Hello everyone I'm to see if someone could shed a light on what's been happening to me.
Last year i started to have some shortness of breath, very mild and not frequent, i've to my doctor 4 times and I'm finally seeing a psychologist because they think i have anxiety, I'm indeed a bit anxious but nobody convinces me that there's more.
Lately, in the past two months it's been worse, some days i struggle to get air, the way i found to be able to complete a breath is yawning but sometimes it doesn't work, when it doesn't the thightness in the chest starts and i feel like there's a lump in my throat, and the persistent dry cough that never goes away, when the difficulty in breathing is bad coughing seems to help but annoys terribly. I'm lost and people says it's only anxiety but doesn't matter how much i try to control, my grandmother was asthmatic and i have very bad sinus and allergies since i was a kid,even had surgery 2 years ago to correct a septum. Well don't want this to be too lonf, but i hope someone could share anything, a light maybe, i've been tired and frustrated. I don't know what else to do.
Thank you so much 🙏
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MarieMeyer
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It seems a very strange approach to start assessing a psychological reason for coughing & breathlessness over a physical one. Have they done anything in terms of spirometry, assessing inhaler use, etc.?
I did a lung capacity one, but i'm not sure if the name is spirometry, and it's harder because english is my second language, but my question is: would i feel this everyday? Because i don't think in the past few months that was a day i didn't feel the shortness of breath, or the narrowed throat, or the annoying cough that i'm pretty sure it's starting to annoy people. I decided to see another doctor and not tell about the other doctors to see what he has to say. But with asthma would i feel bad on a daily basis?
I agree with Minushabens - Ask your GP to get you a peak flow meter (can get on prescription) and a record card, for one month take Peak Flow (PF) meter readings 3 times a day (on waking, evening and another during the day). When you do PF readings you do it 3 times and take the best reading of 3.
The record card looks like a graph and you put an x on the place that matches your reading and then join the x's or dots.
A one off PF in a Dr's surgery will not give any indication. Thats why you need to do it for a month. Then take the record card to your GP.
When I was first diagnosed I was 19 years old (29 years ago). For the 4 years previous to this I had a lot of infections (sinus, throat, ear and respiratory) to point they were testing for glandular fever and all sorts but could never find anything. I went away to University and got a new GP - on joining the practice they asked about wheeziness, coughing, infections and family history of asthma (grandfather, cousin & uncle childhood asthma and since I was diagnosed both my aunt and mum developed asthma but had previous history of Bronchitis which in mums case was misdiagnosed asthma).
From my answers the GP then got me to do as I mentioned above. They saw the graph after a month and pronounced I had Asthma put me on Ventolin and Becotide and for 2 years I had no major issues or infections. In my final year of my degree the infections started again and I had a major asthma attack in one of my final exams.
Saw GP who then changed medication. I already knew being around cigarette smoke in close quarters was a trigger but now realised stress was too. I have hayfever and eczema as do many of my family and these are all linked to Asthma so some of the allergy triggers excarcerbate my asthma i.e. dust and grass pollen. I had it bad one year thought was a respiratory infection but it turned out to be allergy as antihistamine helped me.
Overall, my asthma is pretty well controlled except as I get older Respiratory/Chest infections are my main trigger and severely affect my asthma. Last infection had started 5/12/18 sputum test discovered it was bacterial moraxella catarrhalis which apparently is resistant to a lot of anti-biotics and is worse for people with asthma and other lung conditions. When the infection was clear (probably by week 4) I was still having problems - it took me 8 weeks before stopped coughing and my voice returned to normal and 10 weeks before I felt human.
I can relate to your symptoms, yes the lump in the throat could be anxiety but not the need to yawn to get air in or the coughing. Stress and anxiety affect and can be triggers (just like allergy/exercise/infection) for the chest to tighten and the asthma symptoms but the underlying cause is the asthma.
I have asthma and there are times when I have the chest tightness and shortness of breath where I end up yawning to try and get air in (with or without wheeze) and my peak flow is normal but as we have established in a number of posts some asthmatics have a normal peak flow but they are struggling badly with symptoms.
On a SMART/MART regime they don't just look at PF they say PF or certain symptoms.
Oh thank you so much guys for answering, i've seen video, i read everything everywhere that could justify the symptoms, I did a few blood tests and a lung capacity because i used to be a smoker, my mom, grandma everyone has very bad history with sinus problems, my mom has Labrinthtis, but every time i did the lung capacity i was in a good day, and I never an attack but i swear that some day i yawn so much or try to clear my throat that in the end of the day it feels like a truck pass over me, i did a chest xray as well, my gp suspect ed she gave me a inhaler.
The other gp maybe 3 years ago she thought i might had GERD but i major issues, but lately I've been feeling that every time the shortness of breath is bad, when i eat i get a lot of belching and the throat feels so narrow that i have to keep coughing trying to clear it.
To see heart problems? I did 2 ECGs and nothing at all. What bothers me more is the shortness of breath, the need of be constantly gasping for air, the cough, and the feeling in the throat of thightness, and when all those things are bad the chest thightness. But i never had an actual attack, but I've scared since the symptoms some days scalate badly.
