Chest soreness, shortness of breath, etc.

[Cassie35565]

Hi I am a 22 year old female and i have been experincing some things that worry me. In the past few months I have been experiencing a chest tightning or like a soreness that goes from my back to the front of my ribs. I also experience shortness of breath and sometimes feel like i can't breath correctly or when i yawn i can't quite finish it. I also sometimes have this weird feeling in my chest and throat like a bubble popping or like my heart is jumping in my chest and it kinda feels like my chest sinking for like a second, it is just a really weird feeling and scares me. It happens not every day but maybe three times a week. When I wake in the morning i feel like i am having a harder time breathing right and my sinuses in the morning are messed up and most of the time when i feel like i can't breath i also have the sinuses going on too. All this began after I had a really bad panic attack and ever since that i have had some anxiety and am more worried than ever about my health. I do smoke but i smoke maybe about 7 cigs a day. Are these symptoms maybe caused from the anxiety or the smoking and does anyone else here have the symptoms and know maybe what i am going through. I am just so sick of waking up everyday and feeling this way and want to find out what i can do to help it. I haven't went to doctor yet because i am sorta afrai he will tell me something bad is wrong with me. The shortness of breath isn't too bad to where it bothers me ir i feel like i'm gasping for air, but i do notice it especially when i go up stairs. I also have a job where i lift heavy things. Help!!

[National Jewish]

It is easy to understand why you are frightened about this problem.  However, this fear could also be playing a role in the symptoms you are describing.  Despite your fears, only by seeing your doctor and perhaps doing a breathing test can it be determined what, if anything, is going on.

It is not likely that the cigarettes are causing this problem if you are only smoking 7 a day.  However, it is a good idea to stop smoking anyway before anything does result from the smoking.  You may want to look at our giving up smoking information at http://www.nationaljewish.org/disease-info/wellness/smoking/index.aspx for ways to help you to quit smoking.  Also check with your doctor for other quit smoking resources in your area.

[hooleyxdooley]

I'm experiencing similar symptoms. I don't have any extra trouble when I wake up, but I know exactly what you're talking about with the "popping bubble" and "heart jumping" sensations. I feel sharp pain in both lungs when I try to inhale deeply, but my pain is more centralized to the front of the lungs. I also smoke, around half a pack a day or maybe a little less. I haven't gone to the doctor yet either...does anyone have any advice about this?

[hooleyxdooley]

I'm sorry for the double post, but I failed to mention that I'm an 18 year old male who has smoked for about two years.

[sickformonths]

Hi, i was just reading about your symtons in search of some answers for myself! i am a 22 yr old female, and have been struggling with the same thing for 4 months now! (i dont smoke) and yet my heart feels like its jumping outta my chest, i have sore ribs and feel really tender underneath them..i have a hard time taking a deep breath, and always feel like i've been punched in the gut..I also have the rib pain radiating from front to back and feel like i cant fully yawn, it also hurts when i sneeze..I do have chronic sinus problems as well..i just found this internesting because i read your posting and was like WOW that is how i feel exactly...I have gone to 5 different doctors and nothing has been found but i cant work or do anything...its brutal

[MasterJere]

I have the EXACT same thing too... I have been smoking about a pack every 2 days, for the last 2 years now... I don't do drugs... but over the past month, I have noticed some trouble speaking/breathing... I notice that I am often out of breath alot faster then I use to be,(While Speaking) and I feel the same problems when I inhale very deep - after about 7-10 seconds of inhaling, I start to get a tingling feeling for a second across my body, I get dizzy, and I feel like im tipping over. I have noticed increased nasal problems during my morning wakeup routine and I have also noticed alot of mucus/phlem building up and making me feel like I have something caught in my throat.

Any thoughts on what this might be?

[xyleisha]

I have experienced these problems as well and after proactively battling many of them for about 6 years now I am almost sad to say that for me most of the problems are nothing but anxiety.
On the good side though, now that I'm on a nice drug cocktail, I am almost 90% "cured" nearly 85% of the time :)

That feeling in the chest... for me, I always described it as reminding me of (let's say) riding my bike forward then all of a sudden going in reverse, then forward again lol.
And the problem you described breathing is one that has always intensely annoyed me.
Do you have trouble sleeping or find the trouble with your breathing is worse if you skip sleep?  That's something I'm still researching because I'm curious.  It seems when I go without sleep, for a night, that (FIRST) my bladder stops working properly because I have urgency to pee every half hour or so lol... Then, aches and pains are aggrevated or exaggerated... and finally, I just can't SEEM to get enough breath and even yawning feels "incomplete".

