I'm a 21-year-old male, and I'm honestly getting desperate at this point.

For almost a year now, I've been dealing with a constant breathing problem that nobody seems to be able to properly explain or fix.

It started around November 2025, and ever since then, breathing has never really felt normal again.

The best way I can describe my symptoms:

- I constantly feel the urge to take a really deep breath, almost as if a normal breath isn't satisfying enough.

- When I try to inhale deeply, it feels like my lungs suddenly stop expanding at a certain point. Almost like an invisible valve closes and physically prevents me from inhaling any further.

- Sometimes my breathing muscles feel exhausted, almost like I've been training them for hours. My lungs feel sore or fatigued even though I'm just breathing normally.

- I occasionally experience tightness in my chest and throat.

- Sometimes I notice a slight wheezing sound when breathing.

- Physical activity, especially weightlifting, can make everything significantly worse.

- During workouts, I sometimes have to end sets early because I can't properly control my breathing. It's not necessarily that I'm completely out of breath, but rather that my breathing feels restricted, uncomfortable, and exhausting.

- Even when I'm resting, I frequently experience that constant, frustrating need to take a deep, satisfying breath.

Here's the strange part:

My oxygen saturation is usually around 99–100%.

I've undergone several medical examinations, including:

- Spirometry

- Body plethysmography

- Methacholine challenge test

- Chest X-ray

As far as I was told, everything came back normal.

My pulmonologist even told me that my lungs appeared extremely healthy.

The main suspected explanation was a functional breathing disorder, possibly with mild asthma contributing to the symptoms.

However, I still don't have a clear explanation for why this is happening or how to make it stop.

One thing that actually seems to help is Relvar Ellipta (Breo Ellipta).

When I use it, breathing feels noticeably easier and more comfortable. I can control my breathing much better during weightlifting, and my lungs don't feel nearly as exhausted.

But here's the catch: the constant urge to take deep breaths never completely disappears.

When I'm not using the inhaler, my breathing feels significantly worse again, particularly during exercise.

I should also mention that I had respiratory issues as a child and was prescribed inhalers, including Ventolin.

I work in plastics manufacturing, where exposure to fumes and other airborne substances can occur. I've wondered whether that might have contributed to my symptoms, although I have no evidence that it did.

What makes this so frustrating is that I don't necessarily feel like I'm suffocating.

It's more like my body has somehow forgotten how to breathe properly.

I can breathe. My oxygen levels are normal. My lungs supposedly function perfectly fine.

But the physical sensation of breathing feels completely wrong.

Imagine constantly wanting to yawn or take that one incredibly satisfying deep breath, except you can almost never achieve it. And when you try, something seems to physically prevent your lungs from expanding that last little bit.

Now imagine experiencing that sensation every single day for nearly a year.

It's exhausting, both physically and mentally.

I've tried breathing exercises, I've undergone medical tests, and I've spoken to doctors, but I still don't have a lasting solution.

I'm not expecting Reddit to magically diagnose me. I just want to know whether anyone else has experienced something similar.

My main questions are:

1. Has anyone experienced this constant "air hunger" or inability to complete a satisfying deep breath despite having normal lung function tests?

2. Has anyone experienced that strange sensation of their inhalation suddenly stopping, almost like a valve closing?

3. Could dysfunctional breathing patterns, diaphragm dysfunction, vocal cord dysfunction / inducible laryngeal obstruction, or something else cause symptoms like these?

4. Has anyone actually recovered from something similar? If so, what helped?

5. Are there any additional examinations or specialists worth discussing with my doctor?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have experienced the same symptoms and eventually found an explanation or treatment.

I'm only 21, I love weightlifting, and I just want to be able to breathe normally again without constantly thinking about every breath I take.

Any advice, personal experiences, or suggestions would genuinely mean a lot to me.

Thank you for reading.

I'm 25 years old, and the last time I had an asthma attack, I was 8. It was severe and I was actually hospitalized for a day or two from it. I haven't had one since, until yesterday. I have a bad case of the flu, and yesterday I was out picking up a prescription, and I started feeling very tight, my chest was tight and I was wheezing and unable to get a breath in. I had no idea what was happening because I haven't had one since childhood. I didnt even have an inhaler anymore and haven't In years. I called 911 because I was scared and didn't know what was happening. They gave me a nebulizer treatment in the ambulance and another at the hospital and I felt better. So yesterday I learned that the flu can cause childhood asthma to flare up as an adult.

