posted
Agreed. It's like you can't breathe in enough, like you were just running for 20 miles straight. I have asthma and the Lyme's anxiety made it worse. Do you have this symptom / Babesia?
Posts: 17 | From MD | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
It can be a less extreme presentation also.
Sometimes I get the feeling I can breath but I think I actually wouldn't breath if I wasn't telling myself to do it. A strange sensation.
Kinda goes with a do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do feeling sometimes.
Can last a minute or a couple of hours.. or longer.
It almost can be described as that first "twinge" you get before having a panic attack.. but it doesn't go into a panic attack.
Don't know if that makes sense.. as the sensation is hard to explain. But I do feel like the air I am taking in doesn't have oxygen in it. Deeper breathing doesn't relieve it for me.
Hope that helps.
But it can be as extreme as an asthma attack or the sensation of having one.
posted
It's like everyone said ... you just can't get enough air ... it's like an incomplete yawn. I would get it so bad that I would hyperventilate ... eventually I learned that if I focused more on breathing OUT rather than breathing in, I felt a little better, it didn't stop it though.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
hardynaka
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8099
posted
He's right. Concentrate on breathing out, not in, it helps.
It can be a nightmare, it can send you to emergency with total body paralisy if you start breathing without control. It happened to me, that's why I know.
It can be dangerous. See a thread about herxing, done by Californialyme. Herxing can cause air hunger and can kill too.
Selma
Posts: 1086 | From Switzerland | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
trueblue
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7348
posted
My experiences are much like Tincup described. Like I forgot how to breathe right.
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've had about 3 episodes of something similar over the past 10-12 years. None since 2005, well, well before my known tick bite.
I'd be just sitting around or exercising, or whatever, and I'd have to try to take a deep breath. These episodes would last maybe a week or two, then stop. Just go away. I had my pulmonary function evaluated and it was fine, no masses on x-ray, nada. I told this story to my LLMD and I don't think that he thought it was much. I've always chalked it up to anxiety.
I've had none of the other symptoms of Babs, that I recognize at least.
BT
Posts: 299 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
For me it's like trying to yawn and your breathing stops halfway and no matter how much you try you can't take any more air in.
It's very frustrating and can be scary. With babs treatment it's gotten a lot better.
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
AZURE WISH
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 804
lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
one of the last posts on the other tread helped me understand it-FINALLY. i was a PE teacher (i talked alot and loud in the gym to keep the kids on task)...there were times when i could only say a few words at a time...then had to gasp for air. this was only bad in one building that had mold-and other bad air.
my lung specialist said it was classic "shortness of breath" (sob).
i have to say it stopped when i left the building...but i still have the 5-6 quick breaths in occasionally that i described in my old post.
maybe it is a babs thing...but gets worse when you are bombarded with toxins or something.
25 yrs and counting with this disease and i still don't understand this and lyme arthritis...
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I wasn't really understanding the term "air hunger" until I read these posts. I'm curious if these sx would be considered as "air hunger?"
*pressure/tightening in chest that makes you automatically cough to breathe - completely involuntary - like a crushing feeling
*several short "stuttering" inhales that are exactly like the kind you get when you've been crying really hard - think childhood cries - again an involuntary reaction
*forgetting to breathe - all of a sudden you realize "I'M NOT BREATHING!"
Do those describe "air hunger?" If so, then I'm starving! LOL!
Posts: 268 | From Texas | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
"Air hunger" for me is shortness of breath. It's scary. I really dislike the feeling. It can be quite scary.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
savebabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9847
posted
Thanks AZURE WISH!!
Posts: 1603 | From ny | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged |
kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
I'm bringing this back up because I have had this, and was told recently that I don't have asthma because I don't lose my oxygen level when I have an "attack"
Lately, I feel like there is a dog on my chest. higher than my heart.
At the same time, I have joint and muscle pain down my right side.
My heart is good.
I think it's babs...gonna take art and see if that helps
posted
I get it too, it used to be frightening but I've gotten used to it.
Happens all the time. Had seen a pulomary specialist a few years ago when one episode was so bad I wound up in the ER. Did the whole breathing test thing, was told it wasn't really asthma but I wasn't getting a lung full of air.
Allergist concluded the same.
Inhalers don't help at all. Odd thing is, when I exercise and get a "breathing rhythm" going, it gets better.
Actually, is the worst at night when I lie down.
-------------------- Jennifer Posts: 266 | From Ocean County, NJ | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Ah, could be coincidence. Or maybe it's that at least for me, I'm starting to become more in tune to the connection between all these symptoms I've had for years but didn't know what was causing them, chatting with you guys the other night was another step in helping me see.
-------------------- Jennifer Posts: 266 | From Ocean County, NJ | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
Its like your breathing in and you cant get air , your throat beggins to close and you feel tired white doint this.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
terri said:
*several short "stuttering" inhales that are exactly like the kind you get when you've been crying really hard - think childhood cries - again an involuntary reaction
*forgetting to breathe - all of a sudden you realize "I'M NOT BREATHING!"
these describe me perfectly. first time i have had another describe what i feel.
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic