Trying to understand chest tightness/breathing difficulty.

[Liquid]

So, I've been dealing with anxiety for the last few years or so.. I've had anxiety issues my entire life and was diagnosed with GAD as an early teen.
I'm 25 now and my anxiety seems to have turned into a form of Sensorimotor OCD to deal with my breathing and having to manually do so.

I've slowly learned to deal with all of my fears and the fear of the anxiety itself, but I'm still having trouble with just one issue.

It feels as though someone is lightly sitting on my chest.. I just have this strange feeling of blockage in my upper chest,
that makes it seem difficult to get a good breath of air in. My breathing seems fine, albeit a little strained, but I know the difference between this sensation and actual shortness of breathe.

I've read about Hyperventilation issues, but I don't appear to be hyperventilating at all, my breathing is moderately normal and my anxiety is mild,
but this sensation can last days, if not weeks at a time.

I know that it isn't a physical health issue, because I've already been tested, and I ONLY have this sensation during a bout of my anxiety.

I guess what I'm trying to understand is what about anxiety causes this sensation in the body and if it's normal to feel this way.
I'm doing my best to not let it concern me, because it always goes away when the anxiety does.
Does anyone else struggle with this tightness in the chest/labored breathing?

Thanks in advance.

[nicola1980]

Hi yep I've been suffering with this for the past few weeks, i saw my Gp who ran all the relevant tests like fag etc and we've come to the conclusion it's panic causing this as like you this only happens when when in highly anxious. It's as very scary symptom tho XX

[Liquid]

It's very annoying.