Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Shortness of breath revisited

Hi all. Over time I've had incidences of shortness of breath which would last for a while and then go away.
It's come back but this time it's been about 2 weeks of struggling to get a full breath. Sometimes it's easy to get one but most of the time it just cannot be done.
Lying down makes breathing more difficult (night sweats to go along with this), especially at night so I now have to start my sleep in the recliner.

Anyone have the same symptoms?

I'm seeing my respirologist again this Thursday. Had the pulmonary tests done 5 months ago and they found nothing. Having air wouldn't help he said.

There must be a physical reason but I have no clue where to start except to ask here again! Ideas?
I had been taking Ibuprophen and Celebrex (not at the same time) but have stopped that for about 3 days now. Thinking of allergic reactions.

Thanks.

Have they measured your rib expantion? You may be fusing and losing rib expansion I find that when I have flares in my mid back I struggle more with breathing and I just found out that Im starting to fuse there. I would look into it.

As for night sweats I get them all the time some nights they are so bad I have to get up and shower and change the sheets (my husband loves being woken up for that lol)

But do bring this up to your doctor it could be anything

Hope this helped
Nat

Hi Timo,
Mine comes and goes and comes and goes. My ribcage hardens from the A.S. What help's me the most is to do the doorway stretches? Do you know which one's I am talking about? Stand in a doorway with your hands on each side of the the doorway. Put one foot in front and stretch out your ribcage. Do this about 12 times to start with, several times a day. Do it in the middle of the night to if it hurt's and you can't breath.

Try to lay flat on your stomach with your arm's apart while you sleep too. When this happened last I collapsed in downtown Portland! Miserable . Let me know if this help's.

Hi Timo,

Just wondering if you have consulted a cardiologist since the shortness of breath started? If yes, did s/he do an echocardiogram on you? I ask because the way you describe your symptoms perfectly matches symptoms I had years ago that turned out to be heart-related. Send me a pm when you see this and I'll fill you in.

Brad

Timo,
Could it be asthma? inhalers have helped me a lot

Does laying down constrict your air passage = C-pap with oxygen for me

Heart valve flutter = mine is worse and the heart wall is thickening, which at times causes those symptoms.

sinus infection = really can show it's self in that way.

get well soon!

Best way I have of coping with night sweats is to wear an old cotton t-shirt to bed. It absorbs sweat really well, and is easy enough to pull off and toss out of bed. I generally only do one sweat that is bad enough to need to change clothes, so that definitely saves having to change sheets.

I don't remember if you have been to a cardiologist or not, but I had symptoms that mirrored yours several yrs. ago, and turned out to be a badly congestive heart.
J.R.

Oh no, I wish you weren't getting this again Timo - it sounds worrisome and rough to cope with, in disrupting your ability to get a good sleep!

I am no help. I get short spells of a sense of shortness of breath (but not worse when laying down) that make me nervous but my heart tests were ok, so I suppose it must be the stupid AS in my case. I get the familiar band of pressure around my ribs, but the sense of a weight sitting directly on my breastbone seemed different somehow. Luckily I haven't had it in a few months.

I know you've had heart and pulmonary tests... did you have a CT scan of your lungs as part of that?

It is rotten if you have to sleep sitting up and does sound like you need to go back to the drawing board for tests.

I hope someone here has suggestions for you - 2 weeks is a long go.

Hugs!!

Sounds all too familiar, do drink more water than you want. your sweating it out involuntarily. plus I know your distressed, with all the pain.
Sounds like you need to get on the phone, and get appointments to a heart and lung doctor.
The night seats tell you something is wrong, this unknown cause is bound to create anxiety, whether you realize it or not. so its good to seek counsel for the head also.

Thats how my heart problems started took 3 years to find out.Bradford