Trouble taking a full "satisfying" breath

[rcbrewer]

Hi there, I could really use some help. I have been on 38 mg Test Cyp EOD for around a year now and recently have begun having an extremely troublesome problem. I donated blood twice for a work function recently (both donations were 56 days apart). The last donation was around 4 weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I began having trouble breathing in that only every few breaths I took were "satisfying". I began sighing a lot, yawning a lot, and it progressed to where it felt like I could not take a full breath. It got extremely bad one night and I considering going to the hospital, but I am a paramedic student so I ran an ekg and vitals on myself at work and everything checked out. I ran an iron panel and my iron came back in the upper range, however my ferritin came in low at 22 (lowest on the range was 30). The breathing issue abated the next day and I felt like I could breath again. However, three days ago this problem came back and its driving me INSANE. I am now constantly hyper focused on my breath and the fact that I can't seem to get enough of it. Every 8 breaths or so I finally take a breath that feels normal but then I just go right back to struggling. There is intermittent chest pain that accompanies this problem.

Is there anything else I need to evaluate here? I have had anxiety plenty of times in my life but clonazepam doesn't seem to touch this. I struggle through school and work, and running stressful calls feeling like I can't breath is just about unbearable. It makes it impossible for me to focus on anything else.

Any suggestions on where to go from here or any input from someone who has had the same problem would be very much appreciated

Did you ever find out the cause?

 

[sammmy]

In my case the "unsatisfying" full breaths turned out to be connected to digestive issues - maybe infection. They appear 2 hours after every meal and I almost completely suppress them by taking 5g L-Glutamine in a cup of water with every meal.

The source of the digestive problem hasn't been diagnosed yet but most people don't know that some digestive issues can cause inflammation (cytokines are released), which manifests in the lungs as "shortness of breath", "asthma", "unsatisfying breathing".

 

[rcbrewer]

In my case the "unsatisfying" full breaths turned out to be connected to digestive issues - maybe infection. They appear 2 hours after every meal and I almost completely suppress them by taking 5g L-Glutamine in a cup of water with every meal.

The source of the digestive problem hasn't been diagnosed yet but most people don't know that some digestive issues can cause inflammation (cytokines are released), which manifests in the lungs as "shortness of breath", "asthma", "unsatisfying breathing".

Thanks you. In the original post, you described what I’m feeling to a T. I’ve yet to figure mine out. I’ve eliminated all kinds of things, seen therapists, taken anxiety meds, and nothing has worked. I just bought some L-Glutamine and I’m going to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist.

 

[sammmy]

The original post is not mine but of goodfriendbob. Just keep in mind that the same symptom can be caused by different diseases. I also went through a whole bunch of doctors. I was thinking that I have "chronic fatigue syndrome", which can be caused by thousand different diseases.

My "shortness of breath" 2 hours after meals is also accompanied by debilitating stupefying headaches (they feel like a balloon expanding in my head), dizziness, and fatigue. I found that all of my symptoms respond to anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen, aspirin, vitamin B2 (not very well known but can suppress migraines), or L-Glutamine.

The L-Glutamine is the most innocent of those so I have been taking it for 3.5 months already and it is extremely effective for me, suppressing the symptoms but not curing the disease. It is local digestive anti-inflammatory so maybe my problem is really in the digestive tract. I will try to stop taking it after New Years but am not holding my breath that will work.

 

[zancek0]

The original post is not mine but of goodfriendbob. Just keep in mind that the same symptom can be caused by different diseases. I also went through a whole bunch of doctors. I was thinking that I have "chronic fatigue syndrome", which can be caused by thousand different diseases.

My "shortness of breath" 2 hours after meals is also accompanied by debilitating stupefying headaches (they feel like a balloon expanding in my head), dizziness, and fatigue. I found that all of my symptoms respond to anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen, aspirin, vitamin B2 (not very well known but can suppress migraines), or L-Glutamine.

The L-Glutamine is the most innocent of those so I have been taking it for 3.5 months already and it is extremely effective for me, suppressing the symptoms but not curing the disease. It is local digestive anti-inflammatory so maybe my problem is really in the digestive tract. I will try to stop taking it after New Years but am not holding my breath that will work.

Are you still taking glutamine?

 

[sammmy]

Since I have varicella (Herpes 3) that is constantly activating, I do not take glutamine all the time anymore, only when I absolutely need it to suppress intestinal inflammation manifesting as diarrhea. I re-started it recently, and what do you know - another cold sore popped up (either HSV-1 or Varicella).

Glutamine calms down irritated intestinal mucosa, but also seems to prompt the immune system, and more importantly converts to Arginine in kidneys, which promotes replication of latent herpes viruses. So it is a double edged sword for me.

I suppress the post-meal side effects currently with digestive enzymes (AbsorbAid), anti-inflammatory vit B2, and 3-6g Lysine (suppresses Herpes viruses) in a cup of water with every meal. When I do that, I don't have significant shortness of breath but it just suppresses symptoms, does not cure the root cause - which most probably is my body inability to deal with the reactivating Varicella in the intestines that keeps attacking and destroying the intestinal mucosa.

 

[zancek0]

Thanks for the reply.
I'll stay away from glutamine for a while. Dealing with some gut issues but I'll find something else.
Btw, have you ever done any gut tests for bacteria etc?

 

[sammmy]

My case is an outlier. Most people do not have frequently reactivating herpes viruses, especially varicella - it is a sign of immunodeficiency.

