breathing and anxiety

[beebee92]

Does anyone struggle to breath or feel as though they aint breathing and if so why is this?

[bhamlaxy]

I don't know exactly, but I think I have a general idea.

People with anxiety often fixate on breathing and heart beat. This is because, due to the condition/disorder we are often on edge. Our nervous system mistakenly stays on high alert and can quickly flip into "fight or flight" even when no threat exists.

Anxious people are often afraid of dying, which isn't helped by the fact that their nervous systems are looking for a threat. So think, what's the simplest way to monitor your health? You can't really immediately tell if your liver or pancreas is working. But we all know if we stop breathing or if our heart stops beating, we die. So anxious people will often fixate on these things, and the slightest weird feeling or odd breath can trigger thoughts that either the heart or lungs aren't working.

Especially when you start to get anxious, breathing may feel weird. During a panic attack, your body behaves as though it is in imminent danger (It's not). So it prepares to either fight the threat, or run away. Both of these things would be physically stressful, so your body prepares for this by altering how you breath, kind of like heavy breathing after exercising.

If you breath in and out too fast, then you hyperventilate. I don't know much about this, but I think it involves getting too much oxygen into your blood. It's not going to kill you, but may create discomfort and add to the panic. If I get panicky I make sure to take slow, full deep breaths.

And REMEMBER, even if breathing feels weird, you will NOT stop breathing. Think about it- You breathe while you sleep, without even thinking about it, and even people in deep comas keep breathing! No one simply stops breathing and dies. You can pass out, even get knocked out cold and you will keep on breathing.

[Tara34]

In my experience, it helps to force yourself to breathe normally during a panic attack, just as you would normally. I find myself fixating on the fact that I feel like I can't breathe and that makes me [I]really[I] panic! The other thing I do that helps me get past feeling like I can't get a good breath is to start doing something - work on a hobby, strike up a conversation with someone - anything! You'll find that your symptoms will go away pretty quickly!

[PanicCured]

Its a CO2/O2 balance thing. The more you breathe the more CO2 you breathe out which causes a lot of bad symptoms.

[BabyfoO]

Wow reading this post hit it on the nose for me. I often feel before sleeping while laying down that my breathing pattern differs. It feels I can't get enuff air in. Instantaneously my panic is activated. Such a terrible feeling. I force myself to sleep thinking that when I'm asleep I'm not thinking of my breathing since I'll continue breathing -- makes sense? I might've mixed my thoughts and words. Sorry I'm babbling. I just wanted to acknowledge that I feel better reading this thread.