Breathing problem.

Okay I know I already made a thread today but this is urgent.

These are my thoughts now: Am I breathing properly? Oh god, if I'm not breathing properly I'll die. I don't want to die, please someone help me. Do I have asthma? What causes asthma? Is it genetic? You can die from ashtma! Is this just my anxiety or asthma? I never had asthma, but what if I do now? I need oxygen! Goodbye world.

So I had this thing when I was little when at moments I couldn't fully breathe or I guess I was kind of forcing my breath. I always had to yawn or breathe really deep until I feel like I got air. I knew I was breathing, but the urge to breathe deeply was so irresistible and I thought that's how normally people breathe. Then it faded away and came back when I was 11 and I was never worried about it, it was just annoying. So now that I have anxiety, it came back again. But not immediately, I'm only having it now.

I think it's because I got rid of some of my other health related fears so now I have this. Basically it only happens when I focus on it and I think about it, if I don't, I'm completely fine. So because of this I developed a fear of having asthma. I'm sure that's not the case but I'm still worried.

So the main thing is that I kind of forgot how to breath normally and I keep forcing deep breaths and I'm yawning too much. Can someone help? I'm feeling as if all my other fears are nothing compared to this.

Okay, Ive been through this and understand you fully. You dont have asthma. You are just super aware of your breathing at the moment due to anxiety and focusing on it. For myself, when I was in the same situation I also thought asthma or low lung capacity or something. What it is for myself is 2 things. 1. Food and or outside allergies can make breathing a little constricted but absolutely nothing to worry about. 2. High histamine foods absolutey made my breathing somewhat shallower. Google high histamine foods and low histamine foods. Once I went to eating low histamine foods it dramatically improved my breathing and anxiety (actually my anxiety went away 100% a couple years ago). Anxiety and the breathing issue in my personal opinion are food allergy/external allergy/high histamine food related. Again, this is my opinion because it worked completely for me.

You probably need to seek some help for dealing with your anxiety issues. You said you got rid of your other anxiety issues but now you have this. Oh, I wish it was that easy to just get rid of anxiety but it has a way of coming back. You have to get it under control.
People don't just forget how to breath normally. Your anxiety is bad right now and each of us has to figure out our own way to control it instead of it controlling us. I go the doctor route, others go other routes.

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Originally Posted by Anne1221

You probably need to seek some help for dealing with your anxiety issues. You said you got rid of your other anxiety issues but now you have this. Oh, I wish it was that easy to just get rid of anxiety but it has a way of coming back. You have to get it under control.
People don't just forget how to breath normally. Your anxiety is bad right now and each of us has to figure out our own way to control it instead of it controlling us. I go the doctor route, others go other routes.

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what an excellent post. Well stated

Perhaps it's time to consider getting a hobby or starting a new one. Works for me.

One of if not the most common side effect of anxiety. It's in your mind, pay no attention, you will always get enough oxygen.

I have been through this. (As of recently, i have experienced it slightly again). I have to keep reminding myself that I am all right. I keep telling myself to exhale. I make myself push the air out/exhale, usually through my mouth, like a hissing noise. And whenever I inhale, I inhale through the nose. Then I exhale through the mouth. Sometimes I make myself do long exhales.........longer exhales than inhales, until I am feeling better.

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Originally Posted by xUnknown

Okay I know I already made a thread today but this is urgent.

These are my thoughts now: Am I breathing properly? Oh god, if I'm not breathing properly I'll die. I don't want to die, please someone help me. Do I have asthma? What causes asthma? Is it genetic? You can die from ashtma! Is this just my anxiety or asthma? I never had asthma, but what if I do now? I need oxygen! Goodbye world.

So I had this thing when I was little when at moments I couldn't fully breathe or I guess I was kind of forcing my breath. I always had to yawn or breathe really deep until I feel like I got air. I knew I was breathing, but the urge to breathe deeply was so irresistible and I thought that's how normally people breathe. Then it faded away and came back when I was 11 and I was never worried about it, it was just annoying. So now that I have anxiety, it came back again. But not immediately, I'm only having it now.

I think it's because I got rid of some of my other health related fears so now I have this. Basically it only happens when I focus on it and I think about it, if I don't, I'm completely fine. So because of this I developed a fear of having asthma. I'm sure that's not the case but I'm still worried.

So the main thing is that I kind of forgot how to breath normally and I keep forcing deep breaths and I'm yawning too much. Can someone help? I'm feeling as if all my other fears are nothing compared to this.

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Yes, very well said, definitely if it comes back it surely does need to be treated, however route you want to choose, meditation, acupuncture, counseling, medication, it just needs to be treated somehow.

