Hi ladies,
Well, yet, another saga in this peri insanity. About a week ago, a few hrs. after going to bed, I sat up suddenly with this feeling like I couldn't breathe! I felt as though I had to gasp to get air. Now, I've had "anxiety" before in life, but not for MANY years now. But, I remembered this sort of thing from then, but not this severe! I got up from bed, paced, in order to calm down. I made myself a Martini to relax, sat on my front porch, and TRIED to calm down. An hr. later, the drink kicked in, and I was able to relax enough and go to bed. I have since, spent the last 7 days in torment! Some days I could breath normally, and some not. It felt as though my chest and my back (lungs) were "tight" and very constricted, so I couldn't really get a good breath, I coudlnt get one of those really deep breaths that go all the way down into your lungs. The breathing problem became worse over the days, until I was afraid to go to bed. This was insane! I tried Benedryl, which did help, but the next day, the same dose of Benedryl didn't do a thing. At this point, I was becoming panicky. Finally, Thurs. night got bad, and I stayed up the whole night into friday morn....I had to pace and breathe, and even then, I just couldn't get that air! I became lightheaded, and felt very detached. My legs began to feel "weird" and tingly, and weak. I was thinking it was pneumonia or something. Finally, my husband and I decided to go to the ER, we would meet my dr. there.
We spent 3 hrs. there, doing all sorts of tests. After what seemed like all day, and lots of poking and proding,,,,,he told me it was "just" anxiety, since all my tests came back fine, and in fact I was in great shape! GEEEZ! He begins to tell me that this is also HORMONAL, since I am in perimenopause right now, and that breathing problems like this are NOT UNCOMMON for women in peri menopause, or menopause! I told him I kind of wondered if this wasn't hormonal, because, 21yr.s ago, I had a very similar incident, but not as INTENSE. I was sitting on the couch with my husband, watching TV, when suddenly I felt as though I couldn't breathe. He massaged my back, and it helped SLIGHTLY, but I became slightly panicky. I lived with that for 2 days that time, and finally went to the base (my husband was in the AIR FORCE) dr. He listened to my heart, lungs, etc...took blood and urine (just like this time), and we left, with him basically saying, from what he could ascertain, I was "fine" and that I need to calm down....NO KIDDING! Well, the next day, we called for the results of the lab tests, and he told me I was preg. (with our second son). Within a few days, that breathing problem subsided, and it NEVER came back, TILL NOW! 21 yrs. later! But, my point is, obviously it must have been caused by HORMONES then too, since I was very newly preg. I told this to my dr. yesterday at the hosp. and he totally agreed, HORMONES can MOST DEFINATLEY do this!
He gave me Zanax, and a prescription for more, and that was taht. I will see him again soon, so he can give me SERETONIN, he told me that apparently at this time in life, the lack of this, (I think) can cause all sorts of anxiety disorders. So, anyway, I figured I post this in case anyone else is suffereing from something similar. The Zanax has really helped, and it completley opened the airways, thank God!