over-breathing _ help please

[angelique]

Hello everyone. I've been suffering from 'over-breathing, trying to catch my breath or not being able to take full breaths' intermittently over the last 6 months. I find that the more I think about it, the worse it get's. Has anyone experienced the same? Also, sometimes when I try to take a deep breath I get a stabbing like pain on the bottom right hand side of my back (I'm wondering if this is caused by trying too much to catch my breath??). Is this normal? It's starting to kinda worry me. Thank you.

[pd]

It's a common symptom to get with anxiety. When I catch myself doing it I imediately have to force myself not to think about it and do something to distract myself. It sometimes works. Try to breathe slowly and deeply for a few seconds, and try to immediately put your mind on something else. It's not dangerous or anything to be worried about, but it's one of those vicious cycles, it makes your anxiety worse which in turn makes it worse, which in turn makes the anxiety worse... and so on.
Good luck with it.

[nineteen]

yea i have this, i keep getting thoughts that every breath will b my last n that im gonna stop breathing or not be able to breathe. but i read somewere that wen ur lke dis, taking deep breath after deep breath will just make it worse, so the best thing u can do is just breathe slow, and wen ur not thinking about it, u realise how short ur breathes really are wen u breathe, so deep breathes arent needed realistically, all the time.

[springblossom]

I have this and really recommend: www.bp.edu (http://www.bp.edu) and their overbreathing helpsheets available for download for free on their site.

Good luck with this, it's an awful symptom, but pure anxiety!

[Cell block H fan]

Yes, & my son gets it too. He thinks its after he's eaten, but its anxiety really I think. I did hear you should have a paper bag handy & breathe slowly into that, but dont quote me on it, maybe someone else can say yay or nay to that. But I went through a brief spell of it a couple of years ago, almost like my lungs were blocked & I couldn't use them to full capacity. x

[angelique]

Thank you all for your replies. Pd you mentioned that this could be from anxiety. thing is I don't feel anxious. Having said that, I do feel anxious when I can't breathe properly and what concerns me the most is getting those stabbing like pains. Today I got a stabbing pain in my chest which freaked me out so I then kept trying to breath deeply again to see if it would happen again. It happened a few times and then it finally went away. This evening I'm still sighing/taking deep breaths - it's driving me crazy. Can I ask - if you overbreathe, is it normal to get these stabbing pains? Thank you x

[Maj]

I think when you overbreathe you can get pains because it's muscular. Gently inhaling breaths into your tummy, letting it expand and then exhaling out again for a while definitely helps with this. It's all to do with chest tension. Although you don't feel anxious, deep down something is making you so and this is a symptom of it.
Take care
Myra:)

[hello_mrzebra]

Over breathing is a really obnoxious symptom of anxiety.

I'm curious if anyone else ever wakes up in the middle of the night feeling like they've been over-breathing in their sleep?

I woke up at 4 am last night totally lightheaded and unable to slow my breathing down, like I woke up in the middle of a panic attack or something. Very scary, and now I'm worrying about things like sleep apnea or some other breathing disorder. I don't want to ask Dr. Google but I am curious if anyone else experiences this symptom.

Am I alone with this waking up hyperventilating thing?

Thanks.