Breathing problems

If you normally have breathing problems, could this cause apnea while you are awake? Or could this in and of itself cause sleep apnea?

My problems? My lungs have an overly large capacity. Not sure why. When we lived in CA, the Endocrinologist did an Anscore test on me. Haven't seen any Drs. since that had the machine. So haven't had it done. It was a test for people with diabetic neuropathy. You had to be off of caffeine for a certain number of hours and also no food for a certain number of hours. Part of the test was done lying down and part was done standing up, bent over, and at certain angles. Very uncomfortable and hard for me to do. They put a big painful clamp over your nose so you could only breathe through your mouth and you had to do very controlled breathing. At times you had to take long deep breaths and at other times, rapid shallow breaths. The tech had me keep doing it over and over again because she said I was taking too much air into my lungs.

Bottom line, the test diagnosed a heart problem. The Dr. never told me what kind but I always looked over his shoulder as he typed. It said it was a problem with the valsalva. This Dr. IMO, was not a good one at all for a variety of reasons. He never ever gave me a copy of my labs or even let me see them, always telling me he would mail me something. If he did mail me something, it was always something he typed up.

Only after my GP finally ran a bunch of labs on me for my repeated complaints of a variety of symptoms did I discover that he was deliberately overmedicating me to make my hyperthyroid. Why? Because I was overweight! Now I will admit that on the surface, it would see that this would in fact cause weight loss. After all, people who are hyperthyroid do tend to lose weight. But it just doesn't work this way in the case of meds. They used to use this techinique back in the 40's and it didn't work then. You'd think a Dr. in the 90's would know this. I could go on and on about this guy but I won't. I no longer see him.

I also have a tendency to hold my breath and not realize it. This most often comes up at the dentist's office and sometimes at the Drs. office. Apparently if I am feeling uncomfortable, or in pain or whatever, I hold my breath. On many occasions, I've been told to breathe! I also notice I tend to hold my breath when doing my insulin, testing my blood, in tense situations, being stuck in traffic, etc.

When I had my sleep study, I was told I was breathing shallowly. I wonder if I tend to do this all the time? I remember when I was a kid, my mom's friend told me I wasn't breathing right. He said if one were to breathe correctly, deeply and fully and slowly, one would never get cold, even when it was freezing outside. I have tried this and it just doesn't work for me. Or it could be that the guy was totally off base.

Also, at times I just get winded. This was worse when we lived in CA and had two flights of stairs in our apartment. And I was hyperthyroid then so that could have been it. But if I went up the stairs, I would be gasping and unable to catch my breath. I would have to sit down and also have a cold drink. Going up the stairs would leave me sweating. We haven't had any stairs in our houses since and going up other people's stairs doesn't seem to do this to me now. But too much activity can.

Last week I was planting my vegetable garden. I had to stop after an hour because bending over like that was causing severe GERD and I was also feeling overheated and winded. I was out in the sun though and mananged to get a sunburn. I sat down for a while in front of a little fan and was then able to finish the planting with no problem.

Hi Julie, well first I want to tell you it's not always a good idea to look over the Dr's shoulder and then try to make sense of what you see on your own . There is no anatomical anything called a Valsalva, what it is a "manoeuver" the docs use to test how you exhale against pressure. Secondly, you've assumed that being put on medication for your thyroid is obviously a big mistake, but some of the symptoms you now have do sound like you might have a problem with it. I think you need to talk to your doctor again, possibly request an appt. with an endocrinologist who specializes in glands like thyroids, pancreas, etc. and give them a chance to sort out what is going on. If you don't always understand something, ask loudly for them to explain it again, but don't go second guessing them and don't just stop taking what could be a very important medication because you've maybe misunderstood what it was. So sorry to sound so preachy, but I'm not very good at being roundabout . PS - no one can "make" you hyperthyroid, all they can do is prescribe medication to counteract hyPOthyroidism which may seem like it's making you hyPERthyroid, but that's just semantics and not 'actual'.

Julie wrote:Hi Julie, well first I want to tell you it's not always a good idea to look over the Dr's shoulder and then try to make sense of what you see on your own . There is no anatomical anything called a Valsalva, what it is a "manoeuver" the docs use to test how you exhale against pressure. Secondly, you've assumed that being put on medication for your thyroid is obviously a big mistake, but some of the symptoms you now have do sound like you might have a problem with it. I think you need to talk to your doctor again, possibly request an appt. with an endocrinologist who specializes in glands like thyroids, pancreas, etc. and give them a chance to sort out what is going on. If you don't always understand something, ask loudly for them to explain it again, but don't go second guessing them and don't just stop taking what could be a very important medication because you've maybe misunderstood what it was. So sorry to sound so preachy, but I'm not very good at being roundabout . PS - no one can "make" you hyperthyroid, all they can do is prescribe medication to counteract hyPOthyroidism which may seem like it's making you hyPERthyroid, but that's just semantics and not 'actual'.

I didn't assume anything. I developed a thyroid problem when I was pregnant. I went from hypo to hyper and back again. Finally settling into hypo.

When I developed symptoms that I now know are hyperthyroid, and my GP demanded to know why I was being kept so hyper and also developing a rapid heart beat, he (my then Endo) then said he was keeping my hyper BECAUSE I was overweight. He had done the labs many times. He knew I was hyperthyroid. He wanted it that way. When I complained of the symptoms, he kept telling me I should be happy because I was on death's door when I came to him and now I was alive. After all, wasn't alive better than dead?

As for making people hyperthyroid, yes it has been done. It was a very common practice in the 1940's to give overweight people with perfectly normal thyroids, thyroid meds to make them hyper. Of course once the meds were stopped this condition stopped. I do know what I am talking about. I know people this was done to and the older Drs. I have seen have mentioned it. It is very much false thinking. We know it now but they didn't know it then.

I have since moved on to two other states. The Endo. in NY kept dropping my dose of levoxyl but I was still having hyper symptoms. I did get my labs there and I was clearly hyper. He refused to take me off the med (I was on the lowest possible dose without splitting a pill) because he said I might go hypo if he did.

Well, then I moved to WA. First thing my Endo. here did was take of me off the levoxyl, based on my labs. Immediately my symptoms went away. I do know enough to get a copy of my labs. I never assume anything. Twice I have been anemic and it clearly showed that on my labs but the Dr. said I was fine. I am no longer seeing those Drs. Since my husband is in the military we have moved a lot and I have seen a lot of Drs. I am staying here now and will continue to see the same Drs. so no problems of that now. I am seeing a highly regarded Endo. now. And I am not stupid. You talk as if you think I am.

I'm very sorry... your first post was a little confusing to me and I felt I wanted to clarify things, but your last post here does that very well. Of course you're not stupid (and I'm not a know-it-all by a very long shot), but your explanation (now) really helps to understand better what you were getting at the first time. My problem(?) is having worked in teaching hospitals all my life so I sometimes tend to take the MD's side of things, or at least unconsciously think like they do (lots of brainwashing!) and pass it on.

Julie wrote:I'm very sorry... your first post was a little confusing to me and I felt I wanted to clarify things, but your last post here does that very well. Of course you're not stupid (and I'm not a know-it-all by a very long shot), but your explanation (now) really helps to understand better what you were getting at the first time. My problem(?) is having worked in teaching hospitals all my life so I sometimes tend to take the MD's side of things, or at least unconsciously think like they do (lots of brainwashing!) and pass it on.

Okay. No prob.