View Full Version : breathing
Well its been 6 months now and definitely has been a big improvement from my early anxiety. It's surprising how slow recovery takes. I have got over almost all of my anxiety symptoms thankfully but the one big one I could never get rid of is my breathing problems.
I really feel out of breath sometimes in the most random locations. It's really bothersome and has not gone after 6 months. After all this time, I think this is the one problem that hasn't gone away and its affecting my life. You need your lungs to live and to me I feel like I have a serious case of asthma. It scares me so bad because the feelings of not being able to breathe gives me a panic attack. That's actually what caused most of my attacks.
It feels like something is blocking my lungs from taking a deep breath and its labored and unnatural. Some days I have days where my breathing is OK at best and I don't notice my breathing... which means its normal. Days like these and most others I notice my breathing all the time and it feels so labored and I feel like it will just stop and I'll have a panic attack again.
I FEEL SO LIMITED! I really hate being like this because I can't do the things I used to.
Please help me fellow NMP forumers and offer suggestions on what I should do about this nagging problem? Should I go to the doctor's just for my breathing? I have got over most of the other anxiety symptoms but my lungs feel like a 20 year chain smoker. In reality they are perfectly healthy, I need help on this guys thanks a bunch!!
this is my problem exactly chili, my health anxiety kicked off severely 5 months ago when i gave up drinking , just cant get a decent breath.
unfortunatly i smoke heaps, so obviously fear the worst all the time, i had bronchitis then & the doc checked my chest & gave me the all clear, but now i have a chest infection again & its all flooding back, i feel like my lungs have been cut in half when i try to take a deep breath too, & it sets it all off.
im slowly learning to relax, not think about my breathing all the time & just ride out the panic when this happens, are you getting counselling ? cbt is slowly helping me
I am not really doing anything for my anxiety except waiting it out. I talked to my dad about going to the doctors office and he said it will go away on it's own but it's been 6 months
chili,
im only new to this site, so there are probably others better suited than me to comment, but i can speak from experience, anxiety is self fullfilling the more anxious you get , the more anxiety you tend to suffer, your fear feeds it & its a very hard circle to break, do you have any free services in america that you can use? , it really helps to have someone listen & understand & point out where your thinking patterns are wrong, so you can challenge them & turn this around.
maybe your dad just doesnt understand quite how bad you feel?
chin up :) , your gp is a great place to start if you can get dad to understand
I tried to talk to him about it and explain how hard it is to live with it and I suggested he take me the doctor's again. My dad's philosophy is that if I go the doctor's, American one's that is, they will just put me on medication and that will just mask my problem. He also said that I will be addicted to the medication and not be able to survive without them.
I don't know what to tell him after that and hes really against me going to the gp. I've gone before when I was with anxiety for the first month and the gp was honestly useless. He told me anxiety is harmless and not a real physical threat which he is there to treat so in my case I should just get some rest, lay back and relax and it will go away on its own. So my dad thinks the way the doctor thinks and I'm so confused on what to do next.
I have no idea where my anxiety comes from its so random and its the physical sensations that are the worse. How can I convince my dad other wise and what should I say to him.
hmmm, thats a tough one, have you a community health centre? , im thinking maybe get some books or pamphlets that might explain to him just how crap this makes you feel, there are things out there for "non sufferers" that explain things .
as for medication, well, hes basically right, but when your really in the hole, sometimes you need a leg up just so you can get a clear perspective on things, im on lexapro at the mo & even though i currently feel crap, i wouldnt be without them. anti depressants arent addictive, & they dont change you, you just gradually start to feel normal again. hes referring to benzos, (sedatives), ive never used them , because they are addictive, but are very usefull in the short term when you are really bad.
a good analogy in regard to medication you might try on him is this " if you had a broken leg , wouldnt you put a cast on it?" its not ALL in your head!:)
it really helps to have someone listen & understand & point out where your thinking patterns are wrong,
That's it really because it is just like all anxiety. All anxiety symptoms are created by our thoughts and how we react to them.
My dad's philosophy is that if I go the doctor's, American one's that is, they will just put me on medication and that will just mask my problem. He also said that I will be addicted to the medication and not be able to survive without them.
Your dad is actually right too. That could well happen because the actual cause isn't being treated.
Your actual cause is this...
You need your lungs to live and to me I feel like I have a serious case of asthma. It scares me so bad because the feelings of not being able to breathe gives me a panic attack. That's actually what caused most of my attacks.
Fear is produced in the mind which then dictates how your body reacts. In your case, you're not breathing properly because you're feeling stressed. You're feeling stressed because of your fear of panics. Your fear of panics makes you constantly think about your breathing......and you're not breathing properly because you're feeling stressed...and so on...and so on...in a constant loop.
If you go to the doctors he'll give you meds to ease your anxious feelings but they won't get your breathing back to normal because you'll still have your fear.
What you need to do is stop thinking about your breathing so that it returns to normal. Taking long deep breaths will help stop your panics but while you keep dwelling on your fear, you'll keep producing your shallow breaths making you feel you can't breathe bcause you'll keep frightening yourself.
At the beginning Jeff mention thinking patterns and it's this thinking pattern that is causing all your problems. Once you're able to ignore and forget your breathing and allow yourself to breath naturally, all your problems will stop.
as Jeff says, fear feeds anxiety so the more we think about what we're afraid of, the worse our symptoms become. It's all created by your fear of not being able to breathe and then your fear Makes you feel you can't breathe. Forget "it" and "it" will forget you.:hugs:
Well, this situation is being faced by a lot of people, you are not alone. Like I really feel out of breath sometimes.It was giving me a panic attack. I would advise you to consult a specialist.I think that you are at preliminary phase so Prevention is always better than cure.
Wish you good health.
:D
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