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Avatar universal

Why can't I breathe satisfactorily?

Hello everyone, my name is Dave and this is my first question on a forum like this and it is a very complex one.
I will try to keep it short.

Basically, this year I have been bitten by a tick in Portugal that was attached for multiple days and I have fallen on my back pretty roughly down the stairs. Both these events happened around April. I received (perhaps stupidly) a preventive two-week course antibiotics for the tickbite due to fear of Lyme in early April. I had no rash. When I fell down the stairs a few weeks later, I had a 20 minute period of forced really intense fast breathing but after that I seemed fine.

Then, two months later in June, something appeared wrong. I slowly became less able to breathe deeply. I find it extremely hard to describe: my belly is tense and resists in coming forward when breathing in, it seems my entire torso is restricted and resistant to me in breathing in deeper than just a shallow breathe, and it appears my body can't wait to push out the air once I try to fill it in. Now, according to every kind of doctor I have seen so far it appears from looking at me and based on feeling my diaphraghm that I am breathing perfectly fine. But for 4 months now I haven't had a single satisfactory breathe and I cannot tell you how incredibly frustrating that is.

Unfortunately that was just the start. In the months after June I developed extreme joint cracking all over, jaundice, strong joint pains just about everywhere (worst of all in my spine), stiff neck and back, abdominal pains, eye twitches,  weight loss, constant needing to burp all day long, a swollen wrist, diarrhea, lightheadedness, need of excessive sleep, periods of heart palpitations, gerd, indigestion, and scariest of all periods of numbness in my fingertips.

I suspected tense muscles or misaligned vertebrea to be responsible due to the fall of the stairs so I consulted a muscoskeletal doctor who corrected my spine, physical therapists who released tension in my muscles and a chiropractor to find anything the former two were not able to find. It took off tension and muscle pain but by no means solved my other problems. Oddly enough, my posture and breathing problems have always seem correlated. There is a pressure on my neck that is worse when my breathing feels more restricted throughout these months, and this literally forces me to keep a bad posture because in a proper straight posture I cannot breathe calmly at all it seems. The belly just won't expand more than a centimeter  by itself.

Due to the excessive burping I suspected perhaps high amounts of gas in my belly prevent my diaphraghm from being able to going down as it should but I haven't been able to stop my needing to burp.

Of course I consulted a doctor and a natural doctor about all my other symptoms. My natural doctor strongly suspects Lyme (as do I). My general 'doctor' tells me I need to have a positive result for that notoriously inaccurate blood test for Lyme in order to see a Lyme expert (I know, backwards huh?). Many herbs I have taken to fight Lyme and they definitely have seemed to cause herxheimer reactions as well as help my body heal somewhat, though I am not there yet. None of these herbs have helped my problem with respiration problem though... nor has exercise or yoga. I suspect SIBO sometimes but that seems a little far fetched for my respiration issues. I also took an herb against suspected Babesia this week, which have helped me feel better but once again it seems no respiratory fix.

I should note that I am by no means an anxious person, quite the contrary. The quality of my life has been decreased severely this year and I hope someone here can help me out... :) I was happy and healthy before all this and I am only 26.

Other notes:
Blood pressure test seemed fine
Blood oxygen level: 99
Hemoglobin levels very high
Gerd dissappeared with a neck adjustment
Oxygen levels in my cells were mediocre according to my natural doctor (checked my blood)
Had a chest X ray and an ultrasound done in June (enlarged spleen, slight bronchitis((I dont cough though)), and small gallstones)

I hope I didn't forget anything

Thank you!
2 Responses
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Avatar universal
Hi Dave- I just found this forum and your post, and this is the first post I've seen of a similar situation to what I'm dealing with!  I woke up one morning almost a year ago with the same difficulty in breathing that you dealt with.  Same burping as well... and I think it's due to increased muscle tension in the throat and upper chest region.  I developed a ton of neurological symptoms as well, and tested negative for lyme through the hospitals.  It wasn't until I received a positive lyme test from Igenex, and I realized this all might be chronic lyme.  A year later for me and my breathing is easier, but not healed by any means.  I'm hoping your symptoms have improved by now?  If so, what did you do to improve them?  
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
So, testing for Lyme is not that difficult really. You initially take a blood test which can be either Elisa IFA.  You will then know if you have antibodies of lyme which is a positive result or you don't which is a negative result.  If you receive a positive result, there is then a second test administered called a Western Blot test.  I'm not sure why you would need a specialist to administer the initial test.  Is this the point you are at or have you taken that initial test and it was negative?  
Helpful - 0
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