Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Shortness of breath

Hey Guys,

I feel silly asking this question because the symptoms make no sense to me, but does anyone else have fullness and shortness of breath when eating. In the past few months, I start to fill tightness in my chest and shortness of breath during eating. It usually starts almost immediately. It is the strangest sensation and I'm not sure what could be causing it. I did have my gallbladder removed a year ago, but have had no problems since. Even before my surgery, I never experienced this type of sensation. It's just a really uncomfortable feeling!

please see a doctor about this ASAP.

my husband has bad reflux and it could "just be that". his is much better now, he's been taking prilosec for years, and mylanta as needed. also knowing what to eat /not eat, and when to eat / not eat very helpful for him. he's had scar tissue in his esophagus repaired a few times, each time they do this, its better than the time before. so even very bad reflux can be controlled.

but my mother in law died of esophageal cancer and some of what you describe sounds like what she described feeling up to a year before she finally saw a doctor and it was too late.
actually she did go to a doctor about the symptoms when she got them initially, but like most things, the doctor kind of waved it off, thinking horses not zebras, as the saying goes.
and neither followed up on it after that. if they had, they may have caught it in time before it metastasized.
i hope its nothing nearly as severe, but please have it checked out, and don't let a doctor downplay it the way they did with my mother in law.
it can be hard to know which symptoms are significant and which aren't as we get so many different symptoms.
let us know what the doctors say.

Welcome to KickAS

Allergies have caused me many breathing problems. Anaphalatic shock has caused narrowing of my breathing tube, and swelling of my tongue. Since being diagnosed with Celiac, and following a Celiac diet, my severe sleep apnea (breathing disorder), has improved (not cured). Severe allergies to sulfa, sulphites, low tolerance to sulphates, sulfur and derivatives also cause havac on my breathing. I have suffered for years from GERDs, and found it also caused breathing problems. Medication for GERDs, can possible regulate these problems, before any cancerous diagnoses.

Any shortness of breathing, should be investigated immediately.

Hugs
Gerri

My son suffers from many allergies, some of which are hard to figure out. But, for as long as I remember, he's been able to figure out which foods he's reacting to while the food is still in his mouth! He starts wheezing and his chest gets tight. He does suffer from asthma and it sounds like the start of an asthma attack. It goes away when he removes the food. I think the instant reaction has been helpful to him because it allows him to avoid eating the food. However, sometimes, when it seems mild he is foolish and goes ahead and eats it anyway. That happened at Christmas and resulted in an ambulance rush to the hospital when his throat swelled and narrowed so he could hardly breathe.

So - it sounds mostly like an allergic reaction to me, but even if it is, it has the potential to be serious so please go promptly to your doctor about it.

I have experienced a shortness of breath feeling when I am in a doubled over position. I think this was caused by a loss of flexibility in my ribcage and being doubled over prevented my gut to expand for breathing. I didn't know I had lost so much ribcage flexibility until my reumy had me do some deep breathing. But, when there is even the slightest doubt get it checked out. Go to the doc.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I will most definitely mention it to my doctor at my next appointment, May 12th. She did mention something to the effect of seeing some changes in my rib cage during my last visit and ordered a chest X-ray last week. Lately, I have noticed myself literally struggling to get a full breath of air. Even during normal activities, such as when I'm typing this, I catch myself inhaling a large amount of air because I constantly feeling like something's taking my breath away

I don't think I would wait till May 12. I would get it checked out soon.

Probably not your problem, and I am not trying to scare you, but that is also one symptom of a congestive heart, and fluid around the heart and lungs. I almost waited to late 8 yrs ago, with shortness of breath and fullness when I tried to eat. My heart was weak and enlarged to the size of a football. Like I said, not trying to scare you, but do rule that out.
J.R.

You definitely should get it checked to rule out something more serious, but wanted to say I get the shortness of breath and tightness too. After having several things checked - heart and lung, asthma, pulmonary hypertension,- everything is checking out okay so my rheumy thinks probably the arthritis or because I have a murmur and heart skip (cardiologist has diagnosed murmur as innocent and the heart skip as "nothing to worry about, but if it bothers me there are medications that might help")

Sometimes my ribs feel like they're being squeezed, pretty sure that's the arthritis. Or somethings sitting on my chest. But I've also had shortness of breath without rib or chest pain. It doesn't really come on from eating like you described but if I'm having spells things like eating and reading stories to my kids make it difficult because its harder to breathe when chewing and talking, like I can't catch my breath.
When it first was bad, the doc who'd prescribed Mobic said Nsaids can induce asthma if you've already got it -so that might be something to look into if you're on an Nsaid.

I'm curious about your gallbladder removal. Did your arthritis start before that? I feel like alot of ASer's have gallbladder issues but I may be seeing it because I'm looking for it. I've had probable gallbladder probs. in the past.

mary cay

Hi Mary,

It sounds like we have a lot of similar symptoms. My arthritis actually started 3 years before my gallbladder removal. Prior to that point, I had never experienced any problems with my gallbladder whatsoever. We have a family tradition of going over to Jekyll Island and St. Simons the week of my birthday every year. During our trip last year, on June 10th, we had gone to St.Simons to eat at Mullet Bay for my birthday. Immediately afterward, I began to have fullness and tightness along with a lot of pressure. I am usually a germaphobic and take my own throw away sheets to hotels, but on this particular day, I was rolling on the floor of our room - at the time, I didn't care how dirty it was - LOL! After 5 hours, I finally fell asleep and just felt sore the next day. However, the pressure continued until we got home 2 days later and I went to my primary physician who ordered tests and found multiple stones. I had my gallbladder removed the next week. I have gone through two natural childbirths and this was far worse, so I definitely feel your pain. I really hope you get to feel better soon and let me know how things go