Breathing wrong

[shakey1961]

Hi all. Hope everyone is well and coping.

Just a little question. Does anyone ever get a feeling like they can't breath? I don't mean when you're panicking. I'm a little overweight and bending down to tie my shoelaces I get up and feel I can't breath and have a tighness inside me, until I can finally take a large gasp of air.

I ask cos I was visiting my mum in the nursing home where she lives now and last Sunday this happened. I think I'd just lifted my mum up to get her comfortable. I went on and panicked slightly cos I couldn't get rid of it for almost a minute.

So difficult to describe.

Very strange - could also be my blood sugar down.

Any ideas or similar experiences?

Regards

Steve

[lilly-lou]

Hi Steve,

I always get a feeling like I can't breathe or take in a deep breath even if I am not panicking. I feel like I have a tight chest, I have suffered with the same symptom since I was a child. I find myself trying to yawn a lot ond sighing too, it doesn't bother me so much now as it has ben with me for so long.

lilly-lou

[Venus Calling]

I noticed long before I started having panic/anxiety attacks that I was barely breathing if sitting down for long periods of time or at the computer or holding my breath. My husband gave me a book called 'Coping Successfully with Panic Attacks by Shirley Trickett (Amazon have it if its not available on NMP) in which she mentions that the way we breathe can often trigger these attacks. I had counselling on Monday for the first time and she also mentioned it when I said I often felt as if I didn't make myself breathe I wouldn't... and told me that so many people do not breathe properly and thinking you can't breathe unless you do it yourself is one of the symptoms - you need to breathe from the diaphragm and a lot of us breathe from the chest which means the oxygen/carbon dioxide balance is shifted which creates all kinds of problems not just PA's. I was told to spend 10 minutes each morning as soon as I get up to sit on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor and take deep diaphragmatic breaths and to do this again before bed. It's worth giving it a go - it's free to do and you may feel better in the process! Apparently, if you breathe more than 10 breaths a minute you are overbreathing. Sighing and yawning are also symptoms of this.

[breakingoutthistime]

anxiety and worrie nervous tension something that get all the time when outside is what causes me to overbreathe or to breathe rapidly but its times like that when need to do it slowly and right.

[Beckster26]

Hiya
I cant totally relate to all of this!!!! I have this feeling all the time and I went to see a CB Therapist and she gave me some exercises to do and also a relaxtion cd which seems to help. When I feel like I cant breathe I also go dizzy

Take Care xx

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

It is true that anxiety can cause a symptom of not being able to breath right. I am going to say something now, hope you don't take offence :blush:

My hubby does not suffer anx, but is over weight, he can feel a little breathless when bending down or tieing his shoe. I know this is due to the weight, the lungs are pushed in when he bends.

Is this a facter for you hun?, that when your bending because you are acute with anxiety, YOU notice this MORE, Mrs anx picks up on this and your thoughts go negative and you think, ohh I can't breath, fear it, which in turn, makes it feel worse? When I was acute, I know it was important to not only get to know about panic, anxiety, but get to know myself, the way I think and my own body.

When I was acute, I had this symptom alot, it helped sooo much to understand this symptom and what was happening,

Here are some links hun,
Breathing

Short Of Breathe
Cant get any air in (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=961)
general anxiety (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2576)
Reverse panic (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2246)
Feeling Awful Today (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3558)
Breathlessness (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3954)
Breathing!! (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3276)
Everyone please read this!!!!! ( breathing weird ) (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3298)
Reverse panic (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2246)
Strange feeling in one lung (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4632)
Breathing problems (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6247)
breathing (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7670)

Short Of Breathe / try exercise
Shortness Of Breath!! (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4345)

Breathing technique
How Do You Do The Breathing (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4042)
Breathing.. wow (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4037)
Breathing Techniques (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4044)
CONTROLLED BREATHING (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5041)
Working to get better, have a few Q's to ask... (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5412)
Insatiable Mouth / Chest Breather???? (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7113)

YOU TAKE CARE

LOVE JILLLXX

[Allye]

I agree with everything here. I tended to breath quickly and from the chest which is wrong. If you get some good relaxation CDs they will talk you through the right way to breathe. You should be breathing in shorter than you breathe out. Short quick breathes from the chest can lead to mild hyperventiliation which causes panic which launches into the full fear of fear anxiety circle.

[shakey1961]

Being overweight doesn't help me at all. Daft part about it is I play a trombone so I have to breath properly to play that. I think my hypo's make things worse for me and I eat terribly.

I need shooting

[Yvonne]

Jill

Can you tell me what controlled breathing is please. Looked at the link but no one says how to do it.

