breathing problems

[lucy devine]

Hiya,
I'm always reading through the posts on here and use the chat room quite a lot, yet I rarely write about my own worries on here, thought I'd give it a try so here goes...
I think my main problem is health anxiety and for around 6 years now, I have had this almost obsession with my breathing. I have not had tests to rule out any breathing disorders apart from asthma and the doctors said that I didn't have any slight asthma at all. Even though I have seeked constant reassurance that I don't have a breathing problem for all this time, I still for some reason can not accept that this whole breathing issue is in my mind...I will literally be fine one minute and then the next my breathing just doesn't feel right in some way. It panics me so much as I am convinced that there is something up with my breathing...sometimes it feels like the breathes are not long enough, sometimes not enough and sometimes it just generally feels like I am going to stop breathing any minute. It is as if I am constantly aware of my breathing and having to do so manually...is there anyone else who's main fear is breathing?
Also, I am equally worried as I always seem to have a blocked nose/ feel all clogged up...I have had my ears checked and everything is apparently normal although I am convinced that I have some sort of sinus problem which is in turn affecting my breathing. I get really scared when I get phlegm as I feel this is preventing my breathing and I fear that I might just stop and die. I am also worried about whether I could have sleep apnea...I apparently snore a lot in the night and I am wondering whether this means I have sleep apnea. All my worries seem to revolve around my breathing and I feel so exhausted with thinking about it all the time. I am considering buying a pulse oximeter which tells you your pulse and oxygen levels in the hope that it might give me some sort of peace of mind, is this a good idea? or would it just be feeding my anxiety?
I am so sorry to ramble on, I'm feeling rather stressed out about the whole situation and needed to just write it all down to clear some space in my mind.
Do you reckon it could be a breathing problem or just anxiety? I really would love to accept it as anxiety but I'm finding it really hard to do so.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this
Lucy xxxxxxxx

[jessicalittler79]

iam same lucy hun....i always woundered how anx can make u feel all these breathing diffculties ...allday ...i cant breathe allday and if i think about it gets way worse..hope u feel better soon lucy and iam always here if u need me

[Anxious_gal]

Hey do you think it's cause by you being really aware and focused on your breathing?
Maybe CBT could help if it's become some what of an obsession .
You could even give hypnotherapy a try : )
I always have one nostril that's blocked, I can't stand it when I can't breath through my nose, I was however told that using nose spray too much could make the problem worse .
Just a thought maybe an allergy test could help rule out hay fever and sinus issues, you could be overlly sensitive to dust mites too.

I have heard there is a test for sleep apnea you can do at home,
My friend is looking into this, she is having issues with her weight and this is most likely the cause of her sleep apnea if she actually has it.
Her symptoms are falling asleep a lot , feelung super tired, snoring and gasping for air in her sleep.

I hate to encourage your health anxiety, but I still believe in not dismissing every thing as anxiety.
Breathing exercises never work for me, any time I focus on my breathing I get scared and feel like I'm suffocating, so maybe this is what happens with you because your hyper aware of it?

I have a pulse reader, every one said it was a bad idea but that depends on your personality.
If you can't handle high pulse readings and low oxygen levels with out being able to calm down and stay logical then it could make you worse.

I love mine because I have a fear of my through getting tight and suffocating so it's good for me to know that I'm not via my pulse reader.
But it can give you false readings!!
It often gives readings of 95%spo2
My usual reading is 98% if I'm in panic mode it's 100%
in the mornings my oxygen levels and heart rate are on the lower side.

If your oxygen levels were truly low your lips would be blue,
The one I have eats batteries lol, I often need to recheck the oxygen levels due to false readings.
So that could be very bad if your in panic mode!!
The one I have is called GO2 nonin , I got it off amazon.co.uk for about 80 euros ,
And that's a lot of money for such a tiny plastic thong but it works most of the time.

Really consider your reactions to false low readings if you are considering it.
Also I have gotten 150 beats a minute heart rate durning a panic attack, that doesn't scare me, now if I got 200 bpm I would running to the ER lol
So that's another thing too to think about.