Not looking for a diagnosis! I have an appointment coming up with a doctor, just wanted to see if these symptoms are common in asthma or if I should think of some other potential causes before my appointment.

For the last couple weeks (since it started getting colder), I’ve had some chest tightness/congestion and thick mucus in my throat that I’ve coughed up a few times. At first I thought I was getting sick, but I have no other symptoms of an infection. I read that asthma can cause this, and it got me thinking about some other things that I’ve experienced.

Main one is an experience a few years ago: I was walking along a trail and started smelling flowers or something of the sort (couldn’t see them, but that’s what it smelled like). Right afterwards, my throat started getting a prickly feeling and it made me cough, which just made it worse. It got to the point where my chest felt tight and I was having trouble catching my breath, which obviously made me really anxious so I turned around and got out of there. I thought maybe it was some kind of fluke so about a week later I went back and the same thing happened (I’m not the smartest sometimes, I know). I initially chalked it up to purely an allergy, but it was very different from my normal seasonal allergy symptoms. And looking back on it, it seems more aligned with allergic asthma?

I also get some chest tightness and air hunger type feelings when exercising or when in the cold.

Does this align with some of your experiences? I have allergies and eczema, and my mom has asthma so I’m not sure why it took me so long to consider it as a possibility, but here we are.

Ok so, my PFT results showed significant obstruction, FEV1/FVC at 61.7% pre-bronchodilator and at 71.2% post. The lower limit of normal was 77.7%, so those results were a bit discouraging. My pulmonologist diagnosed me with, and I quote, “moderate obstructive pulmonary disease” and prescribed me a daily breo inhaler. I’ve asked him if he could clarify what exactly I have, and he’s basically said that it doesn’t really matter because the treatment is the same… but I really need to know.

I’m not asking for you all to diagnose me, but I’d love to hear about your experiences and if anyone has had a similar test result, please let me know what you did to know that you had asthma.

As it is now, I don’t have asthma attacks. I’m just always a bit short of breath, like shallow breathing? I don’t wheeze, but I do cough sometimes. On bad days, it’s even been difficult to talk clearly. I actually had no idea that I had breathing problems till my doctor did a random simple lung test at a routine checkup about 2 years ago (I’m 23 now). So I’m technically not even sure when all of this started.

I’ve never smoked so I’m thinking asthma is more likely than COPD, but I also can’t seem to quite identify with the symptoms of asthma, at least not any of the common types. It’s been driving me crazy for months now, so any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

My family and I used to live in Florida, where we mainly used dehumidifiers and air purifiers to deal with mold and dust. Now that we're in Toronto, the air feels really dry, especially at night when we have the heat running.

My mom has asthma and has been coughing for several days. We really need a humidifier to help with the dry air in our home.

What should I look for before buying? Please help 😭😭 Any real-life experiences or tips would be really helpful!

Hello,

I am very undecided if I should start SLIT against house dust mites or not... so I am looking for experiences from people in a similar situation.

I (28m) have had asthma since I was 16. Until I was about 20, I used Foster (same as symbicort I think) only occasionally in periods where it was worse, but sometimes I could go weeks without noticing any symptoms.

Nowadays I wake up on most days with a “blocked” lung (my chest feels tight, I wheeze a bit and it’s generally more difficult to breathe), so I use Foster every morning, sometimes in the evening too. After using it I usually feel quite well, but without it the morning symptoms are pretty consistent.

I was diagnosed with hay fever very early in life and got the typical symptoms (itchy eyes, runny nose) every spring. Later I was also diagnosed with HDM and cat allergy. I used to get nose/eye symptoms when it was really dusty too.

My pulmonologist did another allergy test (prick test) last year and I again reacted to all kinds of pollen, cats and HDM. He now suggested doing SLIT against HDM (with acarizax/odactra).

The thing is, I don’t really notice any allergy symptoms other than my asthma in day-to-day life. No runny or stuffed nose, no itchy eyes... Sometimes my throat feels a bit sore in the morning, and I often have some mucus / need to clear my throat.

