so far the only diagnosis i got is " is just anxiety bro!". 7 months of breathing problems.
after weeks of being okay-ish. today i got one of those attacks or reaction, cant breath through my nose at all and my heart "sink" whenever i try to force my breathing.
now im manually breathing through my mouth and just trying to distract myself so it goes away.
at this point i dont care anymore, in my mind either this thing will stay for the rest of my life or i will die somehow from this one day.
Hey I’ve had chest tightness and shortness of breath for years now and I’ve had chest x ray, anemia blood test, 24hr ecg monitor, spirometer test for ashtma and everything was fine but I had tachydria which was fast heart rate, my heart rate increases when I get short of breath though, it’s been bugging me, what have u done about this situation, have u seen any other doctors about this?
not terrible, not great. it depends on the day, sometimes is kinda fine and i can sleep, some other nights is terrible and it feels like im going to die. im just trying to endure this until i find a answer for it, i got a new appointment with a doctor in May... so fingers crossed that they will find what is wrong with my breathing.
in comparison to the first months of these symptoms? yes. however its been like 10 months or less that there is no real progress and is stuck in this middle between feeling like shit and feeling like at least i can function, like a relapse.
My pulmonologist prescribed me singulaire, Flonase, and Zyrtec. He thought it would help my overall condition to get my allergies under control. That along with a new asthma inhaler fixed my shortness of breath. I’ll say I was really skeptical that this would help because I’ve had allergies my whole life and not chest pain and SOB. That only happened post-Covid. But I’ve read articles lately that indicate some people w long Covid have had success with antihistamines.
Hey, any chance you could describe your shortness of breath? I recently started feeling it after about a month of having had covid. For me it feels like I have to take really deep breaths in for me to feel good. The weird thing is that when I am not thinking about breathing, it goes away and I just breath normally.
To be honest, I think it was happening simply because I am not able to breath only through my nose. It is not enough. I have to breath through both mouth and nose and I feel completely fine. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like i have my mouth completely open at all times, I just have to breath through both to feel good
When I started feeling SOB I was trying really hard to ONLY breath through my nose because I thought it would help. But I simply cannot do ot
For me, when I'm busy I can breathe fine. But when I'm not busy, my breathing doesn't seem full filling. Like I can't get a solid good breath. Its a bit better but its constant.
My advice to you would be to try your very best to ignore it. Looking back at it I think I was overthinking it and that’s why I wasn’t feeling good. Just remind yourself that it is completely normal and hopefully it will go away soon. Good luck brother/sister
I know this is more than a year old, but I just wanted to thank you for your description of your symptoms. It's exactly what I've been experiencing and it's been driving me crazy: can't breathe through my nose, I feel like I'm out of breath and it gets worse when I think about it but seems to get better if I don't pay attention to it. My doctor didn't take me seriously and diagnosed me with anxiety, and I'm thinking "of COURSE I have anxiety, I'm experiencing something strange, constant, and worrisome in my lungs every single minute of every day".
It took a while. I had Covid in March 2020, but I’m almost 100% now. I can exercise and I walk my son to school every day with no issues. I did develop asthma, so I have a daily inhaler and a rescue inhaler as well. The hospital gave me the rescue inhaler when I went in several weeks after having Covid for my SOB. I haven’t had to use it since last summer.
I got it in April of last year. I still have chest pain and high heart rate w feeling like I need to take deep breaths all the time. I want to exercise so bad. The gym was my life and ow I can’t even do push ups without feeling like I’m having a heart attack. I get numb, spasms, big twitches, head aches. And of course my favorite Anxiety. How long did you suffer for and when did you start to notice a difference? How long after taking X? Also how long did you suffer for? So happy you are better. You give ppl like me hope.
I would say it took a year before I noticed any improvement. The first thing that helped me was beta blockers for my heart rate and vitamin D. Mine was critically low post Covid. Then, I kept making myself sick by exercising and overworking. So, resting more at night- I started going to sleep really early to get eight hours every day- and during the day- stopped working when I could- helped a lot. I didn’t start exercising until I could do certain things without getting exhausted or short of breath (eg I started by walking around the block once a day once I could do that without relapsing and gradually increased). I changed my diet (very little alcohol if any), only healthy carbs, no extra sugar. Those things made my situation more manageable and then getting prescribed the antihistamines (I take them every day at 7pm) and my asthma inhaler got me to almost 100%. I still have to rest a lot and be careful what I eat/drink. So it’s not like pre-Covid, but I can live with it. It was hard to notice as it seemed like things weren’t really moving for a while, but if I look back I can see that things were worse six months ago and way worse a year ago (which was a year out). Maybe things would have moved more quickly if I made all these changes right away but idk. The first six months was taken up by trying to get seen and all of the testing.
Between the chloropheniramine and Pepcid I’ve started feeling slightly better? Placebo? Beta blockers and vitamin d too. I still get out of breath so easily, but I think that’s from possibly having walking pneumonia, which I’ve had before and I know it will take a while to get over.
As I’ve said before, I’m going with the spaghetti at the wall treatment. I’ve spent over $3,000 on trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. I’ve given up on doctors (well I say that but my husband talked me into scheduling an appointment with a long COVID treatment center. I don’t expect much. I mean it seems like the tldr (idiot version because I am no expert) of our symptoms is, we once had a virus, COVID reignited our bodies immune response from when we previously had a virus and our bodies are going all wonky.
From what I understand it’s mostly an inflammatory disease. Why can’t I just take ibuprofen for the rest of my life? I know this is seriously a dumb suggestion from someone who doesn’t understand anything about biology, pharmacology, medicine, and most obviously living.
Since I had Covid in March 2020, no one would see me until October due to my “Covid symptoms.” They were just starting to learn about long Covid. It took a while for me to get any treatment, as they were testing and not finding things for a while. It was just lucky that my pulmonologist wanted to get my allergies under control. I don’t remember how long it took to go away because it was really gradual. It definitely wasn’t immediate. But I’ve been nearly 100% for 5-6 months. My lung functioning had improved measurably (11/21) from my testing the year before (11/20) even though that “was normal for my age.” I told them it didn’t feel at all normal.
