Breathing issues since diagnosed Type 1

Donna1984

Member
Messages
20
Hi everyone, hoping someone has had similar experiences as I have since being diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes in November last year!

Since diagnosis I have had problems with my breathing. It feels like my chest has gone numb and that I can’t breathe and will choke unless I breathe deeply and lay still!! Ended up in a and e and they tried to say panic attack, but happened near on daily for last 2 months now and can be sitting playing a game, or walking when it happens and mainly when high and low from what I can gather.

Hoping someone can shed some light as getting nowhere with the doctors :)

Thank you x
 

Antje77

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
19,284
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi @Donna1984 ,
Breathing issues aren't usually associated with diabetes (unless when having DKA, but having visited A and E and it happening with low blood sugars as well this doesn't seem relevant).

Can it be the doctors are right in that it is an expression of anxiety? Tagging @JoKalsbeek who has, if I remember correctly, a history of breathing being affected by anxiety. Perhaps her experiences can help you to find out what's going on.

All the best, it sounds very uncomfortable!
 
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Donna1984

Member
Messages
20
Hi @Antje77

Thank you for your response :) I don’t feel like it is anxiety as it just happens out of the blue some times when I’m not even doing anything. Very strange. Thank you for seeing if someone else can give me some advice in order to narrow it down. It isn’t nice at all :(

Donna
 
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JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi @Antje77

Thank you for your response :) I don’t feel like it is anxiety as it just happens out of the blue some times when I’m not even doing anything. Very strange. Thank you for seeing if someone else can give me some advice in order to narrow it down. It isn’t nice at all :(

Donna
Hello Donna,

There's a difference between chronic hyperventilation and acute hyperventilation. For me, personally, in times of prolonged stress, my hyperventilating is chronic. I barely notice that I breathe faster than average, but after a while I get stabbing pains in my chest (naturally, by the heart area, making it extra scary), my lungs ache, and sometimes it's just like not being able to breathe even if you're not doing anything special. Numbness and tingling I experience mostly in my extremities though. And the longest this has lasted for me was I believe, about half a year at a time. I hate to say it, but the ER sounds like they could well be right about this being a matter of panic attacks. For me, they tend to vary from actual panic and needing to get away to a quiet place to collect myself (also known and getting myself home), to feeling like I'm about to drop dead on the spot, triggered sometimes out of seemingly nowhere. (Heart racing or skipping beats, not able to breathe, that sort of thing. It's a very, very physical experience.).

You might want to go to your GP about this and talk it over. There is medication that can help you deal with this, and from what I understand there could be therapists specialising in people with T1, helping them cope with their rather traumatic diagnosis and diabetic burn outs and such. If you are absolutely convinced that that can't be the problem, ask for further testing, (I have asthma, my mom's got bronchitis and COPD, and sometimes it is hard for either one of us to differentiate between a physical condition and one that is triggered by stress. Just having ventolin around helps sometimes: if that doesn't work, it's my mind at it again. If it does, however, then it fixes the problem.). But.... Again... I think the ER folks can have a point. If it is getting in the way of your daily life, and it sounds like it is, do go talk to someone about it, and see whether you can figure this out together. There are various ways forwards, whatever the cause.

Good luck,
Jo
 
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hyponilla

Well-Known Member
Messages
81
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi @Donna1984 there's a rare side effect where insulin can cause breathing problems. It happened to me twice when I switched to toujeo.

https://www.drugs.com/sfx/toujeo-solostar-side-effects.html

Both times it took weeks for the breathing problems to appear, and weeks for them to disappear after I stopped taking it. This is rare but it's a possibility, so it might be worth trying a different type of insulin and see if it helps.

I hope you'll get better. Not being able to breathe is very unpleasant.
 
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