Trouble Breathing During the Day

[awritersmind1]

I've been having trouble breathing during the day. When I study, my breathing gets so shallow that I start to feel really bad. Sort of like I'm suffocating even though I'm still sort of breathing. I've been tested for asthma in the past and only had it very slight, and it was only exercised induced. This isn't wheezing either. So today I turned the CPAP down to 4 and wore it why I studied for half an hour to see what it read. Obviously I know it's not intended for that, but I've never gotten anyone to listen to me about this and it really effects me. My machine classified what happened as this.

Hypopnea: 1 event
RERAs: 7 events. Most were around 60 seconds.

Any thoughts?

[Julie]

Cpap machines won't give any kind of legitimate stats for 'awake' breathing - don't try to make sense out of anything you might see... and maybe stop in any case because you could be working yourself up to a good case of anxiety for nothing.

You need to be asleep for the machine to function usefully and becoming aware of your awake breathing, machine or no machine, is not something you want to encourage.

[Suzjohnson]

You might get some interesting information from wearing an oximeter while you study. If it is a recording unit, you could download the data and see if your shallow breathing is having a negative impact on you. I've done that a couple of times and have been startled to see how low my pulse goes when I am reading and concentrating on something.

Suz

[zeleni]

I have a similar problem and have tried to link it to my sleep apnea. My sleep doc is adamant that sleep and wake breathing are two separate issues. I haven't found a very strong link in my own research.

I did come across hyperventilation syndrome and it seems to make sense - and corroborates why my oxygen levels were fine anytime I've gone into urgent care, etc when I've experienced these issues. The CO2 is actually elevated and causing problems. The only answer I've ever been given from a doctor is stress.

Please keep us updated if you learn anything more! And good luck.

[awritersmind1]

I'll have to get my oximeter back from my brother. He's only 27, snores REALLY loud, and has had high BP since high school. He is bigger, but I think OSA is a possibility cause he tends to feel weird and gets tired and stuff like that.

I get so frustrated when doctors always go, "Oh, it's stress." Especially being female. UGH! It's like they're answer for everything. It's like more than anything I'm super relaxed when it happens. I'll have to find someone to go to. I can't even get my number to go down at night according to this machine...

[DavidCarolina]

Ive been down this road for working on two years, in varying amounts, starting before I was diagnosed with OSA at Mayo Clinic.

The first rule of thumb is that MOST PHYSICIANS dont know anything about it. This sounds harsh, but they only look for the obvious things, and cannot think outside the box (or simply want you out of their office within five minutes).

The second rule of thumb is that it can be COMPLICATED figuring out whats going on, doing correlations between OSA, immune disorders, blood issues, lifestyle, weight, deficiencies, etc. etc.

If you go to the ER, they'll do an EKG and oximeter and bloodwork. Then they'll tell you in most cases youre "FINE" and that you have "ANXIETY". Anxiety is code legalese for I have no idea whats wrong with you. Then youre on to the specialist track, pawned off on somebody else.

We're also forgetting that most OSA patients are diagnosed well into their disorder. The central nervous system is damaged to various degrees. Some of the people on this board are lucky to get immediate care, most dont.

Ive spent a good deal of time researching this topic, PM me if you want access to any of it.

I suspect often times its a combination of factors, or one problem causing successive problems that leads to real problems. As usual, the medical universe rarely discovers your causitive trigger. They treat your symptoms, most often with drugs.

[Pugsy]

"Oh, it's stress." Especially being female. UGH! It's like they're answer for everything.

Just wait till menopause time and you get hormone changes getting the blame for things along with "stress".

[awritersmind1]

LOL! Oh I can just wait... Although hopefully by that point I'll be so moody I'll actually have the guts to bite their heads off with the comments that roll around in my head.

[BlackSpinner]

[quote="awritersmind1"

I get so frustrated when doctors always go, "Oh, it's stress." Especially being female. UGH! It's like they're answer for everything. It's like more than anything I'm super relaxed when it happens. I'll have to find someone to go to. I can't even get my number to go down at night according to this machine...[/quote]

Get your data into sleepyhead and post it here.
Until you have the therapy under control it is quite possible that it is related.

When concentrating people often start to breathe very shallowly or even stop all together. Yoga is a good exercise program that teaches you how to breathe and makes you aware of your breathing.

[awritersmind1]

I've been trying to figure that out. I was just searching through old posts and I see about posting the image to a website then copying the link from there? I'm not very computer savy... :-/ Probably sound quite whiny. I apologize.

[BlackSpinner]

Yes get signed up with Flicker or photobucket or the google site. Then click on the IMG button above and copy the link.

In Flicker there is a "share" button you can click. You want the BCC code and you can just copy and paste it here without using the img button

[awritersmind1]

This is the same image I posed from my question about the hypopneas. I suppose I shouldn't have started another thread but it started off as an entirely different topic.

[Pugsy]

If you use Photobucket...it offers a box with 4 different forms of url addresses...copy the last line in the box and paste it into your forum message....no need to use the forum editor IMG bracket because that address includes the brackets.
You then will see the code address for the image.
Click on preview to check to see if your image shows up..if it does...click submit...if it doesn't you did something wrong.

[awritersmind1]

Thanks! That's what I tried this time so here's hoping... It's working on my end.

[Drowsy Dancer]

Anxiety is code legalese for I have no idea whats wrong with you.

I don't know that I agree with this in all cases. I think that anxiety can be overdiagnosed, or there could be an underlying other cause of the anxiety, but anxiety disorders, including GAD ("generalized anxiety disorder," which sounds like a catchall but isn't) are very real indeed.