Holding your breath to cure hyperventilation/anxiety?

[Jayz]

Hello,

I'm tested positive for chronic hyperventilation and i have a generalized anxiety disorder with panic attacks now and then.

In holland someone is offering a program on a cd in which is based on holding your breath for as long as possible.
You have to exercise 2 times day at least for about 4 months. During the exercises you'll have to hold your breath as long as possible for 10 times with a pause of, i believe, 1 minute.

This way, the developer of this program says, you'll make new CO2 reserves and you'll teach your body to be adapted to a higher (normal) CO2 level.

It sounds somewhat logical to me but would one of you assume this might help for hyperventilation? The program costs about € 70,- (approx. $ 95) so thats not very much, but if it won't work it's a lot ;)

Thanks for the replies.

Jayz

[jessed03]

I would recommend the Buteyko Method. I have personally tried it, Panic Cured has personally tried it, and others too, and he, and them, will verify it's authenticity. You can pick up a book on Amazon for like 7Euros. I couldn't hold my breath for 5 seconds when I begun, I was dizzy, light headed, spaced out, jumpy... It calmed my breathing right down through relaxation.

I'm not sure holding your breath, with panic attacks is a good idea at all. I think it would simulate a panic attack far too much, and confuse your body. Plus that book is 10 times cheaper :) We have no affiliation, we're just ex anxiety sufferers revealing what worked for us!

All the best...

[PanicCured]

I have read that holding your breathe for as long as you can to cure hyperventilation syndrome is very dangerous and should not be done.

Just buy Buteyko teacher, Patrick McKeown's book, Anxiety Free and get the Buteyko meditation CD that comes with it. You can probably buy a digital copy. I did. I downloaded the book and CD off his website. It's really cheap and it explains how to cure hyperventilation syndrome.

[Jayz]

Stubborn as i was i tried the 'holding your breath' method for over 2 months. I could hold my breath about 62 second in the beginning and in the end about 80-90 seconds average. But on the second week i already was able to hold my breath for 100 seconds sometimes. After this second week my graph goes up and down but never higher then before. So this wasn't the one for me.

I have one book to read that seems to be very good and advised by my logopedist If that won't work i'm going to try the buteyko way.

Did someone try L-Theanine btw? I'm using it for about 1 week now and it makes me a bit drowsy and a little calmer but on the other hand it gives me more headache, it takes longer to wake up in the morning, it makes me a bit more dizzy and my heart beat sometimes goes down to 35-38 in the evening. Normally my heart beats at about 50 bpm. I think that rather low for someone who's loaded with anxiety and stress. Does someone recognizes this?

Thanks!

[PanicCured]

Did you read what I wrote above? Holding your breathe as hard as you can some think is very dangerous. Read about it! Buteyko is perfect for you. I like Patrick's book and MP3 that comes with it. You can get it on his website or amazon. There is a digital download for both on his site so you can get it instantly. You can even send him an email with questions and he'll respond. I also have a book, Hyperventilation Syndrome by Dinah Bradley that's good but I think the other Buteyko book is better for exercises to practice with. Dinah's book can be a secondary one. Good luck and don't worry!

[Jayz]

Then i probably shouldn't do that anymore. The book from Dinah Bradley is good for sure. I have another book from Bram Balfoort and Jan van Dixhoorn that is called "ademen wij vanzelf". This seems to be a very good book too.

Is buteyko difficult to do? How much time should you spend on it each day?

[PanicCured]

Buteyko is essentially doing around 15 minutes of reduced breathign through your nose. There is more but thats the main thing. It's not rocket science. You reduce your breathing by relaxing not by forcing to create a slight and tolerable air hunger and hold it for 15+ minutes. It's basically resetting yoru breathign centers in your brain to a lower rate that they should be and gettign more oxygen delivered to yoru cells by not expellign too much CO2. There are other excerciese like Steps where you walk a certain amount of steps holding your breath but that would take some reading to understand fully.