Perimeno breathing challenges: the elephant sitting on my chest
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2023 12:54 pm
50yo having breathing challenges that dog me all but about 3-5 days per month. Started about 5 months ago. Like I've acquired an unwanted pet elephant that sits on my chest. Accompanied by aching, creaky mid-back/ T-spine, particularly right side between spine and shoulder blade; sometimes it feels like a belt around the ribs; sometimes there's a burning sensation that makes me think "okay, this is probably anxiety". Feels like ribs are a couple of sizes too small and lungs feel bruised trying to inflate against them at my mid back. Generally sets in for hours at a time or most of the day -- not like an anxiety attack where it subsides after an hour. Sometimes during one of many sleepless 2-5am sessions, I can feel it then too. (Insomnia 75% of days).
I was a healthy (very) active individual until this hit early last fall. Retrospectively, I can recall over past decade that periodically (though rarely,) I would notice upon exertion (bike, hike, e.g) there was restriction over my back ribs on inhale at certain times, though I never tracked its correlation to menstrual cycle. Assumed it was just muscle fatigue or stiffness.
Confirmed pelvic endometriosis during a routine hernia surgery. Have wondered about thoracic endo with OBGyn which is rare but scary. And yet -- it really does feel like there's something wrong with my lungs. Read and re-read Hormone Replacement Manual, but not a word about breathing that I could find, but maybe I missed it. Have heard reports 2nd hand that other women experience the "elephant sitting on my chest" feeling, but haven't connected with anyone experiencing it -- hope to find some here.
Have found research in the literature correlating decreased lung function with menopause transition, and there seems to be more in the UK about breathing problems during this time, but no specific help or information as to what to do. Article found is
Menopause Is Associated with Accelerated Lung Function Decline
Kai Triebner et al.
Google should bring that up if interested in taking a look.
Also, this link in the UK Daily mail citing 27% of meno transition women experiencing lung challenges:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... blame.html
...but little sense of what a treatment plan would look like other than a puffer and steroids which may be appropriate for allergy sufferers (I don't have allergies, and Ventolin does nothing).
There's also this non-medical piece:
https://www.avogel.co.uk/health/menopau ... menopause/
...citing dehydration, which seems to be the easiest remedy to try, but a little hard to feel convinced by the article with little concrete evidence beyond the anecdotal. And I drink water all day long (duh) and tea (no caffeine, no alcohol, low sugar bla bla bla).
I have been tracking my symptoms with helpful tracker designed by Jerilyn Prior,
https://www.cemcor.ca/resources/daily-m ... ycle-diary
which helps me focus on the possibility of 2 or 3 days of relief that I sometimes get just before ovulatory time. I used to get a little relief post ovulatory time just before pms time, but that window closed.
Xrays and spirometry and bloodwork all clear, though bloodwork showed the hormone rodeo we're all here for, I'm now on so-called bio-identical progesterone cream. Have a ventolin puffer, but it doesn't do anything. Didn't tolerate prometrium tabs (vicious all-over body shaking anxiety on just 100mg tab). Have skipped 4 periods in the last year. Recently replaced copper with low-dose Kyleena IUD for management of endometriosis but suspicious it may add to anxiety based on Lara Briden's comment about vagal nerve aggravation by IUD presence? How one would ever know is a mystery to me. Trying to keep the IUD because of the endo scare. Hoping a clear upcoming CT scan will allow me to relax about any lung complications from endo.
Life is totally upside down, as with so many of you here. Impossible to work reliably or plan anything. Next step is probably SSRIs (walk-in doc-turned GP can't wait to get me on them) but I've heard so many mixed things about how long it takes to get a dose & type that works, only to then be in need of weaning off of it someday. Doctor refused to discuss the potential (long) list of side effects of SSRIs saying "if we discuss them, you're more likely to experience them". Thanks Doc. It was a fight to get the OBGyn referral for HRT consideration.
Of course it's impossible to tease apart the mental distress / anxiety from the hormonal rodeo, as they feed each other, but if only we could get on top of treating the hormonal imbalance that's causing the issue!!
Anyway, hoping to connect with someone else out there who also has acquired an unwanted pet elephant, and might have found some answers wherever they are.
I was a healthy (very) active individual until this hit early last fall. Retrospectively, I can recall over past decade that periodically (though rarely,) I would notice upon exertion (bike, hike, e.g) there was restriction over my back ribs on inhale at certain times, though I never tracked its correlation to menstrual cycle. Assumed it was just muscle fatigue or stiffness.
Confirmed pelvic endometriosis during a routine hernia surgery. Have wondered about thoracic endo with OBGyn which is rare but scary. And yet -- it really does feel like there's something wrong with my lungs. Read and re-read Hormone Replacement Manual, but not a word about breathing that I could find, but maybe I missed it. Have heard reports 2nd hand that other women experience the "elephant sitting on my chest" feeling, but haven't connected with anyone experiencing it -- hope to find some here.
Have found research in the literature correlating decreased lung function with menopause transition, and there seems to be more in the UK about breathing problems during this time, but no specific help or information as to what to do. Article found is
Menopause Is Associated with Accelerated Lung Function Decline
Kai Triebner et al.
Google should bring that up if interested in taking a look.
Also, this link in the UK Daily mail citing 27% of meno transition women experiencing lung challenges:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... blame.html
...but little sense of what a treatment plan would look like other than a puffer and steroids which may be appropriate for allergy sufferers (I don't have allergies, and Ventolin does nothing).
There's also this non-medical piece:
https://www.avogel.co.uk/health/menopau ... menopause/
...citing dehydration, which seems to be the easiest remedy to try, but a little hard to feel convinced by the article with little concrete evidence beyond the anecdotal. And I drink water all day long (duh) and tea (no caffeine, no alcohol, low sugar bla bla bla).
I have been tracking my symptoms with helpful tracker designed by Jerilyn Prior,
https://www.cemcor.ca/resources/daily-m ... ycle-diary
which helps me focus on the possibility of 2 or 3 days of relief that I sometimes get just before ovulatory time. I used to get a little relief post ovulatory time just before pms time, but that window closed.
Xrays and spirometry and bloodwork all clear, though bloodwork showed the hormone rodeo we're all here for, I'm now on so-called bio-identical progesterone cream. Have a ventolin puffer, but it doesn't do anything. Didn't tolerate prometrium tabs (vicious all-over body shaking anxiety on just 100mg tab). Have skipped 4 periods in the last year. Recently replaced copper with low-dose Kyleena IUD for management of endometriosis but suspicious it may add to anxiety based on Lara Briden's comment about vagal nerve aggravation by IUD presence? How one would ever know is a mystery to me. Trying to keep the IUD because of the endo scare. Hoping a clear upcoming CT scan will allow me to relax about any lung complications from endo.
Life is totally upside down, as with so many of you here. Impossible to work reliably or plan anything. Next step is probably SSRIs (walk-in doc-turned GP can't wait to get me on them) but I've heard so many mixed things about how long it takes to get a dose & type that works, only to then be in need of weaning off of it someday. Doctor refused to discuss the potential (long) list of side effects of SSRIs saying "if we discuss them, you're more likely to experience them". Thanks Doc. It was a fight to get the OBGyn referral for HRT consideration.
Of course it's impossible to tease apart the mental distress / anxiety from the hormonal rodeo, as they feed each other, but if only we could get on top of treating the hormonal imbalance that's causing the issue!!
Anyway, hoping to connect with someone else out there who also has acquired an unwanted pet elephant, and might have found some answers wherever they are.