Mystery shortness of breath

December 10, 2019 10:22 AM

I've been having this strange shortness of breath for the past month or so, which gives me the constant urge to take a very deep breath and/or yawn.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m more or less always out of breath, like I’m only getting about 75% of the oxygen I need. It gives me the constant urge to take as deep a breath as possible and/or yawn. This only make the feeling go away about half the time, and it comes back within a minute or less.

The feeling comes and goes, usually minimal when I’m absorbed in something, like work or socializing, and worst when I have nothing else to occupy my attention, like walking. The more I pay attention to it the worse it gets, which makes me think it’s mostly or all mental. It’s annoying, and if it got any worse I could see it being panic attack material.

This has been an unusually stressful year, but I’m not feeling particularly stressed lately. I’m in as good shape as I’ve been in a long time, and it doesn’t affect my workouts. Chest stretching doesn’t help. Shallow and/or deep breathing does, but only temporarily. I don't have any allergies that I know of. My blood pressure is a little high, but none of the medications I’m taking list shortness of breath as a side effect. (I’m a 47-year-old guy.)

Limited googling (I know) gives me the impression that a) it’s not uncommon and b) doctors in general don’t have any idea. I’m going to see my GP next week, but I’m wondering if anyone has had something similar and what if anything worked—even just waiting it out.

posted by gottabefunky to Health & Fitness (31 answers total)

if it got any worse I could see it being panic attack material.

It sounds an awful lot like general anxiety to me.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:41 AM on December 10, 2019 [8 favorites]

So it's worse when you walk and not worse when you do other exercise? My shortness of breath turned out to be severe anemia (missed by numerous doctors), so I'd be cautious about making assumptions. It might be anxiety, but it's good you're being checked out.
posted by FencingGal at 10:54 AM on December 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

Try acid reflux meds even if you have no other symptom.
posted by aetg at 11:00 AM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Herein I admit I've gone to the doctor for shortness of breath before and then realized my nose was just partially stuffed up. If you don't notice it when you're exercising, could that be because when you're active you're more likely to breathe through your mouth?
posted by something something at 11:02 AM on December 10, 2019

Limited googling (I know) gives me the impression that a) it’s not uncommon and b) doctors in general don’t have any idea.

This. I've had this my whole life. It gets worse a) in the summer and b) when I exercise. Doctors have no clue, say to contact them if it gets worse. It has never gotten worse. I think it's just one of those weird things that bodies do.
posted by Melismata at 11:02 AM on December 10, 2019

This has absolutely happened to me in stressful times. It’s a way my body sublimates anxiety, so I’m not feeling it on a conscious level. One thing that helps me wait it out is 7-11 breathing - inhale for a count of 7, exhale for a count of 11. I usually find I’m not exhaling enough, so my inhale never feels full. It goes away over time and as I decrease stressors.

It’s good you’re getting it checked out but just wanted to chime in in case it’s anxiety related.
posted by rabbitbookworm at 11:17 AM on December 10, 2019

Hopefully not relevant to you: when I was about two years older than you, I had about a month of shortness of breath that was only noticeable some of the time, but particularly if I'd been sat at my computer at work for a while then got up to head to the other side of the building. It turned out to be a pulmonary embolism (I also had a deep vein thrombosis that I thought was a pulled calf). YMMV of course, but you might want to see a doctor.
posted by kimota at 11:20 AM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you did indeed recently spend a week in Mexico City, which has a reputation as one of the most asthma inducing cities in the world, it might be worth getting evaluated for asthma, because early treatment might prevent it from developing into a full blown syndrome.
posted by jamjam at 11:40 AM on December 10, 2019

I get this from time to time. One time I had it so bad I left work early to go to an urgent care because I was starting to freak out. It was a slow day so they did basically every test on me to make sure I wasn't actually dying, and they couldn't find anything wrong. Doctor concluded it was a panic attack. Ironically this turned out to be the treatment, because now when it happens I know it doesn't mean anything, so it doesn't turn into a problem that compounds itself - the more you scared you are about not being able to breathe, the worse the problem will get. If you know it's nothing to be scared of, you can get your brain to stop focusing on it.

The point of this story is to say that getting yourself fully checked out from head to toe helped me deal with it, and as a bonus, if it actually meant something was wrong, we would have found it.
posted by bleep at 12:08 PM on December 10, 2019

This happened to me recently and was definitely anxiety/awareness related. It started happening after I was thinking about my breathing for other reasons, and stuck around for about 3 weeks.

