Breathing probs- anyone get the same?

[Otter]

It is definatly worth having spirometry (preferably before and after the reliver inhaler) if there is a possibility of asthma.

[nat05]

Have been thinking about the asthma thing. Both my siblings have been asthmatic, my bro as a baby and her til teens (dont know/care if she still is tho) but i was always clear. Its only during bad hayfever that i get bad problems with breathing but the palpatations etc are year long. Is there any link between breathing problems and allergies that cause itching? I only ask as mine has got really bad and my gp thinks my meds could be causing it but as im coeliac im predisposed to allergies now?

Im having issues at the moment but i think its due to my swellings around ribs. From research and conversations with blaady it looks like tietzs syndrome with the sternum pain as well but my chest is really feeling strained and confinded. If the cartillage is inflammed then could it be causing this?

xx

[iina]

I have also breathing problems, but I think they're not exactly same like you have! Or the problem would also be that i just didn't understand everything you have wrote, because of my english..

Sometimes I just can't get deep breaths, it feels like there is something heavy on my chest. If that continues an hour or so on, my right shoulder gets really sore and especially when trying to take a deep breath it stabs. also my (usually right) flank can get really sore.

i've thought it could be something psychosomatic, but i haven't noticed that my state of mind would be allways the same when probs start. or that i would have worries etc. Doctors tested my breathning in the case of asthma, but it isn't that!

Nowadays breathing doesn't bother me very much, hope that you too will get rid of your problems, at least even partly!

-iina

[Retro]

Have been thinking about the asthma thing. Both my siblings have been asthmatic, my bro as a baby and her til teens (dont know/care if she still is tho) but i was always clear. Its only during bad hayfever that i get bad problems with breathing but the palpatations etc are year long. Is there any link between breathing problems and allergies that cause itching? I only ask as mine has got really bad and my gp thinks my meds could be causing it but as im coeliac im predisposed to allergies now?

Im having issues at the moment but i think its due to my swellings around ribs. From research and conversations with blaady it looks like tietzs syndrome with the sternum pain as well but my chest is really feeling strained and confinded. If the cartillage is inflammed then could it be causing this?

xx

Hi Nat,

I didn't have any major allergies or asthma until I was well into my 20s and my asthma started out only as an allergic reaction to pollen. Since I had a really bad chest infection low in my lungs a few years ago my asthma has been constant. Pain around your ribs will cause you to subconsciously alter your breathing so that you don't breath so deeply and therefore don't expand your ribcage. There is a thread somewhere about Tietze's (it's on the commonly linked questions thread).

Take care,

Lindsey

[nat05]

Ta Lindsey

iv been doing diaphragmatic breathing since\pain management as ophysio said spmething similar. helps abit but cant do it for long.
xx

[Fiona-Jane]

i learned as a young child to breathe with my diaphragm (sp?) at meditation classes and at my weekly ballet and gymnastics classes so i tend to do it naturally. although i do notice that i get very short of breath if i breathe with my shoulders by accident.

i was diagnosed with asthma when i was 11, then told that it was in remission a few years later, just be be told that i had it again. this happened over and over again as i didnt respond to any asthma meds (obviously the ventolin worked but nothing else). i was told last year by one dr that something is not quite right with my lungs and breathing but she has no idea what it is and it definatly isnt asthma. my blood oxygen levels were normal, nails beds still nice and pink so i was told not to worry about it.

i seem to get little spasmy attack thingies that are similar to asthma attacks, but maybe its just muscle spasm that is stopping my lungs inflating properly. i also tend to get a lot of congestion in my left lung that i think may be related to my heart as i have a tendancy to palpitate and my heart rate and blood pressure tends to go a bit crazy when i move from sitting to standing (and lying to sitting). i have a ventolin inhailer just in case i need to use it. but i've only used it a handful of times last year.

ah well, at least i dont have to take any vile asthma inhailers every day anymore! they taste horrid!

fi xx

[christianne]

Hi Nat,
there's something my son takes called montelukast, or 'singulair' which is an anti allergy tablet take daily for asthma sufferers. He's allergic to a kind of tree mould thats around in the autumn and part of the winter, and the inhalers etc that usually control his asthma to moderate levels the rest of the year,don't work in the autumn and he ends up on steroid tablets. However since the montelukast he has had far fewer attacks of that severity. Just a thought as you are mentioning allergic asthma.
Christianne

[Finarda]

This is an old thread but SO relevant to me!

