Can't Stop Thinking About My Breathing

[zacman777]

Does anybody else experience this? I think it is leading to a lot of my anxiety problems, and naturally my real fear is that I'm getting my CO2 and Oxygen levels so out of whack I am doing serious harm to my body. It's hard to explain to people because they just say "well focus on something else, you won't stop breathing". It's so hard to explain to them that it just isn't that easy. Literally feels like if I don't think about my breathing, then I won't breath, as unrealistic as that sounds.

[vegetabletarian]

Sometimes I get the feeling like if I don't feel my breathing I'm not doing it right. Simply thinking about your breathing isn't necessarily dangerous. Regardless of whether you think about it or not, you will continue to breathe. It becomes a bit more of an issue if you start breathing too fast for too long because of this. Normal breathing rates for humans is around 12-20 breaths per minute. However most people cant comfortably keep breathing much faster than this for very long and your body will adapt as necessary if your O2 or CO2 levels go out of whack.

I don't know if you have already tried this but when it happens to me I force myself to do something else even for just 1 minute (or 15 or 30 seconds), and then think back, ok so I managed for 1 minute without thinking about it and nothing bad happened. I recognize you said this was a struggle. Even 15 seconds at a time gradually building up may help. Most people can hold their breath for more than 15 seconds so it wont do any damage. I don't know if this is your thing, but things like Sudoku work for me because it engages me visually and gives me something to focus on.

Sometimes this works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I just continue on my day and then suddenly notice hey I stopped thinking about it eventually.

I hope things start to improve for you

[HarleyMarshall]

Mate I feel you I’ve had this for a year now it’s a scary ocd, sometimes I feel like I’m going to forget how to breath, feels like I’m Not breathing properly either and it’s really hard to be distracted also I dunno what to do

[Panic Stations]

I am suffering with this too. Annoyingly a relapse as it seemed to get better for a few weeks but i have caught a cold and its started it up again.
I literally started just thinking 'oh well, if i stop breathing i will pass out and die, and by then i wont know about it anyway'
Sounds depressing but I found it the only way to really get rid of my fear about not being able to breathe properly.

[HarleyMarshall]

no offence that’s a stupid response if you pass out you brain will just automatically breath like we do when we are asleep

[zacman777]

Sometimes I get the feeling like if I don't feel my breathing I'm not doing it right. Simply thinking about your breathing isn't necessarily dangerous. Regardless of whether you think about it or not, you will continue to breathe. It becomes a bit more of an issue if you start breathing too fast for too long because of this. Normal breathing rates for humans is around 12-20 breaths per minute. However most people cant comfortably keep breathing much faster than this for very long and your body will adapt as necessary if your O2 or CO2 levels go out of whack.

I don't know if you have already tried this but when it happens to me I force myself to do something else even for just 1 minute (or 15 or 30 seconds), and then think back, ok so I managed for 1 minute without thinking about it and nothing bad happened. I recognize you said this was a struggle. Even 15 seconds at a time gradually building up may help. Most people can hold their breath for more than 15 seconds so it wont do any damage. I don't know if this is your thing, but things like Sudoku work for me because it engages me visually and gives me something to focus on.

Sometimes this works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I just continue on my day and then suddenly notice hey I stopped thinking about it eventually.

I hope things start to improve for you

Thank you so much for your reply! No matter how hard this seems, I'm going to try it and keep at it. I've been training my brain to be anxious for over ten years now, so I'm assuming it's going to take time for it to be trained to be calm. I hope you are doing well!

---------- Post added at 11:33 ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 ----------

Mate I feel you I’ve had this for a year now it’s a scary ocd, sometimes I feel like I’m going to forget how to breath, feels like I’m Not breathing properly either and it’s really hard to be distracted also I dunno what to do

I'm right in that same boat. I guess it's one of those things where I have to remind myself that my body's main goal is to be alive, and i'm not going to forget how to breath, as hard as that is to tell my self in a moment of sensitization. Thank you for your response, I hope you are doing well!

[HarleyMarshall]

I know right it sucks not sure if I’ll ever get over it, are you able to leave the house I can’t

[Panic Stations]

no offence that’s a stupid response if you pass out you brain will just automatically breath like we do when we are asleep

That stupid response lessens my fear of not being able to breathe and I've actually been without it for weeks until I got a cold and had a relapse.... Different things work for different people. Recovery is counter intuitive - you take away your fear your anxiety has nothing fueling it.

[HarleyMarshall]

Scaring people for no apparent reason pathetic

[zacman777]

I know right it sucks not sure if I’ll ever get over it, are you able to leave the house I can’t

I am able to leave the house but some days it can be a struggle for sure. My least favorite part is when it gets in the way of something fun I’m doing. Just this weekend I went to a festival, and was thinking about it basically the whole time. Then later when I was relaxed and not worried, I was wishing I could have a do over. I guess the best option is to just realize that it doesn’t have to happen and practice being in the moment more. I hope everyone is doing well!