Should I go BACK to my doctor about this? Breathing problems

In My Humble Opinion
1

After reading the “reasons to go to the emergency room” thread, I’m wondering if I need to do more about this problem.

Here’s the situation. For the past several months, it has hurt to breath deeply. This seemed to start around the time rjk was in the hospital to have a heart valve replaced. I can breath fine if I’m breathing normally or shallowly, but a deep breath will hurt, and it feels like it’s in the lungs, sort of like chest congestion - most of the time. Some times it just feels like the muscles that control the rib cage

I also get “out of breath” very quickly - like just walking from one side of the house to the other will leave me winded. And it either hurts more, or is more obvious, when I’m breathing hard.

I went to my doctor a couple of months ago about this. I was mostly concerned about heart problems because my father died from heart problems after two bypass surgeries. He happened to have a person in the office that day doing stress tests, so I had one that day.

Note: during the stress test, it hurt to breath at the beginning, but that went away by the middle of the test.

My stress test came back showing no problems. I was told to “lose weight”.

Other things that may or may not be affecting this:
I have a pain in my right side around the bottom of the rib cage that shows up about once a month. I’ve been diagnosed with a duodenal “pre-ulcer” and have taken nexium every day for several years to keep that at bay, but it may be that the past few months the nexium hasn’t been working as well as it should (it always got worse once a month)

I have a pain on the left side of my rib cage that flares up once a month (not on the same days as the other one) as well.

Both of these will also make it hard to get a deep breath. Sometimes, one of these is painful enough that I take a vicodin so that I can get to sleep.
So, should I see if getting more exercise would help, or should I go back to my doctor and tell him that I need to find out why it hurts to breath deeply?

2

Yes, hon, you need to see a doctor.

3

Yes, you need to see a doctor.

How has the weight loss been going? IME, doctors sometimes (rightly or wrongly can be debated in another thread) fixate on obesity and attribute all maladies to the weight. If you can shed a few pounds and still have the symptoms, they’re much more likely to take a closer look.

4

Yes. This is what primary care providers are for. You apparently have recurrent pain that has not been completely investigated. It’s great that you had a negative stress test but that’s not the end of the work-up. Also, this:

is concerning. Now I don’t know you and I don’t know anything about your lifestyle. It is possible to be so out of shape that even that minimal level of exertion causes shortness of breath but that’s a diagnosis of exclusion. As in your doc has investigated and ruled out the various scary causes of such limited exercise tolerance.

5

Ask them to check for pneumonia–you can have that for a long time without realizing, till one day you wake up unconscious.

6

While it might be wise to go back to the doctor, be prepared for them to not know what’s going on.

I’ve had a similar problem for the past 7-8 years. Every so often I just get out of breath, for me it was walking up a short flight of stairs. I talked to my doctor and she flipped out. I’ve had two stress tests, a few lung tests and a bunch of other tests as well.

I was told I was out of shape, even though I’m a competitive swimmer, and then I was told that I’m out of shape for walking the stairs. So for the last few years I’ve walked up 14 flights of stairs twice a day at work. I still have the same problem.

I’ve given up on going to the doctor about this problem, especially after the last time that I was told to go to an acupuncturist. I’ve been to a few different doctors about my problem and none had a good answer except for learn to live with it. I have, but there are times that it really sucks, especially when it comes out of nowhere like just sitting on the couch.

If you do happen to figure it out let me know so I can look into it.

7

Most of you symptoms are nebulous except for the shortness of breath walking around the room. Most of us could live comfortably with 15% heart capacity. We would not experience much of anything. Your symptoms suggest you are into that remaining 15% and need medical intervention. Together with possibly bad genes, you need to get to the doctor fast.

8

…what they’re all saying. While at the doctor’s office, ask about getting checked for hiatus hernia - it’s basically a manufacturing defect in which the stomach is squeezing thru the hiatus, poking up into the chest, distorting the diaphragm (causing breathing problems), probably impacting the vagus nerve in a negative way - and can do other insidious things, like tachycardia & arrhythmia. It’s like being tortured from the inside, and negates the effect of having a perfectly healthy heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, no diabetes, etc.

9

It shouldn’t hurt to breath. Go see a doctor.

10

Also, if that doctor doesn’t help you, go to another one. You deserve a good doctor who will help you.

11

Part of the problem is that I am overweight and out of shape. Add in that I have ADD and thus no time sense, while I think that the out of breath thing is non-linear (i.e. sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t), I couldn’t swear to it. Because I don’t really notice it one way or another when I don’t have the problem. (Although my stress test back two/three months ago, by the end of my time on the bicycle, I was having that “My legs don’t want to hold me up but damn, I feel GOOD” reaction that sometimes comes from exercise. Second wind with a vengeance? And my chest stopped hurting about the time I actually started feeling the pedals )

I am going to spend a month tracking this so I have something better than “It hurts” to talk to my doctor about. Can I get suggestions about what I should be taking notes on? Besides when and where it hurts…

12

Here are the things I want to know about pain:

Where does it hurt?
When does it hurt? (constantly? intermittently? day? night?)
When did it begin hurting?
Is there a pattern to the pain?
How does it hurt? (aching? throbbing? stabbing? twisting? burning?)
Does the pain radiate?
On a scale of 0-10, how bad is it right now? What’s the number when it’s at its worst? What’s the number when it’s at its best?
What makes it better? (massage, heat/ice, movement, rest, medication, diversion, repositioning? other?)
What makes it worse? (massage, heat/ice, movement, rest, medication, diversion, repositioning? other?)
How often do you need to take medication for the pain?
When you take or do something for the pain, what’s your pain number 1/2 hour later? 1 hour later? 4 hours later?

Here are the things I want to know about shortness of breath:
When did it start?
What makes it better?
What makes it worse?
Are you wheezing (sounds like a musical whistle tone)? If so, stop reading my questions and go to the ER.
Any coughing? If so, is it productive or dry? If productive, what color are you coughing up? Clear, white, yellow, green, blue? Is it liquidy or solidy or frothy or bloody? If it’s frothy or bloody, stop reading my questions and go to the ER.
Are you having any chest pains, lightheadedness, dizziness or headache with your shortness of breath? And pain in the shoulder or arm, or tingling in your fingers? If so, you know where to go.
Are your legs/ankles/feet puffy? If you press firmly, does your skin bounce right back or take a few seconds - or minutes - to rebound?
Firmly press a toenail. See how it turns white? Now let go. How many seconds until the nail bed is pink again? If it’s more than 3 seconds, don’t wait a month to see the doctor. (Not an ER visit, but a see-the-doctor ASAP visit.)

I’m a nurse, not a doctor, but I suspect a doctor’s evaluation will include similar questions, and the more of them you can answer accurately, the better. So those are the things I’d focus on tracking.

13

she knows what she’s talking about - she explained why we need gallbladders :slight_smile:

14

Yeah go to the doctor, you need a chest x ray at the very least. Pleuritic chest pain will definitely buy you one of those in the ED.