short of breath, chest tightness - worried
 

hi. i am having new symptoms which are worrying me.

i am getting more frequent episodes of chest tightness and mild(?) shortness of breath. the breath is like, i can breathe, but i constantly feel like i would need to take a deep breath to get enough air. however, actually taking a deep breath, or two, does not make it go away or improve.

i do not hyperventilate and my pulse is normal and regular.

i am not anxious to start with, although when the tightness happens then i become a bit anxious. but in the past, when i have had anxiety attacks with pressure on the chest, it did not feel the same way as this. and these days i am very calm to start with...

i had worse, but less frequent episodes of this sporadically during the peak of the allergy season, accompanied by deep cough. one in particular where i had chest pain and a sense of throbbing/burning when i inhaled.

the cough has been life-long but i had never had the pain/tightness that i can recall. nor shortness of breath except after coughing non-stop for a half hour and then who isn't short of breath.

when i saw my mdoc i told him the tightness and shortness of breath were new symptoms that sometimes occurred with or before the cough, and that the cough per see was not new but these things were. however, yesterday and today i have had several episodes of this without coughing any.

mdoc referred me for a chest xray and spirometry which are now scheduled for August 25th, but he did not listen to my heart or breathing or do anything besides sit behind his desk and turn out scripts.

i am not sure what to do. i have no reason to believe this has anything to do with the Zoloft.

my mother is concerned it could be heart rather than breathing. that occurred to me too. i don't know what to do. it is scary that it is becoming more frequent and also i feel tired/weak when it happens.

~ waves ~

Dear Waves,

These sound worrying.
It is not likely to be heart, but in the event it is the heart, you need an mdoc or ER type place. Do you have what we call Urgent Care here?

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/women/symptoms.aspx


M.

Here is a another link:

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/f...a-heart-attack



M.

Dear Waves,
 

:hug: :hug: :hug:

Did you change meds recently? I know you went to the mdoc and you mentioned getting a 'script.
You mention that it is more frequent that in the past. How recently has this become more frequent?

What a jerk!


I thought of something when you mentioned something the other day about once possibly nicking the shell of an extending release pill.
Is there a change you are over dosing on the Zoloft?


http://www.healthyplace.com/other-in...on/menu-id-72/
How about Serotonin Syndrome?
I'm tossing things out because I can't really come up with anything else.

Urgent Care seems like a good idea.
That is my suggestion.


(I have to go out. When I come back I will look for an update.)
'Wishing you wellness.

M.

I vote with Mari.

Good luck Waves.

I don't have any ideas.

Donna

i haven't looked up panic attacks but i keep on thinking panic attacks...
and not zoloft....i could be so easily wrong. I usually don't react to drugs much so maybe that is why i am playing zoloft down. i haave had a lot of shortness of breath and chest tightness and have gone to cardiologist and pulmonary doctor and had a lot of tests.....anxiety and overweight...and i am a lot older than you...
maybe you can get the tests done earlier..i know i was greatly relieved when i found out the results...even though the symptoms didn't go away and there was no medicine they could give me.
love
bobby\
What are panic attack symptoms and signs?

As described in the first example above, the symptoms of a panic attack appear suddenly, without any apparent cause. They may include

•racing or pounding heartbeat (palpitations);



•chest pains;



•stomach upset;



•dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea;



•difficulty breathing, a sense of feeling smothered;



•tingling or numbness in the hands;



•hot flashes or chills;



•trembling and shaking;



•dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions;



•terror, a sense that something unimaginably horrible is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it;

Zoloft
 

Dear Mari,

i did look at Zoloft side effects. no there is no chance i am overdosing - i am using a pillminder and taking 50mg. also the symptoms do not really match... i don't have rapid heart rate or any sort of agitation/nervousness/tremor. nor cold sweating or stiffness nothing that would suggest serotonin syndrome.

the breathing thing may have happened before, without coughing, but i have tightness with it now. there were times i felt subtly out of breath and figured it was in my head. the noticeable spells i had with pain and shortness of breath (plus cough) all predated any Zoloft.

the implication for the Zoloft, just out of common sense, is that i am not going to increase it until i either feel better or pdoc says it's ok and he has never had me increase meds when i was sick for any reason, so i doubt he will.

i am going to call pdoc when he gets back on monday, and talk to him about all this, and ask if he feels i should suspend the Zoloft altogether (even if it is not the likely culprit). if he says i should then i will. i hope he says it's ok to keep it though. i need to feel better in that sense too.

~ waves ~

Mari, thanks for all the info...

yes it is the shortness of breath that made my mom think it could be heart.

there is ER, but no intermediate type services like urgent care.

i can still breathe(!), so i am just trying to take it easy. :confused: i am supposed to go for a CT of my sinuses tomorrow. i think one of my parents will go with me. that is important too... doesn't seem like post-nasal drip could cause all this, but it could aggravate whatever is going on.

the scripts i got were for meds i was already taking, and other than the nasal spray they are prn - not things i take 24/7. i tried suspending the nasal spray... now come to think of it i can't remember though if i had the breathing problem or just sinus. heck. i will go back to regular dose. i have been double dosing the spray because my sinuses got so bad after i suspended it. it should be topical and not affect the bronchi, but... hmmmmmmm..... :rolleyes: but i did double dose for a while, a couple months ago, to get things under control, and did not have these problems.

my mdoc is basically incompetent but we have to go through him to see any other doc through the national health care. the system works a bit like an HMO plan, but it is even more stringent. no other docs were available in town (they have a "capacity") and i can't afford private care. he has used his stethoscope a couple of times on me, only because i insisted. both times i had bronchitis. duh. (that was over a year ago, though.)

i have done a bit of checking on mayo clinic symptom checker too... and it comes up with a bunch of respiratory conditions but at the top of the list were

- asthma
- anemia

heart attack was also on there. :(

now if my BOZO mdoc had, on my labs that i just had done, included a CBC, we would KNOW if i was anemic!!! grrrr. :mad: and ya know, it's not rocket science to think to at least RULE OUT anemia when a woman goes in complaining of light periods and asking for a hormone profile! :mad: i mean there were general well-being tests too, cholesterol etc....

who does a blood workup without doing a CBC?????? :mad:

~ waves ~

Dear Bobby

thanks... i am not having a panic attack. i don't have any of those symptoms other than the shortness of breath. and it doesn't even feel the same way as shortness of breath with anxiety.

love

~ waves ~

it is 1.45 am here now. i am doing ok at the moment. i was actually worse off last night.

tomorrow, if i am ok i will go ahead with the CT scan. but ...

if i have more of these spells as soon as i get up, like i did today, i might cancel the CT and go to the hospital. i could go to mdoc again but i kinda think that would be useless. i am a bit worried though here if you go to the hospital you never know what you are going to get. they won't necessarily run tests. i don't know. i may call my aunt who is more experienced with the stupid medical system in this stupid country than me or my parents are.

yes i am a little bit frustrated.

oh and yes i did get a little dizzy/light-headed a couple of times, during the worst ones. but no nausea at all. just really weak. had to lie down. have been having mild headaches too but that could be anything including possibly the Zoloft or sinus or tension or who knows.

~ waves ~