Can’t breathe when running

[Anonymous]

Just another vote for visiting your GP and a pulmonologist. I acquired exercise-induced asthma as a 40-something but stayed in denial for months. Now I take meds and the symptoms have vanished.

[Anonymous]

Vocal cord dysfunction
Restricted airway (did you have tiny mouth, crowded teeth, etc. growing up?)
Asthma

….could be others. I’d see pulmonologist first, then ENT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m female, early 50s, and have been a lifelong casual runner. I’ve always been slow (my best 5k times in high school cross country were in the mid 20s). As an adult, I’ve struggled to run any better than a 10 minute mile average because I can’t catch my breath. I don’t think this is new - I’ve just been paying more attention to it recently, and my casual running and race time hasn’t gotten much worse in decades. I try to breathe through my nose but can’t get enough air that way and end up with my mouth open breathing heavily the whole time.
I’ve never had any asthma symptoms. I do a lot of yoga and have tried different yoga breathing patterns while running and those haven’t helped.
Anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do about it? I feel like only the breathing is the limiting factor - if I could breathe better I could run a lot faster.

I've been a pretty avid runner since I was in my mid 20s. When I hit menopause, I developed asthma. Surprise! It's mostly triggered by exercise and cold aid. I use an inhaler when I run.

[Anonymous]

My elevated hemidiaphragm was misdiagnosed as exercise-induced asthma for YEARS.

[Anonymous]

I think it's good that people are recommending that you get checked out.

But also -- have you tried running slower? Especially for the first mile?

[Anonymous]

See a pulmonologist. I have a weird narrowing of my trachea (stenosis) and it manifests like this. But I have wheezing too. The pulm was able to figure this out and confirmed through three different types of test. unfortunately there’s nothing that can be done in my case based on where the narrowing is etc etc. so that was a bust! But I still power through all the exercising and have managed to condition myself to breathe slightly better over time (I’ve had this since childhood).

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe these answers. And this is why our healthcare is expensive. People are going to the pulmonologist over mouth breathing when running. Cannot believe it. Everyone had to mouth breath when heart rate and oxygen demand gets high enough

[Anonymous]

NO. The OP said she is out of breath for 15-20 minutes after running AND she is in good shape and can't increase her pace/push herself because of shortness of breath. She should absolutely get checked out, the reason she can't mouth breathe is that there is almost certainly something structurally wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it actually a problem to breath with your mouth open?

I only mouth breathe when running. I have a deviated septum and breathing through my nose is hard when exercising. Short of getting my septum fixed I'll be mouth breathing for life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO. The OP said she is out of breath for 15-20 minutes after running AND she is in good shape and can't increase her pace/push herself because of shortness of breath. She should absolutely get checked out, the reason she can't mouth breathe is that there is almost certainly something structurally wrong.

She’s in her 50s and has been a slower runner her whole life and this breathing “issue” is nothing new, she’s always been this way. Oh and that she is “kind of” out of breath for 15-20 min after. Doesn’t seem like she is in that great of shape to me. She CAN breathe through her mouth. She can’t maintain her exercise only breathing through nose. And that is normal. Sorry, I’m not seeing any medical issue going on.

[Anonymous]

Won't fix it, but make sure you are well hydrated. Lungs work better with more H2O.

[Anonymous]

Are you running too fast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have experience with this but the book Close Your Mouth has a cult following among some people I know.

Also OP. I read Breathe but I literally cannot close my mouth for more than a breath or two while running since then I get even more out of breath. I think it was in that book they mention that most runners breathe in through a combination of nose and mouth - I wish I could do that but it doesn't work.

I was like this but I persisted. For the first two weeks, The first 10 minutes were absolutely Terrible— like I was being suffocated. Then, it magically changed and the rest of the run was amazing. It was like a huge rush of oxygen. After 2 weeks the 10 minute discomfort at the start vanished. I am able to run 2x farther while consuming much less water.

[Anonymous]

Why is it problematic if you run with mouth breathing? I’ve always been a mouth breather. I tend to push my pace when running but am much slower now than 4 years ago (ie takes me 50 mins for 10km now). I’m 55yo.