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View Full Version : When it feels like I cannot breathe



cordyroy
09-10-16, 12:48
I often get sudden panic attacks and immediate hyperventilation and feel like I'm going to stop breathing, and I'm very embarrassed to admit that I've called an ambulance over this. The paramedic was lovely and showed me on a monitor that I was getting more than enough oxygen to re-assure me.

This gave me a great idea. As an asthmatic I had an old peak flow meter lying around, so every time I felt 'OMG I cannot breathe!' I would blow into the peak flow and straight away i could see from the reading that I was absolutely fine. I carry it with me everywhere now, it helps me a lot and stops the 'false signals' from letting things spiral out of control.

hanshan
09-10-16, 15:20
It sounds like you have found a simple but effective way of dealing with your problem - good for you!