I am a 47 year old female, and have been exercising moderately for most of my life. The past couple of months, I get winded very easily. It is not tough to breathe, like there is something sitting on my chest. Rather, after running for only 3 or 4 minutes I have to stop and walk because I am panting so hard and my heart is beating very fast. I recover pretty quickly and start running again after walking for a minute or so, but the cycle repeats. Any idea what might be wrong?
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. I can understand your situation and problem. You are having shortness of breath, air hunger (panting) and chest heaviness with tachycardia etc. on exertion. These can be seen most commonly in cardiac diseases and pulmonary diseases. You are in premenopausal age group. In this age group due to hormonal changes, cardio protective effect of estrogen is decreased. So women of this age group is higher risk of cardiac disease. So consult cardiologist first and get done1. ECG2. 2d photo rule out cardiac causes. If both are normal than consult pulmonologist and get done chest x-ray and PFT (pulmonary function test) to rule out pulmonary causes.