Hyperventilation/Breathing

[springblossom]

Dear All,

In the last few weeks my breathing has been chaotic.

I have hyperventilation symptoms 24/7 and I am having serious difficulty mastering the deep-breathing exercises in particular those described in Dinah Bradley's book.

Is there any way to forget breathing, has anyone mastered this? I feel so lost and afraid and nobody seems to understand when I talk to them about this.

My symptoms are:


chaotic breathing pattern
discomfort in chest
over-focus on breathing
sighing, breath-holding
Gratefulfor any help whatsoever.

SB

[Robbs]

i know exactly what you're talking about and it just takes time, i had it sussed for a good few years (still affected me everyday a little) but then it came back and i've worked myself back up to a state with it, unfortunately there's no magic cure (well i aint found one) you gotta just accept it, not be scared of it, and KNOW that its just anxiety and thats it !!!! i find distraction of some sort works the best in the short term and the rest will come in time, im having to relearn all this again but i promise you if you learn to not let it be the focus of your life it will subside a handleable level so you can get on with your life.

breathing exersizes dont work for me as it just focuses my attention on my breathing and makes it worse, i know them for when im hyperveterlating badly but i dont practise them, IMO being able to divert your attention, not fearing it and accepting it is the key !!!

[sarah jayne]

That is how i started with anxiety a couple of years ago, i had pains in chest and i felt i had to concentrate on my breathing or i would stop. It gradually wore off though and im sure yours will too.
Sarah x

[springblossom]

Thanks Robbs. I worry that hyperventilating must be causing some terrible damage to my health though, it feels so bad!

[Robbs]

yep its horrible and the worst symptom you can get i recon, makes you feel like your dying and so very hard to control, but it WILL NOT cause you any damage just great discomfort while its happening and its very unpleasant, thoughts of will it cause you any damage etc are the type of thoughts you want to expell as they only feed the anxiety and make you focus on it and worsen your symptoms.

i've had hyperventerlation attacks for 10 years now and i must've had thousands of attacks it hasn't caused me any damage at all, in fact i recon its excercised my lungs lol i was concerened i may have asthma earlier this year so had to do a peak flow meter for 2 weeks, im a pretty heavy smoker but can blow 700 nearly everytime, sometimes i still use it to calm myself down when i think im not breathing i have a couple of blows on it and it chills me out.

[springblossom]

Has anyone tried the self-help material at www.bp.edu? (http://www.bp.edu?)