Hi I’m new here my husband 78 was diagnosed 2 years ago, he’s not too bad, but suffers with intermittent breathlessness, has had lots of tests but can’t give a reason, could anyone here tell me if they have anything like this thank you.
Hi Annemac74,
We noticed this was your first post and wanted to welcome you to our community forum. We’re sorry to hear about your husband’s breathlessness. We had a look on our website for the keyword and found a few archived forum discussions on the topic, beginning with this one. Please take advantage of the search function to find more of the like, before our lovely community members respond to your current query. We also encourage you, along with discussing this with his GP of course, to reach out to our helpline on 0808 800 0303. This is a free and confidential service and our kind and knowledge-rich advisers are always happy to help.
With our warmest welcome,
Jason
Forum Moderator
My husband, who is also 78, suffers from this. Aside from his Parkinsonism diagnosis 18 months ago (uncertain if this is PD or MSA) he is in good health and normal weight. He gets breathless walking around our house. He has severe blood pressure swings and we believe that this might be the cause but his doctors haven’t been able to give us an explanation or treatment. I would be interested to hear from others who are experiencing this symptom. Iris
I get this and know other Parkinson’s people who do too. It usually occurs with me when my medication is low, so more likely in the night. Apart from topping up medication (the dispersible madopar is probably the quickest way of doing this, it is important to remain calm. My shallow breathing was causing me to have panic attacks at first. Breathing exercises helped, and also knowing that it wasn’t the beginning of a fatal asthma attack.
Hi Iris1,
I noticed you mentioned your Husbands BP swings, is this high to low as my Husband now has BP that is high at 150/99 then an hour later can be something like 72/48, he had low BP for years and was put on Fludrocortisone and Midodrine for it but now is fluctuating I’ve been told to adjust these but has made no difference, its worrying me so will speak to GP again. Any explanation given for his BP swings?
My husband typically has high BP when supine and low when getting up or with exertion. For example, after lying down for 5 minutes his BP will be 200/115 and when he stands it will drop 50-60 points and after 5 minutes of standing he will measure 75/45. This is a red flag for Multiple System Atrophy and that is the diagnosis he has but because he has slow progression of other symptoms his neurologist is not sure if this is PD or MSA. I was diagnosed with PD 11 years ago and I can say that his symptoms and progression are very different from my own but he is 78 and I am 67 so maybe age has something to do with this. We are planning for the worse but hoping for the best! Iris