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Date of last update: 10/19/2017.

Forum Name: Miscellaneous Chest Diseases

Question: Breathing Problem

 Lukey - Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:55 pm

This is fairly long and complex but I think any info at all now might help with my problem.

I am a 21 year old male. For the past few weeks I have had some diffuculty breathing. I feel like I am not getting enough air. I feel like I need to take deep breaths but even when I do that it feels like my lungs aren't filling up sufficiently. It reminds me of the feeling of being bloated or eating too much. I haven't felt this way continuously for the past few weeks. I have had some good days in which I felt fine. I have good days and bad days. Some days I start to feel like that in the evening, other days I wake up in the morning feeling like that. When it starts it can be the next morning that I feel better or it can take about 3 days. Before, I thought that it had to do with the heat because I felt much worse during hot humid days in the city. However we have had a string of really cool days and I am still having some problems (unless I currently feel bloated now for another reason).

I've gone to the emergency room twice and I am currently seeing a doctor who sees me once a week and is trying to rule out certain possible causes. Currently she doesn't know what is wrong with me. I've had two chest x-rays when I went to the ER two times (since I was having mild chest pains the second time), two blood tests for hemoglobin. All of these turned up negative. The doctor I am currently seeing gave a me Ratio Salbutamol HFA puffer and some Pariet (rabeprazole sodium) pills.I have been using them for a week and there doesn't seem to be any effect. In the ER I had a cardiogram done and it seemed fine. I have a loss of appetite. I haven't felt like eating very much at all for the past few days. While waiting in the hospital for six hours I began to get really hungry but it felt easier to breath when that happened.
When I do feel this way I get uncomfortable and I have gone to bed feeling that way and not being able to fall alseep for hours. I am not breathing rapidly. My breathing is fairly slow and I am often aware of each breath I take.

I don't feel well enough to do some of my normal errands. The day before yesterday I did a fair amount of walking outside and I felt like I was going to faint.. Currently I am just sitting here and I feel like something should be done. It feels silly sitting here like this but apparently noting can be done yet. I don't think I am having a panick attack because it lasts for so long and I don't feel like I am stressed out or anything.

Medical History for this year

In January and February I was sick for a long period of time (about 4 or 5 weeks). It felt like a cold and I was constantly coughing.

During the winter I had a very hard time breathing when it was cold and the wind was blowing. This was the first time this happened to me. I thought that it might be related to coughing.

Also during the winter I went to a doctor to ask about a problem that I have had for about 11 years (I am now 21 years old) with my hands turing blue when it's cool. She thought it might be Raynauds, did some blood tests and I tested positive for Lupus. She sent me to a Rhumatologist who didn't find anything else wrong with me and can't pinpoint the cause of the Reynauds. He will be seeing me a couple of months again

Also in Feb I had an absest growing on my gums near where my wisdom tooth was poking through and had to have it removed. At the end of April (while I was home for two weeks) I found out that I had I had 6 surface cavities in between my teeth and I got them filled in two days. Not long after i started to feel constant pain in all of my teeth and currently for some reason it feels that most of my teeth are now sensitive. Also, I have been having problems with some of the fillings (possibly because they were done wrong) and got a temporary filling to replace one that and will be haing another temorary filling in soon. As well I have recenty had another wisdom tooth removed.

I would appreciate any advice you could give.
 tony131065 - Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:23 pm

Hello, IM Tony a male 40 years of age. IM recently going thru the same thing. I have never had anybreathing problems and in the past three months I have been hospitalized and had exays of my legs and chest a heart sonogram and stress test were I walk fast and ran with no problems. I was told I was ok but IM not because I feel with every breath Im not getting sufficient air. IM a diabetic type 1for close to 20 years and now they want to blame it on the diabetes but I have never suffer from this in the past and IM quite concerned that one this days I will not get enough air to live. What did they find ? have you had any luck ? my email is tony131065@netscape.net
 John Kenyon, CNA - Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:51 pm

User avatar Hello lukey -

While many people with your sort of complaint would fall into the anxiety-based category, and that may be true, you do have lupus and possibly Raynaud's syndrome, both of which are connective tissue/autoimmune diseases and which, in your case, are probably part of the same larger issue (if one has lupus one may well have Raynaud's as well, so there is no great mystery there), and so you may have some more arcane pulmonary problem that would require a more sophisticated workup to ascertain and treat. Oh, with Raynaud's your fingers would actually be more likely to turn white rather than blue, but the blueness could also be related to a breathing problem instead.

With lupus the various problems that arise must be treated specific to each, as well as an overall management strategy. What exactly is happening in your case is impossible to guess at a distance, and especially given your complex medical issues. A referral to a pulmonologist would probably be in order now. With lupus you are likely to experience a variety of annoying problems from time to time. I wish you the best and hope you are able to get this problem well-managed.

Best of luck to you.

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