Chest tightness and breathing

[Kez_miller]

Hi I am just wondering I have a tight feeling in my chest and I keep feeling the need to take a deep breath in sometime I can but most the time I can't take a deep full breath also I seem to yawn alot sometimes again I can fulfil the yawn but sometimes I can't! I am very overweight so I know that don't help! And I do smoke! Funnily enough though when I have a cigarette I can take that deep breath in! It's been constant now for about 24-48 hours like this. My chest feels very tight when sitting up but as soon as I lay on my front I don't get the chest tightness just the inability to take a deep breath in! I am also constipated so I don't know if that's a factor also. It just seems like one thing after another at the moment no sooner have I got over one thing the next thing occurs! Is this anxiety? A chest infection or is it worth a trip to the emergency room! Please help I'm actually really scared I have cancer or water on my lungs! I'm 21 years old btw!

[Mark13]

Obviously there's no substitute for a qualified medical opinion (which I can't provide) but I can say that I've had the same symptoms as you many times and they were always anxiety related.

My wife once told me to stop sighing (I was actually trying to take deep breaths as I felt I wasn't getting enough oxygen). The more I let it worry me, the worse it got (this tends to indicate an anxiety cause).

Also, if it changes with your position, or with smoking it's unlikely to be lung or heart related.

That said I'm seeing the Doc on Monday about the mild left sided chest pains and tightness I've been experiencing. I may have health anxiety but I always believe the Doc if they tell me nothing's wrong, so it puts my mind at rest to see them.

Mark