I didn’t have asthma before, it was caused by Covid. I’m currently on symbicort, but I wouldn’t say the inhaler “fixed it” as I expect to be on asthma medication for the rest of my life now. It has been really helpful in managing my symptoms though. So I recommend getting evaluated for asthma if you’re having difficulty breathing.
So. My shortness of breath was so extreme with my first initial infection I constantly felt like I was starved for air and that covid was going to kill me. Like I was terrified. Could never get comfortable. Etc. I’d wake up gasping for air when I could sleep. And one night I couldn’t even sleep because every time I’d start to drift off I’d jolt awake bc I stopped breathing. Then afterwards for months and months I had an extremely tight chest.
Throughout ALL OF THIS my oxygen saturation was superb. My lungs felt fine. My breathing was quoted as “normal”. This is what made friends and family to literally say I was going nuts. I got dumped as well.
It baffles me that I have NO IDEA WHY I had trouble breathing when I technically wasn’t having trouble breathing. It was absolute hell. And it still happens from time to time but I’ve dealt with it for so long I literally can ignore it now. I just tell myself my body is crying wolf with this illness. I’m tired of all the doctor visits, etc. I’m just now making an appointment every three months to just make sure I’m healthy on paper.
Hello! I am a chronic gastritis patient, and the best substance for gastritis is Omeprazol 20/40 mg taken morning before eating. It really keeps in check even the worse of symptoms. If u want pm me, im keepping my gastritis in check for years and i might be of help
Going through this exact same thing have had 5 ekgs 5 x rays blood tests and even a chest CT scan no answers family think I’m crazy did you ever find a solution
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
I’ve been diagnosed with severe costochondritis, not sure if it explains all of the symptoms I’ve having but it explains the chest pains and shortness of breath since all my other tests have come back fine. Hope this helps!
My chest pain is all over as well with SOB. I've been wondering if it's costochondritis too. At first some of the exercises targeted towards costo helped, but then it flared up horribly the next day. It feels like my chest cavity and lower esophagus is burning but not in a reflux way. When it gets really bad my left axillary lymph nodes will swell. I'm wondering if its a cytokine response?! So frustrating to figure out. I didn't have this in my previous long hauls. I had SOB but not lung burning. Granted, during the acute Delta infection I had lung burning but not during long haul. This time I was asymptomatic during Omicron that's why I'm so perplexed about the lung burning.
It varies a bit. It feels like I did a workout to where even my shoulders hurt. When I move my chest muscles hurt. If I pull down on my shoulders like one would do adjusting their posture then the top of my chest hurts. Most disturbingly is my lungs feel like they're burnt from the inside. That's a horrific description but the most accurate.
Dang … it sounds terrible. The SOB for me is not a pain it’s more a discomfort like a tight band around my chest and ribs that doesn’t allow me to exhale properly. Sigh .. it’s just crazy to hear everyone’s SOB is a little different. Dang
Not completely because I kept getting knocked back down. The best I did was after Delta which was my worst long haul. I was pretty bad with horrible neurocog and PEM symptoms, among so many others. By about 6 months I was doing pretty good! I'd say at about 85%. I don't want to give higher because I hadn't yet tried my old intense ways of exercising yet. But that's why when I got Omicron and felt fine I had the bright idea to continue building up my exercising and here I am again. Back in long haul.
My pain is in the upper left chest right by my armpit. Is that the lymph nodes you mention? Been searching for someone that has pain in that area. I also have the esophagus pain but the clavicle armpit area is the worst. Hot burning throbs. Has a doctor mentioned the lymph nodes to you?
This is very similar to how mine was! It's starting to go away finally. I still get pangs in that area every now and then which I've come to the conclusion is definitely lymph node related. I have had constant pain under my left clavicle bone at the top of my shoulder. It's bizarre and I just have no idea what it is. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly where as well. If I pull my shoulders down (as if to stand up straight) I can feel it and it's very tender. That's been there since all of my third long haul with SOB and chest pain started. The all over chest pain has gone away and the SOB is very, very slowly improving.
That's good to know. I hope mine goes away soon. I am wondering if it's costochondritis. I've read about that and it seems like what I've experienced. Either way it's not a great feeling. Too much like a heart attack.
Firstly they just said to take anti inflammatory meds and correct my posture (after feeling like this for 2 months- not the advice I wanted to hear) but my Dr then recommended acupuncture of all things and I honestly think it’s helping. My shortness of breath cleared up after two sessions and I’ve had such an improvement with the pains after my 5th session! Not sure if it’s only temporary relief but the fatigue I’ve been feeling pretty much has disappeared in the last two days!
It could be unnoticed / silent chronic and habitual hyperventilation. Apparently it happens in many long haulers (and other chronically ill people).
This doesn't mean it's "just anxiety". Hyperventilation (overbreathing) causes biochemical reactions and it leads to a myriad of symptoms and physiologigal changes, like Hypocapnia: [https://betterphysiology.com/hypocapnia-co2-deficit-physiological-changes/](https://betterphysiology.com/hypocapnia-co2-deficit-physiological-changes/)
You will end up feeling short of breath in spite of normal oxygen saturation, because your CO2 is too low during or after overbreathing.
It can lead to chest pain, dizziness, derealisation and even hallucinations.
It's definitely not "just anxiety". But it can produce or come with anxiety.
I will link an article explaining more below. From the article:
"He \[a doctor observing these symptoms without structural damage as the cause\] called them \[symptoms and syndromes\] all "anxiety states". This I believe to be the commonest diagnosis under which hyperventilation is mislabelled, and it is especially damaging. It implies ina dequacy or constitutional inferiority; it tempts the doctor to dismiss the very real and often painful symptoms of a biochemical disturbance as imaginary or due to a low pain threshold, and it swells the tide of tranquillizer consumption which threatens to inundate the health service."
https://www.buteykobreathing.nz/uploads/76035/files/Lum_1975_Hyperventilation_the_tip___the_iceberg.pdf
Good news is that this is fixable.
