Breathing Problems, Slipped Disc, Panic Attacks, Treatment ?

Posted on Wed, 18 May 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 17 May 2011 Answered on

Mon, 21 May 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, I'm a 30 year old female (I'm 5'6 and 9.9 stone) and have been experiencing breathing problems over the past year. My problems started just over 2 years ago when I slipped and fell on my right side. After a year of pain I had an mri scan which showed I had a disc out of place and it was lying on a nerve. (I had a panic attack before the mri as I didn’t know what was wrong with me, from that I had a ecg which came back fine.) I’ve since had a couple of injections which I’ve got some relief from. Since the fall I’m experiencing difficulties in breathing, I feel I need to take XXXXXXX breaths a lot and it’s especially worse at night, when I wake up in the morning I’m fine. It’s starting to get me really down I haven’t been to my G.P. in case she thinks I’m over anxious. When I’m driving I feel panic attacks coming on incase I can’t breathe. I’m also experiencing pain in my right collar bone. I’d really appreciate your opinion. I hate feeling like this and just want to get back to feeling like my old self.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (-1 hours later)

Hello,

Thanks for your query.

The problem in breathing you are having might be related to the slip disc you had if the disc slipped at a higher level that is, at thoracic or cervical vertebral level.

Otherwise it has been seen that such breathlessness and pain under ribs may happen due to excessive pain in the slipped disc area.

If you are actually having severe pain now then taking a good pain killer along with a muscle relaxant will solve your problem.

If there is no pain associated with it then theses are panic attacks and a psychotherapist can help you well.

Hope I have answered your query. I will be available if you have any further queries.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar