I've been diagnosed with Panic and Social Anxiety Disorder. I've been taking Klonopin, which has kept the full-blown panic attacks at bay. But I've had some rough time with some SSRIs and have had an increase in anxiety.

The past two months I've noticed that I've become short of breath while speaking. My back and ribs will become tense and tighten, and I will notice a pain in the center area of my abdomen below the ribcage.

I am 34 and trying to quit smoking....so I immediately chalked it up to having emphysema or another component of COPD. I went to the doctor recently for a sprained foot, and asked (practically demanded) to have a spirometry test done to have my lungs checked. They did, and while it wasn't great (lungs of a 54 year-old) it didn't indicate COPD or any other lung disease. My doctor said there were signs of both restriction and obstruction, but this is not unusual when the person is still an active smoker. Overall he said my lungs were ok. I told him I wasn't convinced, so he did a chest x-ray...again he said he saw no abnormalities. In my persistance that I have something wrong, I asked about a cat-scan....but he said he couldn't write a script/referral for one because my other tests didn't warrant it.

I am wondering if anyone has had similiar symptoms....not being able to breathe properly while talking and getting short of breath. My regular doctor said "most likely anxiety" but I've never heard or read of anxiety causing such a symptom.

Thanks for the help.