Question: The entire weekend my stress levels were high, this morning i had a short text conversation with my ex wife up north. She made me feel more relaxed and am working at a stress free mood for the day.

The "Answer" problem was my inability to answer your following questions
1. Was breathing difficulty started immediately after smoking or after 1-2 years of smoking? Breathing was a bit harder after 10 years or more
2. Were you obese during those days also? never was obese, smoking curbed appetite and I was at desired weight. Plus I was employed where I had to be on my feet all day.

I have let stress levels climb so that I believe the inflammation (and Stress) have made chest tight when I want to inhale. So I am trying to relax. I will take a nap over lunch today. I can drive car to a park and put seat back and rest for an hour

The last inquiry was ceased by HCM by your last response. Yes I will close it.

Naps are good, I enjoy the feeling, but I really like 2 hour naps not 1. Ha ha.

I would chat more in a day with her but she is very busy and today she is on an airline flight to Florida and has work there to attend to as soon as she gets there.

Oh I forgot from the previous question, yes I woke in the middle of the night. Different reason this time, I had a dog that needed to go outside to the bathroom. I did not fall asleep like I should have but I did have a small sleep with dream of the ex wife. I told her about it this morning. She said, "If it works to reduce anxiety, do what ever it takes" I still say, what a great lady.

Ok I want to be clear,, in your opinion the lack of real changes in my PFTs , I should not have any breathing shortness or tightness other than that which is created from stress and inflammation. Correct???

I woke again and could not return to sleep , my thoughts went to anxious thoughts and when I arose, I made sudden movements that made me short of breath. In my mind it has to be from stress and the inflammation you speak of. But my body responds with panic to make things worse.

I would rather stay in bed and rest but that's not a good idea

I woke at 3 am, no bad dreams that I can remember.

Yesterday I started the day bad, then got better as day went on. Never ended with out worrying and letting worry control breathing.
On the long drive home, I had a twinge of chest tightness as I drove. I considered this and said to my self this is wrong, I shouldn't have tightness similar to lung disease while sitting doing nothing. Therefore this is anxiety and my mind causing this.
I went to bed at 9 and fell asleep at 9:45.

I have a recurring tight feeling when breathing, since we both agree that organic lung disease as you put it is not there, then it has to be stress mediators and inflammation tightening up airways making it difficult

Today I must be positive. I will take a Xanax to calm my start and work with positive thinking


Oh, you commented previous about thinking you said something to hurt me. Never think that. Your words are what I need and truly help.

Yesterday after we last spoke, I followed my own plan. I had a pretty good day. I worked at a positive direction and i seemed to breathe better and unwind.

Now this morning I wake and find a difficult time taking a good breath as I did when I went to bed.
Is it just continuation of my stress and inflammation. I feel tight between the shoulder blades and I attribute that to the many positions I sleep in during the night. and I also feel that the mattress I sleep on is not a good one, sags in the middle. I was given a gift to a full body massage so as soon as i get the entrance card, it will use it. I had one 3 weeks ago and it seemed to work.

My thoughts on last night, over night,
Woke at 3 and slept poorly after No bad dreams, just wake for no apparent reason but just do.
Found I Had lots of things on my mind, Work, wife, sleep, breathing, kids, jobsearch etc.
I also have a Poor bed to sleep on. I get back aches from it.

So I will assume that these helped raise the anxiety and inflammation back up some during the night. Tell me if you agree in some degree to this.

I also think that if this is true, and if I can have days like yesterday each day so it has a greater calming effect than the night time opposite effect, I will eventually overcome this.

Oh, this may be the last thread of my unlimited for the month. I will try to keep it going as long as possible. If it does, I will pay for a one time thread until the next renewal takes place. I think that is in two days.

SO sorry, Yes I sleep in the same bed each night.

First the Mattress has poor support for your back, it sags in the middle.
Second, I have a somewhat bad back. I have one more Lumbar vertebrae than a normal person. That one extra has cause disc compression over the years and disc degeneration. So I can not sleep in one postion for more than a couple hours so i move around a few times at night. This can make sleep poorly by all the moving. I have a very good mattress up in my other home, and it is raised to help with reflux.

Lumbar belt? is that like what weight lifters use?