Has Your Chest Ever Felt Like This?

[misstraci]

I've never been able to describe how my chest feels to anyone, it comes out sounding weird when I try, i'm not good at putting my syptoms into words, i just wish there was a machine to hook up to me and some one else so they could feel what i feel. anyways, my chest sort of feels "inflamed" i guess we could say, it's hard to breath. It feels like my lungs are sponges and i'm trying to breath through the sponge. Like they are swollen or something. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Maybe you all could help me describe it.

[angelloz]

I definately have periods when it is hard to breath. It comes and goes...when it is really bad I feel like My muscles are weak and I have to work to keep breathing. I also have a weird throat thing but I have spastic dysphonia so I think it is realted to that. Let me know if you have an questions.

Angelloz

[MomtoGiuliana]

I definitely get feelings of heaviness in my lungs which seems kind of similar to what you describe. To me it feels like glue more than a sponge.

[E246]

I have a similar problem in describing the my chest discomfort. I have every gadget going to try and see if any vitals are out.

Mine goes like this:

it feels like pressure in my chest, like burning, and its tight to breathe, and i feel a bit sick but most of all I just feel very ill with it.

I also tried to explain this to a doctor and she got frustrated with me for being vague. But it's not a vague feeling - it's intense, debilitating and very uncomfortable. Sometimes I think it is high blood pressure and indeed sometimes it can be higher but not always.

Are you having any tests?

What are your other symptoms.

Hope this helps and keep me posted - I share your frustration.

[brethor9]

yep me too! I always say it feels like I am trying to take air through a straw......that my lungs are inflamed

[misstraci]

Angel...... thank you. It also feels like work to me to try and breathe.

MomtoG..... the glue is also a good description which is similar.

Brethor..... yes, like breathing through a straw and inflammation.

Emma.... Thanks, sorry that you feel this way as well. I have no tests set up, i actually haven't been to the doctor (aside from the allergist) in quite some time, over a year maybe. Once i was diagnosed, no one would see me or take the time with me. they told me it was just something i'd have to get used to. very frustrating. I know you all can understand what i go through and that helps me mentally, otherwise, i'd be extra angry thinking i'm the only sick person and then i'd feel sorry for myself.

Hope you all feel well.

[Guest Alex]

Hi Misstraci, and everyone else

I also have some strange chest discomfort/sensation/feeling that I find impossible to describe.

I'm not short of breath, I don't gasp for air, it simply feels like something is not right but I can't put a finger on it - some hybrid between painful, burning, itching, pressure, heaviness ... ugh, wish I can find the right word for it.

Sometimes the pain is kinda localized - I feel it mainly in my upper chest, but in many instances it's allover my ribcage.

At times I noticed this feeling associated with a higher heart rate or a higher blood pressure, but lots of times there is no correlation.

Alex

[Lemons2lemonade]

My chest gets all kinds of weird feelings: pain, the breathing through a straw feeling, sharp pains, dull pains, spasms etc. When you say inflamed do you mean like pushing on a blister and not feeling it? I get that feeling inside my lungs a lot along with the breathing through a straw feeling. Also, during those times its like I am breathing air in and out but that it is not diffusing into my lungs/bloodstream--like the pressure is off in the lung itself.

[misstraci]

Alex, I'm sorry you have discomfort too. I wish we could put into words what we really felt. It's just hard to even describe to others.

Lemons, when i say inflamed, i imagine my lungs inside are swollen, or like a stuffed up nose, its just "congested" sort of and it's hard to get breathe in and out.

[Hope]

Not giving advice, just saying what seems to help me when I am having breathing problems. I think my breathing problems come often from not enough blood being in the lung area at that time (like a lot of other problems with pots, such as digestion) so I repeatedly go up on my toes and back down, which of course sends blood upward, just like when you point your toes before getting out of bed helps with dizziness (for me). I also use a heated rice pack on my lung area to help blood circulation, and taking a bath always seems to help my circulation in general so if I can't get comfortable breathing I hop in the tub. A shower does not work the same.

[bellgirl]

I call it my achy, breaky heart, Mitral Valve Prolapse, sometimes worse than others, in extreme temperatures or over doing it. My lungs feel pressure and tightness at times, too. I have asthma and sleep apnea, too; so there are other issues for me, as well. Since my beta blocker has leveled off, it is easier to breathe, so to better days....sometimes the meds effects can be worse than the disorder, but I'm glad I now have treatment. It helps From what I have read L-carnitine helps with heart pain. I've been on it a few months; I take it every couple of days, and it has helped with my angina!

[leydengs]

I can totally relate, I have times where I am struggling to take a deep breath. I try really hard but I just cannot get a good, deep breath so I yawn a lot. It's funny, I always looked bored in sports because I would be on the basketball court yawning when I would get short of breath ha!

[Guest maia]

Every time i stand my chest feels wrong. The only time it is comfortalble is when i am laying down or sitting curled up and leaning on something. it was a year and countless trips to the ER thinking i was having a heart attack before someone told me that this was 'normal' in POTS-and i think that was someone from this site.

For me it feels like my diaphram is pushing up. It feels like there is a rubber band around the outside of my ribs squeezing them. It feels like my lungs are stuck to the inside of my ribs. It feels like my lungs are over expanded and pushing out against my ribs and stomache and heart and they feel like they are burning-but with no heat-if that makes any sense. It feels like something is squeezing-a gripping sort of squeezing-in the middle of my chest around my sternum. Breathing? Its more like panting. Its like short of breath but not air hungry like from exercising. Its like an exercise in itself and its exhausting. The longer i try and stay upright the worse it gets and the longer it takes to pass once i lay down. If it hasnt gotten too bad i can sit curled up and leaning over a little and it will get better. It happens recling too, which i find odd because if i am upright to the same degree and leaning it seems to releive it. go figure. Im still not sure if that is really exactly how its feeling, but that is as close as i think im going to get.

Right now though, who knows. Ive just been zombied by accupuncture and can barely stand but when i do i seem to be non stop yawning instead of breathing-actually im a bit psyched that this is coming out coherently. I think the lobotomized fogginess part of it is passing, lol.

Leydengs, your comment gave me a little chuckle... and basket ball court, thats fabulous! toss a couple balls for me!

[E246]

I can only think it is caused by vasoconstiction. I am trying beetroot juice - lowers blood pressure and vasodilates.