Stuck being focused on my breathing.

[LiveAboveIt]

I think I've posted about this issue years ago. I was just wondering if anyone has/had this issue and if you were able to get over it.

Feels of course like I am going to be stuck controlling my breathing forever.

[Barnabas75]

I have had this issue for for 4 years. Now am hoping to find stories . I hope to find and learn how people got over it. I cant swich off thought about how need to to breathe myself. ITS WITH me 24-7. I wake up gaping for air like I. Have juat finished a marathon. I find it deeply despaing at times. I take mefication for sleep othetwise I cannot. Even when I wake up Nd gasping for air. One of the worst things is that it comes with a choking sensation and the fillin g I Breathe. When that happens I get a rush of fear. I hope you get some answerd because I would like them too. Let me know if you do. From a fellow suffer. The worst time for it for me when I go to sleep. Hence I have to take medication to help me sleep.
..

[Lilliput]

Why not have a look at some of the threads that are already in this forum on that subject?
I have only been with the forum about three weeks and have seen the same query come up over and over. I have actually posted on at least a couple of them myself to try and help others. You may find other people's experiences and comments useful.

[Carrera74]

Have either of tried mindfulness meditation?

I know it sounds back to front concentrating on your breathing when your transfixed on it but it works :)

[Lilliput]

Here's what I posted on someone else's thread, for what it's worth.

The trouble with hyperventilation is that you have no idea you're breathing that way and it gets to be a long lasting habit. In my experience it doesn't just go away of its own accord.

It really helps if you learn to breathe correctly and practise regularly then you are retraining your body. I've done Yoga for 25 years and have had plenty of practice but, as I'm going through a bad patch just now, I find can't get a deep breath sometimes. I then have to stop trying and go to my Yoga breathing then it's OK.

[LiveAboveIt]

I guess my fear is because I saw a post that said you have to find an OCD therapist that does ERP therapy and that it's supposedly the only way to beat it.

Mine isn't a fear of shortness of breath or breathing troubles, it's that I cannot stop controlling my breathing and I worry about it.

[Lilliput]

There's never only one way to solve a problem.

But there must be times when you're not thinking about controlling your breathing - when you get engrossed in something. Even if you get back to thinking about it.

I hope someone here can help you with good advice.

[Panic Stations]

I am suffering with the same and have been for the past month. I have been through it in the past and when my anxiety flares up a bit its usually the symptom that appears for me. It's a hard one to shake off. Breathing is an unconscious, automatic process and your body has always and will always look after it for you. You are getting in the way of an automatic bodily process and getting into unhealthy breathing habits, i.e, shallow chest breaths. Distraction is the main thing that helps me with this, along with accepting that its there and almost accepting the uncertainty. Do not let it stop you doing anything. Go out, get engaged. I have started having the attitude of not caring anymore because anything else just adds fuel to the anxiety and that's what keeps it going. Rest assured it seems to be a really common symptom as I've seen a fair few posts about it. An OCD therapist is not the only way to solve this; even with an OCD therapist you will still be the one that needs to do the work, no one can do it for you!

[LiveAboveIt]

Thank you for the kind and supportive posts. It brought me some comfort. I'm going to work on being alright with it as a symptom.

[Panic Stations]

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[LiveAboveIt]

Thank you for all of the advice and opinions. I don't want to have this for years and I think I'm doing a great job at doing my best to be accepting of the fact that I have it for now and have no control over it being there.. I'm able to sleep and do things and sometimes forget about it for moments when I am heavily distracted or talking to someone, or sometimes eating..

Hopefully this is a good sign and will continue to decrease as the anxiety does.

[david8888]

Hey there,

I just spent a good deal reading through your posts, not just this one, but mostly all of them and I felt compelled to register to this site just so I can hopefully share some insight and/or advice and hopefully it may be helpful to you and/or anyone else suffering.

First of all, I've experienced an almost identical experience to you. My first "bout" with anxiety happened ~5 years ago. I was driving to work, all of a sudden I became hyper aware of my own breathing, and it triggered a panic attack. The next couple of weeks, I was constantly aware of my own breathing and it would trigger a panic attack, etc. Interestingly enough, after only about two weeks I simply forgot about it and/or stopped caring and I legitimately never had another anxiety / panic attack ever again (until recently). The thought, let alone anxiety itself, never even crossed my mind.

Earlier this year, I went through another panic attack. This time, it was almost dejavu, I was driving and I became hyper aware of my breathing and it was the same familiar feeling of intense fear / dread that I had long forgotten about. For the next 2-3 months, I struggled with anxiety / panic again but this time was significantly worse. After the first panic attack, because I was in such distress about it, I had elevated levels of anxiety and I experienced alot of the exact same issues you had. First it was the breathing, then it was the DP/DR, then it was the depression, then the depression giving me anxiety, then it was the meta-thinking - oh i'm thinking about anxiety, which gives me more anxiety, and so forth. The racing thoughts. the feeling of being trapped, going insane, etc. I get it.