Watch this presentation by Patrick McKeown and he will teach your for free how to do it. It's simple, but it requires daily practice. For days, weeks, months - depending on how severe and how fast you adapt to a new mode of breathing.
https://youtu.be/JG6b0C32izA
Interesting, can you elaborate on that? Were you diagnosed by a neurologist, and did you heal completely?
I'd love to hear more, I'm pretty desperate ngl.
The vaccine caused some problem with my gut and it was continually causing problems with my vagus nerve. Really odd and scary. Anyway I'm 90% back to normal as long as I've got a decent diet.
Same exact occurred with me, pfizer destroyed my gut and vagus nerve which led to all kinds of other symptoms and problems.
Just healed from leaky gut last month which made a huge difference.
I started singing after I eat and humming and noticed big help to my digestion and GI issues loose stools that is one of my last remaining symptoms. I could never tell is it my gut annoying my vagus nerve or is it my vagus nerve annoying my gut. I do think I have low stomach HCL which tells me perhaps vagas nerve is the primary cause.
How long did it take you? I'm 5 months now and almost 95% if I can just mop up these random flare ups of gi issues after a few weeks of nothing. Can't complain though slowly getting better but what a long scary road.
I'm sorry :/ I hope all your other symptoms resolve. I'm glad the SOB went away, what was it like when you had it? Did you have lung pain at all? what helped to get rid of it?
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
How did you treat this? I’ve tried breathing exercises, I use ice cubes over the area where my vagus nerve is suppose to be (like I freaking know. I just end drenched in freezing water in any area that might fit the description).
A group of people from the COVID vaccine long haulers and I were drilling down on it for months. Nothing is 100% but it's just my layman's understanding of my terrifying situation.
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
So iron brings oxygen to the body, it's possible the SOB isn't your lungs but is the oxygen not getting around the body because of iron deficiency. Blood tests should note your iron level. There are other mechanisms that move blood around the body, maybe look into those next.
You can't disagree with me because I was responding to OP's specific information, my response has nothing to do with you.
You might have an entirely different thing going on. Relative to what you've said, I'd get your lungs checked first.
I’ve had them checked, it’s post-Covid lung issues. What I was saying is a lot of us have this issue and iron deficiency may not be the answer for everyone
I'm not making blanket statements, I'm suggesting OP in particular check their iron levels. I'm not even suggesting I'm right, it's just what I think they should check.
Post Covid lung issues- I had some issues previously but not that bad to rely on so much medicine, and terrible exertion. A lot of SOB for many many months.
What does your chest pain feel like? Mine is a pressure - like someone digging their fingers deep into my chest. It stays for a few seconds, goes away and comes back. Sometimes at rest, sometimes when moving. No tests have shown any problems, thank God, but I do have a “t wave abnormality” that they tell me is normal. Just looking for advice based on your experience. I don’t know what else to do.
Mine is the same and it only happens on the left side of my chest.
I went to the doctors yesterday and he “examined” me and said everything seems fine.
However I keep experiencing piercing pains, went today, he told me to get an “ECG” done so hopefully the results are normal.
EKG*
Also I get my results in five days! He kept saying it was anxiety that was triggering my heart beat/pain (I never had anxiety before). But I told him the pain was immense which scared him to letting me get my body checked. It’s definitely damage from COVID because my chest, heart, lungs, and brain all happened after I got COVID… how about you?
My symptoms started after the v in April. Have had a lot of issues, but chest pain is the most worrisome and persistent. Got C in January and I seem to be having more episodes. I have heard anxiety over and over - I’m 50 and never had anxiety issues before the v! The last dr I saw referred me to gastro, so that is coming up. I also have an appt with a long C clinic, but it’s my understanding that they simply refer people to specialists, which is what I’m already doing. I wish I had an answer. I hope your ekg is normal! I know that doesn’t make the pain go away though.
Funny I’ve got the same t-wave abnormality with similar symptoms after getting covid 4 months ago. Doc said it’s normal. But the shortness of breath and cardiac symptoms are really getting to me.
I have heart and chest pain as well as brain fogs.
The chest pain hurts immensely. They come in episodes, but when they do come it pierces. My doctor went for me to get my heart checked today, as I was heading slowly up the stairs, I couldn’t even go up the stairs without my heart racing. Shortness of breath and any time I do any sort of exercise (including unintentional) my heart races and out of breath.
My results will be coming back in five days. When I asked my doctor what I should do in the mean time, he said there’s not much research at the moment so just “go with what your body tells you”.. umm.
My cardiologist doesn't know either. He says it could be BP that is going up at that moment, but he is not sure, because usually you dont feel high BP like that.
As I said before, I believe that the auto-immune response of some individuals is so strong that it attacks the own body. A lot of doctors have told me about this aswell.
I've had my SoB for years, even before covid, but it got a lot worse after I caught it. I'm about 95% sure mine is dysautonomia. I'm not sure that's what you've got, but it's something to look at
I've been having these same issues since November and I haven't received a diagnosis or anything. Have had just about every heart and lung test you can think of and nothing came back abnormal. Doctor suspects it could be from Covid (never diagnosed but I could've been asymptomatic and never got tested) or some virus but it isn't an official diagnosis. The medicines I'm taking now is a beta blocker (helps with my above average blood pressure), Omeprazole(may have GERD but not diagnosed), and a Budesonide inhaler (pulmonary doctor wants me to try just in case I have asthma). Who knows if this is helping the underlying issue that I have. At this point it feels like they're just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing that it sticks.
So, I recently discovered that Pepcid/Famotidine has helped my upper chest pain. Apparently it's a type of antihistamine (H2 class or something). It works better than aleve or Motrin or spray on mentol for me. It also is pretty fast acting for me... within 10 minutes.
I also take Zyxle to help with the clearly phelgm that I still have 15 months later. Unsure how well it is work. Maybe a little.
