Brother experienced severe breathing difficulties at 4am .

[Moazz]

My brother who is 58 and has put on some weight in the last 5 years . He keeps active by exercising for an hour each day. He hasn't seen a doctor in the last for a while as prefers to consult doctor google. Has a sedentary desk job . He woke up last week at around 3 or 4 am having real difficulties breathing.He couldn't take a full breath of air and felt like he was going to suffocate .This lasted for 10-14 minutes and he was on the verge of calling an ambulance to go to A&E. When he did some exercises and it went away. He hasn't had an episode since and put it down to high blood pressure and stress.He is not sure of the cause and suspects it may be heart related He is going to see a doctor soon.Has anyone had a similar experience.

[RufusScamp]

I had a similar experience while on holiday some years ago, about 4 am local time. It eased off after about 15 minutes, and I was fine for the rest of the holiday. But later that year, I developed a chest infection, and was diagnosed with severe heart failure. If it was related to that earlier episode, I don't know, but I would certainly recommend your brother consults his GP, not Dr Google.

[Tos92]

Hi  Moazz

I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s experience.

I have not personally suffered from trouble breathing and being awoken from it in the night.

As he’s not been in touch with a doctor for some time by the sounds of things, the best option is to touch base with one as soon as possible.

You mention he has high blood pressure and stress. It may very well be that he’s overdue for another review so they can assess his case again and change/adjust meds, in addition to carrying out new tests to check the health of his heart.

Please let him know that if he experiences something similar again, he should call 111 or 999.

All the best to you and your brother.

Tos

[MummaSoap]

Hi Moazz

That must’ve been really scary for your brother and I can sympathise as I’ve had several experiences of being woken in the night struggling to catch my breath and accompanied by a racing heart.

I can’t shed much light on a potential cause as I’m currently under investigation to try and determine a cause myself. It’s interesting that you mentioned that your brother “did some exercises and it went away”. What sort of exercise did he do?

Back in January I did experience one such episode in the evening whilst driving my car and I was struggling to maintain consciousness and my heart was racing and I broke out in a cold sweat that soaked my hair on the back of my neck. When I told my GP that I believed concentrating on taking slow, deep breaths to regulate my heart rate again she said it was very possible. I have had episodes of supraventricular tachycardia picked up on previous holter monitor testing but I don’t know definitively whether the 2 are linked.

I think your brother’s decision to contact his GP is a wise one and would echo what Tos has recommended about phoning 111 or 999 if he experiences a repeat episode in the meantime - don’t delay as every second counts with a heart attack!

Sending best wishes to you and your brother, I hope he gets some answers soon. Keep us posted with how he gets on.

Good luck!

Soap 🧼

[devonian186]

Perhaps your brother ought to get checked for asthma as well.

[Pouchielou1972]

I also experienced breathing difficulties at 3am and after being incorrectly diagnosed with anxiety, I was then correctly diagnosed with severe heart failure after having an echocardiogram.I really hope your brother consults a doctor to find out exactly what is going on.

[Qualipop]

If he's put on weight, especially arouynd his neck, he should get checked for sleep apnoea

[chickeninthewood]

My son had breathing difficulties st 3 am went blue in the face and had a "cardiac" arrest. He got sorted out at hospital after more cardiac incidents (which were really respiratory arrests leading to cardiac arrests). Eventually it was discovered a narrowing throat (sub glottic stenosis and trachea malacia) were the cause of the breathing problems and sorted by the Royal Brompton by a brilliant surgeon. Might not be the cause of your case but our son was very overweight at the time.

[Yumz199725]

Hi MoazzSorry to hear about your brother that sounds so scary having breathing issues and for that long! I definitely would advise calling an ambulance if it happens again although I definitely would of called an ambulance the first time. My sister did for me I woke up 3 am and I was gasping for breathe she could hear me struggling to breathe it came so quick. I have asthma aswell as heart issues so like I said they came well quick. Fast forward a few days turned out I had pneumonia and asthma attack. I hope your brother doesn't have another episode and hope the GP is able to find out what causing it. 😉

[RobGermanTech]

hi there, I have aortic valve replacement pending and during the 3 years of having been diagnosed with the heart disease, I've also been diagnosed with emphysema (copd), i had covid about 4-5 weeks ago and got a chest infection at the same time, I then had to be taken into hospital about 4 days after a negative result for covid, as I literally couldn't breathe, I had difficulty sleeping flat, walking just to the bathroom and back without my breathing being very short, when I got to hospital they said it was a chest infection and gave me some high strength antibiotics and sent me home, an hour later they were on the phone and insisting I had to return as my bloods were not right and needed a CT scan, I had a blood clot on my lung so they pumped me up with blood thinners and then monitored me till it dispersed, now I have shortness of breath all the time, I have no energy and im totally inactive to what I was 2 months ago..

They are still doing some tests but they seem to think it it's long covid which obviously is not good as im due in to hospital in a month for the heart surgery and I will need to be on a ventilator for around 48hrs after the operation but if the breathing isn't stable then I won't be able to go in. I'm only in my 40's and I honestly feel like I'm in my 80's as mobility is seriously impaired now, I still have the breathing issues but it is not as bad as the initial first time, had a lot of anxiety I think as I thought the heart was literally giving up.

I would say go get checked but get it checked twice as i was misdiagnosed in 2009 and they missed the aortic valve defect and only reported a hole between the two ventricle chambers and they didn't even get a care plan in place for the hole, yet I was still getting some strange dizziness symptoms including blurred vision and I had to cover one eye to get the vision in line 2019 was when they sent me to hospital and have echo as we had a new GP that brought up the issue of no care plan in place for 10 years, so my advice is always get a 2nd opinion...

Id say that your brother may have an issue with the lungs or if he has recently had covid to get checked for long covid as it's a common symptom to get clots after having covid, im up the GP later today to get more antibiotics as I can't shift the chest infection buildup and that's having a big effect on my breathing and general everyday mobility, so maybe that is something your brother should raise an concern about..

Unfortunately I know the effects of having breathing issues when you're sleeping and the side effects is that I don't sleep very well, lots of broken sleep and never really get to that deep state so it is a vicious circle, I have found that taking a shot of fresh whole squeezed lemon, 2 teaspoons of honey and a tablespoon of cinnamon every morning and drinking lots of water throughout the day does work wonders for clearing my airways and loosening up the chest infection along with the antibiotics, I'm hoping that it will help with the inflammation so I can get into hospital for my well overdue surgery..

I wish your bother all the best and hopefully he will get a direct cause of his issues 👍🏻👍🏻