Hi unknown!

The first thing I can say is that it's not asthma, I had asthma and when you get it for the first time
The only thing you do is cough without stopping and you can't do anythig and I got that too I think it's anxiety related because right now I'm like breathing but I feel I need more and that's not enough band it happens daily so don't worry you're not the only one :D

Marc.

Thanks a lot guys, when I wrote that I was in an extreme panic attack, even though it didn't look like it. I was 100% sure I was gonna die or pass out cause I thought I was breathing wrong and that it wasn't anxiety but something else. So I needed reassurance quickly and I wanted to assure myself I'm not alone.

Now I kinda have it under control, I found this method called the buteyko method. Basically you kind of force yourself to not breath with your mouth and not take deep breaths, you breath very slowly and little through your nose, it's sometimes uncomfortable but I know it will benefit me.

As of now I think this was the worst ever of my health anxiety, even worse than a fear of a heart attack. So I feel like my other fears were actually nothing compared to this, and I remind myself if I survived this, then so can I the other things.

That's good that you found a method to help with breathing. I remember that breathing is so important. Deep breathing, I mean. During stressful times, I find that I "forget" to breathe. I will catch myself breathing shallowly.
When I was a child, I remember going to the doctor and them showing me how to use a paper bag because they said that I was hyperventilating. I think the anxiety was starting up at that time.
I remember to make the exhales longer when I want to have deeper breathing.
Deeper breathing is one step in order to help manage anxiety. You are on your way. Yes, if we can survive bouts of anxiety, then we can survive other things. It makes you appreciate the times when you feel better, for sure.

I’m inspired that you reached out for support. I’m glad that you have taken this situation seriously because breathing difficulties and anxiety are important. I know this is terrifying for you to struggle with breathing. It’s understandable that you have this concern. I have heard of others who have had breathing difficulties similar to yours so you are not alone. I’m wondering if you have tried some different options that may help with your breathing such as, maybe try to breathe through your mouth, get in a cooler place for fresh air, also see a doctor he/she will be able to give you a diagnosis? If it’s anxiety have you maybe tried to stay calm and have positive thought processes? I hope this helps.
Best Wishes!

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Originally Posted by jstar845

I’m inspired that you reached out for support. I’m glad that you have taken this situation seriously because breathing difficulties and anxiety are important. I know this is terrifying for you to struggle with breathing. It’s understandable that you have this concern. I have heard of others who have had breathing difficulties similar to yours so you are not alone. I’m wondering if you have tried some different options that may help with your breathing such as, maybe try to breathe through your mouth, get in a cooler place for fresh air, also see a doctor he/she will be able to give you a diagnosis? If it’s anxiety have you maybe tried to stay calm and have positive thought processes? I hope this helps.
Best Wishes!

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That's nice to hear that you're inspired, I sometimes also get inspired from people who recovered anxiety or deal with it well. Yeah it's pretty scary, never been so terrified my whole life. But as I said before I got it under control now and this method that I found actually helps.

Thanks for the suggestions, maybe I'll go to a doctor soon just to be sure. I also try to ignore it and go on with what I'm doing or keeping busy because it's when I focus on it that it becomes a problem. The only thing I disagree with is the breathing through the mouth, I found that's not a good habit of mine and it just gives me less oxygen. But if it gives temporary relief to someone then sure, but I wouldn't use it for long-term.

Anyways, thanks for the advice and have a good day!

