breathing question--please help

[surfer-girly88]

I am a 18 year old female who has never really delt with anxiety before. I am not particularly stressed about anything and I don't believe I have any of the "typical" symptoms of anxiety. However for the past MONTH I have constantly not been able to breathe. I feel a tightness in my chest and feel like I can't catch a deep breath. When I finally do, it immediatley begins to feel like I need another deep breath because I constantly feel out of air. Sometimes sitting up can help, and when I lay down the symptoms are the worst. Has anyone experienced this? I have tried albuterol and other asthma medications and none seem to work. I have begun to think it is anxiety although at the moment the only thing I am anxious about is my breathing. Could I have anxiety and no know about it? If you think this is the case, what would you recommend. I desperately want to get rid of this. It keeps me awake at night and I feel like I never have any relief. Thanks!

[The Melody of Rain]

Although this is listed as a symptom of anxiety, it doesn't necessarily mean to say that if you have a tight chest or are experiencing breathing complications on a frequent basis you're anxious. Many of the physical symptoms of anxiety such as tight chest, hot or cold flushes and dizzy head rushes can indeed stem from any number of separate conditions. Anxiety is mainly comprised of fear and the inability to destroy that fear because your brain has been stressed for an large measure of time and being in a state of reparable hibernation and temporarily lacks the competence in affording it to you as most of its energy must be exerted on those relative repairs.

Does this a constant issue or an occasional occurance?

If the answer is the former, then it could be one of thousand afflictions scaling from minor to major in terms of severity; hay-fever and asmath included.
If the answer is the latter, then when and where do these incidents occur?
Are they random or predictable?
What kind of setting and atmosphere are they generally happening in?

[surfer-girly88]

it is constant..I have been to several doctors about this including the pulmologist. She said I sounded fine but she gave me some asthma medication to try but it hasn't helped at all. If it is constant could is still be anxiety?

[The Melody of Rain]

Anxiety; on both a mental and physical level; stems from prolonged stress, so if you're vehemently denying feeling mentally or physically stressed as of late then theres a high likely hood its not anxiety - although bare in mind this is strictly opinion.

I had an anxiety disorder for seven years and this was on of my worst and most frustrating of symptoms. Futher more, it was one of the first symptoms to vanish.

You could be mildly stressed. How is your short term memory? Stuff like forgetting what you walked into a room for, what the topic of conversation was, ability to form viable sentences etc?

[surfer-girly88]

I do get stressed out quite easily. Because it is the end of the year I am not stressed about school or anything, but yes I would say that I stress easily. If you don't mind me asking, what medication were you on that made your breathing symptoms go away? I don't know if its worth taking such strong medication for only one symptom, but if this continues I might consider it. What would you recommend?

[The Melody of Rain]

I will tell you NOW that it is NOT worth taking such dangerously potent chemicals strictly for one relatively minor symptom. I myself was on over 10 different ilks of medication for major depression and anxiety caused by chronic stress which occurred as a result of...strictly negative thinking. A pessimistic outlook in regard to life, you could understandably propose.

Based on what you've told me, my theory is that you are mildly to moderately stressed; however it is vital that you retrospectively trace back the stem of the stress to the root cause of it all, otherwise you may develop anxiety and it a NOTORIOUSLY difficult affliction to briskly beat. I thought I was unlucky with seven years...some members here have had severe anxiety along with depression, agoraphobia and social phobia for over 20 years or their life. And what was the start of it all? Stress, and not realising the were stressed.

Find your root before your ability to remember is clouded by the effects of anxiety.

[Dixxie]

I am a 18 year old female who has never really delt with anxiety before. I am not particularly stressed about anything and I don't believe I have any of the "typical" symptoms of anxiety. However for the past MONTH I have constantly not been able to breathe. I feel a tightness in my chest and feel like I can't catch a deep breath. When I finally do, it immediatley begins to feel like I need another deep breath because I constantly feel out of air. Sometimes sitting up can help, and when I lay down the symptoms are the worst. Has anyone experienced this? I have tried albuterol and other asthma medications and none seem to work. I have begun to think it is anxiety although at the moment the only thing I am anxious about is my breathing. Could I have anxiety and no know about it? If you think this is the case, what would you recommend. I desperately want to get rid of this. It keeps me awake at night and I feel like I never have any relief. Thanks!

Hi Surfer-G: You know I am much older now but you sound like me when I was 18. That was one of my main complaints, heaviness on the chest and the feeling like no matter how deep my breaths were, it was never enough oxygen. For me.....I was very shy and insecure and had lack of confidence.....so I guess I panicked being around people....being shy and all. Being older now, I still have that problem occasionally. I guess I will always be that way...but it's much more controlled now. I just talk to myself to stop being so silly and to BE MYSELF. :)

[RabidBadger]

If you are walking down the street and you start to think about how you are walking, you become self-conscious and start to alter your gait or think you are not doing it right.

It's exactly the same thing with your breathing.

Once your conscious mind feels the need to interfere with a process that is usually handled unconsciously, you introduce questions and scope for error.

I had asthma throughout my childhood and, believe me, if you had asthma there would be no guesswork in the diagnosis. You would have audible wheezing and the steroids would help.

Stop thinking about your breathing and trust that your body will look after it without your intervention.

If you look at one of the opening statements from your post - for a month I have been unable to breathe - you should count yourself lucky. Most people only last about 4 minutes.

