6 ms·

let me preface this by mentioning that i havent been tested for covid-19. two weeks ago i've been having real issues breathing. it felt like my upper body was

let me preface this by mentioning that i havent been tested for covid-19. two weeks ago i've been having real issues breathing. it felt like my upper body was borderline paralyzed and i had to really force myself to fully breathe in. this wasn't constant but happened every day for several hours each. especially at night. i got worried that i might have the virus so i checked my temperature and oxygen blood saturation as well as my pulse. temperature was fine (36.6°C-37.2°C), blood saturation was in the normal range, however it dropped from 97-100 when i wasnt having any issues to 94-97. my pulse rate however went from usually ~75-80 to >110 whenever i had breathing problems. it went away last week.. or so i though. i had another episode of that this morning, it was only for 3 hours today, however. it seems to be going away, but if it actually was (or is) the virus... it seems plausible to me. but i'm a person without any medical knowledge so ... listen to the people actually treating the patients, not random armchair specialists like they're frequent on hacker news -- especially in threads about covid-19.

covidchat25 7y ago
I've had the exact same symptoms as you: * Chest pain and breathing difficulties that gets worse at night. * Actually ended up on hospital twice because of it. * Pulse and blood pressure went high too.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
  Similar symptoms a few weeks ago. I've had an off-on mild fever since. There's been something going around since Jan at least, although it's impossible to know if it's Covid-related or something else.
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
You could be having panic attacks; based on the fact you've got numbers, it sounds to me like you're actively monitoring your own blood saturation, which already implies you may be worrying too much about things like that. Don't underestimate the effects of worry and stress. If it's temporary and you don't have other symptoms then you probably don't have the virus.
- 411111111111111 7y ago
  Definitely a possibility. I'm not monitoring it however. I just checked whenever it got extremely bad and again after it went away. I do have the other symptoms though. Only the fever is missing.
  - 013a 7y ago
    This is classic anxiety. I've spoke with a surprising number of people who've never experienced something like this before, never thought they could get anxiety/panic attacks, think they have the virus, etc. In some cases, even a mild fever (99-100) isn't crazy; the human body is a fucked up piece of machinery, and reading all the news every day, even comments like the one I'm writing, it starts convincing itself that it has the virus even when it doesn't. You just need to disconnect. Its both hard, and easy. Play video games. Focus on work if you're able. Shut out the news, Trump, all of that. Try to meditate. Pray. Cook. Go for walks. If it gets especially bad, I've had a couple friends who have gotten anxiety prescriptions from their doctor over the phone (its very common right now).
- henearkr 7y ago
  I'm not a doctor, but each time I hear about a possible diagnostic about panic attacks, it feels like somebody tells a patient having a rhinovirus "your symptoms are explained by the runny-nose illness!". I.e. just stating the symptom (sympathetic/parasympathetic system going weird, heart too fast, etc) but phrasing it as if it was found to be the cause.
  - projektfu 7y ago
    Would you prefer them to say “psychogenic”?
    - henearkr 7y ago
      Yes. Because then they have the duty to explicitly rule out non-psychogenic causes (like a pinched vagus nerve, viral infections, a pulmonary oedema, etc). Sometimes it feels just like the "panic attack" is a wild card they default to when the investigation would be too complicated and the patients looks like anxious anyway (which is probably because the patients' body is playing castanets, who would not be scared of that? But they seem to invert cause and effect).
steve76 7y ago
> i had to really force myself to fully breathe in Focus on exhaling, emptying your lungs.
LeoNatan25 7y ago
One thing to try to relax is to do breathing exercises. Deep breath from the nose for 4-5 seconds, hold for a few seconds and exhale over 6-8 seconds. This will lower your pulse and reflex you. Try to refrain from constantly reading about Covid19. I find this brings stress to me and I relapse to same problems as you. Pick a time of day, as early as possible and concentrate your reading on the topic then.
itronitron 7y ago
Possibly an allergic/asthmatic response to something in your environment. It's worth keeping tabs on whether you used any cleaners, were outside, or in a specific room of your home when the breathing issues occurred.
thomashobohm 7y ago
I deal with a panic disorder and what you're describing sounds super similar to what a garden-variety panic attack is like. Especially the part about your heart rate rising but your oxygen saturation staying pretty much the same (the difference between 94-97 and 97-100 is within the normal variation during physical activity). What's likely happening is that your brain is latching onto some small thing, like laying down on your back and putting more pressure on your diaphragm. Instead of interpreting that small thing as totally normal, your brain interprets it as a "warning sign," because of your stress/anxiety around COVID, and it goes into panic mode. At this point, it's pumping out a lot of chemicals that stimulate what's called a "fight or flight" response; it's your natural response to any perceived threat, real or otherwise. Those chemicals will cause your heart rate to increase and will often cause shortness of breath. Usually these can last 45 minutes-a few hours and will subside. Deep breathing exercises work for some people, but I find that when I focus on my breathing I end up spiraling more, so I focus on grounding exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. I'd recommend trying those out next time you have a bout of that and see if it helps :)!
- krooj 7y ago
  Absolutely this. I've struggled with panic attacks that came on secondary to medical issues in the past couple years, and the elevated heart rate and perceived breathing problems are textbook. Other things to lookout for are: impending sense of doom (fixated on the idea something's wrong), lights appear brighter or have halos, bounding pulse (you feel your heart beating hard), eyelid twitching, amongst others. Block breathing will help. Inhale into your belly until you can't hold more air, hold for 5, exhale slowly. Take a couple of normal breaths, then repeat the block breath. Do it for 10 minutes. Other things to note: before and after the panic attack, you're in a "prodromal period", which means you're susceptible to subsequent attacks. Try to stay away from stimulants, like caffeine, and, honestly, get the hell off the internet and away from news.
  - stordoff 7y ago
    > Try to stay away from stimulants, like caffeine Something of an aside, but I've actually found caffeine (400mg/day + variable amount in drinks) _helps_ with OCD-induced panic attacks. If I do have an attack, it seems somewhat worse, but it makes it _significantly_ easier to shift my attention away from obsessive thoughts, thus avoiding triggering the attack in the first place. I was pointed towards it by this paper - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19573497 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19573497 It's a pretty weak basis for making treatment decisions (n=24, caffeine was used as the control against d-amphetamine, both showed some effect), but my doctor and I reasoned that there was fairly limited risk in trying it. Other studies seem to have shown similar results - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/
empath75 7y ago
I'm someone who has intermittent panic attacks and all of that sounds like panic attacks to me.
timmytokyo 7y ago
I'm having the exact same experience. I live a few miles from the first outbreak location near Seattle. I first started experiencing symptoms at the end of February. Shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, dry cough, and a fluctuating temperature that never went beyond mild fever (37.5C / 99.5F). My most concerning symptom was the sensation that I just couldn't get enough air. I went to the ER one night in early March because I felt like I was going to pass out. They gave me a chest X-ray, blood tests, nasal flu swab, and ECG. Everything came back normal. No pneumonia visible in the X-Ray. I continued to rest and recover, and things finally started to get back to normal a couple weeks ago. I thought I'd kicked this thing, whatever it was. But then the shortness of breath returned. (I've not had fever or cough.) I've cycled like this -- between struggling for breath and feeling normal -- for over 4 weeks now. I'm currently experiencing another downturn where I find it difficult to breathe normally. During my difficulties breathing, I find that standing up seems to help the most. I'm open to the possibility that this is psychogenic. I've tried to avoid reading about the news, and that helps to distract me. But there doesn't seem to be any obvious psychological trigger to my breathing difficulties. I just wish I could get back to normal.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

