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Starting a few days after moving to Tucson I began having chronic chest tightness and dyspnea. It sort of went away in later June, but came back way worse once the humidity spiked. My oxygen Sat at work the other day was only 90 to 91%, which was low for me, and low for the elevation. Even when it gets a little better, it never goes away.

Does anyone else have this problem?

It could be a lot of stuff, and with the new house it could be related to chemical in the materials. I don't remember this at all last year, or in the last 6 years or so. If I had something like this it went away after a short time. I never had this before when I visited, so pollution outside seems unlikely.

This really sounds kind of serious for someone in your general athletic condition. I think you should see a specialist.

@azbackpackr

I think you should see a specialist.

Why posting on forum just as effective as going to a doctor ;)

@Jim_H
Could just be karma ;)

@azpride
Now that is a sound medical opinion

I'm not asking for medical advice, I'm asking if anyone else has been experiencing this(?), or if anyone else has this during monsoon season(?).

Also, Karma is like Jesus, or whatever.

I have access to doctors at work, and could easily look stuff up and explore this on my own. My concern is the trigger, I pretty much know what it is; the diagnosis.

Primarily, I am concerned that my rental, which I moved in to 2 or 3 days before I started exhibiting symptoms, may be the cause.

Karma is like Jesus? "Karma" simply means "action." It also deals somewhat with Newton's law of action/reaction. That's all that karma is. There is no worry about some dogmatic "belief" if you know what the word actually means. In fact, for a week I have looked at the question and wondered how to answer it, because "karma" is not a "belief" so truthfully I couldn't answer the question. Karma is just a word in another language that means "action."

Oooh, you're thinking of all that hippie-dippie stuff, such as: "Oh, wow man, bad karma..." and blah blah blah...

There aren't enough clues. Have you ever experienced exercise-induced asthma, or anything akin to panic attacks? Also, I've known people who developed fairly severe allergies in AZ with symptoms like that.

I was thinking of the hippy nonsense, which I laugh at as much as I do any religion.

The allergies issue is what concerns me, but the timing of June is odd, and the exacerbation in July is concerning. In Flag, Kayenta, Alamo, and even here in 2012, I didn't have issue with the water in the air. Suddenly, dry or humid, in a structure loaded with chemicals, I do.

@Jim_H
I know man that was irony of situation as far as I knew you woke in medical field lol I would just say a bad chest cold maybe though early stages ??

I have experienced this. Never really figured it out. Welcome to aging...

Grimey wrote:I have experienced this. Never really figured it out. Welcome to aging...

Ever at any time of year, or associated with anything?

Maybe stay in a hotel for a week and see if it goes away?...

Does Tucson get a lot of dust storms like Phoenix? Phoenix has had a ton of blowing dust this year, and I imagine that wreaks havoc on those with sensitive lung systems....

No dust, no worse than Alamogordo. It was really bad yesterday in the rain. Super humid in the house, but the house was closed up, too.

Jim_H wrote:Ever at any time of year, or associated with anything?

Unfortunately I never could identify the reason it happened, couldn't ever correlate it with a season or anything. I suspect it was some kind of allergic response to some kind of environmental trigger, like dust or pollen, but it would happen randomly throughout the years. Seems like exercise made it worse which made me suspect I was inhaling something more deeply. But I seem to have grown out of it, haven't experienced it in probably 5 years or so. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that.

Are you super stressed out lately. My daughter has had similar bouts after dancing and the doctor said it is likely stress related from trying to remember all of the complicated dance steps?

ALMAL wrote:Are you super stressed out lately. My daughter has had similar bouts after dancing and the doctor said it is likely stress related from trying to remember all of the complicated dance steps?

True, Jim, you just recently moved and got a new job, could be a stress-related reaction.

(We're all arm-chair docs here! ;) )

azbackpackr wrote:We're all arm-chair docs here! ;)

We could even give him surgery! Who wants to go first?

big_load wrote:

azbackpackr wrote:We're all arm-chair docs here! ;)

We could even give him surgery! Who wants to go first?

Lobotomy?