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body takes an involuntary deep breath

My husband is 58yrs-6ft-285lb-50lbs overweight..he lifts weights...does not smoke...takes only aleve and lamicil. He has been having his body taking a involuntary deep breath on its own...he doesnt think he needs to see a dr. but I am worried about him. He says it doesn't happen at night but last night I heard him take a deep breath in the middle of his sleep. He says he is fine with no other symptoms. I think he is more fatigued than usual but he contributes it to being older. Should I be a nag and get him to the drs. office?
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Avatar universal
I found this 5 year old response on ASK.com as I have just started with this breathing event. Maybe you can ask your doctor about this.

We actually went over that in medical school, believe it or not. They're called "sigh" breaths. It's related to changes in the surface tension within alveoli, the little spherical air sacs in which gas exchange occurs. Typically, only part of the lung volume actually is ventilated, and the unventilated portions continue not to have their alveoli expanded. Surface tension (force per unit area) is higher in a small sphere than a larger one, and this causes the unventilated alveoli to shrink further. To prevent collapse of aoveoli (known as atelectasis if it occurs on a large scale), a deep breath will expand them all. ..... So that's the purpose of a sigh breath. But what is the mechanism that tells your brainstem to take a deep breath? We talked about stretch receptors in the chest wall. These like to be stretched occasionally, and lack of stretching leads to wanting to take a breath. Supposedly, it's one of the top reasons for why it's hard to hold your breath for a long time.
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Avatar universal
It sounds like you have costo chondritis, that's the same pain I get (the lower chest and back) and that's what I've been diagnosed with. I don't know about the rest of your symptoms though. Sorry!
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I am not sure what all those tests you list mean. All are abreviated. Can you break them down a bit?

Pete1
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Avatar universal
hello
i have similar symptoms but mine lasted for over 1.5 year! constantly happening everyday and progressively getting worse. i feel that i cannot breathe enough air at first (even at rest and worse on exertion). i easily get very bad palpitations. i do not have cough or pain initially but as time passed by i now developed daily cough, which i had blood stained/streak sputum. i feel that something is blocked in the middle of my chest , centrally, where i need deep cough to sort out expel that 'thing' out, but usually it will come back after a few seconds after i cough. recenlty i noticed some black dots seen in my cough, something like charcoal powder or dried blood clots?

the other thing is chest pain. i developed more and more frequent chest pains in the central where it's dull and achy pain (not sharp or stabbing) and it looks like my inside of throat or middle portion of chest got' hardened' and it' painful whenever i inhale (it's getting tighter and tighter). is this musculoskeletal of some form of pulmonary pathology? the pain is felt INSIDE though and not particularly painful on the outside muscles. i am scared that very soon i cannot breathe because i am very exhausted not to struggle for everybreath.

3rd symptom is that i have this right lower rib pain originating from front sometimes shooting to the back and sometimes to the side and sometimes to the shoulder area. sometimes my shoulder blade area will ache for a few days just like muscular pain.

when i lie down on my back i instantly feel a 'blockage' in my central chest like something pushing from behind to the front, and i will then cough because something feels blocked halfway. there's also lots of air moving up and down my gullet and some noises heard too. i feel that i cannot swallow well esp fluid.

some positive findings:
ANA positive 1:360
ESR always between 20-30 (i am age 29 female)
IgG a little bit higher than normal?
anti-DNA, ANCA etc -N
PFT- normal last year, normal june this year, suddenly got restrictive pattern (80%) in august, then normal again in october (why? although both times i feel difficulty expanding my chest)
CXR-N
CT thorax done a year ago- calcified lymph node (?where)
HRCT done 4 months ago (then without chest pain) - N
Mantoux test for TB-N
bronchoscopy done recently- cannot locate bleeding source, some white sputum seen, aspiration taken for culture etc -awaiting result
echocardiogram- 1st time PASP~43mmHg with MR, TR/ 2nd time no MR/TR seen so cannot determine PASP
Ba meal no hernia seen.
colonscopy- colitis

tried lots of medication you name it: ranitidine, losec, motilium, metaclopramide, xanax, ativan, aspirin, antacid, peppermint oil, buscopan etc etc etc NO USE.

do you think something is wrong with my lungs?
may i know if MRI of thorax can reveal if inflammation of soft tissue is a cause or will it cause my symptoms?
does it sound like connective tissue disease which i am being followed up on?
cardiopulmonary problems?
i do not think stress or functional problem will cause all these will it?
i feel soooooooooo desperate for all these days and i cannot function normally. i've just been suffered for tooooooooo long.
I really really hope that someone can give me a light. I all rely on you , doctor. hope that you can help me.
(yes i've been seeing rheumatologist and respirotologist)

-Zoe The Sufferer
***@****
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