Anixety or lung problems?

[fuggamoose]

Hi,

Can anyone help me? I'm 22 and I've had anxiety for yonks.....I'm not any medication at the moment and recently, the past couple of months my chest has felt tight and I feel like I can't catch my breath. It's a lot worse when I'm anxious so I think perhaps it's just my anxiety. My life's more stressful at the moment, me and my boyfriend are buying our first house!

I went to see the nurse and she gave my a spyrometry test to check my peak flow and stuff. Then she gave me some inhaler stuff and left me for 15 mintues and I did al the tests again. Apparently the inhaler didn't do anything to my readings....not sure if that's good or bad.

So she gave me a peak flow meter to monitor my rates for a week and the highest I've blown is 350 and the lowest 300. This seems low but the nurse didn't seem too worried. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Could my low peak flow results be down to unhealthiness? If I exercised more does anyone know if that will up my rates?

Any help would really help!! x

[enigmatique]

300-350 seems fairly reasonable though it does depend on if you're male or female and how tall you are. I usually clock in around 400 but as a singer I have good lung capacity so it is unusually high for a 5'1 female!

I have anxiety related breathing problems so badly I think that's the cause of one of my ribs popping forwards recently (hurts sooo much!) - but it's never led me to anything serious.

[CJH86]

Wow my peak flow is 400 aswell and am also 5 ft 1....i was worried mine was low! Saying that mine was 300-350 for ages.

the inhaelers not doing anything just kinda indicates you dont have asthma, also by making you measure peak flow over the week they can pick up any fluctuations indicative of asthma, so its good in that respect.

Like i said mine was around 300 (maybe even lower when i smoked) but i started exercising recently and mine has gone up, exercise can increase lung capacity. Also them peak flow meters are damn tricky to operate and are about speed rather than force, so if you practice a bit you may be able to push it up x

[eurotrashcub]

Hey

Your symptoms sound anxiety related.

If you want to improve your lung capacity, exercise slowly but steadily and you will see how in a couple of months, if you have the same test it will be much better.

When we are stressed, we forget to look after our bodies... probably that is all what this is

Ric

[Nicola_lou]

me to feel like i cant breathe and its like im trying to learn myself to breath again if that makes sense. ive never took no notice of my breathing before so it like eh how does this wrk im breathing from my chest which is killing, and its an effort just to breath. this as gotta be one of the scariest things ever cause im afraid that im doing damage by breathing wrong

[fuggamoose]

thanks for all your help. i'm only 5 foot and a female so perhaps mine isn't as low as i thought. i'm more reassured now! it is really scary nicola but if you try and forget it (which is so hard) then i can breath. it's only when i'm thinking about it that it feels worse. x

[ali8385]

Hi,

I can completely understand where you are coming from. I am 24 and have had anxiety for as long as I can remember...recently I am under a bit more stress as I am being made redundant in September, along with my fiance being in the Estate Agency business we have booked our wedding for Nov this year. I have been having a tight tickly feeling in my chest for about 6 months now, on and off but mostly on, irritating...went to the Dr who as you said above did a peak flow reading and all fine. I go to the gym 4 times a week and am incredibly active, but this chest thing really frustrates me as it is not there when I am asleep or going to sleep and gets worse when I think about it too much...ahhhggggg...I know that it is probably anxiety but it is so difficult to think like that...I understand where you are coming from x

[always-ill]

Hi, I have asthma and have to go to an asthma clinic every year, and Ive just been this week. My peak flo was 420 which is average for my height, 5'3". The chart showed anything from 350 to 440 was normal so mine was quite good, surprisingly based on how unfit I am! LOL. I asked if exercising would increase my peak flow but the nurse said possibly but only marginly.