During this period, anxiety consumed my life. I've always been analytical / problem-solver, and it turned into near an obsession. I've thought about it, researched every possible thing, etc. Maybe it's symptomatic of Pure-O (which thinking that gave me more anxiety since now oh no, maybe it's another more extreme mental illness), maybe it's just anxiety, maybe it's just normal worry / stress except we "created" it into whatever it is now, who knows.

The important thing is, there is hope / light at the end of the tunnel, and you can / will come out of this stronger and better. I wanted to share what I've learned in the process. Note: I'm not a medical expert so take it for what it is. My actual career background is corporate strategy / management consulting / healthcare investment banking. My work is relatively high-pressure (public speaking, etc.) and I have a family that relies on me financially, so anxiety was something I truly feared (more on this later).

So what I've learned.....
Depending on who you talk to, anxiety can be either caused by A) physiological (e.g. some neurotransmitter is not balanced in your brain), B) psychological (your thoughts), or C) behavioral (your behavior).

Honestly, I don't know what the exact "FIX" was which made my anxiety go away, but my approach was to just attack it holistically and through every avenue possible.

A) Physiological - if you think it's a neurotransmitter that's not balanced, do what you can to fix it. There are a number of supplements out there (if you don't want to take meds), all of them with varying support for reducing anxiety through a variety of mechanisms.
B-Complex (specifically B3-niacin)
Magnesium
Fish Oil
Gingko Biloba
GABA
5HTP
St. John's Wort
Valerian Root

I think I've tried each of them above (individually, not all at once) on different occasions, some definitely do feel like they provide anxiety relief, your mileage may vary.

Eventually, I've settled to just eating a balanced diet (alot of vegetables, poultry, fish, red meat, fruits) and taking digestive enzymes. There's significant growing evidence that gut health = brain health. So address that first, even if it's not for your anxiety, it's good for your overall health and feeling like you are in control of something will give you confidence.

B) Psychological
Mindfulness meditation, CBT, ACT, ERP, etc. etc. I've looked into all of them and they definitely help. I think the core principal is STOP. BEING. AFRAID. It sounds stupid and I'm sure you already know, but really embrace it. For me (and I'm sure for alot of others here), the fear was omg, I might have a mental health issue and my world / life is over, and this thought is initially so foreign to most people that it kicks people into this negative thought loop where you're fearing fear and that gives you more fear and on and on and on. My mother is also Bipolar Type I so I know firsthand how deep-rooted that fear is. You start second-guessing everything - your thoughts, your perception on reality, normal bodily sensations, normal feelings, normal EVERYTHING that you wouldn't have second guessed before you got on this anxiety train. If I were to take some "key points" from each type of therapy, it's to 1) reframe all of your negative catastrophic thoughts - when you have an anxious thought, acknowledge it (I'm having this thought because I'm scared), rationalize it. If you find yourself succumbing and having an uncomfortable feeling from the thought, tell yourself this too will pass, it's a work in progress and focus on the good in your life , 2) don't run from your fear. ACCEPT it. Throw yourself into it. For me, that meant internalizing that this is something I may have to deal with but it's not the end of the world and if something horrible were to happen, **** it, that's life. randomness happens. be comfortable with uncertainty.

C) Behavioral. Stop avoiding and Keep Exercising. Once i stopped avoiding things (for me it was horror movies, international flights, potentially uncomfortable social gatherings, etc.), I would "forget" about the anxiety and it was as if my brain would slowly rewire that it's okay. For example, specifically for my breathing hyperawareness, I remember I struggled for a few days with it until one day I just said **** it, I'm going to run my heart out, i'm going to not care, I'm going to embrace that uncomfortable feeling of my lungs pounding and intensely focusing on my breath, and after a couple of times doing that, I just completely stopped being aware of my breathing.

Some other side tips, there's a number of other alternative healing modalities that I've looked (acupuncture, EFT, self hypnosis, etc.). Acupuncture - if you can afford it, then by all means try it out.
EFT - I actively spend at least 5-10 minutes alternating between an image of a bright light that's encompassing my entire body and any happy memory - this can be anything that was really meaningful to you, like the first time you said i love you to a SO, or even something like how good that dinner was the other day, etc.
Self hypnosis - there are plenty of youtube videos you can listen to for free, put them on before you go to sleep. Alternatively, pray.

Good luck to you. One day you'll wake up and everything will be back to normal. If you have a meta thought and realize you're not hyper aware of anything, enjoy it. If the meta thought reminds you of anxiety and gives you more anxiety, the meta meta thought is even if it does, you don't ****ing care anymore because anxiety doesn't control you.