Any else have weird breathing issue?

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Steve_31
Steve_31 Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello. I've been having a bit of a problem that is starting to become quite frustrating. Over the summer I got back into the gym and immediately notice how much I felt out if shape. Just a little bit about me, I'm a 23 year old male, weigh about 125lbs, and I would say I'm a pretty healthy person. I did find out last year that I have mild allergy induced asthma that is triggered by certain pets. Anyways, I got back into the gym and during my lifts I noticed that I was breathing a bit heavy, and had a slight feeling of cloudiness, heart rate was around 120-130. I attributed this to being out of shape and proceeded to press on. Over the course of 6 weeks I made decent gains in my lifts and got my cardio up to 4 miles in 30 mins, starting day 1 at 1 mile in 8 mins. But even with improved cardio I still noticed during my lifts, this weird breathing. This problem was off and on, some days I was perfectly fine, other days I felt like I was still a little out of shape. I even went as far as to buy an o2 trainer to improve my lung capacity, thinking that this may be a product of asthma. The o2 trainer definitely helped but I only used it for 3 weeks before stopping. During this time I cut out caffeine as well, going from 2-3 cups of coffee and tea a day to nothing at all. I altered my diet completely to healthy eating, tons of fruits and veggies, etc. After about 6 weeks or so I stopped working out due to work being extremely busy.

Now that I have more free time I got back into the gym today and immediately noticed that same feeling of heavy breathing, increased heart rate( about 130ish after simple set of 10 lat pull downs). This is such a frustrating feeling and my question are these:

Does this sound like my asthma transitioning into exercise induced asthma? I mean I don't wheeZe at all at the gym, and I don't feel tight chested or anything. Just heavy breathing (would this be considered shortness of breath). Best way I can explain the breathing is it feels like I can breath normally (no restricted air ways, no tight chest) but feel as though I'm not getting enough oxygen. Taking a few deep deep breaths fixes this but I don't ever remember feeling like this when I was active in college (gym, running, intermeural sports)

Would the fact that I get heart palps during my workouts lean this more towards a heart problem? I do notice that I don't get palps every workout, but about 75% of them I experience atleast 2-3 palps during my lifts. They don't slow me down or anything here just annoying.

I read about pulmonary hypertension and now I'm freaking out that this breathing issue and feeling of lack of oxygen is something that is going to ruin my life.

I have a doctors appointment at the end of the month for a checkup, I'm considering bumping it up to next week because I'm so frustrated that I can't figure out what this could be.

Is it at all possible that this could be asthma symptoms but without the wheezing? I mean I take a deep breath and hear no wheezing at all. Yet my cardio, when I work on it, managed to improve. It's just this breathing and heart rate issue with with my occasional lifts.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for so many questions, I'm letting my stress and anxiety get the best of me (something that also makes me wonder about these issues being stress related) . I really don't want this to ruin my workouts, as I feel like this part of my life is where I can really discipline my mind and body to stay active and healthy, hoping to avoid these health problems in the future. I don't want to let this sort of stuff slow me down but I also don't want to bite the floor one day at the gym.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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  • Steve_31
    Steve_31 Posts: 3
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  • amirakabira
    amirakabira Posts: 29 Member
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    Sounds as if it could be cardiac in nature, maybe shunting or increased intrathoracic pressure during lifting. When you see your MD be sure to give clear, concise information. Too many words can get in the way of your physician cueing in on the relevant data. You will probably need at a minimum a holter monitor (24 hr monitor). Be sure to lift when the monitor is on and record when the symptoms occur.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Just because you are slim doesn't mean your cardiovascular health is good. Chances are you are just very veery out of shape. WHen I take a long break from exercise (when I gained weight), I would get a very high heart rate very quickly and would breath heavily very quickly. Now my breathing is much more normal. Although Ive had breathing issues since 2009. Have not been diagnosed with anything though and no asthma, allergies, or issues with my lungs that were noted.
  • caweber
    caweber Posts: 2 Member
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    I have had weird breathing which both scared me and made me stop wanting to work out. I cannot say for sure if its the same feeling as you but I can say it feels like I cannot get enough oxygen and it does not feel like the usual asthma flare-up. Since my sister recently passed away from Pulmonary Hypertension, I went and did a thorough medical work up and it turns out I have mild COPD. The very best piece of advice I got from my Pulmonary Medicine doctor was that when I want to work out, I should take 2 puffs from my inhaler 30 minutes prior to the workout and I won't be struggling so much for breath. I followed his advice and it made a big difference for me. My workouts are much more effective and enjoyable. So, hopefully for you, it's just a simple solution like mine was. I suggest you ask your doctor about it. Good luck!
  • Steve_31
    Steve_31 Posts: 3
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    Thanks for all the advice! Im going to move my doctors appt up to next week and go ahead and request a monitor and echo just to be sure. That's exactly what it feels like, being very out of shape, but I've had a job doing manual labor for years so I've always gotten a little bit of exercise that way. I'll post back when I find out more information, hopefully I'm just more out of shape than I think I am.

    Thanks again!
  • SkepticalOwl
    SkepticalOwl Posts: 223 Member
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    Just because you are slim doesn't mean your cardiovascular health is good. Chances are you are just very veery out of shape. WHen I take a long break from exercise (when I gained weight), I would get a very high heart rate very quickly and would breath heavily very quickly. Now my breathing is much more normal. Although Ive had breathing issues since 2009. Have not been diagnosed with anything though and no asthma, allergies, or issues with my lungs that were noted.

    Running 4 miles at <8 min/mile pace isn't very out of shape.

    OP, talk to your doc but just let them know what's happening. Don't request too many tests. The more testing you do that isn't warranted, the higher the probability of a false-positive result, and thus the higher the probability of an intervention that could harm more than help. Your doc should know which tests are actually necessary.

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