Shallow Breathing

[Foggy01]

Hey guys,

I don't know where else to turn to. I have this very troubling symptom the last few days. I was wondering if anyone else with dysautonomia has had it.

Essentially when I'm focused on my breathing, such as when I'm relaxing or just about to go to sleep, I don't feel the full impulse to inhale fully, and I end up with really shallow breathing.

I'll check the oximeter and the spO2 is indeed dropping, and I can feel that I'm not getting enough air, but nothing is telling me to breathe deeper in my chest.

I think my breathing is working when it's involuntary, like when I'm not focused on it. But when I'm focused on it I don't get the full impulse to breathe properly anymore.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks,

Foggy01

[Pistol]

Yes @Foggy01, I have. At times, out of the blue, I get a fullness in my left chest ( not pain ) and feel like I cannot breathe deep enough, or as if I cannot breathe sufficiently. It is not shortness of breath per se - just a feeling of insufficient breathing. It may take several deep breaths before I can get that deep, "satisfying" inhalation and still it is not enough. Then I - of course - become focused on my breathing and it gets even worse. When this first happened my doc did all kind of testing, including eventually a CT of the chest and all was normal. My O2 sats are normally low normal ( 95% is normal for me ) without this sensation and it does not drop during these episodes in my case. We never really found a cause of this and I learned to live with it.  

What I have found is that when I relax my neck muscles my breathing will become sluggish and I was told by my PT that this is normal. I used to get PT for a pinched nerve in my neck and had to actively work on relaxing those muscles, so I am aware of this. Maybe this happens to you since you mention it happens when you relax to go to sleep? 

47 minutes ago, Foggy01 said:

I'll check the oximeter and the spO2 is indeed dropping,

I think that shallow breathing like that will naturally drop your O2 Sats, so I would not fret on that. You could ask your doc for pulmonary function testing - they check how deep you are able to inhale and how much your lungs are able to expand when inhaling. That would rule out any true respiratory causes. But maybe just knowing that this happens to others as well could reassure you. Be well!!!!!!!