Often I will be just breathing and then have to take a deep breath. I try to pay attention to why this happens but it just happens out of the blue and I just don't know why I have to take a deep breath. It even happens when I am going to sleep. Today I layed down to take a nap with my daughter and several times when I was almost asleep I was awakened with this need to take a deep breathe.

I stay tired. I just recently started doing some exercising. A few times I got very light headed and had to stop but I notice during exercise my heart rate gets very high quick and I breath very hard. I am out of shape but not too bad.

Could all this be due to fatigue? I don't know. I just know that the gasping for air has been around for a few months but it just happens more often.

Thanks for your help,
Sheila

I have had the same sort of breathing problem as you since my dysautonomia started almost 2 years ago. It used to be way worse - I consider myself lucky that I only gasp occasionaly now. It used to be that I couldn't breath deep at all. No doctor has ever been able to tell me why and I've been to a million - pulmonologist included. As far as I figure it comes back when i'm having a flare - so it is somehow related to nervous system dysfunction. That said, there doesn't seem to be anything to do for it which is a bummer.

I also have a problem with this!Sometimes its because I feeling noticeably short of breath but other times I will be feeling fine and then all of a sudden need to take a really deep breath. Occasionally its like I feel as if Ive forgotten to breathe (especially when going to sleep) and need to take a deep breath to help my lungs out!

Whatever it is -it only started with the POTs but strangely breathing probs dont seem to be one of the more common symptoms!

I have had this problem for years. I just stop breathing when my heart goes brady. I had a pacemaker placed in so my heart will not stop; and an ER doc said breathing problem comes with the illness as we get so weak from lack of exercise that our diaphrams fail to work. I used to use a stimulant med and it helped me at times.

Both of my POTS kids have this issue, the need to take deep breaths. The frequency waxes and wanes. I believe it is an oxygen issue due to pooling, etc. and the need of the lungs to get more oxygen. I don't believe it has anything to do with lack of exercise. My daughter is able to be quite active now overall and is quite physically fit but she still has this problem. It makes perfect sense to me that it is the body's natural reaction to get more oxygen to the lungs when needed.

Thanks for all the responses. I see now that I am not alone in this. I will write this down as something to talk to my dr. about.

Sometimes I think I am breathing so shallow that I have to take a breath. Just last night I went to bed and the urge to gasp for air was so extreme it scared me. It was a gasp that was much for stronger than any in the past. Scarey.

Thanks again for the support.
Sheila

Sheila,
A couple of last thoughts that just came to me. The autonomic system that fails in us controls our breathing and then we need to be checked for apnea. My current Dr thinks the sleep meds I take can slow breathing; even though I only take meds at night and then they induce a deep breathing pattern in me that ends by early morning and then I am breathing very shallow again or taking gasps through the day; but then again being bed ridden makes the diaphram very weak in people as are met to be upright and moving through the day as the diaphram makes the heart and lungs function properly and it is key to human survival. My theory is that the signal from our brain in not working properly or impaired in some manner;just as the signal to our hearts is. I hope this made sense.

That made sense Kenneth. I hope to get some answers Tuesday when I see the dr. In the meantime I will just make a note of it and do the best I can to not let it worry me.