I think im deep breathing wrong?

[worrier123]

when im trying to relax or not panic most people say the concerntrate on your breathing, at the time of panic it seems like the breathing is the least symptom i feel but when im just trying to relax and concerntrate on calming down and not thinking bad thoughts i find it abit dificult to deep breath. I breath in slowly and hold for a sec then release through my nose slowly, i then notice that my breathing seems a little shaky when breathing im and then it makes me focus on my heart beat which i then think oh is it beating irregulaly and then the breathing is all out of sinc

am i not doing it right? and do others feel the same ie the shaky breathing etc


x

[PanicCured]

This may or may not relate to you but it helped me tremendously. Breathign was a huge issue for me. I think yoga deep breathing is good in yoga postures and certain types of excercise, but is not good for anxiety attacks. You need to breathe more when you excercise, not in panic.

I had the same breathing problem. A huge discovery was made when I realized my breathing was either causing the panic or making it much worse. I am assuming you have no actual lung or heart problem. We can rule that out, right? If so, I suggest learning Buteyko breathing techniques. A huge change was made when I started to breathe less. 5 days of breathing less and creating an air hunger reduced my anxiety tremendously.

This is because of the CO2/Oz balance. See, oxygen releases from your blood cells to your brain and organs and tissues by there being a certain partial pressure of CO2. When you overbreathe, you release too much CO2. So the more you breathe, the less oxygen you are feeding your brain. The more you try and breathe deeper and more the more you will hyperventilate and the more you will panic.

Please read about the proper buteyko technique, but Buteyko breathing is basically, sit like your meditating ad slow your breathing down and breathe in less. Create a comfortable air hunger. One that is tolerable. The air hunger is your respiratory center fighting to get back to its overbreathing state. Keep that air hunger and breathe very light with it. After 10 minutes or so you will have began to reset your respiratory centers in your brain. Not to suffocate yourself, but just a light air hunger. But then again, I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure it's impossible to suffocate yourself. I think you'd just pass out and then breathing would resume to normal.

The book that changed my life was an ebook by Patrick McKeown called, Anxiety Free. He was trained by Dr. Buteyko himself. I am not trying to sell it to you. I promise I make no money off this. He has no idea I am on here suggesting his book. It came with an MP3 that I listened to like 2 times a day or more. It's all really simple. I didn't do all the techniques in the book, but mainly the main ones of creating an air hunger and breathing less. Also, I forgot to mention, the key is ALWAYS breathing through your nose. Also, I did a lot of nervous system rebuilding by supplements. I found fish oil gave me heart palpitations so stopped that. Valerian root made me feel worse.

Here's from his book:


Only by bringing your breathing volume to normal levels can you deal with the physiological aspects of stress and anxiety.
Long-term stress is exhausting and is known to result in many illnesses. It increases breathing volume, causing carbon dioxide to be washed from the lungs.
Remember: The more you breathe in, the more your breathe out.
The more you breathe out, the more CO2 is washed from the lungs.
As CO2 is washed from the lungs, the partial pressure of CO2 is reduced in the blood, tissues and cells.
Prolonged overbreathing resets the respiratory centre in the brain to tolerate a lower partial pressure of CO2.
Therefore, even when the initial stress is removed, the heavy breathing habit is maintained as a result of chemoreceptors in the brain being reset.
An anxious person may attend many psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists in an effort to get to the root of his or her condition. However, unless chronic overbreathing is addressed, he or she will be at a significant disadvantage in making progress.

[Brad72]

One thing I learnt was not to strain of force my breathing. Let you body settle into it's own natural rhythm.

I only breath in and out a few times deeply (what is comfortable for me), counting on the in breath an counting on the out then return to my regular pattern. Then I let my lungs find their own rhythm and i concentrate on the cool air entering my nose, notice my shoulders lift slightly then when I exhale I notice the warm moist are leaving my nose and my shoulders drop. That is all I focus on. If my mind wanders, which it will I just bring myself back to the air entering and leaving my nose.

[jessed03]

An anxious person may attend many psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists in an effort to get to the root of his or her condition. However, unless chronic overbreathing is addressed, he or she will be at a significant disadvantage in making progress.

I agree with this point 110%. Many people have come onto this forum, and complained of head aches, spaceyness, dizziness, depersonalization and other things, and when I've suggested checking breathing, they've sort of shrugged it off as 'something I'll look at later'. I think it's such an under diagnosed problem, none of my doctors nor therapists ever checked my breathing habits!

I think I've had an over breathing issue creep back as it happens. I may well just try that method out of curiousity! I'll keep you all posted

Brad's method sounds relaxing. I used to use a metronome, and breathe on a slow click., but since my phone broke I don't have one anymore.

[PanicCured]

Yeah think about it, do you ever have anxiety or panic without a breathing issue? How often do we all feel like we cant get enough air in and we keep trying to take deeper and deeper breaths? Then at some point we feel we cant breathe in anymore, since we breathed so deep our bodies are trying to rebalance us. Then we get tingly hands and light headed and think we are going crazy.

If this is you, these techniques have been scientifically proven to help reset your respiratory centers in your brain. This is not the only thing I did to recover, but it was a huge step. I also did things to help rebuild my nervous system, but when I discovered that my overbreathing was actually hurting me, not saving me, my life shifted. Then when I did get panic attacks, I would just breathe less and they would fade quicker.

[Brad72]

Just read about the technique and the method and theory behind it seems quite sound. It's a little like mindfullness but focusses more on correct breathing techniques. I might buy the book "anxiety free"as $22 is so little to spend for the possibility of improved health and well being.

I have always used meditation to help relax so have probably been breathing better as a result. It certainly does feel great when you finish a session relaxed and rejuvenated.

[PanicCured]

That book is golden and I highly recommend it, but I am not here to sell you anything. There is a very good free website on Buteyko breathing out there, but I think if I post the link I will get n trouble here. The book I recommended is the best though and comes with a 30 minute mp3 guided breathing meditation, so it is worth the money. But if money is an issue, learning the basic Buteyko reduced breathing technique and measuring your Control Pause, should help tremendously with the hyperventilating aspect of panic. Not the ONLY cure or ALL you need. But one aspect of it.

But now that you know how blowing out too much CO2 can cause a whole host of symptoms and to get more oxygen to your brain requires less breathing, should be enough to at least help you tremendously.

For me, I was obsessed with breathing more oxygen. I would breathe to the point of expanding my chest muscles so much they would hurt. I would breathe so much to the point of almost passing out. Some of you I am sure have this problem and some of you maybe don't. Some of you have aspects of it. I cant really imagine a panic attack without excess breathing though.

[Martintlane]

Hi the old trick of blowing into a paper bag really does work. It helps to control your breathing more allowing you to breath in more carbon dioxide to compensate on the excess oxygen you are breathing in. If you are struggling with your breathing give this a try

[PanicCured]

I have read that the paper bag trick can be dangerous. Don't know if its true but have read that. I found reduced breathing as I described above to be better.