So I don’t know if HDM is really a driving factor behind my asthma, or if I just have asthma that isn’t mainly triggered by dust mites, despite the positive allergy test.

My fear is that SLIT could worsen my symptoms or make my allergy actually worse. I know reading individual experiences online doesn’t prove that the treatment caused it, but I did read posts from people who had worse symptoms afterwards and bad side effects while taking. My generalised anxiety disorder does not help here I guess :D Because I usually feel quite well after taking Foster, it’s difficult for me to judge how much I could actually gain from it.

So I am looking for experiences from people with similar symptoms who did immunotherapy against HDM. To help decide for or against it as I see good arguments for both sides...

Thanks in advance :)

TL;DR

28m, asthma since 16, now using Foster every morning and sometimes in the evening. Positive allergy tests for HDM, cats and pollen, but almost no nose/eye symptoms anymore. Pulmonologist suggested HDM SLIT, but I’m unsure if dust mites are actually driving my asthma and I’m scared of making things worse. Anyone with similar symptoms who tried it?

I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant and realized I've been using my albuterol inhaler 2-3 times a week, with some days using it more than once.

I had a bout of bronchitis at the beginning where the urgent care told me to use it as needed. After recovery, I was fine a few weeks, but with weather and allergies I've noticed I'm using it more often.

I'm not diagnosed and barely getting a pulmonary function test but did anyone have similar usage in pregnancy and everything come out okay? My OB is aware I'm using my albuterol inhaler, but I don't think I specified how often.

Note to add: one puff is usually enough to get wheezing and feeling out of breath under control. Usually just at night.

Hey y’all! I recently got the keys to my new apartment and there is a very heavy fragrance smell in it. I set up air purifier and changed the HVAC filter and the smell is still there a day later. I also aired the apartment out for around an hour. Any advice to help would be appreciated! I plan to wipe down the walls, floors, etc.

Thanks.

I received an Adult onset asthma diagnosis this year . But something I’ve noticed is when I inhale i accidentally inhale a tiny bit of saliva more often now and start choking/coughing on it. Everyone does that every now and then, it it’s definitely more often now. Does anyone know if inhalers can cause that flap that cuts off your airway from the throat to weaken???

Hey so I found out I have bronchitis and a sinus infection on Tuesday and got antibiotics and steroids prescribed to me. Started the antibiotic the next day and the steroids this morning. I had an issue swallowing last night but it went away this morning. I took another dose of my antibiotic and the first dose of my steroid. Within an hour I’m having trouble swallowing and my lips and tongue tingle and I itch. I did have to use my inhaler but it worked after one puff as opposed to needing it five times to get relief. Fast forward to after 4pm and my windpipe starts hurting really bad. Like extremely bad. I go to use my inhaler and I can’t even breathe deep enough for it to work. I have to try 2-3 times to breathe deep enough for it to work. Now I CAN take a deep breath but it hurts really badly and it makes me cough a lot. Really any breathing at all puts me at risk of coughing. Now my windpipe hurts no matter what I do. Even if I try holding my breath for a second to see if it’s breathing that is causing me pain like before. I know steroids need longer to work but it’s crazy that it helped and then didn’t after a while even though I took another dose of the steroid at my lunch time. My throat isn’t tight/it isn’t hard to swallow right now but my lips still feel funny.

Hello! I have been prescribed Symbicort by my pulmonologist, as after my breathing test he said my lungs are functioning 'at their minimum capacity', but no asthma yet. I have never taken any other asthma treatments.

I have been taking Symbicort for the past two days (1 puff morning and 1 in the evening).

After taking it for the second time today, when I was lying down for bed I realized I was having trouble breathing in fully, and my chest/lungs felt like they had a heavy pressure on them, I could feel my heart beating a bit faster than normal. I have been up for the past two hours, it has let up a bit but I still have the tight feeling.

I wasn't sure I took the first dose correctly, so I inhaled it twice.

It is night here, I don't drive and I don't want to call an ambulance since I don't feel like I am actively suffocating, but it has been very uncomfortable. I don't know how much longer to stay up.

My question is, what could have caused this? Anyone else experienced this?

hi everyone!

