These posts sound just like me! For the last 2 months, I have had the same shortness of breath symptoms. I have had blood tests, EKG, stress test, chest x-ray and pulmonary function tests. All came out normal! My Dr. says it is anxiety and prescribed .25 mg of xanax as needed. I only take 1 per day or less as it really does not seem to help. This feeling drives me crazy. It seems that I can never get a good breath and I yawn a lot especially in the evening. I have another call in to my Dr. I don't know what else to do-I wish we all could find some relief!!!!

I had the same problem too and it wasnt easy for me to live..I felt like I would suffocate to death!! But with my inhaler, I could survive some bad moments.. :dizzy:

Hi if all those tests come back fine i wouldnt worry, you've probable suffering from panic attacks they can tighten your chest up and make you feel like you cant breathe, thing is a panic attack is not life threatening even though you sometimes (in a bad attack) feel like your gonna die but they are harmless..

I have mild asthma but for the past 2yrs ive had panic attacks due to alot of stress..

I find most of the time when i feel breathless its not my asthma its the panic attack.. i useally get this when walking, sometimes i can walk fine but if i start to think about my breathing to much then i have to walk very slowly and keep stopping to catch my breath (even tho i can breathe) it still feels like your suffercating, if i take my inhaler then it makes it worse as the inhaler opens up your lungs so to speak but the difficulty breathing is because of the panic attack is because your over breathing so you have too much oxygen in your lungs thats why some people breathe into a paper bag as you breathe in your own co2 which helps to control the levels of oxygen n co2 in your lungs, which makes your breathing back to normal

most of the time now i dont get a full on panic atack but i do get little twinges like i could be watching the telly and my heart will start racing.. or if i know i have to walk a far bit my chest tightens up.. its all really annoying..
but you should start to feel better with those tablets the DR gave you..

Hope ive been of some help :)

Good luck.

P.s read the message board about panic disorders... it might help you ;-)

A doctor should not prescribe Zanax for shortness of breath.

he should ask you plenty of questions to find out what the particulate in the air you're breathing may be.

do a search on the thyroid board for shortness of breath and you will find alot of results. do you have any other thyroid symptoms or had thyroid test done?

Also, a shortage of iron in the body can make you short of breath. Have the doctor perform a series of blood tests that show your red blood count and see if you are low.

Hi mrod. I'm having much of the same problem as you. I've had a bunch of PFT tests at both my allergist and regular doctor and everything seems to come out normal. They've had me take an inhaler to see if there was significant change, but there wasn't. Still the tight feeling in my chest though. I hate it. It makes day-to-day activities so difficult this feeling of not being able to breathe properly. I'm going to get a CT scan on my chest tomorrow and an EKG later in the week. I've had an EKG before though and everything was fine.

I've taken Xanax and while it does help calm me down, the tightness and sensations in my lungs doesn't go away.

I've been through this so many times and no one seems to have an answer for me. I've just been praying that this will go away (for good!)

God bless. I hope you're doing better.

Hi Freetofeelgood,
I can well empathize with that shortness of breath feeling. It's so uncomfortalbe and makes one miserable.
Are you on any kind of preventive med like Flovent or Qvar? I find that doubling up on the meds simply does not help. It's more effective to take a spray of Albuterol as needed.
Do you feel uncomfortable when lying down? That is a symptom that I've developed.
If only there were answers!!!!
Ditab

Does anybody get that feeling at a certain time of day? I seem to get that tightness in my chest in late afternoon, and in the evening. I'm usually ok during the day.