"Air Hunger"

[Wenjoy]

Me too - I had a dental check up yesterday and was fine until I sat in the chair then I was hyperventilating and sighing for ten mins - my dentist knows about my panic attacks - and as soon as I stood up out of th chair my breathing was back to normal - its only anxiety that feeds thhe fear and makes breathing go funny. Wenjoy x

[Jono]

Jo,

Ive had exactly the same symptoms (always thinking of breathign, always out of breath, sighing)

For 2 whole years now.

You're not alone hun,

If you need to talk about it, if you have msn: Jono333@gmail.com

Or just email me.

-Jono

[LJElson]

Wow what you just said was amazing, i get this aswell exactly the same, heartburn, gerd symptoms and palpatations so i guess it must be anxiety

[jillmarion]

Hi All,
I also have this horrible air hunger, it is so good to have found this forum and to relise I am not alone.
I started with terrible anxiety just shortly after my father died, during this time I was also in the process of making big changes in my life which included packing up my whole house, leaving my family and friends and moving to New York as my partner's job is based there.
I left for New York early January and as I was on the plane heading for New York I developed a very bad back ache which is not uncommon for me as I do suffer with back ache every so often but unfortunately this back ache stayed with me for three weeks whilst in New York, my anxiety because of this just went through the roof, I started thinking bad thoughts that perhaps my back ache was something much more serious and that I had some deadly decease !! I also felt that perhaps I was missing home and in the end I could stand the anxiety no longer and returned to England at the end of January.
My first port of call was my doctor who assured me all was ok with my back and the pain would subside, I mentioned to him that I was having bad thoughts and he did many blood tests which I had to wait a week for the results to come back, during this week my mind was alll over the place I could not relax for one minute, eventually I got the results and all was clear, it took a couple of days for my brain to register the fact that all was ok but eventually the anxiety did stop but only to return a couple of day's later with this terrible air hunger I was absolutely terrified as I had never experienced anything like this before and really thought I was going to die, I went back to see my doctor who prescribed citropram 10mg these made me feel worse and after a couple of day's I came off them and the doctor gave me diazpem to calm me down which had very little effect, by this time I was beginning to think there must be some thing wrong with my heart or lungs I was in such a state I did not know what to think, eventually I went to see another doctor and he told me to come off all medication and try and deal with it myself he checked my heart and lungs and he said all was ok, he told me to surround myself with family and friends and try breathing excercises easier said than done but I thought I would give it a try, a couple of days later I went away with my mum and sister for a few days and it was a disaster my anxiety and air hunger just got worse !!! I could stand it no longer without medication so I went back to see the doctor and told him I would like to try citropram again as I had heard that when you first take it you can have some bad side effects but if you stick with it they are good, so he prescribed 10mg again and after a week my air hunger was still very bad so off to the doctors again and he upped my dosage to 20mg and also he give me beta blockers but I only took them for a couple of days as they made my breathing worse.
I stilll wake up every morning with that terrible anxious feeeling and if I just lie there it just gets worse so no matter what time I wake I just have to get up and busy myself which seems to help with the anxiety slightly but the air hunger seems to be always there, sometimes I can feel quite relaxed and it just creeps up on me does anyone else have feeling? I am seeing the doctor again tomorrow and asking him if he thinks I should try upping my meds to 30mg im really just at the end of tether and don't know what else to do
I have so much sympathy for each and everyone of you who are having this air hunger problem it's the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life infact I said to my partner the other day I would rather go through childbirth ten times over then have this terrible debilating air hunger !!!
If anyone had any advice on what has helped them I would really appreciate it. Im so sorry this so long but once I started typing I could not stop, It helps to get things off my chest and to know that there are other people who are going through the same thing. Thank you x

[NotCasey]

I empathize with you so much. Air hunger is awful, I think particularly because it's constant. Aside from the two hours sleep I'm getting at night, I am always thinking about my breathing and not getting enough air.
Kind of a funny story: I went to the doctor the other and told him that I constantly feel as though I'm not taking a proper breath, like I'm always at the beginning stage of a panic attack. He said "and how long does it last for?" I said, "It's constant. All the time." And he said "So are we talking 15 minutes, 30 minutes?" I was like "All the DAMN TIME!" (Not in those words exactly.)
I don't think people understand quite how distressing it is. To other people, we are walking around and breathing just fine. They don't realize how much of a struggle it is just to take a proper breath.
As I am suffering from it pretty badly at the moment, I don't really know that anything I can suggest is worthwhile. However in the past when I was in my teens I had this pretty badly. I had tons of tests done and they all came back clean. One day I got so fed up of it I said to myself "this is silly. It's all mental. You're just fine. It's all in your head." And to my surprise, it worked. It went away for four years. Maybe that would help you too.
Something else that's helping me right now is taking a seven count breath in through my nose and an eleven count breath out through my mouth. It feels pretty uncomfortable when you're doing it as it only seems to exacerbate the problem, but after five minutes of doing it, my breathing feels so much easier for a while after.
Let me know if you find something that works - I'd love to try it!

