doctor replied, "Actually, they're green, but you're so toxic that you can't see past the brown shoots surrounding your pupils." He also asked if my mother had had any issues with toxemia while pregnant with me. She HAD, and I was born with jaundice. The doctor said I've probably always been toxic and it has compounded and worsened over the years. Can you imagination finding out at age 29 that you never knew your true eye color? I almost fell off the table. He also mentioned that ALL anxiety and mental illness is a result of some type of toxemia in the body, which has an effect on ALL chemical balances. This is information that NO medical doctor has ever shared with me or had any INCLINATION of showing an interest in, but I've increasingly come to the conclusion that their only business is drugs and surgery, NOT health. My ND prescribed me a combination of Probiotic (to kill the infections), Slippery Elm Bark (to promote fasting) and Tumeric (which minimizes all bloating). This mixture had me feeling great in less than a day. He also explained what foods (and how they are packaged and prepared) are good for the body vs. which ones are "poisonous", and stressed that it was important for me to view certain foods as poisonous. I feel so much better. After 29 years of breathing palpitations, "anxiety", guinea pig scrip testing, psychiatric brainwashing and medical dismissiveness, I've finally found the natural solutions. Please, please, please heed my advice: forget what the FDA recommends. Replace your MD with an ND. Diet DOES play a significant role and any medication you need can be taken in it's absolute natural, powdery state WITHOUT RISK OF DEPENDENCY OR MULTIPLE/PHARMACEUTICAL SIDE EFFECTS. Obviously, a medical doctor will say people like me are nuts, but remember, their business is drugs and surgery. A naturopathic doctor cares. I'm living proof. Good luck!

[heartburnharry]

You have all of my symptoms and a similar runaround.

I have unbelievable heartburn, palpitations and never
can catch my breath.  I have to consciously lift my
shoulders to feel like I was breathing.  My primary
sent me to a gastro guy after PPIs didnt work.  She
gave me asthsma meds for the breathing. They didnt help The gastro guy put me on every conceivable med out there and put
me through so many tests that I lost count.  I finally
had the enteryx procedure (now FDA banned).  It helped
my heartburn a little but nothing else.  My primary
sent me to a pulmonologist who put me through even
more tests.  He said I was 'deconditioned'.  I had
heart tests--EKGs, stress tests, ultrasounds and some
more that I forget what they are called.  My primary
eventually told me I should take zoloft.  I found a new
primary who doesn't think I am crazy.  She referred me
back to a gastro guy because I am convinced it is an
hiatal hernia.  They found the HH during one of the many
previous gastro tests I had but said that because it was small it
wasn't causing any problems.  Well I spent about two full
days searching the net and am now completely convinced
it is the HH.  It may be small but it's the cause.  I also
found a site that said that the size of the HH doesn't determine the extent of the symptoms.  I am going back to the original
gastro guy the did the enteryx only because he has the
results of about a year's worth of tests.  I have all of
my info showing all of my symptoms and how it is the HH
that is causing them.  You have ALL of my symptoms.  If you
have't been checked for an HH--get checked.  No matter how
small it is, it could be causing your problem.  Don't let them tell you that you are deconditioned or crazy.  

You'll need the barium swallow and probably a few other tests.
It's better than dredding having to walk up a flight of
stairs for the rest of your life.

[gottaprayandbestrong]

wouldnt hiatal hernia appear during an x-ray?

[heartburnharry]

Dunno.  They found mine during the barium swallow.
And they didn't even tell me that I had one till
I asked.  They were looking for esophagus problems
and said the size of the hernia shouldn't be my
problem.  I've heard of someone that they told that same thing to.  They finally did a Nissen and found that the hernia was
much larger than they thought--it was 'turned the
wrong' way???  Right way, wrong way, big or little, find
out if you have one and don't let them blow you off.
I've found out that you can make a doctors day by one of
two things 1) you getting out of their office in less
than 10 minutes with a new PPI 2)being able to convice you that
you have panic attacks.

[ThankyouGod]

I had ur sysmptoms last year. Not to scare you but it turned out I had Atrial Septal Defect (a hole in the heart) and a malfunctioning valve. But yet i did not have a murmur and during all my past physical check ups my ECG was normal. Like you said pray and God will lead the way. I underwent surgery and now I am ok! Glory to God. Though they did not fix the valve they said to give it sometime it may not even be a problem. GOD BLESS YOU

[Tay24]

Hi. I am 24 years old. I have had the prblems you're having for about the last 3 years. Just started happening one day. Got shortness of breath to the point where I had to go to the emergency room. They did chest xrays found nothing. No asthma. Actually asthma medicatioin and inhalers made symtoms (symptoms) worse. Gets worse after I eat most of the time. They did a barium test and found nothing then my Gastro doctor did an endoscopy and found a hiatal hernia. I thought I was saved. I had the hernia fixed with laprascopic surgery. I nissen it's called. But hey that was almost 2 years ago and I still got the shortness of breath and major bloating alot of the time. Sitting helps and layin down. When I wake up it's worse. They're telling me anxiety and I'm not gonna lie I do have major anxiety but it can come on when i'm not anxious. I guess I'll try some antidepressants couldn't hurt maybe. Just keep prayin. P.s. symtoms (symptoms) totally went away for about 5 months and the only thing I noticed I was doing different was burping.??? I mean deep deep burps from way down. Felt great and life was good again. But now I can't burp and short breath. Heart races and what not. Please keep me posted and I'll do the same. God bless

[keywest]

I've had the same symptoms ...and lack of definitive answers. So I started researching. I found an article on Yahoo, "Vagus Nerve Imbalance/Hiatal Hernia Syndrome", that described all my weird symptoms and made such sense to me! The symptoms of burping, bloating, fatigue,inability to take a good, deep breath,irregular heartbeat, etc. It explains, in detail, how if the stomach is protruding into the diapragm, even a little bit, the compression on the vagus nerve can cause a multitude of problems.
Hope this can give you some insight and good luck.

keywest

[Prianca]

Plz tell what combination of probiotics the ND gave you.i want to know bcz im also suffering from this

[Prianca]

Plz tell what combination of probiotics the ND gave you.i want to know bcz im also suffering from this