Problem catching my breath, chest tight...

[bd6grl]

For about a week now I have been experiencing these symptoms: shortness of breath, my chest feels tight, cannot take a real deep breath, have the overwhelming feeling to always yawn, etc.
I have experienced this before. Whenever it happens I try to figure out what it could be- anxiety, food or other allergies, virus, stress, supplements, fat burners...to no avail.
I have even brought it up to my doctor at my past two yearly checkups. I took a breathing test and it said I was fine. My doctor felt it was related to anxiety. But that does not make sense to me because even when I am totally relaxed it happens.
This time though it has been really bad, non-stop for a whole week. It has really scared me a couple of times. I am talking from the time I wakeup to until I go to sleep- in the shower, while laying down, while doing cardio...it is really starting to piss me off.
I stopped taking all of my supplements, including fat burners (getting ready for a show)- and I still had it.
Could it be asthma or exercise-induced asthma?
I am an extremely healthy and happy 26 year old female. HELP PLEASE!!!

 

[BigBoyJ]

Would you happen to be bulking right now? When I'm eating a lot and trying hard to put on muscle, I feel exactly the same way. When your stomach's full and your body's putting on more tissue, you have a hard time getting enough oxygen. A lot of food can make breathing difficult. And when your body is trying to supply oxygen to newly formed muscle mass you have a period of inefficient oxygen absorbtion until new capillaries are fully developed and homeostasis is achieved. This on top of water retention from a high calorie diet and/or drugs can cause the problems you're mentioning. Clen or ephedrine can add to it too.

 

[bd6grl]

I am actually dieting down right now, so I am definitely never full. When it has happened in the past, it is totally random. Can't correlate it to anything...

 

[BigBoyJ]

I am actually dieting down right now, so I am definitely never full. When it has happened in the past, it is totally random. Can't correlate it to anything...

Are there any other symptoms? Increased heart rate, sweatiness, dizziness? Are you on any stimulants, or bronchodilators?

 

[bd6grl]

There are not any other symptoms. It has happened while on a fat burner and while taking nothing at all. You stumped too? Could it be exercise-induced asthma?

 

[BigBoyJ]

It could be. I had asthma up until my late teens. It feels like trying to breathe through a coffee straw. Try that and see if the feeling's similar.

 

[Jmuscle]

I get the same thing

accept mine only happens when taking aas

apparently when your relaxed the body can still think(subcontiousely) its under attack and releases loads of stress hormones,

i would say that your use of stimulants could have possibly threw the balance of your nervous system and is causing panic like symptoms

i find that focusing on something like reading or listen to music and it takes your mind off of the problem

Then you start to breathe normal because your brain is focused on something else

hope that helps a little

 

[bio labs]

For about a week now I have been experiencing these symptoms: shortness of breath, my chest feels tight, cannot take a real deep breath, have the overwhelming feeling to always yawn, etc.
I have experienced this before. Whenever it happens I try to figure out what it could be- anxiety, food or other allergies, virus, stress, supplements, fat burners...to no avail.
I have even brought it up to my doctor at my past two yearly checkups. I took a breathing test and it said I was fine. My doctor felt it was related to anxiety. But that does not make sense to me because even when I am totally relaxed it happens.
This time though it has been really bad, non-stop for a whole week. It has really scared me a couple of times. I am talking from the time I wakeup to until I go to sleep- in the shower, while laying down, while doing cardio...it is really starting to piss me off.
I stopped taking all of my supplements, including fat burners (getting ready for a show)- and I still had it.
Could it be asthma or exercise-induced asthma?
I am an extremely healthy and happy 26 year old female. HELP PLEASE!!!

bd6grl,

This is also what happens to me when I am using stanzolol at just 50mg daily and it is not a nice feeling when your alone and you start thinking your having a heart attack.

I drop the stanozolol and these problems go away.

 

[bio labs]

I get the same thing

accept mine only happens when taking aas

apparently when your relaxed the body can still think(subcontiousely) its under attack and releases loads of stress hormones,

i would say that your use of stimulants could have possibly threw the balance of your nervous system and is causing panic like symptoms

i find that focusing on something like reading or listen to music and it takes your mind off of the problem

Then you start to breathe normal because your brain is focused on something else

hope that helps a little

Thats good info bro. I never thought it was that. I just thought it had to be what I was taking raising my bad cholesterol levels.

Nothing was working enough for me. I tried relaxing but I just could not.

I had to drop the winny tabs and just continue with prop and eq for the rest of my cycle.

I was just scared and thought I was going to stop breathing. You know the feeling bro, its pretty scary.

I went to the doc and my cholesterol was fine but that was also 2 days after I stopped taking 50mg of winny daily for 10 days straight.

 

[bd6grl]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I guess the only thing it could be is stress (even though I do not feel stressed), since I don't take anything. The only other thing I have noticed is when I do a lot of cardio it happens a little more. I guess I'll go back to the doctor and see what's up. Drama...

