Chest pain and a constant struggle to take a full breath

[nh_user_1315588]

The 3 main symptoms I have been experiencing are chest pain, struggling to take a satisfying breath and excessive phlegm.

For as long as I can remember I have been experiencing unprovoked chest pains that occur randomly with no fixed pattern the pain I experience is a sharp pain in the centre of my chest this pain happens suddenly and worsens when I breathe, it seems if I take shallow breaths the pain is almost not noticeable and the sharp pain only lasts between 30-60 seconds before subsiding. Occasionally I get a totally unrelated pain which is a general aching of what feels like my lungs around my back however the two types of pain never occur together.

My second symptom I would say is the most persistent of them all. Whenever I take a breath I don’t feel satisfied however at the same time It doesn’t feel like my lungs can hold more oxygen and I am never left short of breath and gasping for air.

Finally, I have been producing excess phlegm which seems to just collect in the back of my throat. I do not have a cough and I remove the phlegm by clearing my throat, the phlegm is clear with the occasional palish green tint. The phlegm has a varying consistency sometimes it is normal other times it is clumpy and stretchy. When I wake up in the morning I usually have a dry mouth accompanied by a bad taste with a more yellowish saliva.

I recently went to my GP about these symptoms who listened to my chest and did an ECG. The ECG displayed potential tachycardia with over 110bpm however I have a feeling that was down to nerves I struggled to relax during it. The GP Said they heard a slight heart murmur and referred me to the emergency department at the hospital for some further tests. At the hospital they performed another ECG and a chest x ray which the result came back for as clear and they could not hear a heart murmur.

Since then my symptoms have remained and I am looking to go back to see my GP soon and hopefully get more tests done (bloods etc). Some quick background info I am male, 22 years of age and smoked the occasional cigarette one every 6-12months although I stopped altogether last year. I have never really been fit I always found myself extremely tired and out of breath after exercise especially long distance running in school. No family medical history in this area besides my mother suffering from asthma.

Thanks for taking the time to read I was just wondering if anyone has suffered similar symptoms or could provide some further insight as I left the hospital with a clear chest x ray but no diagnosis/information on my symptoms.

[nh_user_1182289]

You could have allergies, do you find you get the breathing issues at certain times of the year more than others or in certain atmospheres or at certain times of the day or night? Dysfunctional breathing can also be down to anxiety. But if your mother suffers with asthma, you could too. You could maybe have reflux and a hiatus hernia, that can effect your breathing. My hormone changes can effect my breathing , there are so many things that can give you this weird sensation. It is very common though and you are not the first person to ask about it on these boards! You can get breathing exercises for dysfunctional breathing online, just google it.

[nh_user_1320872]

hi- i had this in the fall for 3 months after a medication reaction in trying to treat migraines. It had been a stressful year in treating my migraine so my baseline stress was way high. i did go through all the testing to make sure I was ok and did not buy the anxiety explanation. i was so sure I had asthma but an inhaler didnt help. my reaction was real to the medication and being on too high of a dose but i wasnt nervous i thought it would just clear up but the reaction stuck around. the way it was explained to me is that i had now become aware of a bodily process that should be automatic. my nervous system was tapped and sending out danger signals which kept my chest tight. it was the constant thinking about it that was making me over breathe even when i was busy at work i still felt heavy chested and like i wasnt getting a satisfying breath in. I finally caved and went on zoloft. after about 8/9 weeks and moving up doses my chest felt like it unlocked and I felt normal breathing again. it was still very odd the whole thing but that was my experience. i stayed on the zoloft for about 6 months and then weaned off. not sure if that is what is going on for you but that was my experience.