I am a 63 years old woman in good health. Last march, I suddenly developed breathing problems - it felt like I couldn't get my full breath without doing deep breathing - sort of shallow breathing. This led to sleeplessness at night - I would wake up every 2 hours and then had problems falling asleep. As well, I developed heart palpitations and various other sensations in my arms which made me think that I was having a heart attack. Since then, I've seen a cardiologist and had a series of tests done - my heart is healthy - no problems there. Next, I was sent to a respirologist and after a series of other tests, I was told my lungs are fine and that my problem must be muscle/skeletal but did not suggest any treatment - she said it was outside her area of expertise and it was up to my family doctor to take it from here. My GP then sent me for ultrasounds of my pelvic area - other than showing that I have some calcified fibroids in my uterus and a couple if benign cysts in my ovaries (both of these conditions are being monitored for other reasons), no other problems were detected. Because by now my problem symptoms had decreased (I was again sleeping through the night; the heart palpitations had stopped but my heart still does beat strongly from time to time), she suggested to simply monitor the situation and to modify some of my lifestyle habits some of which she felt might be aggravating the situation (eg, eating supper before 9 pm, drinking more water, getting more fibre, get more sleep, etc.). I have been doing all theses things but my symptoms though lessened are not going away (that's 5 months now) and they increased again when I went on a car trip, driving about 300 km on 1 day (with stops) followed by mini excursions of about 60 kilometres every 2 days over a 2 week period. As well, I've begun to experience bloating in the stomach area pushing towards the thoracic diaphragm which has only exacerbated my breathing problems. I'm becoming very frustrated at not being fully diagnosed as to what my problem is. What specialist should I see? I don't understand why my own GP with whom I normally am very satisfied seems to be at a loss at what to do. Can you offer any suggestions. FYI, I have no known allergies, weigh about 150 lbs., have no known medical conditions other than the one described above, not taking any meds now or ever - basically, in very good health except for this development.
Thank you.