Shortness of breath

[nicole123x]

Does anyone ever experience shortness of breath, like fast breathing ?? As if you have just taken part in excersise ?

[billwkr]

I think we all get it, it's a very common and annoying symptom of anxiety.
That breath change is one of the first signals that anxiety is starting to build up!

The best way to treat this is by practicing diaphragmatic (or abdominal) breathing

You can start practicing either by sitting comfortably with your back straight, or lying down on a relatively hard surface (a carpet or even a yoga mat is perfect, since your bed is maybe too soft).


* Put one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach
* Place the tip of your tongue against the gum just behind your upper front teeth, keeping it there through the entire session.
* Exhale completely through your mouth, pursing slightly your lips, making a slight blowing sound.
* Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four. The hand on your stomach should rise. The hand on your chest should move very little if at all.
* Hold your breath for a second.
* Exhale completely through your mouth, pursing slightly your lips, making a slight blowing sound to a count of eight.
* This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.


If you find it difficult breathing from your abdomen while sitting up, try lying on the floor.
Put a small book on your stomach, and try to breathe so that the book rises as you inhale and falls as you exhale.

If you still having trouble breathing from you abdomen, you can use a belt to restrict your rib cage and “force” the diaphragm to be the main breathing muscle, using the following technique:

Put a belt around your lower ribs (in the middle of the trunk) and tight it, so that you cannot take deep inhalations using your rib cage or chest.
Now for slow deep inhalations you will have to use your tummy (or abdomen).

When you pay attention to your breathing, be careful not to hyperventilate.
Breathe slowly and remain relaxed so that even if your inhalations deepen, your CO2 will not lessen.

Try it :)

Bill

[nicole123x]

Thanks very much for your help Bill! Things like this just come on even when I'm not feeling anxious! I will try the techniques now x

[AceParadox]

Aye, like Bill said, it's common. We all experience it and it's how I know I got an attack coming on. That and the pitter pattering heartbeat and the infamous "Uh oh" feeling through your whole body. Just this morning when I awoke, I had a small attack start to come on, and I stopped it dead in it's tracks with deep breathes and telling myself "Here we go, don't let this annoying bastard win. This is just anxiety again. It's alright."

Traveling over seas is quite stressful, so I knew anxiety would try to make a move on me during this time. Anxiety has lessened down but I can still kind of feel the aftershocks, and got a bit of a heavy head but that's alright.

Just try to relax yourself, and find some breathing techniques that work for ya like Bills. and set your mind a bit at ease knowing that this is very common and we all experience it :]

[nicole123x]

Thank you guys! I have a cold and can't breathe through my nose so I'm currently breathing through my mouth maybe that brought it on x