Anyone else breathless after cold/flu viruses?

[OverTheHills]

This symptom pre-dates ME for me.

Its not asthma (I've been given any number of inhalers to try) or COPD (I've had breath graphs done too -don't remember what they are called ).
It lasts a variable amount of time after the virus, from a week to several months.
It can be very severe - meaning I had to walk really slowly and stop frequently going up a flight of stairs, this was without ME and I was very aerobically fit at the time.

Does anyone else get this? I wonder whether it might be a heart thing?

OTH

 

[jewel]

Strangely enough, I do. It is different than being too fatigued to walk up stairs, rather being out of breath quickly after walking what usually would be an acceptable distance (for instance, up the stairs in my own house-- a divided flight of steps with a landing in the middle, not particularly steep). Its cause has never been determined-- asthma etc. ruled out, so docs not concerned. But it can take weeks to months after a virus, as you stated above. J.

 

[jeffrez]

Yes, that's a relatively common CFS symptom, I believe. Mitochondrial dysfunction and possibly cardiomyopathy probably account for it, or else in some cases it might perhaps be neurological (sympathetic/parasympathetic imbalance, acetylcholinergic dysfunction, etc.)

 

[OverTheHills]

Thanks for replies - glad to know I'm not the only one. You're right Jewel it is quite distiinct from background ME symptoms.

In my case it pre-dated ME by more than a decade, at the time I was hiking through hills and mountains regularly and healthy as a :horse: so it was a bit of a shocker to have to allow extra time to get to work as I could only walk very, very slowly and go up two steps at a time. Had to break up sentences for air too. And yes, my doctors have always put it in the too hard basket as well.

I guess I'm one of those sudden onset but with sinister warning signs people

OTH

 

[LaurelW]

:Retro mad:That's happening to me right now. Still trying to get over it after having cough/bronchitis that started back in June.

 

[FernRhizome]

The problem I have is that anything that gets into my lungs, bacterial infection, congestion, toxic exposure....can take many weeks before my lungs can get the stuff back out. Just as with dysautonoima circulation is sluggish, so is the ability of my lungs to expel anything. Lungs are smooth muscle just like the circulatory system. I find that what helps is hot ginger tea or those ginger chews, they seem to stimulate my lungs to help move stuff out. It's scary to have lungs not working very well! I had a toxic reaction air freshenor a few years ago and it took six weeks to get the stuff out of my lungs. It can seem confusing as the lungs sort of freeze up and it makes for more hyperventiliation when upright...but then sudenly stuff will finally start to loosen up and then things clear out and breathing gets better.

 

[LaurelW]

Well that would explain why the inhalers aren't working for me. Get wheezing, bronchial spasm and can't breathe if I talk more than an hour a day.