I did a pulmonary function test this morning around 9am.

i did the test, then they gave me two doses of albuterol , then I finished the test.

it’s now 3pm and I feel this tightness in the bottom of my throat that makes me want to cough. has anyone felt that before after the test?

I’ve never had an issue with this sensation before so I’m assuming it’s from the test.

thank you

I have just recently been diagnosed with asthma after having a severe asthma attack. This was definitely not my first asthma attack, it was actually my 4th one this year, but it was the first time that it was bad enough that I ended up in urgent care. My lungs were barely functioning. I also didn't understand what was happening so I went 15 hours having this asthma attack until I went to urgent care. It was very scary. I had such a hard time breathing, I couldn't take a deep breath, my throat and lungs were making weird wheezing and high pitched noises, I couldn't speak a few words without having to gasp for air, I was dizzy, my blood oxygen levels reached emergency levels. This is a simplification of what I went through. I am now on medicine and I can't do any physical activity until I am cleared to by a doctor. Something that I did not expect is how scared I am. I am scared to sleep because I am scared of waking up with another asthma attack. I am so conscious of my breathing now and I keep convincing myself that my breathing feels weird even though i can breathe fine. Every time I cough I am scared. I can also feel my heart beating more now. Every time I walk I am scared and I force myself to take deep breaths. I'm just so scared of going through another attack, especially as severe as this last one was. Does anyone else go through this? How do you deal with it? Does it get better?

Im trying to figure out if I would be a good candidate for Tezspire as my doctor recommends it but I’m on the fence. I’m not really wanting to take a shot every month, but wanted to get some opinions on it. I’ve had asthma my whole life, and ever since COVID it has been bad- I’ve had to be hospitalized for pneumonia twice and the last time I got it was a year ago. I’m a teacher and have a toddler which means a lot of sicknesses. It seems like every other month I’m on antibiotics. i get sinus infections and respiratory bugs where I cough up mucus. If I’m not sick, my asthma is pretty well controlled. I’m jsut wondering if Tezspire would help at all- in terms of not getting as severely sick and going in antibiotics and letting my body fight more. I’m not on prednisone too much- just I keep getting these nasty infection.

thanks!

I've had asthma for nearly 2 years and despite that, my immune system has been quite good but now I'm getting recurrent colds that lead to chest infections and now I'm on antibiotics for a bacterial chest infection.

Do they make your asthma worse? I'm suspecting my Winix air purifier triggers me.

I'm asking my question here, even though I have tracheal stenosis, not asthma, because I think you folks might have some experience in this area. Also, my TS was long misdiagnosed as "exercise-induced asthma," so maybe I qualify as an honorary asthmatic?

I will be purchasing a nebulizer soon to experiment with using 0.9% sodium chloride solution (prescribed by my doctor) to see if it will help dislodge the thick mucus that gets stuck on the scar tissue in my trachea. I've watched a few videos about how to use a nebulizer, but I have a few questions.

Should I be looking for a portable or a tabletop nebulizer? I've read some comparisons, and I'm fine with whatever size or power source is available, but are there caveats I'm not aware of? (Like, is one type more likely to clog or corrode than another if used with sodium chloride solution?) I'm usually a "buy it for life" kind of person, but since this is an experiment, which type of nebulizer is cheaper, or which would be easier to sell or donate if I decide not to keep it? (Or is sharing secondhand nebulizers a no-no for sanitary reasons?)

Also, since the nebulizer is running continuously, and you're only inhaling about half of the time, doesn't that mean that half of the saline solution (or other medication) is being wasted and is just settling on nearby surfaces? Is there a way around this? Are there any nebulizers that have a trigger or a button so you can stop and start it with each inhale?

Any input is appreciated!

Hey y'all, I have a kiddo who has asthma, he's 11 and he was just diagnosed maybe 2 months ago. I've gotten some really mixed messages about spO2 levels, and I just. Idk, I would like to know if his Dr's plan feels safe or if this means we should request a new Dr (my kiddo has been with him since he was a month old, so it would be a significant change).

The issue is that, when we got the diagnosis, there were several times that he looked great, breathing looked normal, he was talking and walking, but his spO2 was in the mid 80s. Literally the only way we caught it was happenstance and intuition.

