Shortness of breath; Occassional or Progressive?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Daniel

New member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
3
Reason
Learn about ALS
Country
NZ
State
Hawkes Bay
City
Napier
I have been experiencing episodes of shortness of breath. Please I would like to your experiences with this issue and whether the symptom got progressively worse or if you experienced moments of shortness of breath.
Regards
 
Mine was progressive. Lying on my back became more and more difficult to breathe. Then I had to sleep only on my sides.
AL.
 
With my disease, myopathy, shortness of breath comes and goes. I may have shortness of breath for several days and then it clears, or I may have it one hour to the next. Like Al pointed out, with ALS it is probably progressive, while other diseases it can be sporadic. Nonetheless, any shortness of breath should be evaluated by a doc. Good luck.
 
My breathing is definitely worse when lying down. It has been slowly progressing as I was told it would, by my Doctor.

God Bless
Capt AL
 
Last edited:
I have an additional question to the original question. I always see "shortness of breathe" as a symptom of diaphragm involvement with MND, but I was wondering exactly what everyone's experiences with this has been. Did you notice just feeling out of breathe, or did you just feel like you couldn't pull in air, like it was a struggle to inhale. Also with MND, is it difficult to inhale and exhale or just inhale and at what point in decreased FVC (sp?) do people start to notice significant problems breathing? Do you feel like breathing faster or just take deeper breathes?

I ask this because something has been going on with my legs/arms for the last year 1/2 with abnormal EMG readings. I've been seen by several neurologists including an ALS specialist and most recently the Mayo Clinic (everyone agrees that it's not ALS). My swallowing started a year ago and breathing this past February. I did show reduced pulmonary function which they say could indicate neuro-muscular disorder in my breathing just as it has happened in my legs/arms (no diagnosis by the way). I'm at the point where I have to think about breathing every 2nd of the day and am afraid to go to sleep. I'm just trying to determine how much of my breathing problems are related to the motor-nerve involvement and how much may be due to other causes. Thanks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top