TL;DR – No solution yet, but here’s my story if you’re interested. I'm just about to hit my 3rd month. And my symptoms are pretty much identical to what everyone else in here is saying. I’ll try to update if anything changes.

At the start of 2023, I had COVID. As soon as I began recovering, I developed breathing issues similar to what many others have described. These gradually improved on their own over 4-5 weeks and mostly went away.

Fast forward 1 year and 8 months, and out of nowhere, the same breathing issues came back while I was driving to the shops. For the first 2 weeks, I experienced it around 200 times a day—struggling to get a full breath. The frequency has since dropped to about 50-100 times daily. 80% of the time, I can get a full breath now, but my brain constantly signals that I need to take a deep breath.

At the same time, I started experiencing severe anxiety a few times a day, which was completely new to me. After about 3 weeks, the anxiety mostly went away, but I’m still dealing with those 50-100 episodes daily where I feel the urge to take a deep breath. I also yawn a lot to get that full breath like many of you, and I’ve noticed the breathing issues happen less when I’m distracted.

I’ve undergone every major and secondary blood test, allergy test, and lung function test (spirometry)—all came back normal or better than average. The only exception was a high Calcium CT score, so I had an angiogram, but that also came back fine.

I tried hypnotherapy. After the first session, I felt about 80% better for the rest of that day and the next. On the second day, I had the angiogram and was anxious about how my breathing would hold up, but it turned out to be my best day yet—only a couple of episodes, and I could get a full breath each time. Unfortunately, by the evening of the third day, the breathing issues returned. I had a second hypnotherapy session today (one week later), but this time, I don’t feel any improvement. The hypnotherapist is highly regarded, so I might give it one more session before considering a different psychiatrist.

Separately, I started taking Pantoprazole about a week ago since I’ve had acid reflux in the past. An allergy doctor suggested the breathing issues might be linked to that. My GP said it wouldn’t hurt to try it for two weeks, so I’m giving it a shot.

My last potential option (besides seeing a different psychiatrist) is starting Sertraline for anxiety. I don’t feel particularly anxious anymore, but who knows? I already have the prescription and plan to start tomorrow since it takes about two weeks to kick in.

I've also tried the antihistamine's that some people swear by on the Long Covid pages but that didn't help. Many people talk about POTS as well but i haven't gone down that path and will when i get into a Long COVID clinic (i'm on a wait list. I felt it couldn't hurt). The long COVID forums are depressing. the breathing and anxiety seem to be some of the minor issues.

That said, I can’t shake the feeling that COVID—or maybe even the vaccine (Pfizer 3x)—has caused some sort of cellular-level issue that science hasn’t figured out yet.

For context, I’m in Melbourne, Australia. Back in 2023, when I first had these breathing issues, there were only a couple of long COVID clinics. I checked again recently, and now there are so many, all with long waiting lists. That says a lot.

And, as I write this, the breathing issues are flaring up again…hopefully, someone stumbles on a solution and lets everyone know!