Chris

[Just Breathe]

Surfergirl
I have gone through the same thing starting when I was about 13 years old. I thought I was having asthma attacks because I didn't know what anxiety was. I went to asthma specialists and although my breathing sounded fine they gave me an inhaler. I remember being at the doctors office in the exam room and having an "asthma attack" right before the doctor came in. The doctor tested my lungs immediatley after and everything was fine....but since they didn't know what else to do they diagnosed it as asthma (it was actually anxiety and I was having panic attacks). I am not in any way saying this is what you have, I am not a doctor and therefore cannot tell you what is wrong. I can tell you what helped me during that time.
When I would have breathing problems, I would be gasping for air through my mouth. Whenever that began to happen I would train myself to think "you can still breathe, breathe in through your nose, you're fine". It sounds odd but just knowing I could breathe through my nose made me feel as if I had more airflow and calmed me down. I also used to stick my head in the freezer (I know it sounds really weird) the cold helped me breathe better.

Hope this helps

[RabidBadger]

It is important to remember that when you experience fear, your pulmonary rate is supposed to increase because your blood is pumping faster and you need to oxygenate it. This is perfectly normal.

When you couple it with increased muscular tension and any kind of globus restriction in the throat, it can very easily make you feel like you can't breathe.

At times like this, something like a ventolin inhaler may wey help because it is a bronchodilator that expands the airways in your lungs but that is not necessarily an indicator that you are asthmatic.

The simple fact is that anxiety does cause a "suffocating" effect but it will not stop you from breathing and the more you concentrate on your breathing, the worse it will feel. In the worst case scenario, if you managed to completely stop yourself breathing, you would simply pass out and your subconscious mind would take control of your breathing again and normalise it.

Chris

[frisby]

I'm just offering a slim possibility but possible.

My whole life from time to time I had that exact feeling. I worried about it but my doctors always told me it was anxiety. But after so many years I just believed it. One day I was stung by an insect. So I took antihistamine, it was benedryl (put me to sleep in 5 minutes) but for 4 hours no breathing problems. Oh boy I was scared too since I am allergic to a few bugs. But with all that fear I had no breathing problems until the antihistamine wore off. It turned out to be allergies. Allergies can irritate your lungs and cause this feeling. Usually just an annoyance but it's easy to try and maybe it could solve your problem. Claritin is a non drowsy pill. But for sure Benedryl is the strong one and most likely to give you a sure answer. Of course you should always talk to your doctor before taking any medication including over the counter stuff.

They also can do a blood test for IGE or Histamine in your blood to determine this. My doctor had me pegged as massive anxiety case because I told him I thought I would die with in a year from breathing problems. I am emotional and confuse the heck out of everyone when I describe whats going on. Another story. He took a blood test to prove to me I was fine and turned out that I had really high levels of histamine in my blood. Well we fixed that with antihistamine meds daily. Doctor could not look at me after his big goof up. :)

But ruling out everything else is where you should start. Inhalers work great for asthma but not so for allergies and both cause breathing problems and tightness in a very similar way. They are treated with different meds. Some inhalers don't work for everyone so there are different brands. Never use your friends inhaler, you need to be checked by a doctor first. Some inhalers can take up to 45 minutes to start working on some people too.

Since you have tried the inhaler maybe you could try an antihistamine next time. If that doesn't work then you ruled out something else. Even in the middle of winter with snow on the ground there are still allergies in the home.

My allergies didn't really come out until I was older.

[dna_hard]

surfer girly, this is anxiety; nothing more; i experienced this when i was 7 years old and and I know exactly what you are talking about, you feel like you can not breathe because you are trying to take a deep breath everytime you breathe but the problem is that you can not take a deep breath every time you breathe thus leading you to think that you can not breathe. I really thought that i could not breath and this went on for months as a child, the root cause of my problem started when i was chewing on a ink pen and it got in my mouth; my step mother told me the side effects of ink poison is difficulty breathing, then it began.

I prayed to god every night to please help me feel better, then one day on the bus i looked over and saw a fat kid and noticed him breathing, he was not trying to take a deep breath everytime; he was just breathing normally, just look at how other people breath; watch there chest as they breath and you will see the light just like i did, the anxiety went away and my prayer was answered; With that being said, i had few panic attacks later on in life, the worst one @ 21 and have been suffering from anxiety since, Im hoping that I will eventually figure this one out, all in all, i think its stressed induced and usually comes out in people in their early 20's, its very strange now days to see all these young kids actually having panic attacks starting at the age of 13

[StevieH]

Sorry to be the one to ask but have you been to see,and ask your doctor about this first.I dont want to worry you because I havent read this thread properly, I've had a few beers, but If you havent please go there first.If you have already,then I apologise,
Take Care
StevieH

[Giz]

OK, I will admit I didnt read every post, so if Im repeating anyone I am very sorry..

I have experienced this, and Ive been sent for chest Xrays, put on medication for stomach ulcers (cimetidine-which causes depression!!) and you know what the problem was??

1. I have an intolerance to caffeine. I can drink it a bit, but if I drink it too often, I have mini panic attacks and I feel like someone is crushing my rib cage, (this is heart palpitations I guess) It hurts tremendously and the only way to get rid of it is to sleep.

2. One of my thoracic vertabrae is misaligned. This can happen from sleeping funny, twisting around badly, etc.. Basically, one of the back bones the your ribs are attached onto is just a few millimetres in the wrong place. This causes your rib to be out of place-so you may find that a deep breath feels like youre being stabbed, likewise if you cough or laugh. Otherwise it is like no matter how deeply you breathe in, it feels like you still arent breathing enough.
Funnily enough Ive had to have 3 chest Xrays where the doc said-cant see anything, heres some anti inflammatorys.. I went to my chiropractor, he adjusted my back, and deep breaths were once again fully functional..
Just goes to show-the Xray is ony used to measure specific things.. Its no use outside of broken bones and foreign objects..