i am confused...help!

[lisa1983]

I have been havin panic attacks occasionally for about 2 years. last night i had the worst one of my life and ended up in hospital but it was not the same as it has been before. i had noticed all day i was struggling to take a deep breath! then about half 9 last night i had a horrific attack where the people i was with were so worried they rang a doctor who sent me straight to hospital. i came around and felt very tired and achey as i usually do after an attack. but again all day i am still struggling to take a deep breath and now and again seem to gasp, has anyone else had this? is it normal? i went to the local herbal shop they gave me vitamin b and stress tablets? has anyone tried these or are they a waste of time?
please help
lisa:wacko:

[belle]

Its called "air hunger" or hyperventilating.

I get this all the time, in fact, for the last week i've been living with it. Its like you want to take a deep breath (A LOT more times than normal), but as you breath in there is something stopping you from getting a proper lung full of air. Its annoying, but i believe it is quite harmless.
.

[lisa1983]

sounds exactly the same as what has been happenin to me
thanks so much 4 puttin my mind at rest x

[Nechtan]

I have it at the moment so can sympathise with you. It's not nice at all. Even though you know you are still breathing properly its hard to convince yourself as your lungs feel shrunk. In fact I've been looking around the forums today and there are lots of threads about it so it seems pretty common.

I usually get it with doing more physically than I am used to.

All the best

Nechtan

[Mikke]

You are hyperventilating.
It is not at all dangerous but very uncomfortable.
What happens is that you breath in to much oxygen as you overbreath. This leads to an altering of the chemical balance in the blood which feels like choking - and you breath even harder to avoid this sensation - and so the vicious cykle goes. You feel like choking, but are in fact getting to much oxygen.
Not at all dangerous - but learn to control your breathing and avoid the urge to overbreath.

Vitamin B supplements are fine, get enough b9 and b12 as anxiety and stress can deplete your storage of these.
I wouldn't believe a herbal stress drug would have any effect, but try it and see :)

[Magik]

I've been looking into something to help with this problem, checking various websites, a few ideas are to close off one nostril and try to continue breathing normally.. ((Cause it's harder to hyperventalate through one nostril, or so they say.))

But a technique I've found that works for me is called the 7-11 trick.

You look at a watch with a seconds hand. Breath in for 7 seconds and exhale for 11. It "teaches" your mind to relax I think by giving you something else to concentrate on as well regulating your breathing.

This is perhaps the one thing that always starts off my panick attack and I know they're not fun at all, but I wish you luck in regulating it <3

[lisa1983]

thank you all so much for the advice i am willing to give anything a go and will hopefully get there in the end.
thanks again
lisa

[andrewc]

Hi Lisa
I just read your post which relates exactly what was happenning to me. I was suffering from panic and anxiety. the worse symptom was this one about breathing which I felt I couldnt get enough oxygen or as we say a "sigh of relief". This symptom was with me until I treated and rid the anxiety and panic attacks.
I agree with all the techniques that have been mentioned by the other posts which help with the breathing but the thing to do it to treat the underline problem which is ANXIETY.
I myself had to have meds and therapy. I soon began to feel better after 2 weeks. One year on and I am fine and off the meds as well.

Wish you the best of luck

Andy

[polly123]

Hiya Lisa
Your post is so much like the ones that i have put up on this site, the breathing problem is so frightening ive tried allsorts of things and at the end of the day i know deep down that its anxiety that causes it but at the time that knowledge just doesnt seem to help does it? I probably shouldnt say this, but its so nice to know that im not the only one that suffers from this awful feeling we all seem to be in the same boat you can back track years on this forum and see for your self how many people suffer like us. Anyway sorry for the rambling i do hope you feel better soon and manage to find a solution that works for you, lol if you do let me know
Take Care POLLY XX