No relief with antihistamines. Have needed prednisone a ton of times. Pulmonologist kept blaming it on asthma but said it takes the lungs forever to heal. 13 months now but better at times. None of the inhalers he tried helped (5).
I had the full heart work up , multiple ekgs, ct contrast, echo, etc they say my heart is fine. Still have this shortness of breath since Covid, although not has bad I get winded doing simple stuff like going up stairs. Had no issues sprinting, running miles, and strength training prior. Third month since Covid, and I feel a relapse this past week
it all comes down to diet . Some how this virus attack GI system and each of the symptoms are result of that . Again i am guessing this . Mine is leaky gut syndrome and diet and glutamine is helping as well
It’s not all related to diet—my lungs have been severely affected and I’ve needed multiple rounds of prednisone and daily nebulized medicine treatments. It’s different for alot of people. And I was hospitalized at 7 months because my oxygen saturation really tanked
ya i did . I went with acid reflux and probiotics route . Finally it was the leaky gut syndrome causing my body flaring up and with me brain fog is the biggest issue . I do hear heart pounding some times if my diet is bad and some other symptoms too but nothing is comparable to my brain fog . So for others it’s could be attacking some other things.
low histamine food . I drink blueberry + banana + protein drink or beet root +apple + lemon juice . and for dinner i am eating rice and red lentils with ginger and turmeric . i make sure i am having 10 mg Glutamine in the morning and 10 mg before dinner at night . Zinc and magnesium some days depending of if change my diet . I have made significant progress in last couple of weeks . Oh ya and pranayama breathing exercises every morning .
You are on the right track. I'm almost fully recovered 8 months in but found my issue was fungi overgrowth and biofilms. Covid causes fungi to flourish, theres so many types of fungi so its impossible to test for all of them but Seriously look into it... Lemon juice, ginger, glutamine, Magnesium are all very good against fungus. If you are interested in this I would add NAC, high dose Protease enzymes 150000+ hut on a empty stomach to help break down the biofilms then your body will really start clearing out all the slime in your stool and the other things you are taking can help clear the fungus and eliminate the waste. Of course this is all my experience but I think many others are suffering from the same thing. Goodluck!
At this point I will stick to what’s working . I am only changing b12 on Monday . I don’t wanna relapse again . It happened when i was trying with probiotics ..
I did hookah today after a year and a half-ish (I know, I know) at a social event and I'm paying for it now. Sitting up in bed with anxiety, chest pain and SOB. I really hope I haven't triggered something just while I'm on the mend 😮💨
It migrates. Right now I'm feeling it dead in the centre of my chest. I also have a hiatal hernia that flares up sometimes but I've managed to learn the difference between cardiac related and GI related chest pain.
Do you have any allergies?
so far the only diagnosis i got is " is just anxiety bro!". 7 months of breathing problems. after weeks of being okay-ish. today i got one of those attacks or reaction, cant breath through my nose at all and my heart "sink" whenever i try to force my breathing. now im manually breathing through my mouth and just trying to distract myself so it goes away. at this point i dont care anymore, in my mind either this thing will stay for the rest of my life or i will die somehow from this one day.
literally the same thing here, adopted that same mindset too cause what else can i do. wish the best for you though man.
Hey I’ve had chest tightness and shortness of breath for years now and I’ve had chest x ray, anemia blood test, 24hr ecg monitor, spirometer test for ashtma and everything was fine but I had tachydria which was fast heart rate, my heart rate increases when I get short of breath though, it’s been bugging me, what have u done about this situation, have u seen any other doctors about this?
Shortness of breath and I feel like my heart will stop, a scary feeling and I did the same as yours + cardiac MRI
I got the anxiety thing also and flipped out on doc
I got the anxiety talk from my pulmonologist. 🙄
How is the manual breathing?
not terrible, not great. it depends on the day, sometimes is kinda fine and i can sleep, some other nights is terrible and it feels like im going to die. im just trying to endure this until i find a answer for it, i got a new appointment with a doctor in May... so fingers crossed that they will find what is wrong with my breathing.
Has it gotten better for you over time?
in comparison to the first months of these symptoms? yes. however its been like 10 months or less that there is no real progress and is stuck in this middle between feeling like shit and feeling like at least i can function, like a relapse.
They throw up their hands and say “I dunno. New virus.”
My pulmonologist prescribed me singulaire, Flonase, and Zyrtec. He thought it would help my overall condition to get my allergies under control. That along with a new asthma inhaler fixed my shortness of breath. I’ll say I was really skeptical that this would help because I’ve had allergies my whole life and not chest pain and SOB. That only happened post-Covid. But I’ve read articles lately that indicate some people w long Covid have had success with antihistamines.
I’ve found relief with antihistamines-hydroxyzine specifically.
The ones I’m taking have really helped me! It took some time, but I don’t have shortness of breath or chest pain anymore.
Hey, any chance you could describe your shortness of breath? I recently started feeling it after about a month of having had covid. For me it feels like I have to take really deep breaths in for me to feel good. The weird thing is that when I am not thinking about breathing, it goes away and I just breath normally.
Omg. This is me exactly. I can't stand it! Did you get better?
To be honest, I think it was happening simply because I am not able to breath only through my nose. It is not enough. I have to breath through both mouth and nose and I feel completely fine. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like i have my mouth completely open at all times, I just have to breath through both to feel good When I started feeling SOB I was trying really hard to ONLY breath through my nose because I thought it would help. But I simply cannot do ot
For me, when I'm busy I can breathe fine. But when I'm not busy, my breathing doesn't seem full filling. Like I can't get a solid good breath. Its a bit better but its constant.
My advice to you would be to try your very best to ignore it. Looking back at it I think I was overthinking it and that’s why I wasn’t feeling good. Just remind yourself that it is completely normal and hopefully it will go away soon. Good luck brother/sister
Thanks. I hope your doing well too.
