Shortness of breath for days after exertion

[Springtimeholly]

Hi, everyone. I have been struggling for several years now and am wondering if anyone else has experienced this… I have had asthma since basically birth, well controlled until I turned 36, and now at 41, and I’m having shortness of breath for days after mild exertion. My asthma has never done this. I feel okay while I doing something, like gardening. But for days afterward, I am gasping for air. I take a combo inhaler daily, allergy meds, and use my albuterol. None of it is helping. All my tests have been normal… spirometry and pulmonary function tests. I’m puzzled.

[twinkly29]

It sounds like it could be related to breathing patterns rather than it being your asthma causing an issue.

This might be worth a read:

healthunlocked.com/asthmauk...

[Poobah]

When I read your post I immediately thought " dysfunctional breathing" and thought you could try breathing exercises, as Twinkly has suggested. If we don't breath as intended, it can put too much stress on the lungs and they can become irritated and inflamed, hence the shortness of breath for a few days afterwards. I've learnt alot from watching Patrick McKeown and this short vid is specifically about breathing during physical exercise youtu.be/0gtlAAQzENw(Not working as expected?)

[Springtimeholly]

twinkly29 and Poobah Thank you both! I had considered DB but when I take the online questionnaire for it, I score very low. However, I am going to try a period of focusing more on breathing correctly and see if that helps. My doctors are stumped, and I’ve had some scary possible diagnoses over the last year to explain it… but then they take back the diagnosis, and we start over again with more tests. At this point, it probably doesn’t hurt to try DB exercises just to rule another thing in or out.

[CharlieLondon]

interested to know what diagnosis they gave you. I got sudden adult onset asthma at 42 which was wheeze after exertion. then a year later chronic sinusitis and polyps a d long story sort 4 years from first symptoms diagnosed with. EGPA. It's so rare so many doctors abs consultants missed if. Something to keep in mind if you start getting sinus issues too

[Springtimeholly in reply to CharlieLondon]

Well in February/March of this year, I was told I had a very rare incurable and untreatable cancer and then they said “hmm maybe not” a full month and a half later. That was fun. Then they said for maybe the 10th time that it is myasthenia gravis. Now they are back to saying they don’t know. What is the testing for EGPA? I do know my eosinophils are in the normal range. And my immunoglobulins are, too.

[CharlieLondon in reply to Springtimeholly]

oh my how scary for you but also what a relief when they realised they were wrong l! They thought i may have COPD or empheyma at first then ABPA, then diagnosed with eosinophilic airway disease which progressed to EGPA. I tested positive for ANCA which confirmed my diagnosis along with crazy high eosinophils 3.3, which is a classic sign of EGPA., i had a lots of body pain and inflamed eye lids all symptoms too. I saw about 20 different health professionals and they all missed it as it is so rare. I ended up going to a brilliant immunologist privately in london whi deals with difficult to treat asthma/out of the box asthma who referred me to the severe asthma team at guys abs now awaiting biologics. I'm sure i would still be none the wiser if i hadn't seen him. Perhaps you need to see another specialist if you haven't already.