well, i was thinking of suspending the Zoloft (sertraline), just to eliminate a variable...

but i was really hemhawing on it... until i found this:

http://www.drugs.com/cons/zoloft.html#ixzz0vnBC56c5so i guess i should suspend it, at least until heart issues are ruled out.

and another thing i'm not going to have any caffeine today either. see what happens. heck. like i really needed this right now.

~ waves ~

OMG, waves honey !

I hope as Im typing this you are feeling better...

I found this:

Causes of Shortness of Breath
Many conditions and diseases cause shortness of breath. These are the most common:

•anaphylaxis
•asthma
•chest injuries
•carbon monoxide poisoning
•chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
•collapsed lung (pneumothorax)
•congestive heart failure
•heart attack
•hyperventilation syndrome
•pneumonia
•pulmonary embolism

I went to check about "hyperventilation syndrome":



Hyperventilation syndrome (HVS; also chronic hyperventilation syndrome or CHVS) is a respiratory disorder, psychologically or physiologically based, involving breathing too deeply or too rapidly (hyperventilation). HVS may present with chest pain and a tingling sensation in the fingertips and around the mouth (paresthesia) and may accompany a panic attack.

People with HVS feel that they cannot get enough air. In reality, they have about the same oxygenation in the arterial blood (normal values are about 98% for hemoglobin saturation) and too little carbon dioxide in their blood and other tissues. While oxygen is abundant in the bloodstream, HVS reduces effective delivery of that oxygen to vital organs due to low-CO2-induced vasoconstriction and the suppressed Bohr effect.

The hyperventilation is self-promulgating as rapid breathing causes carbon dioxide levels to fall below healthy levels, and respiratory alkalosis (high blood pH) develops. This makes the symptoms worse, which causes the person to try breathing even faster, which further exacerbates the problem.

The respiratory alkalosis leads to changes in the way the nervous system fires and leads to the paresthesia, dizziness, and perceptual changes that often accompany this condition. Other mechanisms may also be at work, and some people are physiologically more susceptible to this phenomenon than others.

Most cases are caused by anxiety or stress. However, medical conditions such as infection, blood loss, heart attack, hypocapnia or alkalosis due to chemical imbalances, decreased cerebral blood flow, and increased nerve sensitivity may also underlie this symptom.

In one study, one third of patients with HVS had "subtle but definite lung disease" that prompted them to breathe too frequently or too deeply.

Many people with panic disorder or agorophobia will experience HVS. However, most people with HVS do not have these disorders.



Do you think this could fit ???

Considering you have been having cough, I would tend to think it could be more lungs related than heart realted... But that just me !! shez, why I didnt listen to my father when they told me to become a doctor ?

Let us know how are you !!

And something about anemia...

Symptoms of anemia may include the following:

•Fatigue


•weakness


•shortness of breath


•lightheadedness


•palpitations (feeling of the heart racing or beating irregularly)


•looking pale
Symptoms of severe anemia may include:

•chest pain, angina, or heart attack


•dizziness


•fainting or passing out


•rapid heart rate
Some of the signs that may indicate anemia in an individual may include:

•Change in stool color, including black and tarry stools (sticky and foul smelling), maroon-colored, or visibly bloody stools if the anemia is due to blood loss through the gastrointestinal tract.


•rapid heart rate


•low blood pressure


•rapid breathing


•pale or cold skin


•yellow skin called jaundice if anemia is due to red blood cell breakdown


•heart murmur


•enlargement of the spleen with certain causes of anemia

I need to go to sleep, BUT, found that Zoloft can cause pulmonary problems in newborns...

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com...h-defects.html

Dear Waves,

I'm feeling lost wishing I could help you.
If you feel up to it, I think you might go to the CT scan. You made the appt because you wanted the information that the scan would give you.

I'm wondering if the low vit D could cause shortness of breath and the other things you are experiencing.
Vitamin D is the only thing you have knowledge of being low/ out of balance.
I'm worried about anemia too, but you no have solid info on that.

Do you want to taper off the Zoloft? Or do you consider that you have only been at the 50 mgs dose for a few days?
It will be ok to give up the Zoloft. Giving it up will make you worry less and will not be a big deal to start up again once you have ruled out heart issues. D/C ing will cost you time in your question to be free of depression but you have lots of patience with waiting for depression to ease.
Stay patient.

You will miss the coffee but you will be able to observe yourself with one less thing going into your system.

I hope that you find a satisfactory result.

M.

Give us status reports if you can.
M.

Okay I'm going to weight in here. I would say a lot of what your
talking about sounded like me when I was having problems with
my asthma. When it was untreated. And my allergies were out
of control really bad. When I first went to the doctor, I too
worried that I was having heart problems. She had ruled
out anemia I think about 3 times. And a few other things
like that.

I hope you get some answers.

Donna

Dear Blue,

thank you for all the info... and i would tend to agree with you that it is probably respiratory for the fact that, at least when i first had these symptoms there was cough with or after. i am definitely not hyperventilating - my breathing is not shallow or rapid. And it is not anxiety. i have had anxiety before and trouble breathing/pressure on chest it feels different. i have not had problems with anxiety or panic recently.

Dear Donna

thank you for the input. i had a light bulb in my head regarding cough-variant asthma based on our past conversations ... now that the cough is not always present i feel i am in murky waters though. but it is rather a relief to think asthma (any variant) because it is treatable and not as scary as COPD or cancer or heart attack. i am really ****** that my doc did not put the blood count in my tests. i rather doubt i'm anemic but it can be subtle too so really it should be ruled out.

Dear Mari

thanks for staying with me. I appreciate it.

~ waves ~

going to have CT scan (sinuses). mom going with me.

doing sorta better today... feel out of breath when i do *anything* but hardly any tightness. just a twinge every now and then.

skipped Zoloft for today, which due to its convenient half-life of almost exactly 1 day, will cut my level in half. undecided whether to resume at 25mg (rather than 50) tomorrow or not.

i could see the tightness, but not the breathing, to be related to the Zoloft. one diagnostic problem is this:

the worst days were yesterday and the day before, but especially yesterday. those days are likely days when Zoloft side-effects due to the increase to 50mg might show up. BUT. those are also days 1 and 2 of my cycle. so if the problem were anemia, it would ALSO have been worsened on those days, and especially yesterday. i am getting madder and madder at my mdoc.

bottom line, if it gets better from today on, it could mean the problem was the Zoloft OR anemia. (or a coincidence, of course.)

ok i need to finish getting ready now...

~ waves ~

Dear Waves,

Thanks for the update.
Good luck w/ the CT.

You are good at figuring out these things.
I hope you breathe better.

Mari