Grrr!!

[JudJud]

For the last 2 months I've been worrying about my lungs, thinking its gna collapse or something .. I know ..
But the last 2 days I've been focusing on my breathing way to much! To the point where I taking deep breaths constantly and then my chest starts to feel tight and then it becomes difficult to take deep breaths and then I stress out lol .. Really starting to annoy me, I've got better at talking myself out of thinking there's something wrong with my lungs but now it just seems to be my breathing that's bothering me
Does this happen to anyone else?

[artaud]

Does this happen to anyone else?

Is the Pope Catholic?

I haven't been able to breathe normally in weeks, it feels labored and as if my diaphragm is tied in a knot. This happens once or twice a year. I think it comes from shallow breathing and being stressed continuously. I get stepped sighs, if I'm lucky, I can take a deep one, but mostly it's shallow, sometimes going the extra distance to unexpectedly give me a full one.

The more you think about it, the less likely you'll breathe normally.

Ugh!

[Lee Grant Irons]

Happened to me when I was deep in anxiety. I used to dream about one day being able to again take a deep refreshing breath of air and have it feel normal. Hopefully one day, you will realize that you are breathing normal again.

[amaranthe]

I feel like I can't really breathe too well at this very moment... It happens to me everyday pretty much. I take a deep breath but it just feels like I have asthma but I really don't... It just goes away on its own.

[JudJud]

Thnx lee, I hope so too
And yhh amaranthe, it feels like asthma to me too, but I don't suffer with asthma either .. But I'm constantly testing to see if I can get a decent deep breathe, pretty much through out the day and if I feel like I can't I try even harder & make it worse for myself, it's horrible :(

[artaud]

asthma to me too, but I don't suffer with asthma either ..

What does asthma feel like? It may feel like what you imagine asthma to feel like, but in the absence of documented evidence, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gasses, pulse ox, etc. you probable are barking up the wrong tree. Cover your mouth loosely with your hand and try to pull air through, this may be closer to asthma.

Anxiety and difficulty breathing are usually related to shallow breathing, not breathing properly with the diaphragm, breathing with the intercostal muscles of the chest by expanding the upper chest and leaving the diaphragm essentially dormant. Have someone watch your breathing while you sleep, or take note of it, the breaths are slow and deep and come from the diaphragm. Be sure you're not suffering periods of apnea, where you can't get air while sleeping due to a closure of pharynx, part of your throat, or other mechanism. Don't be fooled by believing thin people never get it, a coworker has surgery and wears a C-PAP to sleep, he's young and thin.

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/diagnosing-shortness-of-breath.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXqXpqQFLjU

[Lee Grant Irons]

But I'm constantly testing to see if I can get a decent deep breathe, pretty much through out the day and if I feel like I can't I try even harder & make it worse for myself, it's horrible :(

I remember in the dark days of my health crash, I would be constantly testing everything that felt wrong on my body to see if it was feeling normal again. I would take deep breaths to see if my lungs felt normal again. I would flex my fingers to see if they had stopped aching. I would open my mouth wide to see if my TMJ pain had gone away. I would run up the stairs to see if the feeling of muscle weakness in my legs had subsided. I would check my pulse to see if my uneven heart beat had become steady. I would examine my birth mark on my leg to see if the petechiae spots were being reabsorbed. I would prod my abdomen just below my right ribs to see if I had any soreness around my liver. I would rub around where the sternocleidomastoid muscle attaches with my skull on both sides to see if the muscles had loosened up. I would rub around my shoulder blades to see if the soreness had subsided. I would flex my triceps to see if the definition in those muscles was coming back.

So have all of these symptoms completely gone away for me? None of them are around constantly anymore. Most of them have gone away completely. Some of them show up on occasion. But none of them make me anxious anymore. I think it is because I now understand why I get some of these symptoms (what is causing them), and I know that they are not signs of my imminent death. For me, gaining knowledge helped me find my way out of anxiety.

Artaud has some good advice regarding how you can gain more knowledge on what "might" be happening with your lungs. I went through getting everything tested that Artaud mentioned. Any one test will likely not answer all of the questions, but each piece of knowledge is one more piece in helping you solve your puzzle.

[ens22108]

I remember in the dark days of my health crash, I would be constantly testing everything that felt wrong on my body to see if it was feeling normal again. I would take deep breaths to see if my lungs felt normal again. I would flex my fingers to see if they had stopped aching. I would open my mouth wide to see if my TMJ pain had gone away. I would run up the stairs to see if the feeling of muscle weakness in my legs had subsided. I would check my pulse to see if my uneven heart beat had become steady. I would examine my birth mark on my leg to see if the petechiae spots were being reabsorbed. I would prod my abdomen just below my right ribs to see if I had any soreness around my liver. I would rub around where the sternocleidomastoid muscle attaches with my skull on both sides to see if the muscles had loosened up. I would rub around my shoulder blades to see if the soreness had subsided. I would flex my triceps to see if the definition in those muscles was coming back.

So have all of these symptoms completely gone away for me? None of them are around constantly anymore. Most of them have gone away completely. Some of them show up on occasion. But none of them make me anxious anymore. I think it is because I now understand why I get some of these symptoms (what is causing them), and I know that they are not signs of my imminent death. For me, gaining knowledge helped me find my way out of anxiety.

Artaud has some good advice regarding how you can gain more knowledge on what "might" be happening with your lungs. I went through getting everything tested that Artaud mentioned. Any one test will likely not answer all of the questions, but each piece of knowledge is one more piece in helping you solve your puzzle.

This is me to a T. I double check everything you've mentioned everyday. How did you overcome this, I've had tests done, proven I was fine, that kept my mind at ease for about 6months then it happens all over again. I can't get it throught my head it's only my anxiety.

[Lee Grant Irons]

This is me to a T. I double check everything you've mentioned everyday. How did you overcome this, I've had tests done, proven I was fine, that kept my mind at ease for about 6months then it happens all over again. I can't get it throught my head it's only my anxiety.

Hi ens,

Turns out that I was not fine. The doctors were ignoring parts of my health history, were misinterpeting some test results, and were not testing some things that would indicate my real problems. I had to take control of my diagnostic and treatment plan by finding a primary doctor who was willing to work with me and help me set up a plan that took us an additional three years to work through. Some of my symptoms were definitely driven by anxiety, but some were actually due to my medical condition. However, I did manage to overcome my anxiety before I got back to feeling close to 100%. I think that was because I had more of a feeling of control. I could not control my problems, but I could control what I was doing to try to resolve my problems. I am in the process of writing a book about it. I have publicly released chapter 1 at my blog. The url for my blog is below in my signature. I have also pre-released my chapter 2 on a private blog. If you would like to read my chapter 2 before I release it to the public, send me an email at [email protected]. :)