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Treatment for shortness of breath (air hunger)?

Messages
54
Location
USA
I've had pulmonary function tests where they check lung capacity to take in air by volume; cardio pulmonary tests, where they use a stationary bike to stress both lungs and heart to check for any issues; even a diaphragm sound test, where they stuck a long needle with a microphone in my side to listen to that muscle work. All came out great, but I still have air hunger.
When you tell the doctors about 'shortness of breath' their first question is 'do you smoke'? then they look for asthma and bronchial constriction. ME/CFS has none of that, so make sure they don't just dismiss your gasping for air as one of those.
 
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dave11

Senior Member
Messages
158
Here is another possibility. Physical activity, mental or emotional stress, or dieting, can fatigue the HPA axis. This results in reduced production of cortisol and other hormones. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) due to hormonal disruption can cause severe and chronic shortness of breath, and tightness of the chest with back pressure. A low blood sugar level can cause severe symptoms without registering as abnormal in medical tests.
 

gregh286

Senior Member
Messages
976
Location
Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
I've had pulmonary function tests where they check lung capacity to take in air by volume; cardio pulmonary tests, where they use a stationary bike to stress both lungs and heart to check for any issues; even a diaphragm sound test, where they stuck a long needle with a microphone in my side to listen to that muscle work. All came out great, but I still have air hunger.
When you tell the doctors about 'shortness of breath' their first question is 'do you smoke'? then they look for asthma and bronchial constriction. ME/CFS has none of that, so make sure they don't just dismiss your gasping for air as one of those.


Yes it's a tough one. It's been a symptom of mine for 10 years. Severity correlates with cfs score.
Always 98 or 99% saturated as well. No wheezing...there's no blockage.

Cells not uptaking O2. Basically histotoxic hypoxia. Poor exchanges of blood gases.
Tissues are deprived yet blood o2 is ok 👌

Really sums up cfs. Tissue deprived oxygen. Cells go anaerobic in absence of o2..lactate ensues. System slows up due to increasing lactate and vicous cycle continues.

Chronic hypoxia syndrome.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histotoxic_hypoxia
 
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gregh286

Senior Member
Messages
976
Location
Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
And lo and behold if you throw sugar into the mix when your hypoxic...what a fckin pantomime. You get a wild racing heart. I think the sugar in cells has no o2 to bind to and get shunted back into system poisonously

Had a diagram test as well. All that stuff. Had above average on the blow test with harsh air hunger at time.

I find for me best cure is nil food by mouth and about 4 litres of sparkling mineral water over the day. Seems to help clean out the blood from whatever body is seeing as the hypoxic trigger

Read about how it's disables atp production
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic...and-pharmaceutical-science/histotoxic-hypoxia
 
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Swim15

Senior Member
Messages
369
Ive learned a lot from some docs the past few months and seeing patients.

Ive come to learn that almost all cases (and every case Ive seen) of air hunger are cause by (1) babesia, (2) mold, (3) general lyme infection. I’d start with those.

My current doc diagnosed me with babesia the first 5min of my first appointment from that symptom alone and she was correct
 

Sophiedw

Senior Member
Messages
383
My illness is weird and responds well to supplements. Manganese used to get rid of my air hunger. Now I am in a different phase and when I take malic acid it makes me exceptionally breathless and like I might pass out (weird) my assumption was it was driving krebs and making me run out of free iron. (Glutathione and iron are cofactors between isocitrare and alpha ketoglutarate - or somewhere round there I think). I think liver and iron helped me with that.
All the best
 

Methyl90

Senior Member
Messages
273
My illness is weird and responds well to supplements. Manganese used to get rid of my air hunger. Now I am in a different phase and when I take malic acid it makes me exceptionally breathless and like I might pass out (weird) my assumption was it was driving krebs and making me run out of free iron. (Glutathione and iron are cofactors between isocitrare and alpha ketoglutarate - or somewhere round there I think). I think liver and iron helped me with that.
All the best

I have the same reaction with succinate acid and apple cider vinegar ... What you say definitely makes sense. I noticed that rice helps my reputation for air if well cooked ... probably some manganese is there. Regarding the liver I consume it once a week but it also has a lot of zinc and copper fifteen among the nutrients.
 

dave11

Senior Member
Messages
158
Now I am in a different phase and when I take malic acid it makes me exceptionally breathless
I have the same reaction with succinate acid and apple cider vinegar

Here is another possible perspective. I have to avoid apple cider vinegar and malic acid due to histamine intolerance. They give me shortness of breath. These links might be of interest:

https://healthfully.com/419366-allergic-reactions-to-malic-acid.html

https://mastcell360.com/healthy-foo...activation-syndrome-or-histamine-intolerance/

