Persistent feeling that I need to take a deep breath?

[Cyrus]

Over the last 4-5 days I've had this. It's pretty much constantly present all day, no chest pain or anything just this bizarre feeling that I need to be taking a deep breath in. It has briefly gone away during periods where I am totally distracted...

I'm 18 and have no personal or family history of heart/lung issues and over the last 5 months or so I've been to the doctor a couple of times where they've listened to my heart and not noticed anything weird, so I'm thinking realistically this is just my anxiety screwing with me, it's just hard because it's been kind of a non-stop thing lately. Hell, about two months ago I had an EKG done and it came back fine, but part of me is worrying that something might have gone wrong AFTER I had that test done? Is that even possible for something bad to develop so quickly?

Any reassurance/advice? Thanks so much.

[golddustgirl1000]

Look up vocal chord dysfunction and chostocondritis... I have been through the ringer with these since I was 16... completely Benign, but terrible symptoms and the feeling of dysphasia is one of them

[Scass]

It could be because you are shallow breathing - breathing from your chest instead of your tummy.

Try gulping a few times, and then start doing some relaxing breathing exercises that you can find on YouTube. Keep at them regularly, they will help.


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[Cyrus]

Is it normal for this feeling to persist over the course of several days? That's the main thing that has me worried.

[TheTempestuous]

I’ve had something similar to this for years - randomly I’ll feel like I need to breathe in a lot of air for no reason. And basically the same as you, it doesn’t Seem to happen as much if I’m focused on something. I’d say if your doctor didn’t notice anything wrong then you’re golden.

[Round in circles]

I'll second what Scass suggested about shallow breathing.

One thing you could try is sitting quietly with one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Notice how each hand rises and falls with every breath. Now think of your breath sinking down so that the hand on your stomach rises more and the one on your chest rises less. When you breathe out, try to think of breathing out all the stress and anxiety.

I suffer from bad anxiety and that has helped me a lot. Feel free to ignore if it's not for you :)

[Fishmanpa]

It's a very common anxiety symptom. (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/symptoms#BreathingShortness_of_breath)

Positive thoughts

[JONAKAI]

It’s psychosomatic: I do this sometimes, usually when I’m stressed. There’s no pain at all.. just a feeling of needing to fill my lungs with as much oxygen as possible, I guess I like the feeling of expanding my lungs to their limit, if that makes sense.

[Anna3104]

You’ve possibly seen my posts about this same thing over the past 6 months! I’m constantly feeling as though I need to take a deep breath. 9 time’s out of 10 I cannot, but when I do it’s such a relief! Can’t give you a cause or reason but hopefully I’ll find out soon as I’m seeing a specialist in May. I’ve had to 2 lung X-rays and ECGs plus lots of bloods and all ok.