 

[littlemack]

I'm no physician, but I'm inclined to say anxiety also. You probably will notice the symptoms more while on the fat burners. They can reallys stress out the body and they should only be used precontest. We want to save those kinds of products for when our bodies become real resistant to fat loss as our bf% gets lower. Some people are also very sensitive to caffeine. I've had this happen a couple of times while on a fat burner stack, but I am very sensitive to caffeine. My dad on the other hand, can take fat burner stacks and down a 32 oz. coffee and be perfectly fine. The symptoms you are describing are the same for anxiety.
You might wanna post this question over at the Counseling Forum. There are a couple of good psychologists there that I'd run this by.

 

[rAJJIN]

Ill get every now and then what the Dr. called (Pluracy)sp?
Sharp pains right in the chest when Id try to take a deep breath.
It would cause me to have to take short breaths and freak me out a bit.
Its only hapopen to me a few times and it would only hit me for a few hours or more but not days or a week like your having. I thinks from the way I eat maybe or some of the stuff Im eating.
Cant remember exactly how he explained it But talked as if its normal thing that happens to people. Didnt feel normal though:
who knows... thing is even if you see 5 differant Dr`s
your likley to get all differant answers or Opinions.

 

[joshbarnett]

i just went through the same thing last thursday...scared me to death not being able to breathe. i have had acute cases of asthma the last few years but this lasted for hours on end starting at 2am. i finally went to asthma specialist and i my lung capacity was 1.9 and should be close to 4.9 and i was only breathing 94% O2. my chest and throat were tight and i made it worse by thinking about it and making me even more nervous til i felt like i was havin a anxiety/panic attack. i am on advair twice per day and i can breathe normally...thank god. i also have an emergency albuterol inhaler. get it checked out. it will give you peace of mind.

 

[Sesshomaru]

Just remember that stress doesnt have to be just mental, it could be physical. Even though you feel mentally sound, you are pushing your body to its limits for a contest.

Just my penny

 

[Eatbig2getbig]

Allergic reaction?

Could you be allergic to something that you are taking and it's constricting your airway? My lil sis found this to be the case whenever she took ephedra. She had similar symptoms as you describe except it only occurred when taking the fat burners. The doctors finally determined her allergic reaction.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

This may be useless but this happened to me during and after running. When you build muscle wrapping your rib cage you make it that more difficult to expand. Your ever-increasing muscle around the rib cage forces your diaphram to work extra hard to get in your x amount of breaths per minute. If you get a deficit, you need a big deep sigh to "catch up". For blood O2's sake. This might also explain the light headedness.

Since you seem generally healthy, I would recommend swimming or even just treading water. This puts greater pressure on your lungs to expand and strengthens the muscles you need to breath. Sort of like the way using a weight on a baseball bat before you step up makes a normal bat seem lighter.

Good luck!

 

[littlemack]

Lots of great advice here that I didn't know about....

bump....

 

[TheGame46]

This to be honest might be a back issues, If you are yawning etc. I would maybe see if you might have some tension or slight displacement in your back. I would check in with the chiro.

Do you have sleep apnea?

 

[violentmessiah]

do you have asthma or allergies?

Could simply be a bronchial constriction problem, in which case bronchodilators would be helpful.
Have you checked your resting heart-rate?
You may feel relaxed, but are you going through any stressful situations that might emotionally or mentally be affecting you?
Where in your chest is the tightness? If it is only on the left side does it radiate (move away from) a central point? If this is the case, vasoconstriction could be a problem, in which case things like (I think) caffeine can be problematic....

I'm not right there, so I wouldn't even dream of giving you any type of diagnostic answer....going to the doctor is the best thing you can do.
It does sound like you could have asthmatic problems or vasoconstrictive problems. Asthma being much more likely.

 

[bd6grl]

New finding...

Could simply be a bronchial constriction problem, in which case bronchodilators would be helpful.
Have you checked your resting heart-rate?
You may feel relaxed, but are you going through any stressful situations that might emotionally or mentally be affecting you?
Where in your chest is the tightness? If it is only on the left side does it radiate (move away from) a central point? If this is the case, vasoconstriction could be a problem, in which case things like (I think) caffeine can be problematic....

I'm not right there, so I wouldn't even dream of giving you any type of diagnostic answer....going to the doctor is the best thing you can do.
It does sound like you could have asthmatic problems or vasoconstrictive problems. Asthma being much more likely.

My resting heart rate has always been pretty low because I am so cardiovasculary fit. At first I thought it was anxiety too, so my husband and I sat down and logged when I have had it.
My father recently passed away- and we realized that this never happened during that whole period of time- which is the most stressful thing I have ever gone through. I have also had it happen while not prepping for a show, but during a time that I was training intensely to become a lifeguard (long time ago).
We did make a slight connection to the symptoms increasing when I increase the intensity and duration of my cardio- with or WITHOUT fat burners. I did not do any cardio yesterday or today to see what would happen, but kept in the fat burners- and right now I am totally breathing perfect. So tomorrow when I bring back in the cardio we will see what happens.
I am going to go back to the doctor hopefully this week. I think what joshbarnett said is what I need.