What will help?

Hi, I am new to this forum so not sure if I'm posting this in the right place.

Basically, my situation is that over the past few days I have been struggling a lot with my breathing - my chest feels tight and I'm not able to catch a proper breath. By Saturday night this had got so severe that I could hardly breathe at all and nothing was helping, so my mum took me to see an out of hours doctor at the local hospital. After answering a million questions and having my chest listened to etc it seemed that there were no other physical symptoms, and the doctor was completely baffled. The only suggestion she came up with was that it sounded like I was having panic attacks. I do not have an anxiety disorder, and to be honest don't really understand how I can be having panic attacks because I don't feel anxious at all. When it started, I was halfway through a week off work, so was happier than I've been in ages as I was spending the week catching up with friends and family, so have no reason to be anxious at all. The doctor suggested it might be because I have been busy and then suddenly go to doing nothing during my week off, and that's caused them, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to me. I wondered if anyone else has heard of a situation like this before?

The doctor on saturday night prescribed me Diazepam (2mg) to be taken twice a day. These didn't really help. My breathing was better, but I was still massively struggling to breathe. This morning I have been to the doctors and have been told it's anxiety (again I don't understand how this can be), and the doctor has kept the dose of Diazepam at 2mg but increased it to 4 times a day. I have taken two already today and again feel like they're not helping my breathing. Does anyone know how long it should take for them to help? It's getting very frustrating that I can't catch my breath properly.

Would appreciate if anyone has any advice for me :) Thank you!

Diazepam is a fast working med. But 2 mg is a very low dose. If 2 docs checked your lungs and O2 saturation via a monitor is good(95%+) your lungs are fine. Pulse, BP are OK too, right? O2 is getting to the blood AOK(via, of course, the lungs).
So you feel no distress at all in general? No tension, "dread" feelings, etc?
Physical symptoms are common in anxiety and breathing problems are of them for sure.
Keep on the diazepam at the new dose for now. It has a very long half live so the level will build in your system and help if it is anxiety as they suspect. PM me any time. Alankay

Thanks for the reply. Yep pulse, BP and oxygen levels were all completely fine. And no, I feel no distress at all! It's very strange. This is why I am confused after being told it's anxiety. Do you have any idea how long it will take for the diazepam to have an effect then? It's been almost 2 days and I still can't breathe properly :S kh

Well it will take just a little more time but I'd go ahead and ask if you could up the dose just for a few days(2 days maybe) then resume the lower dose. This should speed the level up to where it will help then the lower dose will help maintain the effect. I take diazepam as well just maybe once a month and for me works very well indeed. By chance do you have stomach/digestive issues at all along with this? PM me anytime. Alankay.

Nope, no digestive issues. Literally no other symptoms apart from not being able to breathe properly! Since saturday night I have taken 6 of the 2mg diazepam, and have another to take in a couple of hours, but still can't breathe. Am thinking it should have worked by now!

How is your routine at the moment kh29?

Things as basic as not eating regularly, going long periods without food, or not getting enough calcium, iron or B-vits can all simulate the effects of a panic attack. Dizziness or tight breathing. It's always good just to check when somebody has anxiety symptoms with minimal mental anxiety.

Do you eat well? Is your standard of living good at the moment? Anything that stands out? Have you had any blood work done?

It's always makes me more interested that something physical is a little off, when benzo's or treatment don't really touch it.

As far as benzo's go with helping breathing, I never found Valium (Diazapam) in the slightest bit useful. Worked for other symptoms, but not breathing. Hopefully it will work better for you.

The only thing that stands out as having changed is that this happened halfway through a week off work. I have been working a lot, doing a live-in job, and this week I came home and had total relaxation. Nothing has changed in my eating or anything. The only thing that changed really was that I was having time off work. That's why it's confused me that I'm being told I have anxiety now, when this past week has been the best and most stress-free week I've had in a while! And that's a great way to explain it actually - I have minimal (pretty much none) mental anxiety, but am showing physical anxiety symptoms (I'm going to use that sentence if I have to explain it to someone again!) :)

So you don't think the diazepam will be helpful for my breathing? What else do you think would help? If I still can't breathe by tomorrow I'm going to go back to the doctors again! kh29

Were you actually struggling to get air into your lungs, or was it more of a feeling of not enough air no matter how much you breathed? Like were you actually able to take in a proper breathe and it was more of an unsatisfying feeling, or was it like you physically couldn't breathe enough?