I call my symptoms of suffication "episodes" because the sensation at first was so hard to explain. Mine started at night and when laying on my side. I wouod suddenly wake up feeling short of breath and yet I wasn't gasping for air or breathing any differently and yet I was feeling light headed.
It used to happen once a month, then once a week and now 3-years on it happens most nights and 2 or 3 times a night! Almost as if oxygenated blood wasn't getting to my brain.
The first thing my doctor tried 2 years ago was acid reflux medication, but this achieved nothing.
As a type 1 diabetic, I am aware that I have higher risks of heart problems, I asked my doctor to see a Cardiologist. After some ECG tests on a running machine, they detected something was wrong with my heart. Months later an Angiogram detected slight narrowing to one of my heart arteries, but it was only narrowed by 50% and apparently not the cause. Later a pressure wire in the blockage confirmed that threre was no significant change in blood pressure around the narrowing and months later again an MRI scan with contrast dye showed no significant problems, though a central heart chamber was taking two pumps to fill with blood instead of one pump. This was dismissed as nothing to worry about.
Next step was to look at my lungs. A CT scan with contrast dye showed no issue. Last summer I paid out £500 to go private and have an MRI brain scan with contrast to check the blood flow to the brain is okay and it was!
I also went private to check my aorta artery was okay with an ultra sound and again it was.
My doctor suggested that it might be stress, anxiety or depression! It is true that I was suffering due to this problem. Worry and sleep deprivation mainly, caused by the episodes, not the other way around. Anyway, willing to try anything, I agreed to go on a 6 week Cognitive Behaviour Therepy course and all they concluded was mild stress and anxiety caused by my symptoms!
My symptoms continue to worsen and the only relief I can get during the night is from a strong pain killer called Tramadol, which allows me to sleep again for 4 hours. Why a pain killer helps, I have no idea.
In the mornings, wake up from these suffication episodes feeling light headed and with mild headaches that last for 2 or 3 hours after getting up, whether I have taken Tramadol in the night or not!
All very frustrating. I know something will happen one day where it is either diagnosed or I simply fail to wake up because the symptoms continue to worsen each month! Chris
Guys m going thrw the same phase, I went to a doctor, he said its the beginning of depression, leave all the mental stress behind, hit the gym, stay calm, every thing will b fine
Hi there,
I just thought I would let any people who experience suffocation and immediate shortness of breath, know about a condition / disease called RADS - it's Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome. Sadly it can mimic asthma and it can be difficult for Doctors to diagnose it and from my personal experience - when I was prescribed asthma medication, it sadly made my breathing worse.... which was terrifying because I took the medication because I was having trouble breathing .. so you can imagine how horrifying it was to have even LESS air!
Anyhow, if you have gone from having a normal respiratory system and never had asthma - and then what may feel like over night you cough a lot and become super sensitive to things like: petrol fumes - your laundry and washing powder - perfume - aftershave etc etc. then you may have RADS.
Please check the web site RADS Foundation - radsfoundation.net
as there is a lot of information to explain how you can get RADS and a support network.
Know you are not alone and there is support out there and information and lots of things you can do to help yourself.
I know .. because I have it and live with it every day.
All the best to everyone and I hope you all have good air days and I hope this information is helpful.
Hi ,
I am 32 years old . I also have developed this odd feeling of suffocating especially it feels like it begins at throat somewhere in wind pipe. It started couple of months ago suddenly when I was in sleep and suddenly woke up to a suffocation and temporary coughing..for few seconds. .this happened couple of nights but I felt completely normal after a minute or so and slept back and woke up completely normal the next day. However few days ago I felt suffocating and same feeling but this time it occurred during the evening when I was casually sitting at home . And this time I also felt dizzininess for that moment ...it went on to happen for 2 or 3 times in a break of 10 tp 15 minutes and I immediately saw a doctor that same evening . What my local doctor found was a high blood pressure reading (110 / 177) ..he suspected that suffocation and dizziness could be due to high BP but ge wasn't sure and asked me to get Lipid profle , CBC , and some kidney related tests done ..All the tests appeared normal including cholesterol levels ..I saw another doctor today and he has written few more tests like ECG , 2d doppler and an X RAY...I personally feel that this condition or problem may also be due to acidity (I do have acidity problem and I drink lot's of tea which I m sure adds to acidity problem )..I have never had this problem before and I guess I have never had BP problem also...mu doctor whom I visited today didn't have an answer to my question whether bp is causing this problem (of feeling suffocated and a little dizzy also (dizzininess is not always accompanied but occasionally ) ) or this problem is causing BP to go high ?
i too have this feeling of suffocation i have a tight pulling sensation on my chest too with no pain just heaviness sometimes in my stomach too ,
im 22 female with no previous health problems accept anxiety,asthma and hyper acidity i got diagnosed with the hyper acidity after i was having chest pains and shortness of breath like getting out of breathe fast before all this started in october 2014 i started getting the suffocation feeling it lasts a second and sometimes can last a hour but its on and off it sometimes is full on or very mild i have had around 10 ecgs and heart ultrasound also holter monitor which im still waiting results for the holter but this is crippling me i cant concentrate on anything else because i dont know what it is i have been searching for answers for the 3 months i have had it i rember it happening once in 2012 in my friends car but it never happened again until october it happened in my sleep last night too and its really scary ! before it started like this it was a constant out of breathe feeling hope somebody finds answers i don't feel its relataed to anxiety although the doctors are pretty sure it is did you ever find out what was causing it ? hope your ok .
These feelings are terrifying, I've had them now for years, I even called out an ambulance one night because I thought I was going to die from suffocation and like you guys, doctors can't find anything wrong other than anxiety problems so I'd definitely say it's a mental condition. A nurse has told me to try and control my breathing by taking deep breaths, holding it for a second or two then slowly breathing out, sometimes this helps, sometimes it doesn't.
Definitely needs some research as people don't understand how devastating this can be. Good luck to all of you guys.