Debilitating Shortness of Breath
4 years ago, I started getting a knot sensation in my throat. I chalked it up to being acid reflux and didn’t think much of it. I ended up moving houses, and realized that I wasn’t able to move things the way that I used to. I was getting winded, but I just figured it was from weight gain or something. Fast forward a year, and the knot feeling in my throat became worse, as did my shortness of breath. It caused me really bad anxiety, and that was the explanation the doctors gave me- anxiety and acid reflux. I was already on Valium for a condition I had developed 4 years prior called vestibular migraines, so I was confused why my anxiety was so terrible. Fast forward another year. I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without my heart racing and gasping for breath as I was sitting down. I couldn’t stand up and clean the house anymore, I had to roll around in an office chair. Showers had to be fast cause I thought I was gonna pass out from not breathing right. Presently, a year later, it now feels like I’m breathing through a straw or that I’m being held underwater for as long as possible until I’m let loose to come to the surface doing ANYTHING. Bending over, standing up, laying down, etc. I just feel like my airways are tight ALL the time. Some days are better than others, but I always have shortness of breath in some form. Never free of it. A lot of the time, I noticed that my stomach hurt right under my breast bone when I would get too winded. And the more that hurt, the worse my breathlessness got. I had asked for an h pylori test 2 years ago. Took the steps to take the breath test in the office, just to have the test thrown away because the lab tech went home early! I relocated after that, and every doctor refused to test me. I finally got an endoscopy done and the results revealed h pylori, chronic gastritis, and a jagged Z line in my esophagus (whatever that means). I am on day 9 of my 14 day treatment. The breathing issues aren’t as severe, but they are definitely still there and disabling. I was wondering if anyone else on this thread has suffered from the severe breathing issues with h pylori as well, and did it go away? It has gotten so bad that I had made a pact with myself to leave this earth if I couldn’t find an answer by new years (2025-2026). Thankfully, I met my boyfriend and decided to try harder. I was in a VERY dark place. I still am, I’m just a little more hopeful. I’m only 32. 4 years disabled me due to the vestibular migraines, and once I recovered from that, I got the shortness of breath and stomach pain- so a total of 8 years of my life has passed me by without any indication that I’ve been living- just existing. I am terrified, I am exhausted, and I just want to know that there’s a solution to this. I can’t be “stuck” like this forever. It should be noted that I have been to several specialists, and my stomach was the last resort because all tests came back “normal”. My heart is slightly enlarged, but not enough to cause symptoms. My pulmonology result said that I have Reactive Airway Disease, but that’s supposed to come and go. Like a once in a while type of thing. Not every single day. I also wonder if they see I have RAD, and it’s actually acid induced. I have a mild fatty liver as well- because well, I’m overweight. However, none of these things would cause severe shortness of breath. I’m at a loss of things to check for.