Breathlessness: Experiencing breathlessness for the... - LUPUS UK

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Breathlessness

Lulabelle profile image
34 Replies

Experiencing breathlessness for the past couple of weeks oddly enough with palpatations experienced this on three occasions. Not particularly stressed but very fatigued. Does the change in weather Ie damp etc or fatigue cause this?. Had lung function test last yr put o iron as said levels lo. Then taken off In March as upset stomach. Full bloods taken yesterday. Dry throat but no coughing or wheezing does anyone else experience this from time to time and what do you think causes this?.

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Lulabelle profile image
Lulabelle
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34 Replies
ShannonB profile image
ShannonB

Are you on Mycophenolate by chance? I had severe breathlessness when I first started taking that. It took three months to settle down.

Hope it resolves soon. Feel better.

ush1401 profile image
ush1401

Hi lulabelle, i had this for past 2 weeks although mine was making me feel dizzy aswel. Went to docts where he did an ecg, heart rate was a bit high he then sent me to a&e. The did ecg, blood tests and chest xrays. Docts said they were thought it may be a blood clot or pneumonia but luckily everything was clear. Docts said it may just be viral. I have been ok this week.

misty14 profile image
misty14

Hi lulabelle

Are you getting pain with the breathlessness?. Inflammation of the lining of heart and or lungs can give these symptoms., if you do develop pain you must get it checked out at A&E if necessary. Treatment can be NSAid's or steroids. I get this myself so hope you feel better soon. Your GP and Rheumy should be able to help you . X

Purpletop profile image
Purpletop

I have the same and with me it is indeed the weather. When it is muggy/stuffy outside I get this slight difficulty with filling my lungs. The more running around I do, the more breathless I get, so I just take it easy on those days.

It is probably some micro inflammation in the airways. An effective immunosuppressant would take care of it but I'm switching drugs at the moment, so I'm only on Plaquenil and low dose steroids, so this inflammation coupled with the muggy weather is more frequent.

misty14 profile image
misty14 in reply toPurpletop

Hi Purpletop

Good luck with switching immuno-suppressives, not an easy juggle!. Which one are you taking?.X

Purpletop profile image
Purpletop in reply tomisty14

Ciclosporine. I'm due to start in two weeks, allowing myco to leave my body until then. Tricky symptom-wise.

misty14 profile image
misty14 in reply toPurpletop

Hi Purpletop

Good luck with the Cyclosporine switchover, not easy and I hope the drug works well for you.X

Vals-pal profile image
Vals-pal

I had all your symptoms for ages and finally had my B12 checked - upshot is, I'm very low and had injection straight away, also further tests in hospital. Check on B12 site and see if you match the symptoms. Good luck.

TM1970 profile image
TM1970

i have pern anemia (lack of vit b12, and these are def symptoms as vals pal says

Gillyg profile image
Gillyg

Yes all the time have done for years. I get worse when I am really fatigued it is an indicator to slow down. Had all sorts of test but nothing really came back. I have Lupus SS and Fibro. The consultant just excepts it is a part of me. Xx

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74

Yes I had exactly this - palpitations and breathlessness, although I had very severe pain too. It was caused by inflammation of the lining of my heart. My lungs then got worse so I think the lining of my lungs might have been inflamed too. It's been going on about six months but is getting much better. I can't do any cardio exercise at all or it comes back in minutes. But my day to day life is pretty much unaffected now whereas when it started I couldn't even walk from room to room without getting out of breath. So it is getting better.

misty14 profile image
misty14 in reply toLucy74

Hi Lucy

Could I ask what treatment you are on as I'm interested that your symptoms are improving?.

I'm having same problems without the breathlessness . X

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74 in reply tomisty14

Hi misty. Mine seemed to be triggered by an incident at work when the air conditioning broke and there was fumes in the air. I had a pretty bad instant reaction and that was the start of it really. Since then I've had reactions to lots of different airborne chemicals - house cleaning stuff, perfumes, deodorants etc etc which trigger a bad attack of it again.

So the first thing I've done is to do my best to avoid those things. Difficult sometimes but if I do get exposed I get as much fresh air as soon as I can.

I've also stopped doing cardio exercise that increases my heart rate too much as that gives me bad heart pain and breathlessness. The guy I go to has been brilliant and while everyone else is running about and doing cardio stuff, he'll give me weight training instead. So I'm still getting exercise but it's not aggravating things.

The other thing that MIGHT be helping is I've been going to a herbalist and she's been giving me herbs that reduce inflammation and protect the heart, as well as other things.

And I also see a therapist who does cranial sacral, McTimoney chiropractic and some other thing to do with manipulating the organs. It's called Visceral or something like that. Anyway she normally does cranial on me, but she's been doing more visceral stuff on me recently and that really did seem to help the heart and lungs when they were really bad.

misty14 profile image
misty14 in reply toLucy74

Hi Lucy

Thanks for your interesting alternative medicine info. I'm glad it's all benefitting youX

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

Lucy..if you don't mind sharing, could you message me about what herbs you are taking to reduce inflammation and protect the heart. I would be very interested as I have trouble breathing often and feel I am stressing my heart with that. I do get heart palpitations too and was born with mitral valve prolapse (sort of like a murmur). Interesting about the chiro work too. Thanks..

