please, i really desperately need some help...feel like i can't breathe

[mila]

I just feel i cannot take all this anymore...I mean, what is wrong with me now??????
I feel like I am going to suffocate any minute now, been feeling like that all morning...I had the upper endoscopy on Friday and my throat felt painful afterwards when swallow, but i also started to develop this cattarh at the back, which was worse in the morning, in my throat and my nose and it would also feel like my upper chest muscles are sore and it's dificult to expand them...but in past days it would get better during the day and come back before going to bed. I even went to A&E 2 days ago in the morning scared i can't breathe and something's happening inside, the registering nurse just looked at me like i am crazy when i started saying panicked that i feel i can't breathe, he put the thing on my finger and the spO2 was 98, he said i am fine and i do i still wanna see the doc, i felt i had to leave coz of the way he was looking at me...But today i ended up in another walk-in NHS centre...I was so convinced that something sinister is going on, i was in sheer panic going there, feeling i will suffocate, like i cannot expand my lungs at all, there is something in my throat i cannot swallow and my throat now feel slightlu sore deep down, plus my nose feels all dried up and blocked on and off...my chest feel all blocked up too, but when the nurse listened to my breathing she said i have nice chest sounds. She said things can get irritated after procedure like that and to take some care not to get a cold...well that one i don't know about, i am now scared i already got one, i occasionally sneeze and i had a little cough this morning which felt like it wasn't touching what it needed to, maybe get something out, but there was nothing...it feels like my throat is all gonna close up, my lungs also and i will not breathe again...breathing feels like a lot of work now and every minute is so long cause i am so scared and fed up with everything really, just seems to be one thing after another or sometimes caused by the previous one...I just want my life back, but it seems so far away right now. Please, please help me, i am having really scary thoughts and I don't want anything happening to me...Not yet, i have sooo much to do still...See how i am thinking right now....

[mila]

I forgot to mention i have travelled on saturday to london from bradford and this all and some more, has been happening there, and i am going back in couple of hours, should be 5 hours on the coach and i am so scared, but i want to be back home...i am just scared of being stuck there and starting to panic with this breathing even more, or it really being something and i am stuck there...
I can't belive she heard me breathing well today....She even looked at my throat said looked fine...but she can't see deep inside, it feels difficult to even swallow, i have to push it, and swallowing whatever i feel is there is not happening at all...

[gtrgrl3369]

Try and relax, I knows its easier said than done. That type of procedure can irritate the sensitive linings in the throat and nose, so the coughning and sneezing is nothing to worry about. Try taking deep relaxing breathes. Breathe in as deep as you can and hold it for 4 seconds let it out to the count of 7 and do it again until you calm yourself. You also might want to try and have a glass of water. I promise you are not going to die. You are hyperventilating though. Close your eyes when you breathe and focus on something nice that you like to do. Keep trying until you get it. It will work. I hope this helps. If you need me email. Take care.:hugs:

[Wenjoy]

You will be fine -you are hyperventilating - overbreathing and your body tries to restore balance so drop your shoulders,close your eyes and breathe slowly in to a count of 5 and hold for 3 and out for 7 - you will be fine - your body is just trying to protect you.Wenjoy x

[Nechtan]

Please try not to worry too much. It's a horrible sensation which I can relate too as well. Despite how bad this feels you will continue to keep breathing- your bodily won't allow anything else.

For the coach as already suggested the breathing exercises should help. I would also recommend something to distract you like a book or music on the journey. When our mind fixes on these things we find it hard to take our mind off them and as a result make them worse.

All the best for your journey. I hope it goes smoothly for you.

Nechtan

[Trixie]

Why did you have an endoscopy in the first place?


The tube is fairly thick and is bound to aggravate the oesophagus as it passes through it, that is why it feels sore and causes you to cough.

You have had your temp taken and it is fine, you are fine, please stop worrying otherwise you will make your self worse. You may even have the starting of a cold (nothing to worry about there either). Don't worry:flowers:

[mila]