I have multiple breathing problems:
Since I was a kid, I have this barking, tight cough when triggered by a cold, allergy (inc food), perfumes, or reflux. My throat will swell to the point that I can't talk. I also produce a huge amount of 'gunk' in my lungs during an attack, much like asthma. However, I can exhale 150% of the normal volume on a good day, and about 80-90% during a mild attack. My allergist said that 80% does not constitute asthma. He says it's more like an overly sensitive muscle spasm in my upper airway. I take Symbicort (long acting reliever plus a steroid) every day. My daughter has exactly the same - sounds identical. She has been diagnosed with asthma. My son has been diagnosed with asthma too - different sounding cough though. None of us wheeze. We all take preventer and reliever inhalers and they really help to reduce the length of a cough after a cold. I used to regularly get bronchitis, but after quitting smoking for 20+ years that seems to have largely gone away although, now I think it may have really been the upper airway sensitivity and not bronchitis half the time.

A couple of people mentioned that they wake up in the middle of the night with a choking feeling and coughing, it may well be reflux - it's very common time for it to happen.

If I lie on my back it feels like I can't breathe, and have to force it, especially if my neck isn't fully supported. At other times it feels like I'm craving cold, pure air, that my lungs just can't get a deep breath. Doesn't happen at particularly emotional or stressful times, just seemingly randomly.

I get attacks (presumably migraine) where I get a weak chest muscle - I get so tired I have no option but to lie down and I feel like I have to force every breath.

When I had an EEG, they got me to hyperventilate after which I totally forgot to breathe - guess my body had enough oxygen already. I also had some weird results on the EEG from the hyperventilation. Same after I've inhaled oxygen - my chiropractor measured my O2 saturation levels last night and they were a little low, and he gave me some O2.

Sometimes my heart races then "stumbles"; until it starts again I seem to have no air in my lungs and end up having to take a huge gasp once my heart starts beating normaly again. I've tried to ignore it and carry on a conversation but I literally ran out of air and couldn't speak until my heart caught it's normal rhythm again.

I wonder if a pulmonary specialist have ever investigate EDS? Was there anyone at any of the EDS or similar conferences?

Fiona

[Eloise]

Hi Fiona,

Very interesting post. I was on a study day the other week, to find out that there is no actual specific definition for Asthma! It is all based on probabilities of symptoms. But if the inhalers work - then stick with it, whatever the actual diagnosis!

The fogetting to breath after hyperventerlating brought me back a memory. I once had a really really bad panic attack and I hyperventalited to the point that I fell unconscious and didn't breathe for over 2 minutes. My boyfriend who was with me totally freaked out, got my mate in the next room (Uni halls) to come in and started to do mouth-to-mouth on me and then I came round! He thought I had taken an overdose. Actually, it is because of the hyperventaliting I had thrown off too much carbon dioxide, that my body didn't have that trigger to remind me to breathe. Your body actually uses the carbon dioxide level in the body as the indicator to breathe (as well as the lack of oxygen).

Someone earlier in the thread mention montelukast - this is great for kids with an allergy component to their asthma. But it doesn't seem all that effective in adults, except for those who have a severe allergy reaction to aspirin of wheezing. For plain asthma with no allergy component it is not effective at all.

[Finarda]

My GP's opinion of the asthma specialists conclusions was "if it quacks like a duck, then chances are...." So he figured that as long as it responds to inhalers then we'll just treat it that way and not worry about a 'label'.

