Shortness of breath😯

[Dani31]

So it's been well over 8 weeks now of random numbness, pins and needles, heavy chest, short of breath(oxygen levels are fine) 24/7 which i went to ER for twice was perfectly fine, this has been the worst for me. I've been to so many doctor appointments, had full bloods, chest xray which was clear. I've litrally given up was perfectly fine till my daughter was 7 weeks old and had my first panic attack randomly. I'm convinced there is actually something physically wrong with me. How can anxiety stuff my breathing up? I never had breathing problems before. My doc has said you need to start antidepressant as I'm destroying my life and family's. He is refusing to do anymore testing as he believes it's all anxiety. He said 100% the antidepressants will take my symptoms away. I have been to a phychologist a month ago but my next appointment isn't till next week feeling so defeated why is this happening to me😭 i actually don't even care if i die anymore. Has anyone else experienced this or am i just losing the plot😂

[Sophie_M]

Hey Dani, welcome to the Beyond Blue forums, we're so glad you decided to join us here. It sounds like the past 8 weeks have been really stressful and confusing. We're sorry to hear how defeated you're feeling. Please know that you do not have to do this alone. Many in our community have had similar experiences and understand. Hopefully, a few of them pop by to offer you some words of kindness and advice. 

We recognise that this must be an overwhelming situation for you, so we just wanted to let you know that if you find yourself feeling particularly overwhelmed, know that there is help available to you. The Beyond Blue Support Service on 1300 22 4636 or our friends at Lifeline on 13 11 14 are available to provide support and advice 24/7. Please do feel free to use these services to talk through what's on your mind when it's feeling like too much to cope with.

Please also feel free to keep us updated here on your thread with what you are feeling and experiencing whenever you feel up to it - we hope that you find this to be a safe and non-judgemental space.

 

[therising]

Hi Dani

While the symptoms you describe can definitely relate to anxiety and panic attacks, something else a little outside the square perhaps worth considering are 'silent migranes'. The symptoms can sometimes be a little trippy, based on personal experience, and can come on either gradually or quite suddenly. If you have possible reasons for the anxiety, based on certain mental health challenges, things can appear fairly basic. If the symptoms appear to be happening for no obvious reason at all, maybe it's worth mentioning a desire to have a referral to a neurologist.

Is there a history of migranes in the family? By the way, silent migranes are migranes without the headache. They can impact certain parts of the brain, which goes toward explaining the effects.

Take care 🙂

[Dani31]

Hi,

Thankyou for your reply I've always had headaches but so used to them i just get on with it. My shortness of breath happened after a panic attack and never went away. I know my sister suffers from silent migraines but unsure how it affects her. I've been to a few docs but get flogged off all the time I'm really not sure what to do before my panic attack i had a severe sore neck and top of my spine was in pain alot i think from breastfeeding as i would always have my neck and spine bent to feed, not sure if that's a connection though.

[brave_heart7]

Hi Dani31,

Firstly, I wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your experiences here, it takes a lot of courage to reach out! I can imagine that these past eight weeks have left you feeling confused, so I thought I'd help by explaining how anxiety can affect your breathing. When we're stressed/anxious our sympathetic nervous system takes over and produces more stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. This is known as the 'fight or flight response' - the body does this to help prepare us to fight or fly from a real or perceived threat. These stress hormones affect the body in a number of ways but the main effects include; increasing heart rate, increasing blood pressure, expanding the air passages of the lungs and redistributing blood to the muscles. When this happens in our body, we tend to breathe more shallowly and quickly, which can lead to hyperventilation & feeling like we're struggling to breathe. I have experienced these symptoms myself during panic attacks, and what I have found to help, as cheesy as it sounds, is to do breathing exercises to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and try to calm the body down. There are some really good phone apps - breathe2relax, mylife, and pause are my personal favourites - but there are so many out there! I have also found that using these breathing apps even when I'm not feeling anxious or stressed really helpful as it makes me feel more confident about being able to successfully relax my body when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I hope this makes sense and reduces a bit of confusion around some of the physical sensations you're experiencing. Please don't ever forget that you're not alone 🙂

[Dani31]

Thankyou for your reply,

I'm just more ao worried that i have had shortness of brearh for 8 weeks now all other symptoms have gone for a while now. It feels like my chest is always tight and i can't get a deep breath in 24/7. Like my chest and throat feel numb, like air hunger and I'm not getting air but i am. I'm experiencing this also when trying to exercise and its so uncomfortable 😭 I'm just so stressed it's something worse as it won't go away

[Mrs_Ducky]

Dani this was and is my first symptoms of when i have an axiety flare up (my term for when my anxiety gets high and stays that way for more than a day). The first time i ever had them was the scariest as i had no idea at all what was happening to me and hubby was at work and my family lived over 1000km away..