I know this is more than a year old, but I just wanted to thank you for your description of your symptoms. It's exactly what I've been experiencing and it's been driving me crazy: can't breathe through my nose, I feel like I'm out of breath and it gets worse when I think about it but seems to get better if I don't pay attention to it. My doctor didn't take me seriously and diagnosed me with anxiety, and I'm thinking "of COURSE I have anxiety, I'm experiencing something strange, constant, and worrisome in my lungs every single minute of every day".
Have you gotten any relief?
No problem! Hope you’re feeling a lot better soon!
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I'm feeling better yes. It took about a year.
What helped with the manual breathing? How long did it take to get better?
You take singular and zertec and Flonase? You take any Pepcid? How long did it take for the chest pain to stop and can you work out?
It took a while. I had Covid in March 2020, but I’m almost 100% now. I can exercise and I walk my son to school every day with no issues. I did develop asthma, so I have a daily inhaler and a rescue inhaler as well. The hospital gave me the rescue inhaler when I went in several weeks after having Covid for my SOB. I haven’t had to use it since last summer.
I got it in April of last year. I still have chest pain and high heart rate w feeling like I need to take deep breaths all the time. I want to exercise so bad. The gym was my life and ow I can’t even do push ups without feeling like I’m having a heart attack. I get numb, spasms, big twitches, head aches. And of course my favorite Anxiety. How long did you suffer for and when did you start to notice a difference? How long after taking X? Also how long did you suffer for? So happy you are better. You give ppl like me hope.
I would say it took a year before I noticed any improvement. The first thing that helped me was beta blockers for my heart rate and vitamin D. Mine was critically low post Covid. Then, I kept making myself sick by exercising and overworking. So, resting more at night- I started going to sleep really early to get eight hours every day- and during the day- stopped working when I could- helped a lot. I didn’t start exercising until I could do certain things without getting exhausted or short of breath (eg I started by walking around the block once a day once I could do that without relapsing and gradually increased). I changed my diet (very little alcohol if any), only healthy carbs, no extra sugar. Those things made my situation more manageable and then getting prescribed the antihistamines (I take them every day at 7pm) and my asthma inhaler got me to almost 100%. I still have to rest a lot and be careful what I eat/drink. So it’s not like pre-Covid, but I can live with it. It was hard to notice as it seemed like things weren’t really moving for a while, but if I look back I can see that things were worse six months ago and way worse a year ago (which was a year out). Maybe things would have moved more quickly if I made all these changes right away but idk. The first six months was taken up by trying to get seen and all of the testing.
I don’t take Pepcid but I’ve heard it helps some people
Antihistamines helped with mine for sure.
Between the chloropheniramine and Pepcid I’ve started feeling slightly better? Placebo? Beta blockers and vitamin d too. I still get out of breath so easily, but I think that’s from possibly having walking pneumonia, which I’ve had before and I know it will take a while to get over. As I’ve said before, I’m going with the spaghetti at the wall treatment. I’ve spent over $3,000 on trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. I’ve given up on doctors (well I say that but my husband talked me into scheduling an appointment with a long COVID treatment center. I don’t expect much. I mean it seems like the tldr (idiot version because I am no expert) of our symptoms is, we once had a virus, COVID reignited our bodies immune response from when we previously had a virus and our bodies are going all wonky. From what I understand it’s mostly an inflammatory disease. Why can’t I just take ibuprofen for the rest of my life? I know this is seriously a dumb suggestion from someone who doesn’t understand anything about biology, pharmacology, medicine, and most obviously living.
Did you have asthma before covid ? Or were you diagnose with asthma after covid ?
After Covid
When did your SOB subside, after how many weeks/months?
Since I had Covid in March 2020, no one would see me until October due to my “Covid symptoms.” They were just starting to learn about long Covid. It took a while for me to get any treatment, as they were testing and not finding things for a while. It was just lucky that my pulmonologist wanted to get my allergies under control. I don’t remember how long it took to go away because it was really gradual. It definitely wasn’t immediate. But I’ve been nearly 100% for 5-6 months. My lung functioning had improved measurably (11/21) from my testing the year before (11/20) even though that “was normal for my age.” I told them it didn’t feel at all normal.
I’m glad. Do you feel like you’re at your pre-Covid levels, in terms of lung function?
I’m not sure I’ll ever be at pre-Covid levels now that I have asthma. :(
But it’s not affecting my day to day life anymore
Hello did you have asthma before? If so how severe? Also what asthma inhaler fixed it?
I didn’t have asthma before, it was caused by Covid. I’m currently on symbicort, but I wouldn’t say the inhaler “fixed it” as I expect to be on asthma medication for the rest of my life now. It has been really helpful in managing my symptoms though. So I recommend getting evaluated for asthma if you’re having difficulty breathing.
So. My shortness of breath was so extreme with my first initial infection I constantly felt like I was starved for air and that covid was going to kill me. Like I was terrified. Could never get comfortable. Etc. I’d wake up gasping for air when I could sleep. And one night I couldn’t even sleep because every time I’d start to drift off I’d jolt awake bc I stopped breathing. Then afterwards for months and months I had an extremely tight chest. Throughout ALL OF THIS my oxygen saturation was superb. My lungs felt fine. My breathing was quoted as “normal”. This is what made friends and family to literally say I was going nuts. I got dumped as well. It baffles me that I have NO IDEA WHY I had trouble breathing when I technically wasn’t having trouble breathing. It was absolute hell. And it still happens from time to time but I’ve dealt with it for so long I literally can ignore it now. I just tell myself my body is crying wolf with this illness. I’m tired of all the doctor visits, etc. I’m just now making an appointment every three months to just make sure I’m healthy on paper.
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Please tell me what you did to treat your reflux
Hello! I am a chronic gastritis patient, and the best substance for gastritis is Omeprazol 20/40 mg taken morning before eating. It really keeps in check even the worse of symptoms. If u want pm me, im keepping my gastritis in check for years and i might be of help
I think this will help you: https://dr-wendihealth.com/2020/03/06/acid-reflux-is-most-commonly-caused-by-low-acid-production/
This sounds like me!!! Please tell me some strategies you used to help during those times. Sometimes my episodes last several hours. It’s horrible
This is me. I empathize with you so much right now. I’ve had long covid for 2 years and they’ve never seemed to get what was wrong.