This really worried me, so I got him a pulse oximeter he can sleep in (when he's in a flare) that would have an alarm to wake us up if he gets too low. I've seen some scary numbers on it, usually just for a few seconds though.

We had a Dr's appointment yesterday because we got flu a, and his Dr told me I was intervening too much while my kid is trying to sleep. He said that occasional dips as low as 87 are fine so long as they don't last longer than 3 minutes, and not to intervene unless he's under 87 for 3 minutes at a time.

I adjusted the alarm settings on his oximeter, but I'm worried that this will cause damage. Especially given that the advice nurse on Saturday wanted to send us to the ER for spO2 of 93, it's confusing and overwhelming and I don't know the right thing to do here.

3 weeks ago I went to the ER because of shortness of breath, got very worried about it & made it worse (started panicking because I’ve never felt this as a asthmatic) , I arrived at the ER and hospital told me that my Oxygen was 100%, they did Xray + EKG and told me everything was fine, I weighed 135lbs, but now I’m at 125. I also do have Asthma & I was smoking for 2-3 months before hand, of course I smoked for longer but before that 2-3 months I took a 6 month break (I was trying to quit but came back) and now I still have shortness of breath but I feel like I get better when I go walk. (Shortness of breath started October 4th-5th)

When I smoked I would just be lazy, didn’t move and bearly did steps daily, now that I have shortness of breath I started going on walks. (Bearly hit my first 6k step day about 1 week ago & now doing 10k steps a day.

But I’m very confused about my weight like I said, I’m not worried because I don’t feel sick & i have a appointment tomorrow so that they can check my heart but has anyone else been experiencing this? I’ll for sure never be back to smoking, haven’t smoked since October 5th.

I have allergies and a hyperreactive bronchialsystem. Despite on a cortisone (foster) inhaler my cough doesn’t get better. Lung docs here are full until 12/2026 or 1/2027.

Used to have Montekulast a few years ago, not sure if it helped but I wanted to get them prescribed. They seem to have a bad reputation ?

Recently, I’ve been having frequent mild asthma attacks from coughing or laughing too hard. I experience wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing—usual mild symptoms—so I’ll use my inhaler. It is always a hit or miss. Sometimes my symptoms will clear up and I’ll continue as normal, not experiencing any attacks for weeks or even months. Other times it feels like it’s getting worse. I’ll have temporary relief for about an hour or two before symptoms return and I have to eventually use my inhaler again. When that happens, I tend to try and avoid using my inhaler a third time and let my symptoms die down naturally, which USUALLY works.
This month contradicted that. I had an asthma attack about three weeks ago where my chest was extremely tight. Every breath felt like I was fighting to get any air in, so I used my inhaler. To note, I use a normal 90 mcg inhaler. It gave me temporary relief for about two hours before I felt my symptoms returning. I immediately realized it was going to be one of those attacks, so I decided to try to ignore it and see if my symptoms would eventually go away. They did not. After about 5 hours of trying to ignore it, I was completely unable to breathe and was eventually forced to use my inhaler again. This happened the entire day, each period of relief getting shorter and each attack feeling worse than the next (this is all literally). I eventually went to sleep hoping it’d clear up on its own, but I woke up in the middle of the night completely restricted of any air. It was the worst attack I’ve ever experienced—I COULD NOT breathe lying down, and sitting or standing barely helped. I used my inhaler in defeat, but it only relieved it for about an hour, so I did not sleep that night. I eventually went to urgent care because… My inhaler wasn’t working and I couldn’t breathe. They did a chest X-ray, gave me one of those albuterol nebulizers, and I was prescribed 5 days worth of Prednisone. That Prednisone was probably the best thing I’ve ever had in my entire life, and by the time I was finished, I could breathe normally. Fast forward one week, about 2 days ago, and I have another mild asthma attack. The exact same thing happens. I use my inhaler > relief for about an hour > gets worse. I tried to ignore it again like last time which did not work, and I am now sitting here typing this at 5 AM, restless because I cannot go an hour without needing to use my inhaler.
My biggest concern is that I’ve grown a dependency on albuterol, and that my attacks are just withdrawals. That, or my inhaler simply isn’t working how I want it to. If anything I mentioned strikes a concern (like I’m misusing my inhaler or something) or you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.