breathing problems

[canyonlad66]

Hi Im new here and I wondered if anybody else suffers from a constant tight chest as if my lungs are being squeezed and I cant get a proper lungful of air.Although Im asthmatic Ive never had any astma attacks in my life and my peak flow is 700 so really good.I had a cough for 4 months to start with,which I admit made me quite anxious.I also lost a close relative to cancer in september and was involved in a car accident in which I overturned my car in a ditch.I have had a chest x ray and doctors say Im fine.I have this constant tight restricting feeling in my lungs which gets so bad at times it turns into a full blown panic attack where I feel I cant breathe at all and feel like Im going to die.

[brittleighhhh]

Yes! I am going through that now. I am going through a tough time in my life, but I have the constant shortness of breath. Then when it gets bad I go into a panic attack. I'm also pregnant which makes it worse. Some days are better than others. I have found that I am not breathing correctly. Not taking slow deep breaths and because I have GAD, I find myself actually holding my breath or tensing my stomach up.

[PanicCured]

I am writing this assuming you do not have lung disease or asthma problems but your problem is anxiety:

When I had extreme panic disorder and agoraphobia, one of my biggest symptoms was constantly trying to take in more air and feeling like I was suffocating or that I would collapse any second. I felt like a fish out of water grasping for oxygen. When I discovered Buteyko breathing techniques my life changed! In 5 days my anxiety was cut in half.

What I found was that by breathing more you actually get less oxygen. It was very helpful to understand the science of breathing respiration. Basically, we breathe out CO2 and take in O2. The O2 goes into our lungs then to our blood. From our blood to our body, ie: organs and brain. The release of oxygen to our organs and brain is determined by the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in the blood. So when you over breathe, you are blowing out too much CO2, which creates less in your blood, which then, less oxygen is released to your body. This was causing my body to try and slow my breathing down to balance out the CO2/ O2, which felt like my breathing was stopping. This also caused me to feel light headed. This discovery changed my life!

To demonstrate this, if you hyper ventilate, breath as much as possible, you will get light headed, tingly hands and have many anxiety symptoms. If you really over breathe extremely, you can even pass out from lack of oxygen. This is profound! So when anxiety was creeping up on me, I would start to breathe less.

I then practiced breathing LESS. That's right. None of this "Breathe more" stuff that people tell you to do. I practiced reduced breathing meditation to help reset my respiratory centers in my brain. I got to the point, were during these practices, I would breathe so low, that you could barely see my body move at all. In a different practice, I also was able to have 1 breathe per minute. Inhale 30 seconds and exhale 30 seconds in a Qi Gong style breathing practice.

The book that changed my life was by Patrick McKeown called Anxiety Free. I bought a downloadable ebook that came with a downloadable MP3 Buteyko breathing meditation. I practiced the MP3 twice daily and did the other exercises in the book. I also did a Skype conversation with him that he charged me $50 that was well worth it. He also has an asthma book called Close Your Mouth. So whether it is asthma or anxiety, Buteyko seems to be good.

People that do not understand physiology tell us to breathe more when we panic, but this is wrong advice. Breathing needs to match your respiratory rate, so the more we exercise the faster our breathing goes, but it needs to be the right pace, not too much. You don't get more oxygen by over-breathing, you actually get less. Breathing needs to be not too low and not too much but the correct amount. But by practicing reduced breathing meditation, you can reset your respiratory centers.

[biliwiz]

Agreed! The breathing is so important and it ACTUALLY WORKS! Google "anxiety breathing techniques" and I am sure you will find a technique that works for you. I cut my panic attacks down to about 10 per cent almost immediately by breathing in for 5 seconds and then out for 10. Not easy at first, best to practise when you are not feeling anxious.

[NixonRulz]

I am writing this assuming you do not have lung disease or asthma problems but your problem is anxiety:

When I had extreme panic disorder and agoraphobia, one of my biggest symptoms was constantly trying to take in more air and feeling like I was suffocating or that I would collapse any second. I felt like a fish out of water grasping for oxygen. When I discovered Buteyko breathing techniques my life changed! In 5 days my anxiety was cut in half.

What I found was that by breathing more you actually get less oxygen. It was very helpful to understand the science of breathing respiration. Basically, we breathe out CO2 and take in O2. The O2 goes into our lungs then to our blood. From our blood to our body, ie: organs and brain. The release of oxygen to our organs and brain is determined by the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in the blood. So when you over breathe, you are blowing out too much CO2, which creates less in your blood, which then, less oxygen is released to your body. This was causing my body to try and slow my breathing down to balance out the CO2/ O2, which felt like my breathing was stopping. This also caused me to feel light headed. This discovery changed my life!

To demonstrate this, if you hyper ventilate, breath as much as possible, you will get light headed, tingly hands and have many anxiety symptoms. If you really over breathe extremely, you can even pass out from lack of oxygen. This is profound! So when anxiety was creeping up on me, I would start to breathe less.

I then practiced breathing LESS. That's right. None of this "Breathe more" stuff that people tell you to do. I practiced reduced breathing meditation to help reset my respiratory centers in my brain. I got to the point, were during these practices, I would breathe so low, that you could barely see my body move at all. In a different practice, I also was able to have 1 breathe per minute. Inhale 30 seconds and exhale 30 seconds in a Qi Gong style breathing practice.

The book that changed my life was by Patrick McKeown called Anxiety Free. I bought a downloadable ebook that came with a downloadable MP3 Buteyko breathing meditation. I practiced the MP3 twice daily and did the other exercises in the book. I also did a Skype conversation with him that he charged me $50 that was well worth it. He also has an asthma book called Close Your Mouth. So whether it is asthma or anxiety, Buteyko seems to be good.

People that do not understand physiology tell us to breathe more when we panic, but this is wrong advice. Breathing needs to match your respiratory rate, so the more we exercise the faster our breathing goes, but it needs to be the right pace, not too much. You don't get more oxygen by over-breathing, you actually get less. Breathing needs to be not too low and not too much but the correct amount. But by practicing reduced breathing meditation, you can reset your respiratory centers.

I can't vouch for the book or doc references above but the description of the breathing is spot on

I tell people often how I belly breathe to reduce every one of my phyical symptoms

Probably should be more detailed by saying slow, belly breaths through my nose and out of my mouth

Calm and controlled breathing is the missing link to most of people's anxiety issues.

If you breathe correctly, you wouldn't have any pains or heart flutters to worry about