Please Help Me

[Lily83]

I had a terrible pollen allergy last summer which left me shallow breathing for a few months as I couldn't figure out what it was nor my GP who kept saying it's just anxiety. I never went to the GP before worrying about my health...

This experience gave me anxiety over my health as I have improved greatly after a year, but still feel like my lungs aren't back to maximum capacity.

I've had bloods tests, numerous chest x rays, chest CT scan.

I haven't worked out at the gym since I got that allergy last year so maybe my lungs need some exercise to build up my lung function.

I'm just scared I developed COPD and will never get rid of this feeling that I can't breathing deeply all the way. It feels like my lungs have shrunk.

I have no problems breathing out. It's breathing in and filling up my lungs that is worrying me.

I'm so scared, I can't concentrate on my work or sleep properly! I never had health anxiety before getting a pollen allergy last summer and not being able to breathe is my WORST fear! This sounds awful, but seriously I would rather deal with pain than feeling like I have breathing problems!

I had two spirometry tests which I passed as normal, BUT had difficulty to keep blowing out for several seconds after fast blowing all the air out within three seconds. Is that normal?

[Juggar]

It can be easy to get so fixated on something like this. I’ve done something similar with my breathing, specifically being too aware of it.

Over time it’s gotten better for me, more like I got accustomed to it.

I think overtime you might think about it in a different, less threatening way.

If this has a huge impact on your life, perhaps see a therapist about it. Working through this now can stop worse issues down the road. These issues tend to snowball and create additional issues in our life down the road.