Breathing issues

[jhumblet]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and have been reading many of your stories. I've had breathing issues off and on shortly after I was diagnosed with CD. Docs poo pooed it and after some tests, said I had generalized anxiety, which I'd never had before. Now the breathing issue seems to be more frequent-almost daily. Hard to take deep breaths, yawn and sigh alot. sometimes air seems thick. I would love to hear any stories of yours that might shed some light onto this. I'm pretty sure its related to CD, but the docs arent so sure...

Thanks.

 

[Rebecca85]

I have the yawning issue, but that's related to my meds (fluoxetine). Are you on any meds that could account for it?

 

[beth]

Are you on any meds? Any of the medics got you to puff into a flow meter?

 

[jhumblet]

No meds that I'm aware of. Asacol and Entocort is prescribed when I get flare ups. Also on Blood pressure meds and take lorazepam as needed, which I use mainly for this breathing issue.

 

[jhumblet]

Is the flow meter that thing where you blow out as hard as you can and they measure lung function? If so, then yes, I did have that done a couple of years ago and they said they didn't find anything. Thanks for the post.

 

[Rebecca85]

Is the lorazepam an anti-anxiety medication? Because the fluoxetine that makes me yawny can be used as an anti anxiety. Just a thought.

 

[Dogluv]

Hi! I have the same problem with yawning. Even before I was diagnosed I was always yawning. I think it is a possible symptom of crohns because I had this problem even before treatment.

 

[beth]

Flow meter: yeah thats the thingy, but you need a go of it now you are having trouble. Lorazepam wont have any effect on breathing, I'd have thought, you need something like ventolin or an inhaled steroid to open the airways.

 

[Terriernut]

I seem to remember something about vitamin deficiency causing breathlessness? Was it iron or B12?
Misty

 

[mkhopper]

Sounds almost carbon copy of what I went through last year.

Many times where I just couldn't seem to get in a full breath and it would come from out of nowhere. After countless tests for lung function, heart problems, pulse/ox and even had an MRI of my brain. After every test returning nothing out of the ordinary, I posed the issue to another doctor just as an aside one day. Bam, he immediately fired back "sounds to me like minor panic attacks".

I've never had them before, so can't really say for sure that's what it was, but hey, we looked everywhere else... so I was put on Xanax after that. Not everyday, but just on an 'as-needed' basis. If I feel these weird breathing issues come up, I'll take one and it really does help.

No one ever tied it to my CD issues though. My GI says the same thing, that it's unlikely the two are related, other than possibly, subconsciously, stressing out over my condition.

 

[jhumblet]

Sounds almost carbon copy of what I went through last year.

Many times where I just couldn't seem to get in a full breath and it would come from out of nowhere. After countless tests for lung function, heart problems, pulse/ox and even had an MRI of my brain. After every test returning nothing out of the ordinary, I posed the issue to another doctor just as an aside one day. Bam, he immediately fired back "sounds to me like minor panic attacks".

I've never had them before, so can't really say for sure that's what it was, but hey, we looked everywhere else... so I was put on Xanax after that. Not everyday, but just on an 'as-needed' basis. If I feel these weird breathing issues come up, I'll take one and it really does help.

No one ever tied it to my CD issues though. My GI says the same thing, that it's unlikely the two are related, other than possibly, subconsciously, stressing out over my condition.

I hear what you're saying. I was diagnosed with CD about 8 years ago and have many issues since then. Somehow I'm just convinced that anxiety and this breathing thing just came out of nowhere. It all came about in a matter of 2 years after diaganois. I don't get anxiety. I can be totally happy and content and suddenly have this wierd drop in pressure or palpitataions. And the breathing thing is getting worse. I appreciate your advice. It does sound similar to you. I have an endoscopy scheduled for this week. Dont know if it will tell us anything. We'll see. Thanks again.

 

[owllover]

Glad I found this post. I suffer really bad with this, not being able to take a deep breath. I self diagnosed myself with anxiety and tried not to stress about it any more. Since being diagnosed I have been a lot better. I think with myself it was the stress of being ill. Plus I am constantly tired and yawning but I think this is down to the Crohns!

 

[raindrop]

Shortness of breath is scary. Your primary care doctor should be listening to your lungs and have you take a spirometry test that measures your breathing. During this test, they'll give you a puff of an inhaler and measure again to see if there's improvement. If you have abnormal measurements, they may ask you to see a pulmonologist.

A pulmonary function test tells you how well the lungs function, what the lung volume is, how the gasses in your blood are and can see if using an inhaler offers you any improvement. They might also have you walk for six minutes while wearing a pulse oxymeter (sp?) to see if your blood oxygen decreases with exertion.

There are other causes of shortness of breath. I hope your primary care doctor will help to diagnose what's happening with you.

Good luck.