I am a 57 yr old female who has been taking lisinopril for about ...

I am a patient (not a doctor). I have suffered tremendous shortness of breath from lisinopril. For me, the key seems to be in selenium, and zinc is helpful too. I have learned that both minerals are used up by the immune system in the process of chemical detoxification, which seems to be very necessary after/during use of this drug. As a result of the depletion, all of the bodily functions that depend on these minerals suffer, not just the immune system. As it turns out, the thyroid system depends heavily on selenium. The thyroid itself requires a certain amount of selenium in regulation of thyroid hormone production even though selenium is not a component of thyroid hormone. However, more importantly, I think, the thyroid hormone receptor sites around the body require seleno-cysteine, and without it the thyroid hormone is not properly received or utilized. It further turns out that cysteine is used both in thyroid system and also by the immune system in chemical detoxification. Plus, cysteine is an important protein for the construction & repair of the lungs. So when the body gets run down on selenium & zinc & cysteine (mostly due to detoxification and partly due to lung repair) then it affects the thyroid system receptor sites, which, combined with the lung damage, causes shortness of breath.

To combat this, add selenium, zinc, cysteine. You can get seleno-cysteine naturally with broccoli, and zinc with nuts or certain seafood. Or you could take supplements. But here's one problem with selenium: if you take too much (probably only possible via supplements) it will eventually depress the thyroid function itself by having an over regulating effect, which will increase your shortness of breath. Recovery from taking too much selenium may take a day or a few days. So, one has to balance the dosage. Also, the appropriate dosage changes quickly: it can start out that a large amount is helpful, but long term only a small amount extra is necessary. It may be that a small amount extra is needed for a very long time to recover from the lisinopril and its shortness of breath. Though our condition merits a bit extra selenium and zinc, generally speaking one should boost all of the minerals to help keep things in proper balance; in addition, this will also help counteract the thyroid overregulation by the selenium.

I find that using this technique, I continue recovering and am almost (but not quite) normal these days, even though it is now years since I took lisinopril. Before I found these minerals, my cough recovery simply arrested and the shortness of breath steadily got worse; time, even many many months, was not on my side back then.