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74 in reply toNatura

I'm so sorry Natura - I couldn't even begin to tell you what's in the prescription as I don't have a copy of it. I was going to keep track, but it's changed 3 times already and there's lots of different herbs in the mix. I'd just suggest that you see a proper Herbalist who can make up a prescription to suit you. Sorry, that is not very helpful!

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

No worries Lucy (that's my sisters name too)... I never thought to contact an herbalist. Do you make a tea of it, or tablet form? Very interesting...

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

No worries Lucy (that's my sisters name too)... I never thought to contact an herbalist. Do you make a tea of it, or tablet form? Very interesting...

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74 in reply toNatura

It's actually neither! It's a liquid and I take a teaspoon in water 3 times a day. Not delicious exactly but bearable :-)

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

Sounds like the tea I had from an acupuncturist to help me with my thyroid nodules. It was disgusting...and I got pain in my leg, so I stopped. It scared me. I will look into finding an herbalist. I don't think that is popular here yet... Nutritionist maybe...awesome...

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74 in reply toNatura

Where do you live natura? I'm in Glasgow, there's loads of herbalists here!

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

Oh, too bad. I live in NY in the US....I will ask around. We have a health food store in our town. They might know someone. The acupuncturist was expensive...having trouble with my upper back. Had pain for a long time..thought it was tissue pain, just saw my back in the mirror and see that it is actually bent in the spot that hurts. Ugg! I don't know what to do other than maybe try to strengthen the muscles in my back. I think weight training might put stress on it. Thanks for caring.

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74 in reply toNatura

Aww :-(

Well I hope you find something to help xx

Natura profile image
Natura in reply toLucy74

Thanks..

Lucy74 profile image
Lucy74

Yes I had exactly this - palpitations and breathlessness, although I had very severe pain too. It was caused by inflammation of the lining of my heart. My lungs then got worse so I think the lining of my lungs might have been inflamed too. It's been going on about six months but is getting much better. I can't do any cardio exercise at all or it comes back in minutes. But my day to day life is pretty much unaffected now whereas when it started I couldn't even walk from room to room without getting out of breath. So it is getting better.

Natura profile image
Natura

Having trouble breathing this whole week and jaw pain. Inflamed, I guess. It was very humid and cloudy this week. Cleared up today and seem to be breathing better. I take b12 daily, but I hear sometimes that s not enough. Seeing GP today for jaw pain that won't go away. Feel better everyone !

denden profile image
denden in reply toNatura

Hi Natura, how are you feeling today? Sorry to hear that you were not feeling well.

Natura profile image
Natura in reply todenden

Jaw pain is gone denden....thanks for asking. Went away after a few days. I am convinced it was because I was eating too many delicious tomatoes from my garden. I was craving them, but then I think my body became too acidic? Climbed Bear Mtn. this weekend with kids. Made it up and down! Yeah! My left leg is really bothering me though. I am getting very anxious whenever a new pain comes up. Thought anxiety was what was causing the palpitations. Not sure. I get little help from doctors here. They just look at blood work it seems, and ignore symptoms. I am always worried. I wish I could get past that.

denden profile image
denden in reply toNatura

Happy to hear that you are not feeling too badly :-) Guess we are all guilty of those 'small' favourite food indulges :-) We all can attest to those low moments and often wish they were far and few between but Wow! congratulations on your climb. You go girl! Well done! :-)

Natura profile image
Natura in reply todenden

Denden...thanks...feeling a lot better..rested, pain in leg gone...prob over did it a little...

Lulabelle profile image
Lulabelle

Thanks everyone for your replies. Food for thought. I will be contacting my Rheum nurse on Monday for the results of the blood. No pain when Inhaling but Inhaling will keep a check on this. I will keep you updated on how I get on. Hugs to you all x

denden profile image
denden in reply toLulabelle

Hi Lulabelle, how are you feeling today?

Shadows-walker profile image
Shadows-walker

Hi I got signed off work last January ,had test done on heart and lungs you name the X-ray and test and I had it done ,just had biopsy done a fortnight ago to confirm sjorgrens ,but can know walk across a room slowly ,would get like I was having a ful blown asthma attack been told I have MCTD tissue is inflamed around the lungs ,the lungs are fine tha muscle was fine the bit in between is not , have to walk with sticks ,and use mobility scooter to take out my dogs out on a good day ,just completed a pain and fatigue clinic been told I can expect to be only 30% of what I was , will be put back on hydrochloquinne ,once rhummie is statisfied I wont over do things but my hands ,feet ,lungs possible heart and eyes are effected , good luck , shadow

Lulabelle profile image
Lulabelle

Hi Ladies - just an update. Was signed off work a week last Monday for 28days. I have an appointment with the Prof haematologist on Wednesday for further bloods and investigations. My GP advised that my white cells had decreased as well as my neutrophils back down to 1.1 again and my haemaglobin, So slightly anemic. GP advised that the breathlessness could be down to this. For obvious reasons would not give me the flu jab. Been at home trying to get plenty of rest and relaxation. Breathlessness reduced - didn't realise how tired both mentally and physically I had become. Also GP tore a strip off me re my job role. So know doubt some changes have to be addressed asap.

Will hopefully know more on Wednesday.

Take care my fellow lupies!

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