Can anxiety cause this bad shortness of breath?
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hello. I have been suffering from very severe shortness of breath for 3 weeks. It all started after an episode of severe right leg pain and near faint feeling. Because of the pain in my right calf I thought it must be a clot. Like there is no way around. Well my shortness of breath only grew worse, so I saw a doctor who pretty much blew me off. Then I saw another doctor who took me more seriously but said that there wasn't a clot going on in my lungs. Then I went a couple times to the ER, where they took some blood work to see if there still could be a clot going on. Blood work came back negative.
My shortness of breath grew worse and I started to feel like I'm breathing through a very small straw 24/7. Like I couldn't physically get enough air into my lungs. It affected my ability to even talk. Completely winded after a small sentence. Walking a flight of stairs is horrible. So after all of this I was finally admitted to the hospital. They took the same blood test for clots again, negative. Doctor was still pretty suspicious so he ordered a CTPA (CT scan that is used to look for blood clots in lungs) and it was completely normal. They couldn't find any clots.
Can anxiety cause this severe shortness of breath and for this long? No medical reason has been found for this. They have taken literally everything: ECG, Echocardiogram, Blood test for clots, Chest x-ray, Ultrasound of my right leg, CT scan for blood clots. Nothing has been found. Has anybody experienced this? Please help.
1 like, 11 replies
mkqq anton75712
Posted
Is anything worrying you at the moment? Are you especially concerned or anxious about something? Is an uncertain situation making you particularly nervous?
It sounds indeed quite bad you must be going through some serious stress to experience this.
By the way this makes my shortness of breath sound minor. Doctor also ways it's my anxiety.
anton75712 mkqq
Posted
That's the thing. I don't feel anxious at all. I just feel like I'm breathing through a straw. I was convinced it was a clot but CT scan didn't find any.
mkqq anton75712
Posted
Are you worried about the Coronavirus situation? Do you Google your symptoms online a lot? Are you having trouble sleeping at night?
anton75712 mkqq
Posted
I'm not worried about Corona. I started to have symptoms before we had any corona cases in my country. Yes, I google my symptoms. I have history of fear about deadly diseases. In the past 5 years, I have experienced unexplained prolonged symptoms. Unexplained headache, unexplained stomach pain and now very severe unexplained shortness of breath. This time it just feels different. I don't know. I just have morbid feeling about this.
mkqq anton75712
Posted
Do you at any moment during the day when you are "distracted" and you momentarily forget about your breathing. Then you realise shortly afterwards that "hey my breathing was fine the few seconds or minutes I was doing this.....".
I get these moments but unfortunately it's becoming less frequent as I'm more obsessed with my breathing.
For example if I'm cooking or doing some light housework, or typing a message/email, or simply hopping into bed.
Then unfortunately I remember to focus on my breathing again, and it becomes worse!
anton75712 mkqq
Posted
No I don't have moments when it is okay. It's always there to remind you when you try to breath, because I can't physically get my lungs full of air. It's not possible. And when I talk it reminds me because I get out of breath from short sentences.
bbdanielle anton75712
Posted
you sound like me! exactly like me. mine turned out to be H Pylori. which will cause SOB. id seek out a Gastro dr since you say you arent stressed or anxious about anything. however to answer your question, yes. anxiety can cause shortness of breath. but good news is you went this long and youre still here, you will be ok 😄
anton75712 bbdanielle
Posted
Thank you for the courage. When you mentioned gastro, I started to think about GERD. I have been experiencing pretty major heartburns before all this sob.
Italia06 anton75712
Posted
Anton I can relate here. I've had shortness of breath so severe I rushed to the ER thinking heart attack, yet had no chest pain. It felt as if I wasn't getting any air and my chest wouldn't expand. ALL tests came back normal. Leading up to that bout was severe health anxiety and stress/anxiety I deal with in general. After the episode I would have bouts not as severe that would like for 2-3 days and sometimes 3-4 days out of the week each week. I had another severe incident driving in my car with my nephew as we were out on leisure and out of nowhere it hit me while driving. The more I thought about it the worse it got. As soon as I dropped my nephew off at his house and went home and got home...symptoms magically disappeared. It's hard to pinpoint what brings this on, but have noticed lack of sleep can make it worse. It's a horrible feeling yet a very common symptoms of those suffering from anxiety. Anyway, hope this helps - you are far from alone on this.
anton75712 Italia06
Posted
Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry you have to go through so horrible symptoms. The thing that scares me about this is that it won't go away. Like even for a second. This is not a way of living. I would buy this off as anxiety if it went away for even like a day. But that is not happening. I think it could be some muscle problem or skeletal because I also have some pain when breathing in.
OliverOfPeace anton75712
Posted
Been feeling very similar for the last few weeks got me real down. Feels like my lungs are two old bags, despite a Chest Xray and blood work for a blood clot and ECGs I feel no relief.
All the best