Breathing problem.

[Aka_Hobbes]

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.