shortness of breath

[boycie]

hi, can anyone tell me about shortness of breath my gfr is 22. my dr tells me that with ckd you don't get shortness of breath.

[Viviola]

Hi Boycie. Yes you do! My eGFR is 15% and have been suffering from shortness of breath for some time. In fact whenever I meet with my consultant/nurse one of the regular questions I get asked is whether I am suffering from shortness of breath.

[boycie in reply to Viviola]

Hi thanks for your reply, I was beginning to think it was all in my head. Do you only get breathless when active?

[ladybird194 in reply to boycie]

Hello, what is your Dr on?? you DO get shortness of breath with ckd and you don't have to be active for it to happen. It could be for a number of reasons. you may be Anaemic, have you had your bloods checked? Are you in Fluid Overload? This will also make you breathless. Are you attached to any renal unit? if so, give them a ring for advice, or if I was you, go back to your DR and do a little feet stamping. You know things are not right. Hope you get on ok. My gfr is 7% and I have been on dialysis for 4 years so 'been there, done that'!!

[boycie in reply to ladybird194]

hello, thanks for your advice Im going to go back to my gp. one other thing about shortness of breath has anyone had a problem with flying?

[ladybird194 in reply to boycie]

I haven't flown since being on dialysis but my consultant said I should see him before any travel plans are made, sorry can't help more than that

[Viviola in reply to boycie]

Hi Boycie. Put it this way I struggle with going up stairs but normal activities I'm OK. I try and stay active but after a 30 min walk at lunch time I'm almost ready to keel over. As for flying I haven't had any issues but I'm not yet on dialysis (and hope never to be).

[boycie in reply to Viviola]

thank you very much for all your help I feel much better about things now. I don't know what I would do without this site

[pluto94]

I would get referred to your renal department , as each clinic appointment , I have ever been to they have always asked about shortness of breath both pre and now I am on dialysis . Ask at your surgery if any of the GPs have renal experience as I switched who I saw at my local gp's as one had more knowledge of renal stuff then the original one I used to see.

[Mgt8 in reply to pluto94]

That sounds a good idea. I've been diagnosed with CKD but feel that my doctor is just looking for something else to explain my symptoms rather than aiming to help me manage the symptoms of CKD.

[boycie in reply to Mgt8]

thanks for your help, my doc also says it is something else causing symptoms, I'm fed up with going to other consultant! I have decided not to go to any more. before I go does anyone had muscle burn like the pain you get after doing exercise every doc I go to looks at me as if I'm from another planet

[damson]

Hi Boycie

I totally agree with ladybird 194. You only need to look up on the NKF site early CKD. It is on their list of symptoms

[louise1971]

Ha ha ha yeah my kidney doctor tells me shortness of breath is nothing to do with my kidneys, I used to be fairly fit, but now when I climb stairs I am absolutely exhausted, going to bed at night I have t lie for 5 minutes to get my breath back, doing housework, kills me and I need to sit down a lot !!!! it must be the kidneys !!!

[Mgt8 in reply to louise1971]

I understand just how you feel. I live in a three story house and if need to go to the top floor, have to take a break half way.

[boycie in reply to Mgt8]

sorry you have shortness of breath, it doesn't help that most doctors tell us its not a symptom of ckd!. You must dread going upstairs

[Mgt8 in reply to boycie]

I Just don't do it very often.

Don't get muscle burn but legs ache after use.

I find that I end up mentioning every symptom at every appointment as I don't thing my doctor reads my notes before I arrive. Hope you get to the bottom of how to ease it.

[louise1971]

In reply to the shortness of breath question, I have just come back from one of the multitudes of hospital visits. This one for my vision but the breathing was mentioned, apparently they have found I have a blocked artery on top of everything else and the consultant said shortness of breath is one of the first signs of heart problems, but unfortunately it isn't found until tests are completed. I would push to have tests done to make sure your heart is ok

[boycie in reply to louise1971]

sorry to hear that you have other problems its bad enough having ckd. did they find the blocked artery with echo cardiograph?

[louise1971 in reply to boycie]

Hi Boycie, it wasn't an echo I had, well I did but firstly I had 2 tests where they check the heart on resting and then after exercise, not sure what the test is called but they said it could be a blip in the machine, a thousands of pounds worth of machine I find it hard to have a blip!!!!

[Mgt8]

It's a never ending round of appointments and tests isn't it Louise. ?

Sorry to hear you also have a blocked artery. CKD is enough for anyone!

Thanks for posting about it though. I wasn't going to go for my heart test as my doctor said there 'probably' wasn't anything wrong with it. You have helped me make up my mind to go now.

[michel49]

I too have been told that I don't have shortness of breath - at least it feels that way; it is as if doctors are playing the "computer says no!" catchphrase............

[wingsofadove]

Hi again. I get extremely short of breath just doing normal things, no special exertion. I am told that having high blood pressure has had a lot to do with the CKD, and that in turn the CKD has caused ischaemic heart disease and this is what is causing the shortness of breath, a lack of blood flow to the heart. I was offered to go back on clopidogrel a sort of blood thinner but declined as I had had disastrous results with severe nosebleeds when on these tablets previously, resulting in many dashes to hospital via ambulance, with the para trying to stop the flow without success. So no thank you, I said. It is always a problem to know what to do and unfortunately you often have to go through bad experiences when trying out medication. C'est la vie....or lack of it!

[Mgt8]

Hi

My gfr is 21 at present and I too have this symptom.

I hear a lot about doctors refusing to associate various symptoms with CKD, when a simple Internet search will bring up this information from reputable renal support sites. Can't understand why doctors do this. It certainly doesn't help the patient, not being believed.

My only advice is to be persistent with your opinion or change your doctor.

Good luck with things....

[Bobbydee63]

Print out the symptoms of CKD from the Mayo Clinic and hand them to your doctor highlighting "shortness of bteath"!