Anyhow... even the tingling MasterJere described - for me- was a symptom of anxiety.  And as for chest tightness *sigh*... by rolling my shoulders back and pushing out my chest during times of tightness, my chest would actually "pop" like a knuckle.  But repeatedly poping it would just make it worse and it would become a little inflamed from the abuse.  Naproxin helped the best with that.

And concerning anxiety... I have been MOST annoyed to discover that mental distress does not always accompany anxiety.  I fought at the diagnosis for a very long time because I rarely ever feel "ANXIOUS" about anything.  The problems would pop up while completely relaxed or happy.  Go figure.

For meds, I am on 20 mg Lexapro (PMDD/Anxiety), 18 mg Strattera (supposedly for ADD but amazingly enough it helps the physical symptoms of the anxiety best of all), 100 mg Provigil (excessive day time sleepiness)  It took my about 3 years of hell-through-trial-and-error to find the combo that works for me.  

I hope everyone finds relief soon.

Oh yeah... I have some problems with sinuses as well (in fact- that's what I've been researching tonight).  But I think it's unrelated to the other problems mentioned.

[maverick2313]

I REALLY hope this helps guys.  I pretty much have the same symptoms as all of you are having.  Done the doctor routine and nothing came up. At first I was sure it was tightened muscles, lung malfunction, something physical with a diagnosis.

I kind of tried to suck it up and it persisted for a while.  That was nearly 3 years ago.  After that time, it all got much better! No treatment and no drugs.  I felt amazing for a couple of years, but recently the problem has reoccurred.  I think now I know what is causing it for me at least ( I don't want to bias anyone and suggest that this is what is happening to you but just in case).    It began a couple of days ago (which is why I'm here now searching) extremely suddenly, within seconds.  It could really be called an 'attack' like asthma.  For me, that moment coincided almost precisely with a specific thought that I was having, you can say stressful.  And ever since then my breathing has regressed to it's abnormal state.

What I'm trying to say is that for me I think it was a bit too much stress at the moment.  More importantly, i think it has persisted because the anxiety and fear of breathing like I do feed on each other, almost breeding new fears and worry, keeping me from thinking of anything else but my breathing. I realized that this is my problem mostly because even today, while in class, when I was thinking hard, my mind active on other things, everything was normal.

So hopefully this gives some hope to you guys (and to myself) that it will soon pass.  In my case, like i said, I worriedly visited doctors, anxiously self-diagnosed, fearing the worst.  Just living my life, letting time heal, clearing my mind, conciously enjoying, it passed.  I've overcome it before, while in the same situation that most of us seem to be in.  SO HAVE HOPE, IT CAN AND WILL PASS!  If it can pass by this 21 year old scrawny chump, you can certainly conquer it.  Try not to think about it. Time is a beautiful thing, and I promise it will heal you.  

good luck and I'm glad to hear from all of you.

[geekfx]

HELLO I AM A 31 YEAR OLD GUY,AND I HAVE ALL YOUR SYMTOMS AS WELL.I ALSO SUFFER FROM PANIC ATTACKS AND FOBIAS THAT DEVEOPED WITH MY PANIC ATTACKS.
I ALSO SUFFER FROM SINUS PROBLEMS BUT NOT ALL THE TIME.I DRINK SOMTIMES AND DO NOT SMOKE AT ALL.
I ONE PONT IN MY LIFE I SAID TO MY SELF THAT I MIGHT HAVE ASTHMA .I WENT AND GOT CHECKED  WITH AN ASTHMA DOCTOR THAT DEALS WITH ALL RESPIRTORY PROBLEMS .HE DID NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG.ASTHMA RUNS IN THE FAMILY AND IS USUALLY FOUND  WHEN YOU ARE A CHILD AND ALMOST NEVER DEVELOPS AS AN ADULT . MY LUNGS ARE OK.I SAY TO MY SELF HOW CAN I GET DIZZY AND OUT OF BREATH BY JUST TALKING WITH SOMEBODY FOR JUST A MINUTE.I DONT THINK ITS MY PANICNESS OR ANXIETY.OR IS IT?I NOTICE I GET DIZZY AND FAINTING I AVOID TALKING.ALL OF THIS IS AT A POINT THAT IT IS CONTROLLING MY LIFE.I AVOID TALKING .I AM TO MUCH OF STRESS THAT I AM JUST THINKING ABOUT MY BREATHING PROBLEM THAT I MAY FAINT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY JOB.ARE MY SINUS HAVE TO DO WITH THIS OR IS IT MY ANXIETY?OR MAY BE HAVE A HEART PROBLEM?WELL THE HEART I REALY DONT THINK SO BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN IN THE E.R.FOR FULL BLOWN PANIC ATTACKS AND MY HEART WAS CHECKED.IT CAME OUT OK.I DONT GET IT SOMTIMES I TALK AND TALK AND NO PROBLEM  BUT THERE ARE DAYS THAT SEVERAL WORDS OR JUST A BIG SCREAM MIGHT GET ME VERY DIZZYY AND TIGHTNESS OF THE CHEST AND OUT OF BREATH.

