SHORTNESS OF BREATH AND DEPRESSION

soccerfreaks said:

A thought or two
These ladies, as always, give good advice, DonCarlos. I would add that, as one who has experienced surgery myself (removal of the lowest right lobe) I am familiar with the occasional shortness of breath.

An anecdote first: Following my lobectomy, I was stricken with a staph infection (MSSA) that was far worse than the original surgery. This resulted in my spending nearly the entire month in the hospital along with a second lung surgery). Sometime during all of this, I came out of the bathroom one night late, all of my pipes and bags and contraptions in tow, to discover that I could not breathe at all. I was in panic mode, as stayingcalm suggests and as you must well know, DonCarlos. The good news was that my wife was in the room. The bad news was that she was sleeping AND I couldn't talk. Fortunately, she heard me gasping or whatever I was doing, woke, and alerted the nurses while getting me to sit and calm down.

As a result of enduring my ribald and even sick sense of humor for longer than any human being should be forced to, one of the nurses, upon learning of my situation suggested to me that it 'must have been a really strenuous session in there!" which got me laughing, somehow, and to this day I believe that got me breathing again.

The thing is, I determined, at least to my own satisfication (despite their queries as to whether I had some psychological hangup about bathroom, the evil wenches (:)), that it was having to bend over for toilet paper...over and over again because it was located in one of those thief-proof boxes. I was getting one sheet at a time, to be blunt, and I needed more than one or two. All of that bending over, I think, is what did me in.

Which is by way of wondering if your breathing issues occur only when you do certain things? I do not know if it is normal, but if I bend over for too long, I too can lose my breath. If I carry overly heavy bags (dog food comes to mind, the huge bags), I can lose my breath.
In addition, depending on the extent of surgical removal, DonCarlos, other stuff moves in to fill the void. (Nature abhors a vacuum.) This might also affect your ability to breathe normally, particularly when you are engaged in activities such as those I mention above and similar ones.

Since you had lung surgery, you almost certainly were provided an inhaler at least for a brief time in the hospital and perhaps for awhile at home too. You were probably also given some 'toys' (spirometer?) to assist with regaining sufficient breathing. If you are like me, you quit exercising with them, quit the inhaler, at the first possible moment. Talk to your doctor about hooking up with an inhaler again, talk to him/her about the wisdom of doing the breathing exercises on a continuing basis.

Just a few thoughts.

As for the depression, my friend, cancer is sufficient cause for depression and is in fact well known for it. Additionally, of course, you were in a knife fight that you could not win (surgery) and I would not be surprised if you suffered from post traumatic stress disorder or something along that line.

I am not sure where you are, Don Carlos, but in most places in the USA you can contact support groups and talk to people who have either gone through what you are experiencing or are professionally trained to help you with it. If that is not sufficient for your needs, Don Carlos, do not hesitate to ask your doctor to refer you to a therapist. Please consider this: you have beaten one disease (cancer); do not lose your joy of life because of another (depression). The latter is treatable too.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

Joe