I did a GI - MAP test this January. It showed some DNA coding for C. Difficile Toxin A - the test detects DNA by PCR, it doesn't detect the actual toxin, so it is not clear if the toxin is activated. It didn't detect DNA of C.Difficile Toxin B, which is the worse toxin. The test also suggested damaged mucosa - abnormally low stool Elastase and stool Secretory IgA.

My gut/throat/larynx infections seem to be mixed viral and bacterial. First the varicella activates and damages the mucosa, and then any pathogenic bacteria can lodge there and establish an infection. These needs months to heal.

 

[excelnelg]

I just want to take a moment to thank you for your post because I have had the same problem for years and have only recently come to the conclusion that it is a GI related inflammatory response. Multiple expensive visits to the ER for shortness of breath and chest pains were no help whatsoever because the only thing they are concerned with is telling you that it is not a heart attack, not tell you what it actually is or could be (except for anxiety which is their go to). If just one had said maybe it's GI related, it would have set me on the right track long ago. Because it doesn't actually feel like heartburn, and the problem is chest pains and/or having trouble with breathing, you don't realize that the problem is GI related and apparently neither do most of the doctors I've seen. I basically came to the conclusion because it seemed like when symptoms occur, it's an overall systemic inflammatory response that includes the digestive tract shutting down (constipation). I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome over a decade ago and because issues with inflammation and cytokines are central to CFS, suspect that it may or may not be related. So far I'm taking pantoprazole and trying to be more mindful of what foods and drinks I consume and (knock on wood) I've seen an improvement in the chest and breathing symptoms. So again thanks for your story and to anyone out there with similar issues, be aware that GI issues can cause what are seemingly non GI related symptoms. The dots do not always connect easily!

 

[sammmy]

It took me 3 years to finally realize that my shortness of breath appears after meals and it is suppressed by anti-inflammatories and digestive enzymes. Most doctors are not Dr House and cannot apply medical logic outside of the patterns that they were taught in med school. What they do instead is think the patient is a lunatic that makes up symptoms. I also thought initially that I had CFS but that is a trash-bin diagnose that only recognizes the symptoms but doesn't explain the root cause. I first went to a pulmologist who called it "ashma", then to a cardiologist who said he never heard of such symptoms and that I will live "long and healthy life", apparently thinking that I am making stuff up. I told him that I feel sick everyday and that quickly shut him up.

It took me almost 10 years to realize that my frequent headaches, sore throats, prolonged throat irritation, cold sores, diarrhea, and the post-meal symptoms are all caused by the same pathogen. Finally, last year made my PCP do a test for activated herpes viruses and Varicella was the only one activated, after an episode of all the symptoms. My PCP is Infectious Diseases but he told me he didn't know of such "syndrome " of symptoms, while I was insisting for several years it was a resident pathogen and found by experimentation that it responds to herpes drugs in 2019.

Probably ChatGPT would be better at diagnostics than doctors, if they let it digest all the medical articles.

 

[aquis]

I clicked on this post because the title is exactly how I described my anxiety symptoms when I went to my doctor 15 or so years ago (before and unrelated to TRT). Only I didn't know that it was anxiety.

He made the diagnosis within minutes, but ran me through a bunch of tests to make me feel better. I was worried that I had lung cancer or heart failure. Put me on a low dose of Lorazepam for a few months which we then slowly tapered off. I was lucky and the anxiety went away and hasn't come back. But that description of being unable to take a satisfying breath was exactly how it felt.

 

[excelnelg]

It took me 3 years to finally realize that my shortness of breath appears after meals and it is suppressed by anti-inflammatories and digestive enzymes. Most doctors are not Dr House and cannot apply medical logic outside of the patterns that they were taught in med school. What they do instead is think the patient is a lunatic that makes up symptoms. I also thought initially that I had CFS but that is a trash-bin diagnose that only recognizes the symptoms but doesn't explain the root cause. I first went to a pulmologist who called it "ashma", then to a cardiologist who said he never heard of such symptoms and that I will live "long and healthy life", apparently thinking that I am making stuff up. I told him that I feel sick everyday and that quickly shut him up.

It took me almost 10 years to realize that my frequent headaches, sore throats, prolonged throat irritation, cold sores, diarrhea, and the post-meal symptoms are all caused by the same pathogen. Finally, last year made my PCP do a test for activated herpes viruses and Varicella was the only one activated, after an episode of all the symptoms. My PCP is Infectious Diseases but he told me he didn't know of such "syndrome " of symptoms, while I was insisting for several years it was a resident pathogen and found by experimentation that it responds to herpes drugs in 2019.

Probably ChatGPT would be better at diagnostics than doctors, if they let it digest all the medical articles.

I also went to a pulmonologist. While my breathing test was abnormal, it wasn't consistent with a serious pulmonary disorder and according to the pulmonologist, who seemed slightly mystified, said it may be mild asthma. If you've kept up with recent research, GERD has now been shown to be caused not only by acid, but, you guessed it inflammation. I don't think they've figured out what to do about that yet. And someone with eosinophilic esophagitis is more likely to also have asthma. So it's all connected. And the research on CFS, while no closer to an actual cause, cure, or treatment, consistently shows biomarkers related to cytokines and inflammation that prove whatever it is, is real. And as your probably know, the herpes virus has long been a suspect.

 

[sammmy]

For CFS, you may want to take a look at this book:

Amazon.com

It may not solve your particular problem but gives ideas for a broader treatment strategy. Many diagnostic attempts in CFS fail because they start too preconceived and too narrow and nobody knows what the reason might be in your particular case. I got the idea to try digestive enzymes from this book.