I had posted a lot about stomach symptoms i had, feeling full up and heavyness in the stomach...I suffered for about 8 weeks with this before the gastroscopy, now i blame myself for even doing it in the first place when nothing was wrong and doing this to myself, i have been in a completely different place past two days, completely terrified, i even went back to the doctor this morning who said my chest sound fine, and my throat looks bit red and to give it some time, it is just irritation.
But how do I feel worse on Tuesday than I felt on Saturday after the gastroscopy...????This is what is confusing me so much. I mean first afterwards it hurted more but only when swalloing, i didn't have this feeling of scraped throat and below.
I went out of gp's office wondering how in the hell can he not hear anything there when i feel like some thick mucus is stuffing my throat and my chest and i just can't breathe...
So later I phoned back the gastro unit and the woman told me well if i feel bad i should go to a&e. And so I did. I spent about 3 or 4 hours there this afternoon, had ecg and chest x-ray while there, my spO2 was like 98 to 100 and i was just sitting there feeling like i am struggling to breathe...it is all just so difficult to take in...She did say my throat looked redish and a bit raw. But everything else looked alright.
I still have to constantly repeat to myself: your heart is fine, your chest is fine and you are breathing, they tested you, it is just sensations in the irritated throat and esophagus you are feeling! I have never felt this bad with any cold i have ever had though! Like my throat and everything below is raw, it feels like i keep trying to swallow my own tonsils coz whatever i am trying to swallow is not moving one bit! I even have difficulty sometimes to swallow in the first place, like i have to push it. It is even difficult to talk, to laugh, to cry...that was another thing making me think i can't really breathe, being difficult to speak out. I am scared to go to sleep like this...and i am tired...
It has been about 2 years or more even since i had to go see a doctor and than still and up in the a&e in the same day, and that was the only other time besides this...I wouldn't do this if i wasn't really feeling super scared and feeling proper bad. It is interesting that that other time it was also to do with my breathing. It is very scary i guess when u feel like u're gonna suffocate and it is difficult to bear when the feeling goes on all the time...

Sorry all for rambling, but i really feel like this is the most challenging time i have ever had...I have been having really dark thoughts and a lot, and it is hard to think positive. I have to find strenght to endure it though...well, it's not like i have a choice...

[ronski]

Hi Millie

The mucus that you are getting with the nasal problems are sure signs that you probably have a slightly irritated oesophagus. Your body makes the mucus so that when swallowed it coats the surface of the oesophagus and protects it. This may explain some of the heaviness that you feel in your stomach and your problems with breathing can be related to tension in your shoulder and chest muscles due to the discomfort that oesophagitis can cause.

Hyperventilation is also the other cause, your spO2 clearly shows your lungs are doing their job efficiently and you have a good cardiac output. Hyperventilation can make you breathless because you are making small inefficient breaths and not allowing the lungs to collapse properly, so when you attempt to take another breath your lungs are already overexpanded and so you get the sensation that you cannot breath properly and more commonly the feeling that you cannot take a deep breath.

Make sure you breath from your upper abdomen 12-16 times a minute taking normal size breaths. Do not breath using your upper chest as that can make you very tired and also kick in the fight and flight response.

Have a word with your Gp and see if if he can refer you for CBT. See if he thinks a short course of Gaviscon may help your stomach and oesophageal problems. This mixture coats the oesophagus and protects it so it may help.
I hope the above may put your mind at rest
Ron

[Hollystressed]

I know exactly how you feel. I have breathing issues and swallowing issues. In fact this morning and last night I kept thinking i was going to stop breathing and felt as though I needed to control my breathing. Its a terrible feeling. I even sometimes feel like i wont be able to swallow. My therapist used to have to remind me that i will never stop breathing or swallowing. . that i cannot control it. . I also get that tightness/soreness in my chest and shortness of breath for days because that is all i can think about. youre not alone:hugs:

[leonardomonkey]

I have breathing probs too sometimes, it feels like my lungs are full and my throat is closing. It really freaks me out. I find distraction works best

[Amanda1012]

Hello! I am new to the forum and I suffer with the thought I'll stop breathing from time to time. Deep down, I know it is just due to tight chest muscles, and if I relax, it will pass. It always has and it always wil. I always console myself with the fact the I can breathe unconciously when I am asleep and really have no control over it then - why would it be different when I am awake? The other thing my boyfriend used to make me do was to try to STOP breathing. Hold my breath for as long as I can. I would do this and then of course my body would automatically kick in and take oer and I would start breathing again! I hope this helps x x x

[mila]

Thanks guys,
you know i have actually visited a&e again the next day after writing the last post, i mean that is how panicked these feelings make me feel...It was a horrible day, i was so panicked for so long that after the panic has subsided a bit i was barely awake how exhausted i was.
Ron, that thing about not letting the lungs collapse properly before trying to take another breathe which than makes you feel you can't open up your chest enough makes so much sense. But I am not aware that i am hyperventilating, i do pay constant attention to breathing which makes it more difficult and trying to control it really messes up the normal rhytm of breathing, so maybe sometimes i am overbreathing and other times i feel like i may be holding my breath as well...
I think about it all the hours i am awake, so the feelings are constant, sometimes i calm my panic about it, most of the time i find it very difficult...i find the fear worse after i wake up...as soon as i open my eyes i think oh no another day feeling like this, how is my breathing? how will i get throught this day?...i guess therse thoughts don't help, but i feel i can't help myself...