Chronic hyperventilation syndrome/overbreathing explained?

[A-Random-Guy]

Hi i have been reading up on something called chronic hyperventilation syndrome a condition that causes lots of unpleasant symptoms that our often mistaken for anxiety Weakness
Dizziness
Chest pains
Bloating

Burping
Confusion
Feeling as if you Can't breathe
Frequently sighing and yawning


The problem is there Isn't much information about it and how its caused or how you know you may have it


I was wondering if anyone who suffers from this Can explain a few things if they Can


How is it caused?
Is it just breathing from your chest rather than your belly?
Is it mainly mouth breathing
At what breathing rate are we talking about? Over 20 30?
Can you give it to yourself if you focus on breathing a lot?


If anyone Can answer these questions you'll be a hero to me because I've been worrying about this for almost 3 months

[J0HN_TIT0R]

I just wanted to bring this thread up again if anyone knows anything about it?

I've been suffering from what I think is this condition for about a week now. It interfering with my sleep and all around ruining my life. The issue is I'm thinking about every breath I take. It's not that I'm breathing faster, about 12 breaths per minute, but I think I'm breathing too deeply. This all started after a real panic attack where I did hyperventilate to the point of numbness.

[Hears The Water]

In the articles section of this site there are some instructions for breathing that really helped me a long time ago when I first joined here and was dealing with panic. Also Dr. Andrew Weil has some breathing exercises that helped me as well. I don't know much about the syndrome you described, but everything you describe has been talked about a lot on here. Perhaps if you did a serch for the different terms, it might help you find answers while you wait for someone more learned than I am to come along. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. ((((((((HUGS))))))))
God bless you and yours
Deb

[Goblin88]

There’s acute hyperventilation, where you breathe faster and after some time, are able to relax again. And then there’s chronic hyperventilation.

Chronic hyperventilation happens when we feel like we need to regulate our breathing ourselves, which causes us to breathe too deeply. If you have this, then deep breathing techniques will actually make you feel worse, and shallow breathing(which is normal) will help. It causes an excess in carbon dioxide in our blood, which the body rejects and causes us to feel the opposite, like we don’t have enough carbon dioxide(oxygen)

It constricts our blood vessels and causes muscle tension, which makes it feel like we can’t fill our lungs properly, and then we start a cycle of deeper than normal breathing, causing all these symptoms. It feels horrible, but it’s harmless and 95% of anxiety sufferers have it and don’t realize.

[Catherine S]

It can also be the result of an imbalance between carbon dioxide and oxygen in your bloodstream, which then alters your breathing pattern. Anxious, fearful, nervous people tend to shallow breathe using only the top part ofctgeir lungs, but they take in more air when talking, eating and just generally feeling anxious so this upsets the balance, and produces a feeling of not getting enough air.

Breathing exercises can help. In the past, doctors would get you to breathe into a paper bag to restore the balance and allow you to breathe more easily. Not being able to get enough air is also a very common symptom of tension in the chest wall muscles, brought on by living day to day in a constant state of anxiety.

Cath S.

[J0HN_TIT0R]

Goblin88, I definitely have developed chronic hyperventilation. All day I'm thinking about my breathing and finding that I'm breathing fast and deep almost constantly. I finally needed to take an African today to relax and breath normal for once.

You say it's harmless, but I've developed a killer headache alongside it, and if it constructs blood vessels, does that mean maybe blood is being cut off to my brain? I keep worrying that this is happening which just makes me more worried so I find myself hyperventilating more.

[Goblin88]

Goblin88, I definitely have developed chronic hyperventilation. All day I'm thinking about my breathing and finding that I'm breathing fast and deep almost constantly. I finally needed to take an African today to relax and breath normal for once.

You say it's harmless, but I've developed a killer headache alongside it, and if it constructs blood vessels, does that mean maybe blood is being cut off to my brain? I keep worrying that this is happening which just makes me more worried so I find myself hyperventilating more.

I feel for you, I had this 5 years ago for 14 months and it was constant. Headaches, dizziness, chest pains from chest breathing, often felt like I could faint and always felt like I was breathing in through a straw.

Even though it contricts blood vessels, and that can be dangerous if caused by actual disease, it’s actually only constricting them because of tension and an over abundance of CO2 in the blood. It isn’t dangerous because it’s not a progressive, deteriorating illness. You may not feel like it, but you actually aren’t hyperventilating 100% of the time. When you sleep, you’re breathing normally, when your mind is on other things, even for minutes, you’re breathing normally.

The best advice I can give you is to breathe slowly through your nose for at least 5 minutes a day, until it becomes comfortable for you. You’ll probably be in a bit of discomfort at first because your body is so used to hyperventilating, but that will pass as you retrain yourself to breathe normally. I recommend looking up the Buteyko method on google, you’ll find a ton of information on CHS and learn how to breathe better.