Breathlessness

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Since March of 2022, I have experienced some sort of breathlessness. What I’ve learned over the past few months is that this is very common with Post Covid patients. It can create this vicious cycle of negative and frightening thoughts, that then keep you from doing your normal activities, which then in turn make breathing even more difficult.

Many of us have symptoms of POTS: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. What that means is that blood is pooling in the lower half of the body and not flowing through it easily. When you sit up or stand, your blood pressure drops very low and your heart rate speeds up to overcompensate for that low blood pressure. It can cause your breathing to become very labored, and the chest can feel tight.

There is nothing scarier than being unable to breathe. Asthma patients know this feeling all too well!

For me, what this means is that it is difficult to walk around without struggling to breathe - even taking a shower can lead to a bout. Some days are better than others, and with support from my Doctors and Physical Therapists, I’m learning to adjust. Here’s what I’ve found:

BREATHING: Diaphragmatic breathing (moving your stomach with each breath, not your chest) while inhaling through your nose and slowly out through pursed lips can dramatically improve your breathing. In the past, I've arrived at PT with a low blood oxygen level that increases after just a minute or two of diaphragmatic breathing.

HYDRATING: Drinking lots of fluids is important for almost every issue! For folks with POTS, it can be super helpful to hydrate with electrolytes. I tend to drink a bottle of Gatorade Zero with my medication each morning before I get up and start my day, and that does seem to really help.

PHYSICAL THERAPY: My Doctors have referred me for twice-weekly physical therapy, where my therapists have determined a moderate heart rate for my age, and we do strength-building exercises that do not exceed that moderate rate. Some days, the simplest exercise may have my heartrate skyrocketing, so we end up laying down and doing exercises on the mat, or even just breathing. The idea is to take tiny, little baby steps in the right direction. We try to avoid overdoing it so that I don’t have a 3-day crash afterward.

Any time I’m feeling breathless, whether from getting up to brush my teeth, or walking down the stairs… If I employ the diaphragmatic breathing technique, it always resets my breath fairly quickly. It’s pretty magical, really.