Shortness of breath

[whongvj]

Hi guys! What's the cause of shortness if breath in anxiety disorder? My shortness of breath has been always there even when I was on medication, I just stopped citalopram last march...I just wanna know what's the cause of this..thanks!

[Fourteen14]

There are a number of causes.

Firstly I would see your doc and make sure you rule out asthma first.

If it is simply related to anxiety, it can either be connected to the feeling of shortness of breath (psychologically conscious of your breathing) which makes you take in too much air, which then makes you feel like you can't get enough (naturally we don't breathe as much when we don't think about it).

The other cause is posture, anxiety makes us hold our shoulders and tense up (even if when we are not consciously aware we are doing it), it can cause the muscles around the upper airway, chest and upper back to tighten and causes the sensation of laboured breathing.

One way to check this is to take a full breath from your belly without expanding your chest, if you can get a full intake of air, it's likely the problem is across the chest muscles.

Often folk with anxiety complain of a tight sensation around the throat and neck (as if they are being smothered), sometimes the sensation of a lump or dryness in the throat.

And finally allergies are common in causing irritation of the respiratory system (high pollen season in spring) you could try antihistamine and see if that improves things.

First port of call is the doc to check for asthma (unless you have already had recent chest x-rays)

Best of luck :)

[whongvj]

Thank you Fourteen14!! I appreciate your reply!!

[Dahila]

You could try it, even with the possibility of asthma, it helps:)
breathing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvtx62lUho0)