Constant Shortness of Breath

[zambrotta19]

Hi,im a 22 year old male and i've been dealing with this constant shortness of breath for over 6-7 years now. I written on a forum about this before but just hadd to write one again. Its hard to say but doctors have no idea what's wrong with me.I see so mnay people dealing with this problem and it seems like theres no diagnosis. It just strated outta the blue I went to take a deep breath and i couldnt get that last bit of hair to satisfy the breath and this whole vicious cycle started. After that for about 2 years i was constantly taking deep breaths and not able to get a satisfied breath. I WAS CONSTANTLY YAWNING>SIGNING AND TAKIN UNSATISFIED DEEP BREATH ALL DAY LONG. I had reached the point when i was staying home in my bed just hoping i would die so it would stop.  After 2 years or so it seemed to just go away. It then came back right after i smoked a cigarette . Ever since then its been an ongoing struggle. I feel as if i have no control of my life, and im constantly thinking of my breathing. I feel hopeless and feel as if no one understands what im going through or that i have this disease that doctors cant detect. My doctor has put me on xanax for anxiety and it seemed to cut the edge off a lil but its still there. Its not as bad as when i first got it but it still disrupts my life. I can only work 2 days, i don't go to school  and i don't have much of a happy life .I've gone to cardiologist, ent's, gi's, pulmonary doctors. I've gone through xrays, PFT, EKG, stress tests, endoscopy . Only thing i have is GERD/LPR with sinsation of lump in throat and a very small irregular heart beat. I also am constantly clearing my throat.I heard that can be because of the Gerd/LPR. I just took a new PFT test and my breathing is normal. i did have a deviated septum but got that fixed..My lung specialist says its just all in my head and that i have this because ive become aware of my breathing pattern. i've used advair, singular and breathing pumps for asthma with no results. when im sitting or laying down its seems to be fine but when i stand up or move it kicks in more. I'm losing hope on what's going on with me. Does anyone have this?If so can anyone recommend anything else i should look for? the only thing i really want to do is a MRI or CT scan but doctors say 99 percent sure nothing will show.Has anyone heard of chronic hyperventilation syndrome? or phrenic nerve damage? if anyone can be of help please email me or post a message?

[brittany1213d]

This just started to me a few days ago.
i can't handle it anymore :[
i dont even know what started it.
it just started. and now its like all day.
and it's annoying and im scared.
i went to the doctors. "its all in ur head"
... maybe it is. but i want it to stop :[... im going back to tomorrow just for them to think im pyscho again.
and the only time im fine these past couple of days is sleeping or when im keeping my mind busy with friends.

i just want medication something
im a 17 yr old girl. and i just want it to stop :[
ive never had this problem before.

[tgirl143]

Wow; I always thought I was crazy.  I have not had normal breathing for about 6 years now and it's horrible.  Every day I think that I have this horrible disease that the doctors didn't see or didn't diagnose.  I have taken a CT scan, lung x-ray, EKG for the heart and they were all normal.  I am convinced that all the doctors are wrong and that they all mis-diagnosed me.  But, I am an anxious person and this is probably just anxiety.  I really hope that's all it is.  I will try breathing exercises and see if they work.  I want my life back!

[MissAshley2009]

Your concentrating on it too much..
Trust me i deal with this everyday. at first i thought it was a mixture of my anxiety and my obsessive smoking habit but i learned that all it was was my over awareness of what i thought was going on. Your not crazy but your brain is sending the wrong signals through your body. im not sure how to tell you to get it to stop except try not to think about it and concentrate on something else. This is actually how i started having my panic attack. i would be smoke and feel like i couldnt breath so i'd keep taking deep breath after deep breath which would make me hyperventalate (spelling?)

[despairing]

I have been dealing with intense shortness of breath for over 7 years. Zambrotta's post sums up my experience pretty well. My shortness of breath is excruciating, constant, day and night.  I litterally feel as though I am suffocating. I hate it with every fiber of my being. It affects every area of my life.  I've been on xanax for over a year now and it's the only thing that seems to help, but it's only meant for short term treatment (3 to 4 months), and I've built a tolerance and the relief it provides isn't complete anyway.  I don't know what to do, but I promise my "awareness" of it is not the problem - I'm not concentrating on it too much or anything like that. It's horrible! I've prayed, seen doctors... I'm at my wits end, and often I feel I'd rather be dead than to go on living like this.  I am miserable.

[tony_aka_age]

This is almost exactly like my story I will feel suffocated or I concentrate to hard on breathing that it scares me into anxiety. I've been like this for 8 months now and its been horrible. But one thing I must tell you is to never give up, I've gone to seen one doctor for medication and only went like 3 days to a therapist (stop going because I couldn't afford it). I've spent my 8 horrible months with anxiety and I've been stuck at home because I'm so afraid of many things now, and I've never been one to scare easy and I've never had this problem and like most people it just popped up out of nowhere and BAM anxiety attacks. Right now I've lessened my attacks to the point if they occur I can stop them and without losing control. My problem though is the fear, and I've always distracted myself everytime, but I tell you to not do this everytime because if you want to beat your fears sometimes you have to face them head on. You can control your emotions, if you want to get angry you can right away, if you want to be calm, sad, cry you can do these easily. Fear is an emotion and in time it can be controlled as well. Thats why I tell you to never give up and fight for the life that you once had because who else is going to do it for you. I fight for my life everyday and I will not stop until I regain the normal life I once had and I will be rooting for all of you that are in the same boat as myself. Oh and also what John says helps a lot as well. practice some breathing exercises and never give up!

Good Luck to All

[Ray_Smith_37]

I suffered from this exact same thing for nearly a year. It started suddenly in a car ride one day and just didn't leave. Went to doctor after doctor...couldn't find anything wrong with me. Nine months later I had a panic attack from it and embarrassingly went to the hospital. I had a this great doctor simply tell me I had a chronic stress disorder (anxiety disorder, whatever.) and the next day I could feel my symptoms fade away. They returned once but All I say to myself is "your brain is tricking you. Don't worry." I repeat that and and just let myself be totrtured and accept it and soon enough I'm thinking of something else and it isn't there... so...what I'm saying is...this isn't a permanent situation.