What is shortness of breath?

loving_mother
loving_mother Member Posts: 57
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

I had a lumpectomy last week and right after surgery, I am having to take in a mild deep breath about every 2 minutes. This does not occur throughout the night...I sleep perfectly normal and I have been unable to determine if this happens when I am not thinking about it. What exactly is shortness of breath and could this possible be lung mets? I had a chest xray done right before surgery and was wondering if that would have shown anything? Also, I believe the pathology report showed no signs of lymphatic or vascular invasion so I was wondering if this was accurate for the entire body through a blood test or something? Am very worried right now

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  • carcharm
    carcharm Member Posts: 486
    edited January 2011

    Loving Mother-there are so many things that  could produce sob. Anxiety rests high on the list. Did you have chemo? Chemo can throw you into arrhythmias like atrial fib that come and go. I did herceptin and can feel my heart beating oddly at times. I am going for an echo today to see if my heart is enlarged from the herceptin treaatment. Have you had your heart checked.?Did you gain weight recently? Even that alone can make the littlelest tasks difficult and leave you sob. SOB can be from a whole host of things that are unrelated to cancer. If you are anemic you get winded just doing normal tasks. How are your blood levels? Tell you doctor and have some tests run.

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  • sunny210
    sunny210 Member Posts: 292
    edited January 2011

    Dear L_M - 

    I've had lung mets twice. Both times I had coughing, wheezing and fluid in my lungs that showed up on a chest x-ray. I then had a cat scan which confirmed mets. I think you should always check with your doc, but from my experience you shouldn't worry too much.

    Sandy 

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  • Letlet
    Letlet Member Posts: 1,053
    edited January 2011

    I believe that lung mets would have shown up on your pre-op CXR. The kind of shortness of breath that is an emergency would prevent you from sleeping through the night because you would have trouble breathing. Hope this helps. It could be anxiety or stress?

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  • Bren-2007
    Bren-2007 Member Posts: 6,241
    edited January 2011

    Loving Mother .. if there was anything suspicious in the your lungs, it would most likely have shown up on Xray before your surgery.

    Sometimes we have anxiety or stress symptoms and don't even realize it.  Shortness of breath is a common symptom for stress or anxiety.  Sometimes I don't realize how stressed out I am until I realize I can't catch my breath.

    Please try not to worry, but if the symptoms continue, you might want to check with your doctor and get another chest x-ray.

    Let us know how you're doing.

    hugs,

    Bren

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  • chainsawz
    chainsawz Member Posts: 3,473
    edited January 2011

    I have lung mets and don't have any shortness of breath - from most of the posts I have read it seems that is caused by fluid in the lungs or a collapse.   Like the others said this would most likely show up on a chest x-ray so that probably would have shown up on your pre-op. 

    You should always let your onc know ASAP about any symptoms like this.  It could be caused by anxiety, or a medication?  Also, maybe you need an inhaler....they can check your pulse ox to make sure you are getting good oxygen saturation.  Best to you!!  

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  • nlm
    nlm Member Posts: 96
    edited January 2011

    Loving mother,

    Check with your doctor asap. Shortness of breath can be caused by a blood clot.

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