I'll be honest with you, if you have had all the tests and they say your breathing is fine, your lungs and oxygen levels are ok and adding in the fact your very aware of your breathing it really does seem to be harmless anxiety.

As for the sleep apnea, I'm no doctor but the fear seems to steam from your breathing anxiety.
I wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor about it next time your there

[lucy devine]

thank you mishel for that reply :hugs:
I am worried that it is sleep apnea because I am overweight, I snore alot, always feel tired and sleepy and sometimes I wake in the night and sit bolt upright feeling like I can't breathe,
Is sleep apnea life threatening? I think I will make an appointment to get it tested.
Also, I haven't had tests for breathing/ my lungs so I'm really worried :(
xxx

[Col]

Hi Lucy I've suffered with panic problems for 5 months and I've already had every symptom under the sun, the worst one is the breathing issue, sometimes I feel like i can't even talk!
I'm aneamic which naturally can make you feel, tired and out of breath , so when it comes to my period, like today when ive come on, I started to cry. I was supposed to be getting some form of contraceptive to stop my heavy periods contributing to my anemia BUT I'm so frightened that the pills side effects might affect my breathing even more, so I'm scared to take it, the coil I was gonna get that but kept thinking what if I get toxic shock, and I end up in A&E. Ohh it's like a bloody vicious circle. I'm so scared and upset today.
I'll just have to deal with it as always, and pray that my breathing issue doesn't get worse!

Sorry to rant but your not alone, and its bloody awful. You think this can't just be anxiety BUT there's times I don't get this, so it must be and if your conscious of how your breathing I think we make it worse by panicking, hyperventilating, but it is weird, it's awful, I wish it would stop.

Takecare X

[Anxious_gal]

My friend is about 230ish pounds over weight, she only recently started noticing the symptoms, also she says it feels harder to breath since she gained the extra weight.
if she does have the sleep apnea then the long term cure would be to loose some weight I guess.
She is going to weight watchers and seems to be finding that the best so far.
I do know when you have too much weight on your chest it can cause your muscles to get more tired so that could be adding to the feeling like you can't breath.

I do believe it's very rare for sleep apnea to be too dangerous, as most people seem to end up being diganoised despite the fact there's only a few symptoms.
Not sure what the at home test is, but I believe it may monitor your oxygen levels so could be a simple as wearing on of those oxygen readers on your finger :)

[xJust_Sarahx]

Hi
I completely know where you coming from and to be honest you sound just like me! Its along the same lines of posts i have posted recently and in the past!!

I am obsessed with my breathing. My main problem is my breathing and it stops me from doing anything! I am housebound through it because i am scared i am going to go out and stop breathing and die, and leave my kids without a mam!

I cant breathe all day every day, i dont sleep well either. It feels like i cant get enough air in and when i take a deep breath in i cant get it, and it feels like i have problems exhaling also. I just struggle to breathe and it really gets me down and i find it hard to believe that its anxiety.
I slow what i do down and make sure i dont get out of breath. But i can be just sitting watching the tele or on the computer and just cant breathe, and feels like im dying. I have never smoked or anything.
I convinced myself i had asthma or something else but all the doctors have done is listen to my chest and said it sounds fine. No other tests or anything to rule or any problems, which i think is unfair because it would be a big peace of mind to me.

I am 23 now and i have been like this since i was 15/16 but it has got to the stage where its at its worst now for the past few years. Its ruining my life and thats why i am depressed and things. I have panic attacks due to the fact i struggle with my breathing but yet the doctors say panic attacks affect your breathing, but it doesnt make sense to me because i dont feel like this through a panic attack... its feeling like this that causes me to panic. Does that make sense?

I always have clogged nose and stuffy and it just makes me worse, also i alway sget phylegm in my throat, a massive lump and i cant swallow or talk with it at times, its a wierd sensation like a choking one but im not choking if you know what i mean, and also sometimes i just cant swallow, as if i have no saliva which i panic and try and over swallow.

So yes i know where you are coming from and i thought i was the only one who had it to the extent i do.

