Shallow/Infrequent Breathing

Anyone else get this? Feels like I'm gasping for air. I had asthma as a kid and had an inhaler. Anyone else try albuterol or anything? My doc is rxing it. Maybe it will help.

You mean sometimes or always? I get it sometimes with a mild version most of the time.

I get too much side effects from inhalers, but they do help, especially albuterol. Antihistamine helps somewhat, and avoiding some foods. Can't say which foods are the worst for my breathing.

I've never been asthmatic, but I had that problem for about a year. I finally began to realize that it was a reaction to one of my medications. I still don't know which it was, but I spent about a year weaning myself off of everything I was taking and the problem has now left. At the time I was convinced I was getting asthma. I was on cymbalta, then zoloft to get off the cymbalta, nuvigil and ambien. If you take any of those then perhaps that's the problem? I personally can't be sure that specific drugs cause my issues or if it's just that my body doesn't want anything un natural in it.

Your question just prompted me to do some googling. I never really understood what was causing that and during that time I had a shit load of weird lesions on my skin....I contacted someone at Tufts and long story short we came to a conclusion that it was a result of histamine. The following may be of interest to you because histamine can also cause brochoconstriction and perhaps you're having some kind of an issue with a medication elevating your histamine....

Histamine exerts its actions by combining with specific cellular histamine receptors. The four histamine receptors that have been discovered in humans are designated H1 through H4, and are all G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Histamine receptors in insects, like Drosophila melanogaster, are histamine-gated chloride channels that function in inhibition of neurons.[6] Histamine-gated chloride channels are implicated in neurotransmission of peripheral sensory information in insects, especially in photoreception/vision. Two receptors subtypes have been identified in Drosophila, HClA and HClB.[7] There are no known GPCRs for histamine in insects.
Type Location Function
H1 histamine receptor Found on smooth muscle, endothelium, and central nervous system tissue Causes, bronchoconstriction, bronchial smooth muscle contraction, vasodilation, separation of endothelial cells (responsible for hives), and pain and itching due to insect stings; the primary receptors involved in allergic rhinitis symptoms and motion sickness; sleep regulation.

2. Bronchoconstriction (definition) is defined as the narrowing of the airways in the lungs (bronchi and bronchioles). Air flow in air passages can get restricted due to 3 factors: - a spasmodic state of the smooth muscles in bronchi and bronchioles - an inflammation of the airways - excessive production of mucus due to an allergic reaction or irritation caused by mechanical friction of air (due to shear stress), overcooling or drying of airways. Bronchoconstriction is common in people with respiratory problems, such as asthma, COPD, and cystic fibrosis.
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I'm one of the least knowledgable persons on this forum, but I do believe that in some weird awkward way this could be part of your problem.

Be well

Judi.. take care.. your lesions were they like lots of freckles? Take care if you had breathing issues and spots on skin.. it could be the mastocytosis. I suggest you do a search of that and have a look at the different skin spots it can cause.

Im not at all saying this is your issue but maybe it will help someone here. Shallow breathing along with infrequent breathing.. can be caused by anxiety.. when one is anxious one can start breath holding without really realising it.

have you checked your BP or HR when this happens ? I get very short of breath, and it is seems to be connected to my cardio system.

thank you for your response taniaaust1. They sort of look like morgellens, but they dont have a random pattern - they show up in the exact same location of both sides of my body which lead me to believe that they might have something to do with nerves - it's my impression that nerves are the only thing that are like a mirror image ...(im at a loss for words in describing this) having said that they also sort of look like mast cell tumors. almost all of them are gone now and they get worse when I put any kind of chemical in my body and they start to go away when I take less medication. Have you experienced mastocytosis? I went to a ton of doctors over the years about them and they all said they didn't know what they were and to just leave them alone.

Well I do get the anxiety. Don't know really. HR and BP is normal. Like I said it is 24 7 shallow and infrequent breathing.

Yes, yes, yes! I posted a reply to another person in a different thread talking exactly about this:

"Bronchodilators and Alt Treatment Log"

If it is related to histamine overload, I would expect lowered blood pressure with some increase in heart rate. Histamine would cause vasodilation leading to lowered blood pressure while higher and compensatory levels of epinephrin (adrenaline) would lead to increased heart rate.

I feel like I've hijacked this thread. I now have questions and I think I should start a new thread ...

I just changed my mind I hate to have three threads going discussing just about the same things..... so if one is experiencing what you are describing as well as what taniaaust1 posted about mastocytosis, what would be the first step one would take to find out if they have a histamine overload or mastocytosis .... and are these one in the same? I have no doctor and have had as you can expect horrible luck trying to find someone....so any suggestions would be appreciated because I've got to be honest, I've been scared out of my mind lately because I don't know what to do or where to look. The heart rate situation is really scaring me.

Re: Shallow/Infrequent Breathing
"Anyone else get this? Feels like I'm gasping for air. I had asthma as a kid and had an inhaler. Anyone else try albuterol or anything? My doc is rxing it. Maybe it will help. "

Yes, I noticed fairly early on with fibro & ME/CFS that I only breathe when I have to. So when I breathe, it tends to be in deep breaths, gasps perhaps. I think not breathing very often is an attempt by my body not to feel how I feel. I also think anxiety about my mind and body being so altered contributes.

But for me, this feeling is different than being short of breath. I can catch my breath just fine if I consciously breathe deeply. The only problem is, the moment I stop thinking about controlling my breath, my body goes right back to taking in air only at the last possible moment. This has been going on now for about 7 years. Breathing mindfully is the only thing that helps me, and I can't seem to remember to do it very often. Wish I could offer more help!

Pure water is a chemical.

Be careful with how you use to word chemical because you are perpetuating the myth of manmade=bad. It's not fair on everyone else.

Hi, xks201.

I think there are several possibilities that need to be differentiated:

1. Constriction in the airways.
2. Respiratory center in the brainstem lowering the respiratory depth and rate in an effort to raise the CO2 level, which is low because of mitochondrial dysfunction.
3. Weakness of the muscles used for breathing, due to mito dysfunction in them.

It could be more that one of these, but maybe you can rule one or more of them out.

Best regards,

Rich

For me personally that is how it feels/seems based on my recent experiences. What word would you suggest I use? I'm willing to change and I'm willing to learn, but I am not up to speed like most of you.

Well, mastocytosis means constant activation of mast cells. Mast cells release a bunch of histamine together with other substances such as tryptase. The "gold standard" for mastocytosis appears to be a test called urinary N-methylhistamine.

Rich my blood CO2 was normal..in the top range if that means anything.

Hi, xks.

It's hard to say for sure without some testing, I think, but having high-normal CO2 with the sensation you have described suggests that it is not the one involving the respiratory center.
That leaves the constricted airway or the weak respiratory muscles, or both. I think if you could have pulmonary function tests run by a pulmonologist, you could find out which it is.
The fact that you have a history of asthma suggests that it might be an airway issue. Another possibility that I didn't mention before would be a problem in transporting oxygen from the blood to the cells. In addition to the pulmonary function tests, you might need an arterial blood gases analysis and a venous blood gases analysis (though the latter is not as commonly done) to look for that. A pulmonologist should be able to sort this out.

Best regards,

Rich