At midnight I was working on cleaning out a garage when Larissa came to me telling me that her chest hurt and she couldn't breathe. After watching her roll on the ground struggling to breathe I decided to take her to the ER. The ER was quite busy. People coughing on us and all. After a while they called her back to check her vitals. She didn't appear to be in distress but was complaining about her chest and was breathing in short breaths. They did all her vitals and her oxygen was good. I knew based on that we had a long wait. I asked her how she was feeling and did she just want to leave. She did, she didn't like all the people coughing on her! On the drive home I had her do some coughing and it seemed to help her chest pain.
After talking with a lot of friends the though of panic attack came up. Hmmm, this is actually her second chest pain/hard to breathe issue but the first time it was rather mild. I wouldn't rule out panic attacks.
I took her to her doctor and she wanted to rule out asthma. She gave us an inhaler and an appointment to have a pulmonary function test at our local hospital. We received a call the next day that they don't do them on children. So today we went to the doctors office where they did a spirometry test. Tasha says it will not rule out asthma. The nurse said that her results looked good so I will have to meet back with her doctor to see where to go from here.
Kids, never a dull moment. Anyone with panic attacks? Asthma? Chest pains with shortness of breathe?
I used to have panic attacks frequently and that is how they would start. Shortness of breath, feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest, almost like a constricting feeling. It took me a while, but once I learned to recognize the physical symptoms as anxiety, I was able to calm myself down. I still get shortness of breath when anxious to this day. I am sorry for Larissa. It is a horrible feeling!
ReplyDeleteI used to have panic attacks frequently and that is how they would start. Shortness of breath, feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest, almost like a constricting feeling. It took me a while, but once I learned to recognize the physical symptoms as anxiety, I was able to calm myself down. I still get shortness of breath when anxious to this day. I am sorry for Larissa. It is a horrible feeling!
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see if the inhaler makes any difference the next time this happens. I still say panic attack. Anxiety is a beast.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe they didn't even listen to her lungs in the ER
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