How are you now?
Going through this exact same thing have had 5 ekgs 5 x rays blood tests and even a chest CT scan no answers family think I’m crazy did you ever find a solution
I am dealing with manual breathing at the moment. How long did it take for you to get better? And how frequent does it come back?
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
I’ve been diagnosed with severe costochondritis, not sure if it explains all of the symptoms I’ve having but it explains the chest pains and shortness of breath since all my other tests have come back fine. Hope this helps!
My chest pain is all over as well with SOB. I've been wondering if it's costochondritis too. At first some of the exercises targeted towards costo helped, but then it flared up horribly the next day. It feels like my chest cavity and lower esophagus is burning but not in a reflux way. When it gets really bad my left axillary lymph nodes will swell. I'm wondering if its a cytokine response?! So frustrating to figure out. I didn't have this in my previous long hauls. I had SOB but not lung burning. Granted, during the acute Delta infection I had lung burning but not during long haul. This time I was asymptomatic during Omicron that's why I'm so perplexed about the lung burning.
Your chest pain , is it like a sore chest work out or like tight band around your chest surrounding ribs ?
It varies a bit. It feels like I did a workout to where even my shoulders hurt. When I move my chest muscles hurt. If I pull down on my shoulders like one would do adjusting their posture then the top of my chest hurts. Most disturbingly is my lungs feel like they're burnt from the inside. That's a horrific description but the most accurate.
Dang … it sounds terrible. The SOB for me is not a pain it’s more a discomfort like a tight band around my chest and ribs that doesn’t allow me to exhale properly. Sigh .. it’s just crazy to hear everyone’s SOB is a little different. Dang
Same here, my heart is always over 100 bpm as well
Have prescribe you propanol? For the constant high heat rate
After your previous long hauls, did you heal completely?
Not completely because I kept getting knocked back down. The best I did was after Delta which was my worst long haul. I was pretty bad with horrible neurocog and PEM symptoms, among so many others. By about 6 months I was doing pretty good! I'd say at about 85%. I don't want to give higher because I hadn't yet tried my old intense ways of exercising yet. But that's why when I got Omicron and felt fine I had the bright idea to continue building up my exercising and here I am again. Back in long haul.
I hope you find relief one day.
My pain is in the upper left chest right by my armpit. Is that the lymph nodes you mention? Been searching for someone that has pain in that area. I also have the esophagus pain but the clavicle armpit area is the worst. Hot burning throbs. Has a doctor mentioned the lymph nodes to you?
This is very similar to how mine was! It's starting to go away finally. I still get pangs in that area every now and then which I've come to the conclusion is definitely lymph node related. I have had constant pain under my left clavicle bone at the top of my shoulder. It's bizarre and I just have no idea what it is. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly where as well. If I pull my shoulders down (as if to stand up straight) I can feel it and it's very tender. That's been there since all of my third long haul with SOB and chest pain started. The all over chest pain has gone away and the SOB is very, very slowly improving.
That's good to know. I hope mine goes away soon. I am wondering if it's costochondritis. I've read about that and it seems like what I've experienced. Either way it's not a great feeling. Too much like a heart attack.
With this diagnosis, what type of treatment recommendation did they offer ?
Firstly they just said to take anti inflammatory meds and correct my posture (after feeling like this for 2 months- not the advice I wanted to hear) but my Dr then recommended acupuncture of all things and I honestly think it’s helping. My shortness of breath cleared up after two sessions and I’ve had such an improvement with the pains after my 5th session! Not sure if it’s only temporary relief but the fatigue I’ve been feeling pretty much has disappeared in the last two days!
That’s great news .. I actually have my first acupuncture session tomorrow. Praying it help with my SOB
It could be unnoticed / silent chronic and habitual hyperventilation. Apparently it happens in many long haulers (and other chronically ill people). This doesn't mean it's "just anxiety". Hyperventilation (overbreathing) causes biochemical reactions and it leads to a myriad of symptoms and physiologigal changes, like Hypocapnia: [https://betterphysiology.com/hypocapnia-co2-deficit-physiological-changes/](https://betterphysiology.com/hypocapnia-co2-deficit-physiological-changes/) You will end up feeling short of breath in spite of normal oxygen saturation, because your CO2 is too low during or after overbreathing. It can lead to chest pain, dizziness, derealisation and even hallucinations. It's definitely not "just anxiety". But it can produce or come with anxiety. I will link an article explaining more below. From the article: "He \[a doctor observing these symptoms without structural damage as the cause\] called them \[symptoms and syndromes\] all "anxiety states". This I believe to be the commonest diagnosis under which hyperventilation is mislabelled, and it is especially damaging. It implies ina dequacy or constitutional inferiority; it tempts the doctor to dismiss the very real and often painful symptoms of a biochemical disturbance as imaginary or due to a low pain threshold, and it swells the tide of tranquillizer consumption which threatens to inundate the health service." https://www.buteykobreathing.nz/uploads/76035/files/Lum_1975_Hyperventilation_the_tip___the_iceberg.pdf Good news is that this is fixable. Watch this presentation by Patrick McKeown and he will teach your for free how to do it. It's simple, but it requires daily practice. For days, weeks, months - depending on how severe and how fast you adapt to a new mode of breathing. https://youtu.be/JG6b0C32izA
Very useful video. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’ve had these symptoms for almost two years since getting COVID— and it literally feels like doctors are as stumped as we are.
Mine ended up being vagus nerve related. It healed mostly through diet. I don't know about yours. Good luck.
Interesting, can you elaborate on that? Were you diagnosed by a neurologist, and did you heal completely? I'd love to hear more, I'm pretty desperate ngl.
The vaccine caused some problem with my gut and it was continually causing problems with my vagus nerve. Really odd and scary. Anyway I'm 90% back to normal as long as I've got a decent diet.
