Air Hunger

[BigBoss95]

Hello folks, I was diagnosed with Anxiety and depression in 2014 after having a really bad panic attack that had me hospitalised. I have never quite been the same since.

In the past few years I have learned to cope with many of the "physical" symptoms of anxiety and depression; Hypersensitivity, heart palpitations, mania, hypnic jerks, adrenaline rushes, rapid heartbeat, chest discomfort, hot and cold sweats, numbness etc. but the worst thing of all is Air Hunger. I left my Job in 2015 due to how bad it had gotten and to this day it's just as debilitating as ever.

It feels as though my chest is being sat on and my throat has swelled shut, my lungs don't seem to fill up properly and I am left gasping for air making myself dizzy and sweaty. It can last anywhere between a few hours and a few days and there is nothing I can do about it, my own body is suffocating me. It used to freak me out and make me extremely anxious but now a few years down the line I am fed up with it and it just infuriates me.

Does anyone else here suffer from this? and if so what have you done about it? what remedies, medication, therapy have you taken to help with it?

I am starting College next month and I honestly don't know how I am going to cope.

I actually miss the days when I was a miserable anxious wreck, at least I could somewhat function in day to day life without the constant worry that at any moment one of the many symptoms of A&D could surface and take over.

How could that one panic attack 3 years ago **** my head up so badly that I now have to spend the rest of my life being tortured by my own mind and body? does it get any better, or am I just going to have to accept that this is what my life is now and get used to it.

I haven't thought about any suicidal thoughts in a long time, but I am honestly just so exhausted with dealing with this shit all the ****ing time.

Everyday is an ordeal and I just want it to stop.

[mrsdmilkman]

I don't have any remedies...I'm doing this too right now. It's awful. Does your air hunger cause you to feel light headed? Mine does. I've been going through severe anxiety for the last 8 months... so I keep saying it's got to be anxiety...but my health anxiety is always there whispering how I'm dying of something bad.

[Buster70]

Hi , you pretty much describe how I've been for the last year , it seemed to be triggered by a throaty and mouth infection brought on by asthma meds , since then I've had near constant problems breathing , I'm hyper aware of all of the sensations of breathing , the more I think about it the worse it gets , I shallow breathe my chest is so tense I'm feel like Ive been weightlifting, my breathing never feels smooth , and the worst bit is my throat which tightens up to a point I can hear a light wispy wheezing , it is absolute hell breathing is somthing we shouldn't even be aware of but it's constantly on my mind , sucking sweets helps a bit and minty chewing gum can distract your mind a little and bring your breathing back to a normal rate, sorry I haven't got the miracle cure but I've had other disturbing symptoms that went eventually so I'm just hoping when I start to ignore it it might just sod off .
Take care .

[BigBoss95]

I don't have any remedies...I'm doing this too right now. It's awful. Does your air hunger cause you to feel light headed? Mine does. I've been going through severe anxiety for the last 8 months... so I keep saying it's got to be anxiety...but my health anxiety is always there whispering how I'm dying of something bad.


Yeah it makes me lightheaded too, I always try and breathe lightly but it just seems to amplify the feeling of suffocation. The more you think about it the worse it gets, but it's such a prominent sensation that it's almost impossible to ignore it.

It's a catch 22 situation if their ever was one...

---------- Post added at 15:40 ---------- Previous post was at 15:28 ----------


Hi , you pretty much describe how I've been for the last year , it seemed to be triggered by a throaty and mouth infection brought on by asthma meds , since then I've had near constant problems breathing , I'm hyper aware of all of the sensations of breathing , the more I think about it the worse it gets , I shallow breathe my chest is so tense I'm feel like Ive been weightlifting, my breathing never feels smooth , and the worst bit is my throat which tightens up to a point I can hear a light wispy wheezing , it is absolute hell breathing is somthing we shouldn't even be aware of but it's constantly on my mind , sucking sweets helps a bit and minty chewing gum can distract your mind a little and bring your breathing back to a normal rate, sorry I haven't got the miracle cure but I've had other disturbing symptoms that went eventually so I'm just hoping when I start to ignore it it might just sod off .
Take care .


I too have had other symptoms that used to be a pain but have over time went away or just happen way less often. I am optimistic that this feeling will go away eventually, but because we breathe all the time it's just going to take some time.

I have read stories about people who have suffered from this for 20+ years so it will probably never go away completely, but I would kill to just have a few days where i'm not gasping for most of them.