I've had asthma for 4 and 1 half years.I take a inhaler every night and day it is called advair sooooo it does keep me from asthma attacks but I can't play in any sport or take a good deep breath so all I can recommened is advair.

The following trick may help. Insert a finger into your mouth between your lips so that in points into the mouth. Leave a small gap between the finger and your lips. Now inhale through the gap so your cheeks are pulled in a bit. This should give your diaphragm a kick and get it going to get a deep inhale. Hope this helps, richard friedel

Thanks..I'll give it a try next time

I went to the doctor 3 wks ago for a sinus infection and bronchitis. About a week ago I really got to where I had trouble breathing. Everytime I do something I breath real hard. It can be making up the bed, taking a shower, I don't care what. He diagnosed it this time as reactive airway disease. I have never had any asthma problems. I was tested last year for asthma and did not have it. Now he wants me to go to a cardiologist tomorrow to make sure its not my heart. My ekg shows borderline myocardial ischemia. I know its not my heart but I don't know what it is. He gave me 6 days of prednisone and while it has helped the coughing some I still get out of breath. Ideas anyone?


Be kind to yourself
becky

I'm betting it is probably just the reactive airway disease. Normally I don't really notice a problem with it but anytime I get a respiratory cold, the rad kicks in and it takes me twice as long to get over it. I think the rad just prolongs whatever the problem is (ie, bronchitis) and it just takes longer for you to get over it. I had bronchitis last thanksgiving and it was well into january before I finally got it all out of my system.

Thanks for the reply. I am back from cardiologist. He doesn't think it's my heart either but he is having me come back for a echo thursday morning. He says he has known patients being short of breath after bronchitis for 2 months. He also had them run a lot of blood tests. My reg doc is just real cautious. I knew it wasn't my heart cause I still felt like I was running a low grade fever on the way over there today. I've never had rad before and its not fun.

Years ago I took singing lessons and was taught to breathe using my diaphram. This means when you breathe you extend your tummy and don't push out your chest. I had to actually practise this by watching my tummy stick out when I breathed in or put my hand on my tummy and feel it stick out.
Another thing you can do is what I often do now is take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can. This seems give you time to get more oxygen.

Hope this helps.

maxum

thanks for all that useful information richard. The link at
'http://www.I-breathe.Com/thb12/incentiv.H tm' was very educational but the other links didn't work on my computer.

There you go floridagirl

seasons greetings to all.

Maxum

Hi maxum,

yes, the upshot of good diaphragmatic breathing seems that to be that if you are feeling short of breath you can breath as hard as you like without provoking an attack. Regards, richard friedel.

I have had this problem on and off for years. I will go for hours and sometimes all day without being able to take that deep rolling breath that feels so wonderful. I will end the day extremely tired and with a headache. It is exhausting and frustrating. It will happen for 3-4 days straight sometimes and others only last a few hours. I am also convinced it is stress related. Although I do not consciously feel stressed, I have every reason to be with my job and children and responsibilities and am probalby subconsiously stressed. What do you think?

I'm not sure if its stress related but i've wondered that myself. I noticed sometimes when it happens its when i'm on my way home from work so stress seems like a possible answer. It was interesting to hear you say that it sometimes just lasts hours and then sometimes it last days. That exactly what happens with me too.

Anxiety attacks make it hard to breathe. You may want to get on that forum and talk to some people. They may be able to help you better as well.

Im 13 and last year at one of my cheerleading practices I couldnt take a deep breath I felt sort of like you did, and I started to shake a lot and uncontolobly like I was really cold but I wasnt. An ambulance came and took me to the e.R and the put me in one of those oxygen masks because my blood oxygen count was only at 79 instead of 100. I went to a few doctors and got an ultra sound of my heart they all were like we dont know what it could be and the last doctor just decided he would call it an anxiety attck wich I dont think it was. No matter what I say the doctors wont check me for asthma and its happend a couple more times at cheerleading. Any ideas? :?:

I have the same problem with not being able to take a deep breath. It's not that I can't inflate my lungs - it's that at the end of the breath, I don't feel my throat expand properly like it does at the end of a good full yawn. When this happens, I try to make myself yawn but I just can't get that full expansion. I too have been unsuccessful in getting a diagnosis from doctors. I was tested for asthma but don't have it. I will have this sensation for hours at a time and it's been going on for years. I'm 27 y.O.

May be you should try saltpipe. It is not only for asthma. It is for cleaning up your lung and prevent you from pollution. Taking breath difficulty is caused by pollution nowadays and in europe, they used to go to salt cave for the treatment of breathing difficulty.

Hey erica, I have the same problem and have had it going on 2 years now. I was tested for asthma, which came back negative, they gave me the inhaler anyways, but it doesn't help. They gave me prevacid for gerd, which was great for the hearburn, but didn't touch this. They had me do a nuclear stress test, which came back normal. They checked my blood for abnormal thickness and for polycythemia vera (sp?) which came back negative. One thing i've noticed with my problems is my position when sleeping, if I lay on my back or left side, they seem to kick in with a vengance, if I lay on my right side, I can at least fall asleep. I read on another forum dealing with this, that one guy tried this stuff called bronkaid, which seemed to help him. I've yet to find it in a store where I live though, so I may just order it online (which I just did with the salt inhaler) i'll let you know how it turns out. This has to be the most frustrating illness i've ever had, due to the uncomfort, inconvenience and the inability of physicians to help. I'm pretty sure it's not life threateningor anything, but man is it a pain. Have you noticed any increase in the amount of mucus in your lungs since it started? I seem to have an increase. My problems actually started with a strange cough I got when I went to hawaii for my honeymoon, if I sat there with my mouth open it sounded like pop rocks. I was treated with antibiotics, and it went away. About a week later is when this all started. I thought about asking the doc for something that is supposed to break up congestion in the lungs, ill probably do that next visit. What are the specifics on when your problems started, anything strange happen at that time? Sorry if these are personal questions, I just want to get to the bottom of this and be done with it.

I cough alot and when I try to breathe deep I really cough. It feels like I tremble in my chest or lungs, or spasms. Do you know anything about this and they say asthma?

gosh, I have exactly the same problem. It only started today when I was at school and I just couldn't take breaths. At first I thought I ate too much or my skirt was too tight. But it got worse later at night. Whenever I try and take a deep breath, it just stops at the top of my lungs and no matter how hard I try, I can't take the breath. If I really push it, my head would feel like it's going to burst. I can't even yawn cos my chest just goes so tight. I don't know what's wrong with me, my parents think it's my asthma and tells me to take my inhaler (which I have already, for 4 puffs), it's not helping at all and I know this is different to asthma. I can feel it deep in my chest and at the top of my lungs. I want to go to the doctor but don't know how to tell them exactly. This feeling makes me feel like i'm going to die, it's so scary.

I have the same thing

- for a few days a month I get this tight feeling in my chest like I dare not take a deep breath cause something bad will happen, it feels tight and as if there is always some air left in my lungs after exhalation. I also feel as though to be able to speak I have to tense up my stomach or else I don't have enough energy. Bizarre.

I am suffering under stress and post traumatic stress disorder but this only happened intermittantly so I am worried about it. My doctor didnt even blink when I described it to him, I might have to get a new one!