Depressed Respiratory?

[wasabi092]

So I've trolled the forums awhile and it's been incredibly useful so this is my first venture out into participating.

I've been gluten-free since November. Also, egg free and dairy...conscious. Something's been affecting me lately and I've been trying to weed it out. One symptom I haven't seen mention of is that I feel like I forgot to breathe and all of a sudden I'll remember. Then I feel like I need to breathe deeply or often. It sometimes lasts a few hours or so. I've been known to have very low blood pressure and would pass out on occasion when I was in high school. I'm 22 now. Has anybody had this happen and is there anything that alleviates it?

[txplowgirl]

Hi there and welcome.

Yes, I had the same problem. It took about 5 months on this diet before that resolved. I haven't had a reocurrence yet and hoping I don't either.

I found out through the elimination diet that not only does the gluten affect that but it wasn't until I took the soy and MSG out that it completely stopped.

[kareng]

Have you had your iron/ hemoglobin checked? I had that when I was very anemic. It got better after about 4-6 weeks on twice a day large doses of iron taken no food for an hour before and none for 2 hours after.

[jerseyangel]

Have you had your iron/ hemoglobin checked? I had that when I was very anemic.

I did too--I was just coming here to say that--Karen beat me to it.

[ricefreejane]

Hiya! Yes I've experienced this. It can be quite frightening as you realise you are not breathing regularly and are actually forgetting to breathe. As a result I have been diagnosed as having sleep apneoa and have to wear a mask over my mouth with tubes going up into each nostril every night. The whole apparatus is called a CPAP machine. Very romantic! I have recently been told by an ENT specialist that I have polyps up my nose. This is possibly caused by food intolerances and this could also be affecting breathing. Still waiting on the NHS to be tested for coeliac. All food allergy tests came back negative even though I absolutely know that I am gluten including rice and corn and dairy intoleranct. And your observation is correct. I have particularly noticed if I am naughty and have dairy and starch together then my breathing slows down and sometimes stops. Have it checked by a sleep clinic.

[cassP]

omg- im so happy someone started talking about this- i have been battling Shortness of Breath really bad for the last 5 years... and i ALSO forget to breathe.. its awful.. but everyone kept telling me it was anxiety or "in my head"... and i know i have problems with anxiety too.... but i KNEW this was not just in my head- the first 2 times this happened was DECADES ago when i was a teenager- and BOTH attacks happened at a restaurant while eating... wow, im so glad you guys have similar experiences... i hope mine goes away soon :/

[Jencat]

I too can relate to this topic, having experiencing the loss of breath starting around age 14. Back then they said it was most likely brought on by anxiety? Yet no testing was really done to uncover the reason so I continued to experience this throught out the years. Still experience them occasionally. I now feel that it's directly linked to celiac disease.-Jenny

[GlutenFreeManna]

I have been having breathing problems for years. Last month I got brochitus really bad and it's not going away. I have had shortness of breath and chest pain whenever I do anything for the past month. They took a chest x-ray and I have some spots on my lungs. I have to see a Pulmonologist next week. I'll try to update if I find out what this is. I had not thought it could be related to the gluten until reading this about so many people having breathing problems. I wonder if we have compromised immune systems that somehow makes us more prone to getting lung infections? I know I used to get a lot of sinus infections and my seasonal allergies were much worse prior to going gluten free.

[tamika]

I can relate to the breathing issues as well....they are debilitating. I cannot run like I used to or work out like I used to. I had pulmonary function tests done to check my lung function and I actually had some restriction. My doctor put me on advair twice daily and albuterol before exercising. He also told me to avoid milk and gluten for three weeks. I felt the best I had felt in months. At my follow up, my pulmonary function tests had improved so I kind of slacked off the diet and just stuck with the medications. Needless to say, the symptoms returned despite taking the medication as directed. It is totally related to my diet.....ugh:-(. Hope you begin to feel better soon....in meantime you might want to go see a allergist/asthma provider to assess your lung function.

[Mari]

I had this problem from my mid 20's to 50's. When I was Diagnosed with celiac disease later on the genetic DQ test showed I was a DQ8/ DQ6 with DQ b alleles 302 and 602. The The 602 gave me a predisposition to develop sleep apnea. I had other breating problems and sometimes a shortness of breath. But it was interesting in that the symptoms of sleep apnea - waking up at night in a panic because I couldn't breathe - stopped after I did some cleanses, detoxification procedures and killed a variety of parasite with herbal treatments. The shortness of breath persisted but rarely happens now since I've been gluten-free/cow dairy free for 5 years.

Here's one website I found:

Kulak Burun Boğaz Dergisi - CENTRAL SLEEP APNEA AND THE OTHER ...

- Central sleep apnea syndrome, is characterized by apnea hypopnea index (AHİ) > 5 and apnea ... HLA DQ B1-602 is seen 85% and HLA DQ A-102 is seen 95%. Most of the cases are ...

cbkbb.turkiyeklinikleri.com/abstract_48196.html

[gf-soph]

Others have mentioned iron, I will second that. Also check B12 if you haven't already, as it also causes anemia and similar symptoms. I have had iron and B12 problems for years, and they can both cause shortness of breath, shallow breathing, and a lot of sighing. Make sure you get a full iron panel (total iron and ferratin), b12 and get folate tested too, as it can also cause anemia.

A while ago I had this really badly and I wasn't too anemic, I later realised that my stomach had been in spasm for weeks and this muscle spasming was causing me to breathe very shallowly, causing shortness of breath during exercise and when talking. I felt like an idiot but I hadn't realised that I was breathing so shallowly to avoid the pains in my stomach.

More recently I have put a couple of ribs out from sleeping like the dead and this has caused the same problem, but i'm pretty sure you would notice that!

[1210donna]

I have multiple food allergies (wheat/soy/peanut/casein) and am salicylate intolerant and have a collagen disorder (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome).  I was gluten-free from 2001-2010 after being dx'd with gluten intolerance.  After a neg IgA test for celiac and neg biopsy I returned to gluten (though I'm IgA deficient and the IgA neg would have been a false neg, and the biopsy would have been normal as I was already 9 yrs gluten-free).  I developed progressive neuropathies since late 2010, then was dx'd in 2012 with mixed apnea (mostly Central and hypopneas), put on CPAP, then moved to VPAP, developed autonomic, sensory then motor neuropathies.  neuro dx'd small fibre neuropathy this year and felt celiac was part of my picture of neuropathy. 

[cyclinglady]

Wow!  Sorry to hear that you have neuropathies which can be related to Celiac Disease.   I had some issues in the beginning, but the gluten free diet seems to be helping or at least preventing further damage.  Are you going back on the gluten-free diet?  

[1210donna]

yes, I returned to gluten-free from 26th Dec.  Lost nausea and vertigo within 3 days of returning gluten-free, gut behaved a lot better, headache significantly less after 10 days gluten-free but still having flare ups with that.