Breathing Anxiety Please Help

[laurenn]

Hello, I am constantly thinking about my breathing all day everyday. I have Anxiety and Panic Problems for a few months now and this breathing problem is the main thing. It feels like im not breathing i know that sounds stupid but it feels a bit tight, like im not breathing right. Ive been checked by two doctors and ive also been to the hospital too. It feels not right and I'm so worried about it. It is very distressing and sometimes feels like i am holding my breath. I have tried relaxing techniques and breathing ones but its no good. I feel like something bad is happening to me. Please Help. When i try breath normal it still doesn't feel right. It is also playing in my mind that this is actually serious, i feel out of breath and like im not breathing at all.

[Ruby13]

Hello Laurenn, sorry to hear of your breathing anxiety and worry. It does not sound stupid at all. Sorry your breathing and relaxation techniques are not working for you.

When I am stressed, I try to do this. Breathe in to the count of five, then slowly breathe out for the count of seven. Do this a few times until you feel more relaxed.

I hope it helps

[Izzie2494]

Hi Lauren, I know exactly how you feel I had/ still sometimes get the breathing thing and know exactly how horrid it is, I was constantly thinking about my breathing, I felt I couldn't take in enough air or I wasn't breathing how I should, I went to the doctors and they put me on citalopram, this helped me a lot as, as the anxiety subsided, so did the feeling I couldn't breath, I know it is so hard but try to remember that your body won't let you stop breathing it is impossible, pm me if you need any advice I know exactly how you feel! Hope you feel better very soon xx

---------- Post added at 11:36 ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 ----------

Also, I posted a thread about this about a year ago and some people replied if you wanted to have a look x

[anx mum]

Hi lauren I have the same symptom feels like I cant get a breath sometimes its scary and horrid at the time it really scares me had this symptom before. I try and do relaxion cd and take some deep breaths. pm me if u ever need to talk?

[rossthekid]

Hi Lauren, I had this and the thing that best works for me has been mindfulness. If you want to know more about it let me know.

[laurenn]

I have been checked by doctors and i still think its something bad some disease or heart or lung problem, i don't know how to get that to leave my mind:-(

[shopmad]

I suffered with my breathing for years, feeling like i could never get a deep breath. i never thought anything would help and fluoxetine changed my life. i still have the odd day when my breathing is bad but nothing compared to before. please see your dr and dont suffer in silence like i did.

[rossthekid]

I have been checked by doctors and i still think its something bad some disease or heart or lung problem, i don't know how to get that to leave my mind:-(

Lauren,
How long have you had anxiety?

[laurenn]

A few months, it is stopping me from doing everything. It consumes my thoughts and I'm worried it wont go.

[rossthekid]

Is it generalised ie no specific cause.

[laurenn]

Pretty much, it just wont go and i worry that it wont go. When i try distract myself its still there and when i try accept it it gets tight and i become more afraid.

---------- Post added at 19:41 ---------- Previous post was at 19:37 ----------

Pretty much, its always there and it gets worse when i try to accept it, my chest gets tight and i find it quite difficult to calm down. It scares me and i cant escape it, im really young and i don't want to have to deal with this, its so distressing.
Is it dangerous? My breathing is also shaky.

[rossthekid]

Please read my thread about how I started to find my way back. I read one book that helped so much. It is a process to get better and gives you guidance and advice on why we act the way we do. You are not alone but I was like you and was so worried but I had to stop and this was the best way.

---------- Post added at 19:44 ---------- Previous post was at 19:43 ----------

Its not dangerous, its totally normal just your body producing to much adrenaline. All normal.

[laurenn]

I read it and its a really good blog. Maybe you should start one somehow. I am worried my symptoms are actually something else. Cant get over it, just want to feel okay again, i cant go anywhere without feeling like im going to die. Stop breathing, faint, or something. And i have been checked by doctors but i always say to myself 'what if they didn't check enough' what's wrong with me?

[Izzie2494]

I was exactly the same Lauren, went to the drs numerous times and it all came down to anxiety

[rossthekid]

You have anxiety and its normal to feel this way. Think of your body as a machine. Its been over worked, it for what ever reason has been and is over worked. To start to feel better you have to accept it, its not a battle. That was my mistake. Your anxiety is probably related to your self worrying about yourself, how you feel, when will I get better, I hate this etc.
Start with understanding it, find out about it. You have to realise that all your physical and mental responses are normal due to a simple explanation of too much adrenaline in your body, nothing more or less. You are right the medics have found nothing which suggests there is nothing. It will be a process for you, there is no magic wand. Your body and mind are exhausted and by simply reassuring yourself there will be no immediate improvement. Think how long has it taken your mind to get to this stage. You need to keep at it. If I feel crap or anxious or my breathing feels trembling or tight I just think well its just anxiety so what, just to much adrenaline. I try to get on with my life, it feels crap, but ive done the opposite and self assessed constantly and hid at home and it didn't work.
I think your anxiety shows you are a normal caring person so don't be concerned by it, never has anybody been killed by anxiety. Everybody on here is the same, including me, ie too self aware which is a normal body response to anxiety and the lack of information about it and its causes. If you get the flu do you worry why you feel the way you do or do you accept it. It s just you don't understand it so its normal to feel scared and apprehensive. Don't be hard on yourself, it is what it is, you will find a way, but the hard part is to stay on the road and its difficult.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Lauren,

Is it that you feel the need to control your breathing and because you are having to do this, you feel there must be something wrong?

The reason I ask is that if you feel the need to control your breathing in an obsessional way, it can be sensorimotor OCD. It's more common than people think, as seen on the OCD & symptoms boards, but it tends to be considered as OCD and slotted into those catagories than into the sensorimotor ones. If this is the case, I have recently read a useful article that may help with this...and yes, it includes Mindfulness as Ross has recommended to you and so would I as I have used it to reduce my OCD greatly.

Or, if it's not this, is it more HA in that you feel its got to be something bad and you need help with your physical health?

Or, is it neither and it's only a symptom of anxiety that was there before but it's just become the main issue now?

[veggieparmo]

I've just been reading this after, in the last week or so, having lots of times where I constantly feel the need to take a deep breath and/or yawn. It feels like I can't draw enough breath sometimes.

I have been walking and cycling up hills on my bike and I've not had problems breathing there, which has been reassuring and often when I'm at work or doing things at home I just forget about it. So that, and various things I have read, have led me to believe that is because of anxiety.

The problem is when I am in bed at night trying to get off to sleep. I'm either constantly aware of breathing, thinking about it too much or distracting myself from it - which doesn't help me to get to sleep either.

[Starryeyed]

How do I get rid of this feeling? Feels like there is constant pressure in my nose. I know I won’t die as it is just anxiety but it is awful. It feels like every breath is forced and my nose is under constant pressure. Will ice help? I practice mindfulness but that is using my breath and that is making the pressure on my nose worse. It’s awful. Never used to think about my breath before I had a panic attack. Is the blood not flowing properly through my nose? Anxiety has some weird symptoms.

[Starryeyed]

How do I get rid of it?

[Worried Pete]

How do I get rid of it?


I bet if you had 8 beers you'd stop thinking about it. That's why it's rooted in an anxiety disorder.

[Starryeyed]

Yes because alcohol would take the edge off it. Lauren do you still suffer from it?

[Fishmanpa]

The OP hasn't been on since 2014.

Positive thoughts