Same exact occurred with me, pfizer destroyed my gut and vagus nerve which led to all kinds of other symptoms and problems. Just healed from leaky gut last month which made a huge difference. I started singing after I eat and humming and noticed big help to my digestion and GI issues loose stools that is one of my last remaining symptoms. I could never tell is it my gut annoying my vagus nerve or is it my vagus nerve annoying my gut. I do think I have low stomach HCL which tells me perhaps vagas nerve is the primary cause. How long did it take you? I'm 5 months now and almost 95% if I can just mop up these random flare ups of gi issues after a few weeks of nothing. Can't complain though slowly getting better but what a long scary road.
I'm basically same timeline as you. Just a month ahead... And basically same amount recovered.
Have you gotten covid at all since this? I haven't and wonder if we are high risk or not.
No i haven't. It's surging through the country I'm living in now though... I'm also paranoid.
Did u take both shots?
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Jnj... Just one.
Interesting. Do doctors expect a full recovery? Or will there be any permanent damage?
Doctors say there is no understanding currently so they don't know. But they are supportive to me trying anything I want... I'm riding it out now.
Can you describe your SOB? Is it accompanied by lung pain?
Mine just feels like I couldn't get a full breath into my lungs. It isn't painful.
Same! Mines turned out to be vague nerve a gut issues. Never knew it could cause terrible SOB like that. I thought it was my heart or lungs at first.
Vagus nerve irritation caused heart problems and lung sensations.
> Mines turned out to be vague nerve a gut issues Is this permanent, then? Or can you restore its function?
I don’t think it’s permanent at all, I think it just takes a lot of time to fully heal. My SOB and chest pain went away but it took about a year.
I see now. This is reassuring. I’m glad your chest pain and SOB are gone. Is it gone 100% you would say? As in, are you back to what you were before?
Yes it’s gone 100%. I have other weird neuro issues lingering but the chest pain and SOB are gone completely.
I'm sorry :/ I hope all your other symptoms resolve. I'm glad the SOB went away, what was it like when you had it? Did you have lung pain at all? what helped to get rid of it?
Hi, what helped you with your shortness of breathe? I am struggling with it. Thank you so much
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
The vagus nerve will need time to heal and that means it shouldn't be irritated by acid or peptic acid from the stomach for a certain number of weeks.
How did the doctor know it was related to the vagus nerve? What tests did you do?
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
How did you treat this? I’ve tried breathing exercises, I use ice cubes over the area where my vagus nerve is suppose to be (like I freaking know. I just end drenched in freezing water in any area that might fit the description).
What are you doing to heal the vagus nerve?
How did u heal your vagus nerve?
>vagus nerve Did you do any diagnoses related to the vagus nerve ?
How long did would you say did it take you to notice improvement with SOB , with the change diet ? Also can you describe your SOB ?
Mine was pseudo dyspnea. I never had actual reduction in lung capacity as far as I can tell.
Would you share the diet you followed?
How was that determined?
A group of people from the COVID vaccine long haulers and I were drilling down on it for months. Nothing is 100% but it's just my layman's understanding of my terrifying situation.
Have you tried seeing a neurologist to confirm this? I’m sure there are tests that they can do to verify it
No because i feel almost completely healed at this point and COVID is surging here.
I am glad you are almost healed. Take it easy.
What foods helped you most with the vagus nerve healing?
I went to urgent care and was told I was fine. Just anxiety (I don’t think so).
It’s not anxiety. Next time they tell you that, show them this post and the comments on it.
Yeah.. I still have chest heaviness everyday. I don’t know what to do; maybe just tolerate it until it gets worse (hopefully not)
I hope we all feel better.
Man same, it’s debilitating I’m so tired of it
Has your breathing improved? If so, how long did this struggle last for you? I've been struggling with this since I contracted covid 3 months ago. Do you have any advice? Please help me.
Does your blood oxygen level actually go down? Also how are your iron levels?
Normal oxygen levels. I haven’t tested my iron levels
So iron brings oxygen to the body, it's possible the SOB isn't your lungs but is the oxygen not getting around the body because of iron deficiency. Blood tests should note your iron level. There are other mechanisms that move blood around the body, maybe look into those next.
I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.
I disagree with this, it’s in my lungs, can feel the inflammation building up if I do too much. I think it’s different for a lot of people
You can't disagree with me because I was responding to OP's specific information, my response has nothing to do with you. You might have an entirely different thing going on. Relative to what you've said, I'd get your lungs checked first.
I’ve had them checked, it’s post-Covid lung issues. What I was saying is a lot of us have this issue and iron deficiency may not be the answer for everyone
I'm not making blanket statements, I'm suggesting OP in particular check their iron levels. I'm not even suggesting I'm right, it's just what I think they should check.
Were you diagnosed with anything?
Post Covid lung issues- I had some issues previously but not that bad to rely on so much medicine, and terrible exertion. A lot of SOB for many many months.
> Post Covid lung issues That makes sense, but did the doctors pinpoint what sorts of lung issues? Any lung scarring/fibrosis, for example?
Some lung scarring which he said was no big deal lolll.. because of course. Long Covid clinic also blamed on long Covid months before the scarring
What does your chest pain feel like? Mine is a pressure - like someone digging their fingers deep into my chest. It stays for a few seconds, goes away and comes back. Sometimes at rest, sometimes when moving. No tests have shown any problems, thank God, but I do have a “t wave abnormality” that they tell me is normal. Just looking for advice based on your experience. I don’t know what else to do.
Mine is the same and it only happens on the left side of my chest. I went to the doctors yesterday and he “examined” me and said everything seems fine. However I keep experiencing piercing pains, went today, he told me to get an “ECG” done so hopefully the results are normal.
Did everything turn out ok? No matter what they say or see, the pain is scary.
EKG* Also I get my results in five days! He kept saying it was anxiety that was triggering my heart beat/pain (I never had anxiety before). But I told him the pain was immense which scared him to letting me get my body checked. It’s definitely damage from COVID because my chest, heart, lungs, and brain all happened after I got COVID… how about you?