covidchat25 7y ago

I've had the exact same symptoms as you: * Chest pain and breathing difficulties that gets worse at night. * Actually ended up on hospital twice because of it. * Pulse and blood pressure went high too.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
Similar symptoms a few weeks ago. I've had an off-on mild fever since. There's been something going around since Jan at least, although it's impossible to know if it's Covid-related or something else.

Cthulhu_ 7y ago

You could be having panic attacks; based on the fact you've got numbers, it sounds to me like you're actively monitoring your own blood saturation, which already implies you may be worrying too much about things like that. Don't underestimate the effects of worry and stress. If it's temporary and you don't have other symptoms then you probably don't have the virus.

411111111111111 7y ago
Definitely a possibility. I'm not monitoring it however. I just checked whenever it got extremely bad and again after it went away. I do have the other symptoms though. Only the fever is missing.
- 013a 7y ago
  This is classic anxiety. I've spoke with a surprising number of people who've never experienced something like this before, never thought they could get anxiety/panic attacks, think they have the virus, etc. In some cases, even a mild fever (99-100) isn't crazy; the human body is a fucked up piece of machinery, and reading all the news every day, even comments like the one I'm writing, it starts convincing itself that it has the virus even when it doesn't. You just need to disconnect. Its both hard, and easy. Play video games. Focus on work if you're able. Shut out the news, Trump, all of that. Try to meditate. Pray. Cook. Go for walks. If it gets especially bad, I've had a couple friends who have gotten anxiety prescriptions from their doctor over the phone (its very common right now).
henearkr 7y ago
I'm not a doctor, but each time I hear about a possible diagnostic about panic attacks, it feels like somebody tells a patient having a rhinovirus "your symptoms are explained by the runny-nose illness!". I.e. just stating the symptom (sympathetic/parasympathetic system going weird, heart too fast, etc) but phrasing it as if it was found to be the cause.
- projektfu 7y ago
  Would you prefer them to say “psychogenic”?
  - henearkr 7y ago
    Yes. Because then they have the duty to explicitly rule out non-psychogenic causes (like a pinched vagus nerve, viral infections, a pulmonary oedema, etc). Sometimes it feels just like the "panic attack" is a wild card they default to when the investigation would be too complicated and the patients looks like anxious anyway (which is probably because the patients' body is playing castanets, who would not be scared of that? But they seem to invert cause and effect).

steve76 7y ago

> i had to really force myself to fully breathe in Focus on exhaling, emptying your lungs.

