Dafyddjohndavies
24-06-10, 11:08
Hi all,
If any of you have read my hyperventilation syndrome thread (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35632) you will have already seen that i've been trying to sort out my issues objectively for the past year.
Background
I've been going through anxiety and panic problems for a long time and have had a lot of problems with breathing / Hyperventilation Syndrome. Since seeing a CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) therapist I have been documenting all my breakthroughs and failures in a diary, and have finally come to a point where I feel I have figured this/my anxiety issue out.
Now to get to where I am at the moment, you should first get to the point where you accept that you have anxiety, and not some other disease, or heart syndrome etc. If your still questioning whether it's something more serious you have not accepted, it's time to go see a CBT therapist and sort out your thought patterns first.
If your usnsure whether you have anxiety then check here and check out the multitude of symptoms:
http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml
What's the eureka moment?
I've been noticing patterns over the last year and trying to figure out why I feel ok sometimes and shit the other times. For example when I feel good generally (used to feel bad all the time, CBT helped 200 fold), I get to a point where I think... "Wow I feel great, I wonder how long this will last..." then the second I think it, the horrible breathing patterns return, and I return to a very depressed and down person who is cut away from the world. I could never understand what I was doing right at the time of feeling great and then struggle to try to figure it out.
I also noticed that when I eat food my breathing seems to regulate itself and again I feel better for a little bit until I stop eating. I also feel pretty good when I'm concentrating on something and not really thinking about my breathing. There were loads of patterns that after a few months of documenting each issue I could see what was affecting me.
I noticed that when I eat I am forced to breathe through my nose and my breathing regulated.. when concentrating I breathe through my nose, when I feel bad I breathe through my mouth. I also noticed that the process of smoking forced me to breathe through my mouth and I believe that's is what started this all off.
Mouth breathing is such a major problem and I had no idea. People give you all this advice and all these different directions and all you need to do is breathe through you nose.
If you look at the symptoms you get from mouth breathing you may notice that all of the things listed apply to you:
- Unexplained anxiety
- Trouble with sleep, concentration
- Constant yawning/sighing, sneezing
- Dry mouth and throat
- Bad breath
- Pressure headaches
- Noisy breathing
- Muscle pain, general fatigue
- Increased mucus production
Now I've been trying to focus on breathing through my nose and it's difficult to get used to. If you want to check whether you breathe through your nose or mouth then just put a hand over your mouth tightly and see if you get the urge to pull your hand away and breathe through your mouth... I bet a lot of you will not be able to do it.
I'm not going to lie to you, doing this is difficult and does not feel pleasant to begin with, but stick with it until you body get's used to it. When you start breathing through your nose your breathing will increase as you anxiety levels increase.. this is because you feel like your suffocating, but your not.
Fight through the horrible feelings and know that this is good for you. When you start getting used to it you need to slowly slow your breathing so that you get to a point where you can hear your in breath. This takes time and patience so just stick with it. You should start feeling the effects of feeling very relaxed and happy as soon as you slow the breathing down enough.
To get used to this nose breathing you should put your tongue to the roof of your mouth to stop air coming in through your mouth:
Like in this diagram
http://www.liptrainer.com/images/oral04_01.gifhttp://www.liptrainer.com/images/oral04_02.gif
I've been doing this for 3 days now and I feel 90% better, I'm in the process of slowing down my breathing so that I'm calm and peacful. It has taken time and anxiety is still an issue but it's and issue that seems to be diminishing.
I'm looking into the buteyko (http://www.buteyko.co.uk/) method soon, and will be following their guidance so I will update this thread again if anything positive comes from it.
Hope you all try this because I think it might be the cure. Don't expect it to be a magic cure however because they don't exist, this takes time to fix.. I've been on this journey of trying to heal myself for the past 2 years and talk to anyone who knows me and they will say I seem 200% better than I was prior to it, but I'm still not at my desired place just yet.