You could ask your GP to measure your peak flow and then to have a peak flow to use at home explaining that it isn't continuous. You can then monitor how it is for a week.
Keeping a dairy of when you get the symptoms might also help to see if there is a pattern either caused by allergy, asthma or an anxiety attack.
One other explanation is that you could become a bit anxious and then overbreather. I belive that overbreathing is common in people with anxiety and I think can make you yawn. The doctors seem to have done some tests, which is good. If you have a family history of illness then it is easy to interpret a similar symptom as being the same illness. If you have reflux then the dairy will again help.
My suggestion would be to keep a simple diary and see the psychologist as well. You have had a lot of family illness to deal with and anxiety can be an unconscious reaction.
Sometimes medical science is like being a detective. Trying to pick out the important clues to point you in the right direction. You can see another doctor for a second opinion. Definitely go back to the doctor if your symptoms get worse.
That's what i've been trying to do, trying to pay attention to triggers, calm down and see if what i'm feeling is psychological, one of the reasons why my GP came to the conclusion that could be anxiety is due ti the fact that i sleep ok, i don't wake up in the middle of the night breathless, but i do wake up breathless, i was always a very chilled person, optimistic, and even in a relaxing time, i'm breathless.
It gets very bad during exercise, no so much with weights but on the treadmill, and after i eat. It's been very hard to loose weight. Doesn't matter how much i try, it's been a very hard couple of months, been very tired to feel so exhausted.
That sounds tough. You can phone the Asthma UK helpline to talk to them - tel: 0300 222 5800 (Mon - Fri; 9am-5pm) to speak to an asthma nurse specialist.
Ask your GP to get you a peak flow meter (can get on prescription) and a record card, for one month take Peak Flow (PF) meter readings 3 times a day (on waking, evening and another during the day). When you do PF readings you do it 3 times and take the best reading of 3.
The record card looks like a graph and you put an x on the place that matches your reading and then join the x's or dots.
A one off PF in a Dr's surgery will not give any indication. Thats why you need to do it for a month. Then take the record card to your GP.
Do you have any allergens in your home, or places where they could lurk? Dust, mold? Water damage? Old carpets? Old wallpaper? I had mold in my home without realising as it was hidden under the dishwasher, I got that breathless description like you gave. Might not be the same, but worth mentioning considering you said you had bad allergies. Mold/microbial contamination triggers the immune system aggressively.
Hi. I have had brittle asthma for a very long time with 4 to 6 hospital admissions a year and some of them in HDU. I also have Severe Reflux disease (GERD). In September last year I made significant dietary changes taking out everything that affects reflux and then saw a Gastroenterologist in October. He put me on 2 more medication for my reflux and increased one. I was on 20 different medications for asthma and reflux disease. By the 11 November all asthma symptoms disappeared and chest tightness went away. I always had chest tightness and a cough.
It may be a good idea to investigate both the GERD and asthma as getting the GERD under control in some people can make the asthma go away. Reflux can do terrible things to your bronchi (lungs) and the lungs go into spasm to protect the airways from the acid. In me it caused chest tightness and coughing. I hope you manage to get it sorted out quickly. It is distressing living with it. It took me 15 years of in and out of hospitals with life threatening asthma attacks before I got better.
What's it that you can eat and what do you avoid? I'm willing to try anything, I'm always tired, tomorrow I'm seeing a completely different doctor and see what he says. Thank you all for sharing it feels good to know that people understand.
Hi. I am so sorry I have taken so long to get back to you. These are the things I have taken out of my diet: spicy foods, mayonnaise, dairy products, coffee, tea, chocolate, oily, fatty & greasy foods, deep fried foods, carbonated drinks, alcohol, garlic, onions, leeks, tomatoes, anything red, citrus fruits, ice cream, cheese, creamy salad dressings and gravy’s. I only drink water. I also make sure I don’t eat big meals and rather eat little and often. I now eat a lot of vegetables, beans and pulses (not baked beans though) fruit, fish and eggs. I have oatcakes for a tea time snack and a palm sized portion of nuts.
Of course a side effect of taking these things out my diet is that I have lost 15kg ( 2 st 5lb) since September last year. I had no idea that I would even loose weight let alone this much as I didn’t do it for weight loss. I was just trying to make the reflux better. I was overweight before and now I am the correct weight according to my BMI. I feel healthy and my asthma is gone. For me, the dietary changes were worth it and like you, I was prepared to do anything to get better. Good luck with your appointment tomorrow. I hope you find the solution for you.
Yes, I found it very hard to loose weight. I had cut my portion size down but still was overweight. Then when I took out all the things that affect my reflux, then I lost weight at about 2.5kg a month.
Constant cough and lump in the throat and shortness of breath (SoB) are all symptoms of Silent reflux (LPR)
Normally SoB from reflux is on the inhalation so you would normally have a reasonable peak flow reading and it doesn't respond to asthma meds very well.
The yawning you describe does sound like anxiety, so maybe a mixture of conditions.
Sounds like u may have an allergy to something , could u be eating something not agreeing with u , I sometimes get this same feeling , I’m normally ok with strawberries but last week I had an asthma attack after eating some , so maybe there something in your life upsetting your airways , make food diary along with how the weather is and your surroundings each day , something might show up
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