For the past six or so months, I have been experiencing shortness of breath. I will make it known up-front that asthma and blood clots in the lungs have already been ruled out (CAT scan showed no abnormalities and the methacholine test showed only a 9 percent drop in my breathing). Physical exertion does not worsen my breathing, nor does being in an environment where common allergens - such as animal fur, pollen, dust, etc. - are present.
The shortness I feel is pretty mild - it pretty much remains constant. I need to take very deep breaths to feel as though my lungs are satiated, or I may need to yawn very deeply to feel relief as far as breathing.
This problem used to be much worse - I had chest pain, my heart beat very hard, I had a cough I couldn't shake and more often than not I had extreme difficulty breathing, where at one point I almost fainted. It has lessened in intensity in the last few months and it much more bearable. Now I only deal with the labored breathing.
I was put on
albuterol, but it does not help me, and twice since this began have I had episodes where I had extreme difficulties breathing - both which scared me enough to prompt an ER visit and both which resolved on their own before I received emergency treatment. I've also never woke up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe.
I have no idea what is causing this - it can't be asthma, or else the
albuterol would help me in some way. The only thing I have found thus far that aggravates my breathing is being out in the cold; I find myself sometimes needing to take more deep breaths than usual to feel okay. My mother told me she also had trouble breathing when she was my age, but the issue went undiagnosed and she eventually grew out of it. That's reassuring, but I want to do something about this right now because it irritates me.
For the record, I am not a smoker and am very rarely around those who do smoke (and even if I was, smoke does not aggravate my breathing). As far as my BMI/weight, I am definitely overweight, but not morbidly obese (I'm about 180 pounds and 5' 6"), so I don't think I'm heavy enough to warrant breathing issues due to weight alone. I have read that breathing problems are associated with thyroid problems and I am convinced I may be hypothyroid despite my normal TSH test reading.
Has anyone else ever felt this? Just difficulty breathing and really nothing else? I am at a complete loss over what is causing this and why it started out of absolutely nowhere.
Sorry for this being so long.
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