Winded, dizzy from talking (3+ months)

[percythetrain]

Hi everybody. I seriously doubt anyone has had or is having these symptoms as they're likely not at all related to anxiety. but I figured I would give it a try and see if anyone can relate.

My family insists that this is related to my anxiety but even though I try to look at things from their POV, I can see no connection. I admit that I'm not terribly happy right now because of personal issues that I went through last year. But I never saw anybody, depressed of otherwise, with symptoms such as mine.

Basically, I cannot hold a conversation because I get very winded and dizzy, as if I had been running a marathon or at least playing an active sport. Even saying "hello" feels like a huge effort, and if I insist on holding a conversation (just out of stupidity and because people tell me I'm just nervous and I really WANT to believe that), I will end up dizzy, tachycardic and out of breath and it will take a while for me to recover.

I suppose I joined this site because I've had anxiety for 20+ years and I'm sure that my current health situation is not helping it, but I'd be willing to bet a million dollars that this health issue is not anxiety-related, unfortunately.

I remember when I first had my first anxiety episodes at age 12 or so, they were very severe (violent shaking, tachycardia, almost blacking out constantly) but it was completely different from this.

This feels like my body cannot handle me talking for some reason (probably cardiac). I also have issues when I try to be active, but talking is the most noticeable one as it's a pretty darn basic thing to have! To be able to communicate!

The studies I had were less than most people on here. I was checked for asthma and don't have it. I also had a ECG (no echo, no holter, no stress, etc). I feel guilty about having more because of the financial situation the family is in right now but I've been trying to get into a public hospital and hopefully will get something else done in a week or two, just hoping it is soon enough :(

[MyNameIsTerry]

When you talk to people, does it make you feel anxious? I know when I had this issue earlier in my recovery that I would feel wiped out after conversations because of the adrenaline & cortisol.

Or, are you tensing your chest or abdomen? If you do this a lot then you are restricting your normal breathing so it would mean, along with reducing your anxiety levels, practicing breathing techniques, using relaxation techniques, etc.

[percythetrain]

Hi Terry, thanks for replying! I do have social anxiety but in this case I don't think it's that because it happes when I'm alone with my mom or baby and talking to them. My mom insists that this is caused by dysfunctional breathing. I suppose I am very tense, I just see it as being tense in response to having an illness and not the other way around lol

I was prescribed clonazepam, haven't been using it much but will give it a try. I am trying to get my echocardiogram this week just to put my mind at ease.

I've also been having this head, eye and ear pressure that may just be allergy related but it's freaking me out as well.

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you are tense in the diaphragm then it could cause this type of issue. If so, try breathing exercises so you do more belly breathing and also a relaxation technique such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) which will help you to untense muscles. It might also be worth trying something like body scanning so you try to retrain how you focus on muscles.

I guess there is always Hyperventilation Syndrome which I've seen posted in one of the tips sections somewhere which explained how to work on breathing technique to allievate symptoms.

A lot of us tend to manually breath as well. We feel we need to control our breathing, when its really a subconscious thing that will always take back over. This cna be quite hard going if you are doing this and it can drain you.

All the best.