LeoNatan25 7y ago

One thing to try to relax is to do breathing exercises. Deep breath from the nose for 4-5 seconds, hold for a few seconds and exhale over 6-8 seconds. This will lower your pulse and reflex you. Try to refrain from constantly reading about Covid19. I find this brings stress to me and I relapse to same problems as you. Pick a time of day, as early as possible and concentrate your reading on the topic then.

itronitron 7y ago

Possibly an allergic/asthmatic response to something in your environment. It's worth keeping tabs on whether you used any cleaners, were outside, or in a specific room of your home when the breathing issues occurred.

thomashobohm 7y ago

I deal with a panic disorder and what you're describing sounds super similar to what a garden-variety panic attack is like. Especially the part about your heart rate rising but your oxygen saturation staying pretty much the same (the difference between 94-97 and 97-100 is within the normal variation during physical activity). What's likely happening is that your brain is latching onto some small thing, like laying down on your back and putting more pressure on your diaphragm. Instead of interpreting that small thing as totally normal, your brain interprets it as a "warning sign," because of your stress/anxiety around COVID, and it goes into panic mode. At this point, it's pumping out a lot of chemicals that stimulate what's called a "fight or flight" response; it's your natural response to any perceived threat, real or otherwise. Those chemicals will cause your heart rate to increase and will often cause shortness of breath. Usually these can last 45 minutes-a few hours and will subside. Deep breathing exercises work for some people, but I find that when I focus on my breathing I end up spiraling more, so I focus on grounding exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. I'd recommend trying those out next time you have a bout of that and see if it helps :)!

krooj 7y ago
Absolutely this. I've struggled with panic attacks that came on secondary to medical issues in the past couple years, and the elevated heart rate and perceived breathing problems are textbook. Other things to lookout for are: impending sense of doom (fixated on the idea something's wrong), lights appear brighter or have halos, bounding pulse (you feel your heart beating hard), eyelid twitching, amongst others. Block breathing will help. Inhale into your belly until you can't hold more air, hold for 5, exhale slowly. Take a couple of normal breaths, then repeat the block breath. Do it for 10 minutes. Other things to note: before and after the panic attack, you're in a "prodromal period", which means you're susceptible to subsequent attacks. Try to stay away from stimulants, like caffeine, and, honestly, get the hell off the internet and away from news.
- stordoff 7y ago
  > Try to stay away from stimulants, like caffeine Something of an aside, but I've actually found caffeine (400mg/day + variable amount in drinks) _helps_ with OCD-induced panic attacks. If I do have an attack, it seems somewhat worse, but it makes it _significantly_ easier to shift my attention away from obsessive thoughts, thus avoiding triggering the attack in the first place. I was pointed towards it by this paper - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19573497 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19573497 It's a pretty weak basis for making treatment decisions (n=24, caffeine was used as the control against d-amphetamine, both showed some effect), but my doctor and I reasoned that there was fairly limited risk in trying it. Other studies seem to have shown similar results - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/

empath75 7y ago

I'm someone who has intermittent panic attacks and all of that sounds like panic attacks to me.

timmytokyo 7y ago

I'm having the exact same experience. I live a few miles from the first outbreak location near Seattle. I first started experiencing symptoms at the end of February. Shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, dry cough, and a fluctuating temperature that never went beyond mild fever (37.5C / 99.5F). My most concerning symptom was the sensation that I just couldn't get enough air. I went to the ER one night in early March because I felt like I was going to pass out. They gave me a chest X-ray, blood tests, nasal flu swab, and ECG. Everything came back normal. No pneumonia visible in the X-Ray. I continued to rest and recover, and things finally started to get back to normal a couple weeks ago. I thought I'd kicked this thing, whatever it was. But then the shortness of breath returned. (I've not had fever or cough.) I've cycled like this -- between struggling for breath and feeling normal -- for over 4 weeks now. I'm currently experiencing another downturn where I find it difficult to breathe normally. During my difficulties breathing, I find that standing up seems to help the most. I'm open to the possibility that this is psychogenic. I've tried to avoid reading about the news, and that helps to distract me. But there doesn't seem to be any obvious psychological trigger to my breathing difficulties. I just wish I could get back to normal.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]