If you ever want to chat then message me anytime :) x

[allergyphobia]

Both post nasal drip and acid reflux can be a major cause of breathing problems, both of which are made worse by anxiety. I developed a post nasal drip after a virus and my anxiety made it 10x worse. It is horrible to feel as though you are choking on your own throat! This caused a massive ‘lump in throat’ sensation for me for some time, with bad chest tightness, breathlessness etc. It would sometimes feel awful when I was eating like I couldn’t swallow. A combination of a neti pot which is a sinus rinse device and a steroid nasal spray dramatically reduced my symptoms, making me less anxious and reducing it some more! I still suffer now, I get a cough sometimes and chest tightness but I know how to relieve the worst of the symptoms and ride it out. On the other hand it could be acid reflux, also causes breathlessness and lump in throat sensation, which you can get tablets for, lansoprazole or omezaprole I think are the most common and seem to help a lot of people. Cutting out dairy is said to help and wheat. If you have any hayfever etc this will worsen the PND and so anti-histamines can be a good idea too.

Take care and hope this helps x

[allergyphobia]

Also sarah trust me... i had all the tests under the sun to test for asthma and they all came back not positive and i still wasn't convinced they were right... anxiety is a horrible demon xx

[lucy devine]

thank you so much for your replies, it has made me feel so much better knowing there is others in the same situation but sad at the same time as I know how hard it can be.
I've been googling :( bad idea I know...and I've came across something called Neurogenic hyperventilation, which is where the part of your brain that controls breathing is affected by a tumor or something...now I'm really scared about that :( it's just never ending...
big hugs to you all
xxxxx

[macc noodle]

Lucy - Keep away from Dr Google!!!! He will only tell you the very worst outcomes from symptoms!

Let us just suppose that you have sleep apnoea - you can have a breathing machine to use at night to regulate your breathing and to ensure that your oxygen levels are maintained - my b-i-l suffered quite badly with it and has one of these machines and feels so much better when he uses it.

Can I move onto Neurogenic Hyperventilation now? What an amazing diagnosis to give yourself - I have given myself some diseases over the years with my HA but never that one ! I am guessing it must be exceedlingly rare ? But I have an alternative suggestion to your breathing problems (including also sinus and phlegm issues) - ANXIETY.

You know from talking to me in chat that when you are focussed away from the fear of the breathing problem, that you can regulate your breathing and thus calm down - this proves that it is anxiety based and not an uncontrollable medical condition causing the problem.

You need to get back to the GP and get on with some more CBT to help you with your anxiety.

You can spend years and years having all sorts of tests and as each one proves negative you will either choose to believe the result or permanently question it and look for the next test to prove that you really do have some dreadful illness.

Trust me Lucy - you are more than aware of my problems in this area and you know I am telling you the truth :)

Please don't buy one of those oximeters either - you will just panic more and they are not 100% relaiable unless regularly calibrated.

You know what you need to do ..................... keep on plodding on and in the end you will feel better :hugs:

Macc Noodle

[kinnygirl1]

Hi Lucy

I have just joined the forum but wanted to say that I do the breathing thing too. Can literally become obsessed with breathing as if I might forget to do it or something!! Also get a feeling like my breath is stuck in my chest and won't go any further in to my body ususally accompanied by a missed heartbeat.... it's really so scary and I know at times it feels like the only thing you can think about but I have found with distraction, it goes away, so it can only be the anxiety as if we really were just about to stop breathing it would happen wherever we were, whatever we were doing. Does that make sense? Thats how I rationalise it when I can.

hope you are feeling better really soon

[anxietysufferer1]

I don't know whether this post is still relevant to you lucy but i'm positive it is solely anxiety. I totally agree with Macc Noodle. It is just an obsession and your wicked anxiety thoughts (don't worry I suffer from the same obsession but I know fully well it is just anxiety). You do not need to worry in that respect. CBT WILL help you drastically in this respect and you can hopefully start leading a happier lifestyle by getting rid of these negative pointless thoughts. It's just habit but habits can be broken :) best wishes x Laura xxx