[denito]

For a year now, I get short of breath just talking. I have a mitral valve prolapse with regirgitaion.  I get panic attacks frequently.  I can not stand noise, loud music, standing in line in a public place, sitting in church, walking in a mall, elevators, traffic jams, etc.  If I am in a store with lots of products on the shelves, I get dizzy since I can not take them in visually. When I walk into a public place with lots of people, I get weak in my legs, short of breath and light headed. In the morning I fell the room is spinning for a few secound when I get out of bed. I have to sit on the edge of the beg for a few minutes.  My legs are weak and I feel the ground is moving below me for a few minutes in the morning.  I also need to say that I have two herniated discs in my neck from a car accident 16 years ago. I am 62 and retired.  Staying home the last several years was ok until my daughter started college a few months ago.  I have to drive her to campus each day and pick her up again at night.  I drive several hours a day in heavy traffic doing this and it has caused my anxiety to really go up.  Monday I thought I was having a heart attack on campus.  A police officer pulled up in front of me and slowly got out of his car.  I thought I had commited a parking infraction.  He walked away into a building for apparently some other reason.  However, my heart began to pound and I got very short of breath.  I think the police officers presence caused it since it happened right after I saw him.  It took half an hour to calm down.  I also feel very anxious away from my home.  If I am more than a couple of miles from my home, I feel lost, anxious and feel I am going to have a heart attack and wished I was closer to my home. I only feel fine when I am in my room and hate to leave the house, but I must because I need to take my daughter, who does not drive, to college.  If she had to go on her own, she would have to take a train and two buses.  Her first class is 7:30 AM. She too is a nervous kid and gets stressed easliy, as was my Dad who could not stand crowds and public places.

[dkak8]

wow, after reading all your comments I sure felt better, atleast I know I am NOT the only one out there like this!  My husband doesnt understand my anxieties because I dont think he has a fear in the world and so its nice to see men on here that actually have the same problems as I do, not saying its nice you HAVE them!  

I worked in cardiology for 10 years and what you all seem to be describing in your comments about your heart fluttering and making your chest feel werid sounds like a PVC (premature ventricular contraction) MOST of these are totally benign and wont hurt you, I have them ALL the time and they do make you feel short of breath AND you feel anxiety from them, BUT please remember they wont hurt you and they are kind of like a beat God put in there to keep your heart on the right track.  I would get REALLY freaked out about them, in fact they are why I have traveling phobias because I had a VERY bad PVC once when driving and it scared me SO bad since we were in the middle of no where and there were no doctors or hospitals around so now I have a SEVERE fear of traveling! IT SUCKS!

When you get one of the PVS's try and cough, it will make your heart go back into a normal rythmn.  And the reason you feel like your heart is caving in or how ever some people describe it, butterflies etc is because your heart kind of beats backwards when it has a PVC and therefore a bit of blood can back up so when it starts to be normal again it has to "PUMP" that blood out of there and gives and extra little push when it does that, it REALLY wont hurt you!  I get tachycardia and PVC's which both cause shortness of breath and I just have to keep reminding myself that its OK!

I have been having REALLY bad shortness of breath lately and I feel I should go see a doctor.  I can walk around and seem to be ok, slightly short of breath, ride my stationary bike and get slightly short of breath, BUT if I use my arms or upper body AT ALL or I talk too much on the phone when walking I get REALLY short of breath, mainly when I use my upper body and it causes a tightness and pressure in my chest.  I am wondering if its caused by  muscles being TOO tight? Or if I should go see a doctor?

[Steph224]

A related discussion, Chest pain, shortness of breath, etc was started.