Shortness of Breath worries me!!

Digestive health
1

I'm 32 this year and recently on May 10th, i've lost my beloved mom. Her death was so sudden and she passed on due to breathlessness as well. Shortly after, i had my first bout of shortness of breath on the 3rd june. I remember i had just finished supper and less than 2 hrs time, i lie down for a sleep. I woke up at 5am feeling a need to catch a breath and slowly till 11am i felt like i lack of oxygen. I breath desperately thru my mouth and my nose but nothing helps... I finally forward myself when seating down and it slows the breathing..but it doesn't stop there. It continues for abt a week before i went to the ER to get my chest xray and ECG. My mom has a history of HBP and heart failure. I believed her breathlessness is due to that as well. My xray and ecg came out normal with no abnornalities and all is fine. I still experienced this bout of shortness of breath. One day it get so bad, i went to the ER for the 2nd round of ecg and xray, i was desperate. They couldn't get anything. Explaining my symptoms, doc finally gave me 40mg omeprazole and it does help a bit although not fully. I still experience lump at the back of my throat and shortness of breath as and when it came. Slowly after, i develop headache or numbness on the left side of my head but its not painful. I went to see a doc again on the 18th of aug and went for ANOTHER round of xray and ecg except that this time round dr ordered a full blood count for me. As usual the xrays and ecg came back normal but my white blood cells count is a little higher and my platelet counts is more. At first i wasn't that scared because she explained that i might have an infection somewhere and so i was prescribed antibiotics, danzen tablet and omeprazole (which doesn't work dat much).

The rest of my blood cells came back normal and so does my red ones. I still google for my related symptoms and i get to know that having higher white blood cells count is a disaster to the blood. I get super worried. I am not sure if having higher white blood cells can cause shortness of breath. Is it really acid reflux or what? I gave up thinking about it. I don't know what else to do and the thought of it lone scares me. Has anyone face the same problem before? I need help.

2

Yes, yes, yes. Acid causes shortness of breath. I get it often. It's like I can't breathe deep. I have ro calm myself down and try not to think about it. My white count same, but I also had thm check my B12 just cause I tire sometimes. It was low so they said that will cause wbc to be off..I have silent reflux tht sometimes shouts at night. Wakes me up at times with lump feeling in throat and burning..throat occasionally irritated. Stress can sure cause the shortness as well. Amazing what all it does to the body. Iv had catscans, scope, ultra sounds..nothing..so...reflux and stress gets the blame. Hope this helps you to feel bett r. .

3

Hi there,

I guess i need to control my breath better the next time it happens to me. I panicked and gets very scared when i had a bout of SOB for almost 1 hour on and off. I tried to talk to someone abt it but they had got no idea what i'm exactly facing... Stress.. yes! stressed because of the breathness most of the times. I believe i really need to calm myself down very well then.... i wonder if there's any medications made available for such issues....  tsk tsk

4

Dont worry about high wbc until other tests are normal.  Stress and anxiety can increase wbc. Since you are in enormous physical and mental stress wbc can increase. So be relax. 

5

I totally understand what you are feeling. I really have to talk to myself and get my mind elsewhere. So hard to do. I hate taking meds because they themselves add more problems into the equation. I try to do deep breathing to calm which is hard because I can't catch a deep breath, but eventually I can calm and catch it. All from acid and stress. Such a horrid combination.

6

Thank you so much for the comforting words. I guess i need to relax more and worry less. I'm really not sure what's happening to me. Thank you so much.... I will take note of this.

7

Hi Vijay,

Thank you so much for the info. I am paranoid to the extent of googling and more googling but that only add-on to more stress. I really need to relax myself then...the thought of it alone is scary. Thank you.