Oh man, if only I could just push a button and give you my experiences with this. First off, if youve been to the doctors and theyve ran the necessary tests to detect anything serious, and they came back negative, than it is indeed anxiety. Terrifying right? Not being able to breathe? I first started having troubles with it about a week after I got out of jail, I was being charged with offenses that carried a max prison sentence of 50 years so needless to say I was definately anxious, but I didnt realize to what extent, and I didnt know how physical anxiety could be. So about a week or maybe less after I got out of jail I was coming back from a family barbeque, my fiance and I had stopped off at an atm to deposit some money so I could grab a redbox. Out of nowhere I couldn't breathe, as if my lungs just stopped working, and naturally as a result of that my heart started racing. I was freaking out. Babe, pull over, pull over I cant breathe! She didnt really take me seriously but we were pulling up to the atm so I just jumped out of the car lol. Anyways that was my first panic attack, caused by not being able to breathe. What I didnt know at the time was that I was going to have plenty more panic attacks, most of which werent caused by breathing, but at the time that one was, and it was my first, so for the longest time I was constantly worried about my breathing. I web MD'd myself into a panic attack almost daily for a couple months. One day I had asthma, and then I had emphysema, the next day I had COPD, and then it was crystallized lungs. Once the doctors did every lung test imaginable I figured it was heart related and convinced myself my heart wasnt pumping right and in turn I wasnt getting enough oxygen pumped throughout my body, and that was why I was having troubles breathing. So naturally more web MD panic attacks occured. I had congestive heart failure, I was on the verge of a heart attack and my body was trying to warn me, I had mitro valve whatever, and so on. So more trips to the doctor, and more negative test results. So my lungs were fine, and my heart was fine, so that must mean I have parkinsons, or MS, or another form of rare nervous system disease. Well the doctors have ruled out basically everything which leaves anxiety as the remaining culprit. Even then it took me forever to accept that anxiety could be causing it, and I mean months, months of controlling my breathing and constantly checking my heart rate. Eventually I started coming to terms with it being anxiety, I mean after all I wasnt dead yet so it couldnt be anything too serious. So now I know its anxiety and have accepted it, and ever since then it isnt that bad at all, and when it does happen I just try not to pay attention to it. There were times when my fiance and I would fight about it because I was trying to go to the ER and she was sick of going to the ER just to have the doc tell me it was anxiety and me not believe it, so we'd be yelling at eachother. Well one day while I was yelling at her about how I couldnt breathe she told me something that made me feel extremely stupid, she said if you cant breathe than how have you been yelling at me for the past five minutes?? And I realized right then and there that it is in fact anxiety, because within the time I had been yelling at her, I became more focused on proving her wrong and less focused on my breathing and I realized I could actually breathe again. You said it gets better when youre active and not focusing on it? Me too. Im a painter so my job is very active, but any job has some level of activity so while youre at work, or being active, and if its getting better, than that right there proves its anxiety. Because if it was asthma, or COPD, or your heart, or your nervous system, or any other kind of serious health issue, it would get worse with physical activity. Thats not debateable. The fact that it gets better or worse depending on whether or not your focusing on it is all the proof you need that its anxiety. Once you accept it than it will get a lot better I promise.

I have had Anxiety and Panic Attacks for over 30 years now. I have noticed that my mind plays tricks with me by sending messages of DOOM in the way of physical feelings. Such as, a lump in my throat, like I can't swallow, very strange and only happened during times of high anxiety. Now that is GONE, haven't had that in many years. Now it's this feeling of needing to take a deep breath, and it drives me crazy. I know good and well it's coming from my brain, and not my lungs, but it's so hard to overcome. I can run or exercise with no breathing problems at all. But let me get freaked out with anxiety or panic, and boom it hits me like a ton of bricks.

I know there are many of you that have had this happen. How do you deal with it? How do you turn it off? I take medication for my anxiety, 1mg Xanax every night before bed and it does a good job. But there are times during the day when I have a problem and don't take that medicine. This sucks. Other than that I'm happy....

I know a lot of people have already commented on this but I thought id just add my two cents. I dont have a lot of time so I have to make this short but trust me when I say youre not alone. I went through this for six months and nobody believed me, even my fiance thought I was making it up. I feel like telling you this part might make you worry but in my situation I have a very old furnace and it was drying my throat and nostrils out to the point that it made it hard to breathe. Turns out I had severe allergic rhinitis. I wont go into details because its a lot scarier than it sounds but long story short they gave me a shot and some nasal spray and it went away. I ended up being so scared of it coming back that I started doing the same thing you are now. Am I breathing correctly? Omg im dying. Illuminati. Anyways the best part about it is I also lead up to that, I had health anxiety about everything and once I got over a particular body part or bodily function it upgraded to a more important one. Eventually I found my way up to breathing, which is in my opinion the scariest health anxiety to have because you constantly feel. Anyways back to the best part about it, once you overcome this you can actually relax, I mean youve already survived cancer and heart disease and lung failure so really what else is there you know? Ended up being longer than I thought and my fiance is like missah lets go because thats what she calls me, I know its weird, but I just wanted you to know theres definately a light at the end of the tunnel, and once you can finally bathe in it it feels amazing. Youll get through this, just remember how strong your mind really is and that if you dont control it than it will control you. Good luck.

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Omg I thought I was the only one who had this. Sometimes it flares up out of nowhere and it's all I can think about. And then I get dizzy/lightheaded because I'm fixating so much on it that I almost have like a minor anxiety attack. I haven't learned how to control it yet but just seeing that someone else also experiences this made me feel a lot better. I'm sorry I wasn't more help!

I sigh and yawn many times a day, even if I get enough sleep and this has been going on with me
for many years.

I yawn a lot too!