I had a move of towns/house and was physically sick earlier this year and i ended up at the hospital twice with this exact issue (they did lots of bloods, ecg's etc til i realised it was this flare up (it had been a good 8 months since my last time.. im currently awake as my anxiety has been high all evening and again my chest is showing the signs, although i know why and i am trying to distract myself til i can calm the cycle..

[therising]

Hi Dani31

The onset of the silent migranes, for me, was pretty low key. For some weeks, all I felt was slight pressure through my sinuses when one would start up, then things started to get weird as the weeks passed. An episode would begin with usual sinus pressure, then numbness down my left side, I'd lose the ability to grip things (like when turning a door handle). I wouldn't be able to think straight or easily process what people were saying to me. My legs would become weak and I'd start feeling like I was having an anxiety attack. At one point symptoms got so intense, thought I was having a stroke. Went to hospital. Of course, all was fine.

My GP insisted I was having anxiety attacks and wanted to put me on anti anxiety meds. I refused, insisting there was something else going on here. I'd had a couple of panic attacks before in my life due to obvious factors but this was something different. The GP told me to come back when I was ready to go on anti anxiety meds. Grrr, he wasn't listening. Went to another doctor while I was having a migraine and she referred me for a brain MRI. It was a miracle Dani, the timing was incredible. I was experiencing a migraine in the MRI machine. It actually showed up. Went back to the original doctor and he was apologetic and pretty shocked.

I'm not saying this is what it is for you, just wanting to elaborate on what one feels like and how it can impact the nervous system. It was like my nervous system was being set off, hence the anxiety. I wasn't feeling anxious at all. Not stressed at all but it was like my body was experiencing an anxiety attack, including trouble breathing. Again, this may not be the cause of things for you but migranes can happen for women when estrogen levels drop after childbirth.

Other ideas, besides a neurologist: Physio for breathing exercises. I'm a shocking breather, I must admit. I breath pretty shallow. Went to a physio due to muscle pain in my side at one point and she taught me breathing exercises, explaining that shallow breathing impacts the side muscles. Shallow breathing is what runners do, it's not mean to be an everyday way of breathing. The pain went away. We breath different ways for different reasons. Wondering if learning conscious abdominal breathing might help things for you. Endocrinologist (hormone specialist) might be another consideration, for more specific blood tests.

Don't give up wondering about what's going on 🙂

[therising]

Hi again Dani

Just finished the last post when something suddenly popped into my head. Pretty out there but it's got me wondering. Is there something recently introduced into your diet or environment that you could be highly sensitive to? Could it be setting off your nervous system and causing breathing problems? In other words, are you experiencing a reaction to something you're sensitive to (aka allergy/allergic reaction).

I know I'm offering more questions than answers but questioning means we never stop looking for answers.

🙂

[Dani31]

Hi, thankyou for sharing your story in regards to your silent migraines what was your treatment? I spent 5 weeks in flight or fight mode wasnt anxious about anything i would just go into panic attacks sometimes 10 tines a day plus anxiety attacks in between thought i was literally dieing. Its like my mind has retrained itself how to breath or i can't remember what it was like to breath before this all happened. I started off having 4 days of hot sweats thought i might have the flu as my sinuses were playing up than bang one night went into a panic attack my breathing just went funny. I couldn't control my body or mind for weeks was very scary as my partner works away and had been away for 5 weeks, i hadn't slept in 2 months due to new baby and had to keep my daughter home to homeschool. It's like my brain exploded haha. Now im left with funny breathing or maybe i am breathing normally but my mind has been through so much it thinks it's abnormal.