out of breath, headaches

[3degree]

I'm 44 yrs old and experiencing problems with being extremely out of breath, finding it difficult to recover and catch back up during hard exercise. And I'm getting daylong headaches after these more trying bouts of exercise. I swim 5 days a week, 1.5 miles/day. During moderate to moderate to semi strenous swimming  I seem to be OK, but still not recovering quickly and breathing harder than my peers. During the swim workouts, my HR is usually between 120-175. I also take karate 2x's a week. It's during these more strenous workouts that I seem to be having a lot more trouble than usual getting out of breath (earlier in the workout, and under less of a workload) and then not being able to recover during the breaks we're given. My heart seems to be really pounding and I can really feel it in my head (a lot of pressure) and with breathing SO HARD. .....and it seems to have gotten worse for me! Then after the workout, I have a long lasting headache.  I notice that I am also out of breath after carrying up the laundry baskets 1-2 flights of stairs at home.

I take Lipitor and LD aspirin; my cholesterol is under control and at decent levels  My blood pressure was borderline high in the past and I have been taking quinapril for a while now. (max dose).  My blood pressure was better at ~ 120/90. I also take bupropion xl and was taking olanzipine. I have stopped the olanzapine, after long term use. Coming off the olanzapine, I have had more anxiety and more emotion, and have not slept very well.  After stopping olanzapine, my BP was checked and was now high again at 148/110. The doc has added on amlodipine also. I am still on the bupropion xl but now am titrating up on lamotrigine. I've talked to the pdoc about also getting off the bupropion xl as I think the increase in norephinerine is just too much and may be contributing to my high BP, but the pdoc wants to wait until I get up to speed on the lamotrogine and only switch out one med at a time.

Thoughts?

[3degree]

Do you have to have a stress test to determine if your blood pressure is shooting up/running high during STRENUOUS exercise?

[3degree]

But I've been doing this for years now..... you'd think I'd be "in shape" and should be able to handle this!   Why am I getting winded carrying up the laundry, for gosh sakes.....

I must be getting disillusioned watching the triathletes who swim with me and never breath hard, going 2x's as fast as me.......

[Riz711]

Ever thought you might be just getting older.  How many 44 year olds could manage 5 1.5 mile swims a week on top of karate.