Struggling to get a full breath

Z

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HI.

I am a 42 year old active male living in New Zealand and am heavily into my sports and gym. About 15 years ago a tore a muscle in my left shoulder whilst working out. I recall that I did get some physio work done on it but about a month later whilst stretching at home, I experienced what I can only describe as excruciating pain and a popping noise from the middle of my sternum.

At the same time, a deep crater appeared at the sight of the pain approximately between the 3rd and 4th rib. Straight after the incident, I developed this feeling that I wasn't getting enough air into my lungs to the point where I found myself sighing a lot. Consequently, I went to my GP the next day only to be told that I had asthma. After many tests I now know its not asthma. The symptoms that I experience are almost the reverse of asthma in that I cant get the breath in. Even after several attempts. When my breathing is bad my right nostril blocks as well. As a result I tend to sniff a lot.

Over the years, I have been to see many specialists and I get the feeling that they put this in the too hard basket. Some days it good, other days its not. It seems to be worse at night when I am trying to get to sleep and it has got to the point where I need to take sleeping tablets. I only take a 1/4 of a tablet and this seems to relax me enough to be able to nod off.

I will often get a tingling sensation down my left arm. If I roll my shoulder I also get a clicking sensation around my scapula.

The weird thing is that even though the original injury was in the front, it seems that all the tension and pain is at the same point in my back.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Hi and welcome!

I have something called CMP (chronic myofascial pain) in the rib area, and it sounds like that might be a possibility for what you have.

Just a few questions:

Have your Dr's already ruled out anything like COPD, emphysema, pleurisy, and asthma, as well as any cardiac problems such as angina?

Have you had x-rays/mri/CT-scan to make sure there are no broken/cracked/out of place ribs, and no obvious spinal problems?

Do you get muscle spasms? If so have you tried any kind of muscle relaxer?

Myofascial pain starts with damage to the fascia (that clear/whitish covering you see on a piece of chicken) that covers the muscles. When the fascia becomes damaged it gets hard and constricts muscles and nerves causing muscle spasms and anywhere from mild to very severe pain. People with CMP get what are called trigger points that are knotted up muscles, they can get pretty large, if you press on the triggerpoint you may have tenderness at that spot, but you will likely also get pain in another area. This isn't something that Dr's know a lot about, some don't even believe in it. It took me about two and a half years to get a diagnosis and treatment. Generally the treatment is some combination of muscle relaxers, pain medication of some kind, massage therapy, physical therapy, and triggerpoint injections.
I have had the best results from a combination of muscle relaxers, pain medication and especially massage therapy (totally different from a spa type massage). The massage therapy has been the most help in allowing me to breathe deeply. There are several people with this problem who post pretty regularly on the Pain Management board here.

If you have questions I'll go my best to answer them.

Tigg.
 
Hi Tigg

I have had myofascial in the past and it did relieve the symptoms but only temporary. I have also had pretty much all of the test to eliminate all of the above that you mention. I havent however had an MRI to rule out anything else and have put it off due to the cost. Not a bad idea though.

Thanks for the post
 
Hi Jenny

Thanks for the post. I hadnt considered it and still believe that the breathing issue has been triggered by the original injury, even though the pain and pressure now comes from the back. Worth looking into though.
 
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