Shortness of breath, which doctor?

Teen daughter is having shortness of breath.  Had asthma as a toddler but no issues through elementary / middle school.

Mentioned to the pediatrician at her last well visit in the spring, we agreed it might be related to her mild anxiety.  No treatment at that time.

Kid still complaining about it so I want to take her to get checked out.  Do I start back at the pediatrician and see what she says?  Do I go directly to an allergist or pulmonologist?  If so, which?  I would rather skip the pediatrician step if it isn’t valuable.

TIA for any advice.

Might be useful if you could document when the shortness of breath occurs - on exertion only? sporadically? when she is stressed or nervous? when she goes into a cold environment from a warmer one? does it happen on school days only or weekends as well? If it happens in school, does it seem to happen more in any specific location there? Is it more common at any particular time of day? Does there seem to be a connection with any specific food?

I'd probably ask the pediatrician's advice as to who to see next, but it would help to have answers to some of these questions to help figure out what might be the trigger, and to know who might best be able to help her.

I hope you can get some answers!

Pulmonologist should be next.

Then a cardiologist.  

I agree with Cody.  Go to your pediatrician first.  Could be lots of things but definitely see a physician. 

pcp first for sure.  Probably a full physical and blood work etc to understand what’s going on.  Do you trust her pediatrician?  Sounds like they brushed you off before, not a good thing!

I don’t know, depends on pcp. I find that most of the time, even if it’s something fairly straightforward, they refer you to a specialist anyway and then all you are doing with the pcp is wasting time and $. 

Thanks all.  

Pediatrician did not blow me off, we both agreed it was probably related to her very mild anxiety but that we would watch it.  6 months later she is still complaining about not being able to take a deep breath about once a week at random times.  No obvious triggers.  She is strong and healthy, does sports and runs occasionally without issues.

I’ll start with a call to the pediatrician to see if it makes sense to go there first or go right to a specialist.  I just hate wasting time off work and school to go to the ped if they can’t do anything but send me to a specialist.

has the pediatrician done any testing?  it could be as simple as anemia.  I used to get anemic, was bad when I was about 13.  I would collapse walking up stairs, but was fine after rest.  is she seeing a a psychiatrist for the anxiety or even a therapist who can try to better determine if it is from the anxiety.

I know a middle aged woman who was told she had COPD, had to leave her job, was on oxygen...turns out she had an infection in her lung.  once they removed the infected area, she recovered fully...is back at work and off the oxygen.

does she get a sharp pain when she tries to take the breath?  that used to happen to me.  turned out to be precordial catch syndrome

If she does end up having to see a pulmonologist, I recommend Chirag Mehta in Millburn.