Hi everyone, thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
For the last 2-3 months I've been dealing with a brief, 1-3 second shortness of breath feeling. Is severely effecting my quality of life as it's causing anxiety and depression to come back.
I was in urgent care for trouble breathing a couple weeks ago and was told very quickly that everything was okay and that they believe my issue was acid reflux causing asthma symptoms. I was prescribed a replacement inhaler and Zantac 300mg. I've been taking the Zantac every night and the issue seemed to improve the first week but it's still there and today was a really bad day for me.
I'm 30 years old and I'm overweight at 320lbs but I'm 6'3" tall, played sports all my life, and wear the weight about as well as possible. Still, I know I need to lose weight.
The brief shortness of breath happens right in the center of chest, a few inches above my solar plexus. It happens quickly and comes seemingly out of nowhere, and leaves, usually, just as quickly. It feels as though there is something gripping my breathing tube for a second and then letting go.
Could it be a muscle spasm of some sort? Is it just GERD? Is it a problem with my esophagus? A heartbeat problem? A lung problem? It's really getting to me and my work and home life are suffering because of the anxiety it brings on.
Also, it may be related, but I also sometimes get this pressure in my upper chest/throat area that makes it difficult to breathe. This seems to happen more when I'm driving or sitting at work. Laying down helps somewhat, and burping alleviates it entirely but I can't always get the burp out. I've become addicted to cough drops because the menthol helps me breathe in these situations.
Btw, I did get a referral from my GP to gastroenterology but the earliest I can be seen is June 30th.
Thank you again for any help with this, everyone!