Let me know what you think,
Dafydd x
If any of you have read my hyperventilation syndrome thread (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35632) you will have already seen that i've been trying to sort out my issues objectively for the past year.
Background
I've been going through anxiety and panic problems for a long time and have had a lot of problems with breathing / Hyperventilation Syndrome. Since seeing a CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) therapist I have been documenting all my breakthroughs and failures in a diary, and have finally come to a point where I feel I have figured this/my anxiety issue out.
Now to get to where I am at the moment, you should first get to the point where you accept that you have anxiety, and not some other disease, or heart syndrome etc. If your still questioning whether it's something more serious you have not accepted, it's time to go see a CBT therapist and sort out your thought patterns first.
If your usnsure whether you have anxiety then check here and check out the multitude of symptoms:
http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml
What's the eureka moment?
I've been noticing patterns over the last year and trying to figure out why I feel ok sometimes and shit the other times. For example when I feel good generally (used to feel bad all the time, CBT helped 200 fold), I get to a point where I think... "Wow I feel great, I wonder how long this will last..." then the second I think it, the horrible breathing patterns return, and I return to a very depressed and down person who is cut away from the world. I could never understand what I was doing right at the time of feeling great and then struggle to try to figure it out.
I also noticed that when I eat food my breathing seems to regulate itself and again I feel better for a little bit until I stop eating. I also feel pretty good when I'm concentrating on something and not really thinking about my breathing. There were loads of patterns that after a few months of documenting each issue I could see what was affecting me.
I noticed that when I eat I am forced to breathe through my nose and my breathing regulated.. when concentrating I breathe through my nose, when I feel bad I breathe through my mouth. I also noticed that the process of smoking forced me to breathe through my mouth and I believe that's is what started this all off.
Mouth breathing is such a major problem and I had no idea. People give you all this advice and all these different directions and all you need to do is breathe through you nose.
If you look at the symptoms you get from mouth breathing you may notice that all of the things listed apply to you:
- Unexplained anxiety
- Trouble with sleep, concentration
- Constant yawning/sighing, sneezing
- Dry mouth and throat
- Bad breath
- Pressure headaches
- Noisy breathing
- Muscle pain, general fatigue
- Increased mucus production
Now I've been trying to focus on breathing through my nose and it's difficult to get used to. If you want to check whether you breathe through your nose or mouth then just put a hand over your mouth tightly and see if you get the urge to pull your hand away and breathe through your mouth... I bet a lot of you will not be able to do it.
I'm not going to lie to you, doing this is difficult and does not feel pleasant to begin with, but stick with it until you body get's used to it. When you start breathing through your nose your breathing will increase as you anxiety levels increase.. this is because you feel like your suffocating, but your not.
Fight through the horrible feelings and know that this is good for you. When you start getting used to it you need to slowly slow your breathing so that you get to a point where you can hear your in breath. This takes time and patience so just stick with it. You should start feeling the effects of feeling very relaxed and happy as soon as you slow the breathing down enough.
To get used to this nose breathing you should put your tongue to the roof of your mouth to stop air coming in through your mouth:
Like in this diagram
http://www.liptrainer.com/images/oral04_01.gifhttp://www.liptrainer.com/images/oral04_02.gif
I've been doing this for 3 days now and I feel 90% better, I'm in the process of slowing down my breathing so that I'm calm and peacful. It has taken time and anxiety is still an issue but it's and issue that seems to be diminishing.
I'm looking into the buteyko (http://www.buteyko.co.uk/) method soon, and will be following their guidance so I will update this thread again if anything positive comes from it.
Hope you all try this because I think it might be the cure. Don't expect it to be a magic cure however because they don't exist, this takes time to fix.. I've been on this journey of trying to heal myself for the past 2 years and talk to anyone who knows me and they will say I seem 200% better than I was prior to it, but I'm still not at my desired place just yet.
Let me know what you think,
Dafydd x