One way to possibly see if it's something like this is to try and deliberately change your breathing pattern. I tried alternating periods of mild hyperventilation where I breathe faster with something similar to what rabbit bookworm mentioned: 8 counts in, 10 counts out, hold for 4 before inhaling. Doing that for about a day kind of "reset" my perception of breathe and it went back to normal. Trying out different styles of breathe, without saying that one is "wrong" gives you more of a feeling of control
posted by JZig at 12:26 PM on December 10, 2019

IANYD but take shortness of breath as a serious symptom and see a doctor. With luck, it will be a panic attack (That's good luck?) but it could be any number of serious things.
posted by tmdonahue at 12:50 PM on December 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

I’m here to agree with the suggestions of anxiety. I get the same thing when I become stressed out or when I take more stimulants. I don’t necessarily feel anxious but it definitely coincides with life stress.

I always found that ignoring it helped it go away. When I paid more attention to it he symptoms would persist for longer. I also found that cardio or other vigorous/focused exercise helped. For me the (unconsciously) altered breathing of exercise would help get me out of the behavioral loop I found myself stuck in.
posted by GammaGoblin at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2019

Definitely can be a symptom of anxiety. My husband and I both get this. I find pursed-lip breathing can be helpful.

My shortness of breath, however, is also related to asthma, which went undiagnosed for years because I do not have the typical symptom of wheezing. Finally a pulmonary specialist sent me for a test called a "methacholine challenge" which showed I did indeed have asthma and not just "nerves."
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 12:56 PM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

my SOB was ultimately heart failure. before that we pursued asthma, "being fat," and panic. it was very very mild at first, just trouble getting a nice deep breath, then i noticed it when walking to my car, and then it was so bad i couldn't even shower.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 1:12 PM on December 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

I have this when my B12 levels are low -- have that checked out, too.
posted by Countess Sandwich at 1:35 PM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Sleep apnea, kidney problems, heart disease, anxiety, allergies, being out of shape...

See a doctor, run some tests maybe, shortness of breath can come from all sorts of things.
posted by Chuffy at 1:37 PM on December 10, 2019

I had a months-long bout of constant yawning and feeling like I could never get enough oxygen at an old stressful job. It was really scary! I pinpointed the cause (namely stress) when I realized it was only happening during the work week, never on weekends. Try paying attention to when this is and isn't happening, and it could help you figure out if the same thing is going on with you.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:53 PM on December 10, 2019

I have inflammatory asthma; my lungs get constricted. Cold makes it worse. Menthol (eucalyptus) cough drops provide some relief. Worth a try.

See a doctor. It could be a thing that needs attention.
posted by theora55 at 2:10 PM on December 10, 2019

Low potassium can cause shortness of breath, too, just to throw that in the mix. Please, doctor up.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:12 PM on December 10, 2019

My father experienced similar symptoms. He consulted a physician who referred him to a cardiologist, and soon after that he had heart surgery. Had he not taken action it likely would have cost him his life. So yeah, this could be nothing or something. I would get it checked out.
posted by elf27 at 2:17 PM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

I had this when I was anemic. I also once had it months after I'd had the flu and it was walking pneumonia, even though I felt fine. My mother experienced this when she had a partially-collpased lung (and absolutely no idea that she had it). A friend experienced this when his mitral valve unexpectedly started failing. The fact that you notice it more when you're not occupied during other things is a red herring.

PLEASE go to the doctor.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 3:02 PM on December 10, 2019

Low blood pressure does this to me. I get the exact same feeling of needing to 'hold' the yawn open. I increased my water and salt intake and this helped.
posted by RandomInconsistencies at 3:21 PM on December 10, 2019

Sorry, I missed that you have raised blood pressure. Is there any chance this is happening when your blood pressure has dropped for a short period?
posted by RandomInconsistencies at 3:24 PM on December 10, 2019

It can be any number of things. I had this back in late July / August. Air hunger, or dyspnea.

Go to the doc and get checked out. I had a battery of tests run to check for pulmonary emb., heart failure, etc. All came up negative, doc said that my symptoms would likely pass without explanation. They did - it was anxiety. But not something to fuck around with.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:22 PM on December 10, 2019

This was a sign of anemia for me. Get some bloodwork.
posted by JawnBigboote at 5:39 PM on December 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

It was the precursor to panic disorder for me.
posted by thereader at 7:33 PM on December 10, 2019

Thirding the possibility of anemia - I came in to suggest taking iron supplements for a week or so to see if it resolves - when I had this, that seemed to solve it within a few days. But no harm in a doctor's visit too.
posted by penguin pie at 4:00 AM on December 11, 2019

Do come back and update if you can. I hope it's something simple.
posted by theora55 at 8:12 AM on December 11, 2019

Re anemia, it’s a symptom, not a disease, so if that’s it, try to find out the cause rather than throwing iron supplements at it. There are some causes of anemia that are very serious. Ask me how I know.
posted by FencingGal at 5:01 PM on December 11, 2019

What you describe sounds exactly like one way anxiety shows up for me.
posted by Stewriffic at 6:10 PM on December 11, 2019

Posture could be a factor, as could abdominal fat which could be making it harder for your diaphragm to expand. Being short of sleep is yet another possibility.
posted by Jane the Brown at 7:46 PM on December 11, 2019