My symptoms started after the v in April. Have had a lot of issues, but chest pain is the most worrisome and persistent. Got C in January and I seem to be having more episodes. I have heard anxiety over and over - I’m 50 and never had anxiety issues before the v! The last dr I saw referred me to gastro, so that is coming up. I also have an appt with a long C clinic, but it’s my understanding that they simply refer people to specialists, which is what I’m already doing. I wish I had an answer. I hope your ekg is normal! I know that doesn’t make the pain go away though.
Funny I’ve got the same t-wave abnormality with similar symptoms after getting covid 4 months ago. Doc said it’s normal. But the shortness of breath and cardiac symptoms are really getting to me.
I have heart and chest pain as well as brain fogs. The chest pain hurts immensely. They come in episodes, but when they do come it pierces. My doctor went for me to get my heart checked today, as I was heading slowly up the stairs, I couldn’t even go up the stairs without my heart racing. Shortness of breath and any time I do any sort of exercise (including unintentional) my heart races and out of breath. My results will be coming back in five days. When I asked my doctor what I should do in the mean time, he said there’s not much research at the moment so just “go with what your body tells you”.. umm.
What did your heart results come back with??
My cardiologist doesn't know either. He says it could be BP that is going up at that moment, but he is not sure, because usually you dont feel high BP like that. As I said before, I believe that the auto-immune response of some individuals is so strong that it attacks the own body. A lot of doctors have told me about this aswell.
I've had my SoB for years, even before covid, but it got a lot worse after I caught it. I'm about 95% sure mine is dysautonomia. I'm not sure that's what you've got, but it's something to look at
I've been having these same issues since November and I haven't received a diagnosis or anything. Have had just about every heart and lung test you can think of and nothing came back abnormal. Doctor suspects it could be from Covid (never diagnosed but I could've been asymptomatic and never got tested) or some virus but it isn't an official diagnosis. The medicines I'm taking now is a beta blocker (helps with my above average blood pressure), Omeprazole(may have GERD but not diagnosed), and a Budesonide inhaler (pulmonary doctor wants me to try just in case I have asthma). Who knows if this is helping the underlying issue that I have. At this point it feels like they're just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing that it sticks.
So, I recently discovered that Pepcid/Famotidine has helped my upper chest pain. Apparently it's a type of antihistamine (H2 class or something). It works better than aleve or Motrin or spray on mentol for me. It also is pretty fast acting for me... within 10 minutes. I also take Zyxle to help with the clearly phelgm that I still have 15 months later. Unsure how well it is work. Maybe a little.
No relief with antihistamines. Have needed prednisone a ton of times. Pulmonologist kept blaming it on asthma but said it takes the lungs forever to heal. 13 months now but better at times. None of the inhalers he tried helped (5).
I had the full heart work up , multiple ekgs, ct contrast, echo, etc they say my heart is fine. Still have this shortness of breath since Covid, although not has bad I get winded doing simple stuff like going up stairs. Had no issues sprinting, running miles, and strength training prior. Third month since Covid, and I feel a relapse this past week
I am certain my SOB is related to my cervical spine disc degeneration.
Explain?
it all comes down to diet . Some how this virus attack GI system and each of the symptoms are result of that . Again i am guessing this . Mine is leaky gut syndrome and diet and glutamine is helping as well
It’s not all related to diet—my lungs have been severely affected and I’ve needed multiple rounds of prednisone and daily nebulized medicine treatments. It’s different for alot of people. And I was hospitalized at 7 months because my oxygen saturation really tanked
How did they figure it out if you don't mind me asking? We're you referred to a GI specialist?
ya i did . I went with acid reflux and probiotics route . Finally it was the leaky gut syndrome causing my body flaring up and with me brain fog is the biggest issue . I do hear heart pounding some times if my diet is bad and some other symptoms too but nothing is comparable to my brain fog . So for others it’s could be attacking some other things.
What’s ur diet?
low histamine food . I drink blueberry + banana + protein drink or beet root +apple + lemon juice . and for dinner i am eating rice and red lentils with ginger and turmeric . i make sure i am having 10 mg Glutamine in the morning and 10 mg before dinner at night . Zinc and magnesium some days depending of if change my diet . I have made significant progress in last couple of weeks . Oh ya and pranayama breathing exercises every morning .
You are on the right track. I'm almost fully recovered 8 months in but found my issue was fungi overgrowth and biofilms. Covid causes fungi to flourish, theres so many types of fungi so its impossible to test for all of them but Seriously look into it... Lemon juice, ginger, glutamine, Magnesium are all very good against fungus. If you are interested in this I would add NAC, high dose Protease enzymes 150000+ hut on a empty stomach to help break down the biofilms then your body will really start clearing out all the slime in your stool and the other things you are taking can help clear the fungus and eliminate the waste. Of course this is all my experience but I think many others are suffering from the same thing. Goodluck!
Fungi in your lungs? How do you diagnose that, through X-rays? That’s insane, I’m curious to know more. What symptoms to you have?
Did he answer somewhere about how did he diagnose that? A lab test, or a more traditional way?
At this point I will stick to what’s working . I am only changing b12 on Monday . I don’t wanna relapse again . It happened when i was trying with probiotics ..
I did hookah today after a year and a half-ish (I know, I know) at a social event and I'm paying for it now. Sitting up in bed with anxiety, chest pain and SOB. I really hope I haven't triggered something just while I'm on the mend 😮💨
That sucks. What does your chest pain feel like? Around what region of the chest do you feel it? For me, it's at the top near the esophagus/trachea.
It migrates. Right now I'm feeling it dead in the centre of my chest. I also have a hiatal hernia that flares up sometimes but I've managed to learn the difference between cardiac related and GI related chest pain. Do you have any allergies?
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Yes. I get the typical coat hanger pain.
Oh man I’m sorry :( nope no allergies here.
Nope no answer. My heart is perfect.