Tight Chest + Feeling Exhausted = Very Annoyed

I posted on Sunday after a very annoying day of feeling beyond exhausted despite having what in a normal person would be considered ""enough sleep"". Yesterday I felt the teeniest bit better and had a sofa day, made my way through a few easy watches, step up was among them. Today I arranged to meet a friend for coffee as I thought I should get out of the house and rejoin the world. She was a little late and I need some household items so I thought I'd have a nosey in ikea. Now I haven't been in ikea before and I just wanted to go up to the next level so I thought ""i'll just climb these stairs here"". What felt like 20 flights later(probably like 6-to get up one floor!) I reached the next floor very out of breathe. After a little wander round I left and went to meet my friend. Although I was OK, I was not by any standard my usual perky, laughing self. My lungs have been tetchy all day, I opened an old box before that a perfume came in (years ago-preasthma) and it set me off with another tight chest. (On another note- I don't often cough, does anyone else find this???)

Although my PF is fine, my chest feels tighter than it should be but not tight enough to just keep puffing my inhaler. All of today since IKEA I have felt annoyed and been a bit snappy with everyone but then I think ""you try having this slightly tight, niggling chest for 3 days straight combined with exhaustion and see how you feel!!"" of course I haven't actually said this. I don't have hayfever as far as I am aware and the weather seems to have calmed down now so I don't know if I've just picked up a bug that hasn't revealed itself. This summer is so much better than last winter as I was taking inhaler at least 6 times a day. However last summer I barely had any symptoms and I was looking forward to not feeling ill all the time only I am quite often. All in all feeling very frustrated and have plans tomorrow that I can't really cancel. Just feel like I'm plodding along, doing things but not enjoying them like I should.

A final note, the friend who I met today has known me since I was 6 and she mentioned how full of energy I used to be, always doing things, always busy. Since I have had asthma(around 17-18) everything feels like so much more effort than it used to be-even cleaning the house or going shop exhausts me.

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Hi Unigirl,

Sorry you are still struggling. It is so annoying when your symptoms are not bad enough to stop you doing things but make it hard to do them (I often find this with work). After a whole two weeks being fairly symptom free, my chest has decided that it will not let me get away with it and had very little sleep last night then been feeling rough today even though the weather and pollen count seem much better and I haven't actually been near any triggers that I am aware off. I probably should have phoned the GP (especially as needing several puffs of Bricanyl to even calm things down a little but had already phoned to get an appointment for next week (as mentioned in my other post).

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Although my PF is fine, my chest feels tighter than it should be but not tight enough to just keep puffing my inhaler. All of today since IKEA I have felt annoyed and been a bit snappy with everyone but then I think ""you try having this slightly tight, niggling chest for 3 days straight combined with exhaustion and see how you feel!!"" of course I haven't actually said this.

This made me laugh as I briefly went into work today (am on the school holidays) and did actually get rather cross (and nearly in ended in tears) with someone who had taken some of the books that I had ordered and labelled them up for their class! I did later explain that I hadn't slept last night and my chest was very tight.

Anyway I hope you can get everything sorted soon as tiredness is not fun. I can't remember whether they are testing you for any sleep related problems? I had a sleep study to check for sleep apnoea etc a few years ago as I was always tired but it was concluded that it was probably just uncontrolled asthma taking its toll (and I do have a tendency to being slightly anaemic).

Take care

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Oh no, sorry to hear you are ill. I am feeling slightly better again today but I still feel like things are an effort. I had a brief period of 20 mins last night when I had the windows as wide open as possible as chest felt tight and room felt stuffy again. I haven't been running this week as I didn't think it was a good idea since I climbed a few flights of stairs yday and was out of breathe.

Glad its not just me. I have been very teary also over nothing. Now that I think about it this has happened to me before.. I get angry, cry then be like ""my asthma is bad"" and am very apologetic for seeing red for no reason. It just can't be helped sometimes!

I am going to wait til I see my cons or til I get back to uni to ask for tests as the docs at my hometown are very shrug shoulders and act like I'm right as rain. The doc I saw last week asked me if anyone has ever mentioned snoring.. no they haven't but I rarely sleep next to anyone as I do find it a lot more difficult to get a good nights sleep. They keep me awake or the room feels a lot more stuffy. However I imagine that not everyone with apnoa/hypopnea will snore???

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Hi Unigirl, you're right, not everyone with apnoea/hypopnea snores, Im not really much of a snorer but still have hypopneas and desaturation. At the end of the day its so simple to rule out, that asking if you're a snorer is hardly worth it, particularly if you sleep alone! There are also other reasons for desaturation at night such as underbreathing. All they have to do is give you a pulse oximeter to wear overnight at home and it records your Sp02. That will give them quantifiable evidence of whether you need a full sleep assessment.

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Right I think I might go back very soon and tell them whats what....