Lung problems related to HIIT?

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yirara
yirara Posts: 9,543 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Great! I spent the last 1.5 days in various hospitals as I woke up not being able to breathe. The first clinic I went to said it's psychological as blood tests and an ecg showed nothing suspicious. Could be, though I'm not sure I stand behind that diagnosis. So when I was fine again after several difficult breathing intervals they sent me home. And while reading threads here a while later I again not could breathe and asked my husband to drive me to a better clinic.

They did lots of tests and excluded the really bad things, like a clot or heart problems. When they heard I work out quite a bit they also checked various blood values related to sweating hard, and lots of other things. I had more moments of difficult breathing during the day, though I was not hyperventilating, which the first clinic claimed I did.

What's probably left is previously undiagnosed asthma or working out too hart. I do HIIT bodyweight and weight training 5x per week. The day before the annoying night I also did cardio intervals inbetween mostly bodyweight intervals and was seriously happy about how easily it was for me.

So I'm back home, waiting for an appointment with a lung specialist tomorrow. He's not in on Fridays. Basically: anyone with similar experiences or web links that warn about lung problems related to HIIT?

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  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,543 Member
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    bump
  • robocats9
    robocats9 Posts: 8 Member
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    I would like to start by giving a general disclaimer that I am in no way a doctor or medical professional. I have had asthma all my life, I know exercise may induce symptoms in some people-especially those with allergies. I don't know your case or medical history, nor am I qualified to speculate that this is what you have.

    There is a wealth of information on the web about asthma, here are just a couple of reputable links.

    http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/
    http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/asthma/

    I know for my daughter, who also has asthma, that she has to take her inhaler before her gymnastics classes at the recommendation of her pulmonary specialist. For her, exercise definitely can induce an asthma attack if she is not careful. Her coach is well aware of her lung problems as is the gym owner, we also carry a rescue inhaler everywhere.

    I wish you the best of luck figuring out what is causing your symptoms and hope you get some relief.
  • KseRz
    KseRz Posts: 980 Member
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    I have no idea what they tested you for, however breathing/lung issues could be a symptom of something else that might be completely unrelated to asthma, breathing, COPD or anything like that.

    Since they haven't found anything, I would not accept that its "in your head" as a diagnosis. Time to expand the Dr's horizons and expand the search for what could be causing it.

    ETA: spelling/grammar derp
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,543 Member
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    Thanks guys. Well doctors didn't really look at adthma or other lung issues yet simply because there was no lung specialist available. I will hopefully see one today. Please keep in mind I'm not living in a 'western' country at the moment. I just need to be patient.
  • azrubael
    azrubael Posts: 65 Member
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    Was the episode accompanied by a feeling of doom?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,543 Member
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    Not sure what a feeling of doom is. I was panicky as I didn't know what was going on. Sure, if you wake up and can't breathe, that's somewhat scary. Still I got my husband awake, decided between ambulance and driving to hospital, and ehm... prevented him from driving into another car.

    I had another episode this night. This time I remained calm at least and noticed better what really happened. As long as I relaxed the 'someone is squeezing my lungs' feeling went away again at first. As soon as I fell asleep again it came back - and then it stayed. Back to hospital. I got some asthma medication now which seems to work, but I still need to see a specialist. At least I know I'm not hyperventilating and I'm pretty sure it's nothing psycho (which I might have preferred over something potentially chronic). :(

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