Air hunger-fingers locked/panic attack-need tips

Looking for some help. DS just told me tonight that albuterol isn't working the past 3-4 days. Tonight he had a very bad bout of air hunger, lightheadedness and hyperventilation including a panic attack (at least when we read him the symptoms he said that that was it). He also had tingling in his face and hands, including some twitching in hands and upper body (he had twitching there right before starting treatment but it had gone away). His fingers were locking up and he couldn't use his hands/fingers well. As it would with anyone, this along with the suffocating feelings generated panic. Has anyone had this happen to them too? What worked for you?

We've tried many of the home remedies here unsuccessfully or if they worked at one time they no longer do. I did give him 2 doses 15 minutes apart of burbur and pinella as recommended by his LLMD. He did recover but still has breathing issues minus the panic. Plus understandably he's angry and fed up at this point because he just can't get relief from anything right now. We are trying to get him to practice deep, slow breathing as mentioned on the board but he's frustrated and worn out from all the other stuff he's having to do as well as falling behind in school etc.

His LLMD has recommended ativan (lorzepam) in a very small dose if his air hunger wasn't being helped by the albuterol. Has this worked for anyone? It is so powerful and has addiction potential. Others in my immediate family (brothers and mother) have had addiction issues and panic/anxiety in their past. DS is a thrill seeker naturally. At the same time, I have seen how the brain creates pathways and it would be nice to avoid setting one up with the breathing leading to panic. I imagine he would be on it for quite some time if it works. He is asking me to call tomorrow and request it. If you used it, how did you wean off of it? How did it make you feel when you took it?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome. He knows of this board by the way and was already here as we were discussing breathing and panic and it came up in his search.

Thanks Beeperoni, sorry to hear you have terrible air hunger too. Thanks for the tips on Xanax. The inhaler worked for about a month but he is well into mycoplasma and babesia treatments along with Lyme and it's getting worse. He is on malarone and artemisinin.

I have a few questions for you if you don't mind. What is Burner? I will have to look that one up.

Also, do you wait until the air hunger and then quickly take it? I'm not sure that will work for him while in school. He has to get to the health clinic and it has to be a regular schedule by law. Ugh. Also he said it's not like his breathing difficulties go from feeling like he gets 50% oxygen (normal feeling for him lately) down to 10% (suffocating) gradually. They just drop to 10% immediately so there's no prep time.

I hope you find some relief soon and I'll let you know if we find something that works.

I'm thinking Beeperoni mean to say Buhner? If so, Buhner is a Master Herbalist who has written many books on herbal medicine...and also developed protocols for healing lyme and co's with herbs.

I had issues with my fingers, too. For me it happened when I was sleeping. I would wake up in the night with my fingers clenched...and sore...and would have to straighten them out. During the day, they were a little bit stiff and sore, but not as bad. It started after I began bartonella treatment, and is soooo much better now. I don't wake up in the night with them clenched anymore...but in the morning they are a bit stiff and sore.

Thanks for the replies! Nberg - your experience sounds a bit similar. I neglected to list a few of the other symptoms and after he was in bed I googled hyperventilation which he definitely was doing - the symptoms are similar/same as panic. I read about the carbon dioxide - which the paper bag helped in the past, but not last night to get that co2 back in his system.

The hyperventilation article also mentioned hypocalcaemia (a result of vit D deficiency or kidney problems etc) and when I read up on it on Wiki, that is exactly what was going on along with the hyperventilation. I'll list the symptoms here so others will have the info: tingling sensations around the mouth, twitching, including face, nerves firing, Trousseau's sign, a muscle spasm in the hands, with the tips of the fingers and thumb apposed and the fingers straight, which he definitely had as well. I want to call his LLMD today to discuss all of this and have them look at his levels on his last blood work from a week ago and make sure the kidneys are okay and see what the calcium/vit D levels are if they measured that. He is taking 2000 vit D daily.

Taking ativan as needed will be a huge problem at school because they require regularity in dosage timing and he is wary of taking anything addictive so he's going to try and use his spacer today, which requires him to breath more slowly and practice breathing slowly while he's okay. I'm not sure how it will go.

Re: bartonella, his LLMD treats all the biggies so that one is covered too but I'll google his meds to make sure later today. He has no tell tale marks but could definitely have it along with the other stuff. I know the myco and babs are doing a number on his breathing for sure.

I just recently had an episode of air hunger, of which symptom I MISTAKENLY thought WAS GONE! It leads to panic attacks-I HATE IT!

My ND thinks perhaps for me its a herx symptom because its I'm back on antimicrobial which means killing pathogens, which means herxing!

I've also been having major deep leg aching since being back on the antimicrobials. So I guess that means my treatment from June 2014 to October 2015 wasn't long enough!!!

@JackieMoon
It gets switched up a bit every 3-4 months. He's pulsing Mino, Omnicef and Flagyl right now. I don't know if any of those work on bart. I will ask about it at his next appointment to make sure it's going to be covered. He definitely noticed his breathing is worse now that he's on malarone and artemisinin (pulsed too). His mino is actually daily with no break for now because of the mycoplasma numbers being high.

Yesterday he had no hyperventilitation episodes. I'm going to track them just to see if there's a pattern emerging. He had a pretty big herx the day after he restarted this last cycle so there's definitely kill off of something after his breaks.

@sweetpea - I'm sorry you are having a relapse of sorts and hope it will be short-lived!

yancync said...
@JackieMoon
It gets switched up a bit every 3-4 months. He's pulsing Mino, Omnicef and Flagyl right now. I don't know if any of those work on bart. I will ask about it at his next appointment to make sure it's going to be covered. He definitely noticed his breathing is worse now that he's on malarone and artemisinin (pulsed too). His mino is actually daily with no break for now because of the mycoplasma numbers being high.

Yesterday he had no hyperventilitation episodes. I'm going to track them just to see if there's a pattern emerging. He had a pretty big herx the day after he restarted this last cycle so there's definitely kill off of something after his breaks.

@sweetpea - I'm sorry you are having a relapse of sorts and hope it will be short-lived!

Artemisinin causes alot of air hunger for me from babesia. It did pass but it's really hard.
Yah monocylcine def works on bartonella / mycoplasam too which can cause panic attack issues.
It sounds like a lot of herxing from bugs going on!!!