"Both maleic acid and succinic acid enhance anaphylactic histamine release from guinea pig lung in vitro–the degree of enhancement being of the same order of magnitude."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-1716.1973.tb05469.x

https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-malic-acid-and-maleic-acid/
 

Methyl90

Senior Member
Messages
273
@dave11 I want to think that every day the homeostasis of these reactions undergoes a change and what happened yesterday probably will not happen the next day ... beyond that as my methylation is settling apple cider vinegar does not give me plus that air hunger / shortness of breath reaction. Considering that histamine receptors are in every organ and that if methylation is low then histamine in general tends to be high ... I'm not surprised what I've noticed about myself. Both malic acid and succinic acid are also products of the krebs cycle ... if we push the cycle it can create further bottlenecks around. This is obviously my general experience 👍☺️ ... sulfur seems to worsen the asthmatic state, copper improves it and they are actually antagonists.
 

Methyl90

Senior Member
Messages
273
Potassium used to help my shortness of breath and air hunger.
Now it's calcium.

https://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/9780190862800.001.0001/med-9780190862800-chapter-77

  1. a. Symptoms include paresthesias of the lips and extremities, muscle cramps, and in severe cases, tetany, laryngospasm with wheezing, or life-threatening stridor.

Correct but as you specified the symptoms along with shortness of breath are wider .. very often in combination. Also using potassium alone is not a walk in the park ... it happened to me at night and only 50mg potassium gluconate destroyed my stomach ... there is an ionic formula in drops that can be purchased in the UK on the metabolics website which is very practical.
As for calcium, I personally have always had an increase in heart rate ... since it also acts on glutamate it could be a cause or an excess ... or it does not enter the cells and accumulates by imitating an excess.
 
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Crux

Senior Member
Messages
1,441
Location
USA
As for calcium, I personally have always had an increase in heart rate ... since it also acts on glutamate it could be a cause or an excess ... or it does not enter the cells and accumulates by imitating an excess.

I've never had trouble with potassium gluconate powder mixed in water except with high doses.

When I first started calcium chelate, there were some effects that possibly could have been 'start up', or
that it was lowering phosphorus which may have been elevated from calcium deficiency.

Elevated heart rate, low heart rate, elevated bp, low bp can occur with calcium deficiency.
 

Sophiedw

Senior Member
Messages
383
Here is another possible perspective. I have to avoid apple cider vinegar and malic acid due to histamine intolerance. They give me shortness of breath. These links might be of interest:

https://healthfully.com/419366-allergic-reactions-to-malic-acid.html

https://mastcell360.com/healthy-foo...activation-syndrome-or-histamine-intolerance/

"Both maleic acid and succinic acid enhance anaphylactic histamine release from guinea pig lung in vitro–the degree of enhancement being of the same order of magnitude."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-1716.1973.tb05469.x

https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-malic-acid-and-maleic-acid/

Always of interest, always. God bless these forums (I’m not sure im religious) but someone bless them.
 

gregh286

Senior Member
Messages
976
Location
Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
And lo and behold if you throw sugar into the mix when your hypoxic...what a fckin pantomime. You get a wild racing heart. I think the sugar in cells has no o2 to bind to and get shunted back into system poisonously

Had a diagram test as well. All that stuff. Had above average on the blow test with harsh air hunger at time.

I find for me best cure is nil food by mouth and about 4 litres of sparkling mineral water over the day. Seems to help clean out the blood from whatever body is seeing as the hypoxic trigger

Read about how it's disables atp production
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic...and-pharmaceutical-science/histotoxic-hypoxia

I got to bottom of my air hunger.
Bizarrely....like everything in this disease its not easy path.
So it increased with gluten but after gluten omission still it can persist.
Then it still comes with vodka or whiskey (supposedly gluten free as its distilled out). Also yeast extract can cause it.
So anything that began life in a wheat field is eligible....or a barley field or rye...any grain.
Safe list rice and potato.

Missing a grain breakdown enzymes? Who knows.

Whatever is taken out is not enough still react.

All the science of the day can say gluten out...gliandin out...still the trigger is pulled.

Grain out. Whatever form she takes.
 

Kadar

Senior Member
Messages
156
+1 for potassium. Potassium, b1, manganese, vitamin A, zinc - they all help to rise potassium absorption. I proved it to myself with my experience. If your adrenals experience stress - there're million reasons (infection/insulin intolerance/lots of sugar/heavy metals/overworking physically and mentally/etc) they have difficult time retaining electrolytes (including potassium) in the body

Or it could be anemia - then iron, vitamin C and b vitamins (especially b6, folate, b12 and biotin) might be needed
 
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