Eloise, that must have been frightening for your friends!

I tried several times the regular dose of Singulair for migraines (as prescribed by the neurologist) and hoped that it would work for the asthma and allergies too but nope.

I also remembered tonight that if I consume too much sugar, especially in liquid form that I feel short of breath and miserable.

Fiona

[christianne]

Hi Fiona,
The heart racing and stopping along with shortness of breath etc sounds very much like some of my symptoms which Prof Mathias is investigating as being due to POTS. Just a thought as the autonomic nervous system can also affect breathing.
Christianne

[Finarda]

Hmm, I wonder if POTS would also explain the weird goosebumps that I've started getting. They will just appear out of the blue, but only on one side of my body and in a weird pattern. It looks like it's following nerves or something as it appears in stripes and blobs. When it happens it can happen several times in the same day. I'm guessing that goosebumps are controlled by the autonomic system? Either that or it's part of the weird migraine symptoms I have.

Fiona

[loon]

Feel free to move/ merge this mods i couldn't find anything .

I have mild asthma that only really affects me when i have a cold or chest infection, i've only ever had 2 asthma attacks without colds, I do get short of breath on excersize (more than i really should) but i'm just treating anaemia too so that probably doesn't help. I have had a very bad chest infection over the last 3 weeks combined with flu just to make me feel extra rubbish and have been very reliant on my inhaler, on my first visit to my GP i was told there was a bit of rattling going on in my lungs and i was put on antibiotics and told to go back if no better in a few days. 4 days later i went back as was still really bad but this time my lungs sounded clearer despite me still having breathing problems, I know there is connective tissue in lungs but how could it affect your ability to breath and could that be what has been affecting my lungs while i've been bad as i am still not right although my lungs now sound clear and my peak flow is up to about 420 now. anyone any ideas or experiences? Nikki xxx

[Fiona-Jane]

hiya all,

just a quick question- does any of you with asthma find breathing in much harder than breathing out? been diagnosed with asthma for years, but not 'true' asthma as i dont respond to preventer meds. told that my tubes are a bit floppy but i'd have thought this would make it equally hard to breathe in and out.

just curious as it's playing up tonight as i think i aspirated some tum fluids earlier tonight thanks to my reflux which is awful tonight.... i have to really force the air in (with a nice big wheezy sound, although less with my ventolin & buscopan in my system) but i breathe out with no problems at all. in true asthma i think that's the other way around?

anyone else have this problem too?

fi xx

[notsparklynow]

hi everyone

Just came on here to look up asthma as there is a chance I might have it but I'm not sure. Last year as part of my investigations I had a chest xray and they saw something odd so had to do a side view one as well - according to my GP it was something to do with long "nodules" (I don't really get it) and turned out to not be a problem.
I've been on an inhaler for 2 months as I wake every morning couging and am wheezing a fair bit (had a terrible day at work where I struggled to breathe all day which sparked off the whole "you have mild asthma" at the emergency clinic thing).
Now my GP wants me to do a spirometry to see if there is a clinical indication of asthma.
Which got me thinking - if there were "long" bits in my lungs a year and a half ago and now I'm wheezy and coughing, is it likely to be an HMS thing or asthma? I don't know if my GP would really understand - do I need to see my specialist about this?

Interesting what some other people have said - I'm like a lot of you - when I think about breathing I breathe in less! Is this why I get light headed often or is that a separate thing?

I also have the whole fall asleep then wake up gasping for breath thing most nights. I've been doing this a good couple of years at least. My husband is convinced I have sleep apnoea. I have no idea. There are so many oddities about me that I kind of accept them without question! And yeah I can feel my heartbeat a lot of the time, and my palpitations get worse when I am tired.

Anyway out of all this rambling (sorry) my question is - do I just carry on or should I make an appointment to see Prof G?

Thanks.

P.S. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!