I know about diaphramatic breathing where the stomach should rise and not the chest but what is controlled breathing. It's always the breathing that comes first before the panic symptoms.

I personally hate that feeling when you can't take a full breath - it;s horrible. I was told to blow out like blowing out a candle then you will breathe in automatically.

Yvonne

[jill]

Hi Yvonna :D:hugs:



When you feel you can't take a deep breath, this means your lungs are full, I used to breath out as much as I could, this worked at times, but still felt NOT in controll of my breathing.

I know dame well that I will breath, no matter what happens, but try telling me that when I was acute. I felt, that if I learned controlled breathing, I would feel in control, ohh, does that make sense?

Here is some info on control breathing, it is not easy to learn, but with lots of time and practice, when this feeling comes on, ohh boy, you feel in control and your breathing settles. It is diaphramatic breathing where the stomach should rise and not the chest. There are other methods on this site, but not sure where they are.

Hope this helps hun :hugs:it helped me.


TAKE CARE



WISHING YOU WELL,



LOVE JILLXXX









When you are experiencing a panic attack, one of the most important things that you must attempt to do is to control your breathing. Although it is difficult and may not strike your mind at first to do so, it is extremely helpful in calming down your body as well as your emotions. All those who suffer from panic attacks will suffer from an increase of oxygen flow into their blood and thus making their heart work harder than normal. For such people, they must learn how to 'breathe into their stomach'.


Slow breathing into the stomach has shown good results in helping people halt panic attacks and prevent them from recurring.
Although it is a good technique for easing anxiety and panic, it can be quite difficult for a beginner to learn. People with malady like panic or anxiety always breathe into their chests. In addition, telling such people during a panic situation to try to breathe into their stomach could fuel the already tense situation. Instead, one must tell them to practice breathing into the stomach once they are back to a normal temper. The learning and practicing part is important so that whenever you have the next panic attack you can straightaway start breathing into your stomach.
Following are some tips that you might find useful in learning and application of breathing into your stomach.


1. Lie down on the bed with your chest facing upwards. Now place one of your hands firmly onto your stomach and the
other one lightly onto your stomach. Inhale heavily and try to concentrate only on allowing your stomach to fill with air and not your chest. The idea here is to make sure that maximum amount of air that you inhale goes into your stomach and minimum to the chest. The aim should be to breathe only six-eight times per minute. During the entire process, try to maintain a very relaxed state of mind and body, so that you do not feel anxious.


2. In case you still cannot do this try to use a weight a weight on your stomach. Use a book or anything between 4-6 pounds and repeat the process as stated above. Concentrate on allowing the weight rise when you take in air.


3. Well if even that does not work for you then try to get down on all four just like a cat. In such a position, the chest is, forcibly shut in one place and forces the stomach to suck in the air you breathe in. like both the above methods this one too should be done with very relaxed state of mind and body.
Try to do these for few minutes initially and then you can graduate to up to 15-20 minutes at a stretch. Once you have reached this level try to do it while sitting upright and then while standing and if possible even while you are walking.
After you master all of the techniques you should try to do this different situations like while sitting in your office or in your car etc. Such exercises will help you in coping much better in certain similar environments.


Conclusion


Though this is good technique and does not cause much strain, you should not try to go overboard or try to progress too quickly. Just do so gradually. Also, get a help from a friend or someone close by to help you while you are practicing. It helps to have someone else monitor your breathing and then commanding you to do it correctly.

Joshua Poyoh is the webmaster and publisher of http://www.AnxietyPanicInfo.com (http://www.anxietypanicinfo.com/)

[Yvonne]

Thanks Jill xx

[joolee]

very usefull info thanx not had a bad panic attack in ages but when im getting my period i seem to be always fighting one coming on and can be quite exhausting my breathing goes all to pot so this has helped me to cope with the bad few days i get a month thanx xxx love Julie xxxxxxxxxxx

[springblossom]

Perhaps focusing on the breath interrupts what should be an automatic function.

For example when I watch other people breathing there seems to very gentle rise and fall of the chest wall, yet when I'm in my panicky mood I'm overbreathing and this then starts of a cycle of hyperventilation which needs to be broken. Perhaps you need to distract yourself and allow the breathing to self-regulate.

[jbond1978]

I also have shortness of breath and hyperventilation with my anxiety. My favorite quick fix trick is to suck on some kind of hard candy when this happens. My brain seems to be incapable of doing this AND breathing wrongly simultaneously :) This works 100% of times for me! AND it gives me a great feeling that something can be done that helps instantaneously, and that the breathlessness is propably not due to some life-threatening disease when it can be solved by candy.

Of course exercising diaphragm breathing is important as well and very helpful in the long term.

Best regards,
Jens B.