General Medical Question - Non Urgent - I feel like I can't get enough air.

[Kimaru]

I've had this feeling for the past two days that I can't get enough air into my lungs. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened except my grandma visited for about an hour on both days, don't see how that would effect my breathing though. I feel like I need to take a really deep good breath every minute or so or I'll get a feeling in my chest like I'm not getting enough air and I'll feel slightly dizzy. It goes away when I'm focused on something like when I was at work or when I was reading the paper or doing a wordsearch. Its happened to me before and usually only lasts a few hours to 4 days at most. It feels really uncomfortable and once I notice the feeling in my chest I can't concentrate on anything else. I've tried focusing on my breathing and taking slow even breaths but that seems to make it worse. Could it be asthma or something?

Ah, I guess that I should add that I don't smoke.

[Animad]

It may be asthma or could be other things so I can't really say and we're not here to diagnose; if nothing else it's against the rules.

You do definately need to go and see your doctor about this and I'd get an appointment for as soon as you can. If it gets a lot worse in the meantiome/ you are really struggling then go to the ER; do not drive there yourself. The only way how they can find out for certain or get on the road to that is by examining you and listening to all the info about it and if you have any related issues/ have had this in the past etc etc. From examining you it may be that they come up with a diagnosis straight away or it may be you need further tests such as blood tests/ x-rays or even go as far as taking a look down your airways with a camera. One thing they are more than likely to do as standard is to make you blow into something as hard as you can and that will show how strong your breathing is. Also, from now until you see the doctor I would strongly recommend you keep a note of what you've been doing alongside when it occurs and how long for as it may be that there is an element of allergy behind this.

If you purge or anything I would also strongly advise you to mention this to your doctor if they don't know. If you really can't tell them then I would say at least tell them that you've been vomiting as there is always the danger of that going into your airways which can set off pneumonia. Also mention to them anything like if you have problems with swallowing.

[Kimaru]

I'm sorry if I broke the rules, I guess I worded it badly. I wasn't really looking for a diagnoses more like I wanted to know if it was a common problem or if I should go to the doctor. When I woke up the feeling was gone, I told my mom about it and sked about making a doctors appointment and she said it was probably just stress and to just forget about it. Is it possible for this to be caused by stress? Also I don' purge or have any ED type problems.