[pd]

I've been doing this pretty much non stop since April ish. I breathe too much, hyperventilate, get dizzy, panic, breathe even more. Vicious cycle! Anyone else find it gets worse throughout the day, ie. you can breathe normally in the morning and start breathing too much throughout the day? I'm also really aware of my breathing becuse sinus issues mean I breathe through my mouth most of the time. It's very annoying!

[sam_aus]

Hi Guys, as everyone else has said it is really nice to see other people out there having the same problem and communicating with each other. It's been quite difficult to find much information on "air hunger" or dyspnea and though I believe there's all sorts of different ways it's activated, according to different discussions i've heard. I first started suffering from "air hunger" when I was about 14 years old (5 years ago, 2004), about 10 days after I smoked marijuana for the first time. I think it was a mixture of stress and anxiety caused by certain aspects that was going on in my life at the time and I don't think the marijuana helped me as it triggered off anxiety attacks within me and possibly air hunger. Fortunately I only remember having the "air hunger" problems for about 2 weeks tops, I was getting on a plane to go on holiday around 2 weeks after they started and that's when I realised it wasn't happening anymore, no problems since then until now. Im now 19 years old, studying, fairly active though I am overweight, I don't smoke cigarettes often though I do drink quite often. Sunday night I was sleeping and I suddenly felt the same difficulty to catch a breath as it were back in 2004, up until this point (3 days later) i've been having "air hunger" issues most parts of the day unless I am occupied with something that totally averts my attention to it. I think the problem is basically your mind telling you that it's there, and that you have to breathe more and more, I have no idea what is was triggered from other than the fact of stress and problems in your personal life. I have not yet found any remedy that can help cure this problem other than to try and keep yourself preoccupied and really busy, if anyone wants to talk about it please send me an email or a pm as it'd be really nice to discuss with other people and see what they've done to help themselves with this awful problem. Thanks for hearing me out. Sam

[sam_aus]

About a week on I am noticing it's getting a bit better, today I only noticed it in patches but once again when I was thinking about it, it came back to haunt me again. I saw a doctor mid last week and he said there was nothing wrong with my lungs, he checked my throat and my tonsils were inflamed for breathing too much through my mouth! Hopefully next week will be a better week for everyone out there.

[lisa_marie84]

I am so glad I have found this site. I have been living with this for about 5 years now! For about 12 months it went away. I have good days and bad! I sleep fine, wake up okay and as soon as I start thinking about my breathing it gets worse. By the end of the day I feel mentally drained!

When it occurs I notice that if I am busy or involved in something it goes away, but I find it very difficult to take my mind off it. I am very good at controlling it, and by that I mean I no longer break out into a panic attack like I used to. I have been to the doctors had few tests, an inhaler and I am told it's stress related. I have not yet tried beta blocker as I couldn't face taking it and it not working! Most days it effects my day to day life - I don't like eating out or doing the grocery shop as it can get very bad.
It's more the sensation to take a deep breath, when deep down I know I don't need to be sighing or taking a deep breath.
I think it has now become a habit to take a deep breath, but does anyone have any good advice on how to break the habit! I would like children soon but am afraid it will get worse when I get pregnant! It's so frustrating!!!

[missanxiouspants]

I suffer from exactly the same problem.
I describe it to people as though a full breath is represented by a man running over a hill; when I breathe funny I cant make the breath go over the top of the hill. I went to casualty recently when I had a bad attack of it, and the doctor told me I was hyperventilating. I have found that when I am stressed I hold my breath without realising, and my breathing gets out of sync. From then on I feel as though I cannot get enough air in to breathe properly. It gets worse throughout the day, and when it is really bad I get chest and muscle pains and get really dizzy.
The only advice I can personally give to people in the same situation as me is to stop it before it becomes a fully blown attack; recognise when you are subconsiously holding your breath and start breathing more deeply, counting to 3 each time. I have managed to keep mine under control by doing this, but sometimes it gets out of hand.
I unerstand completely where you are coming from, because it can end up taking over your life.
Hope it improves soon
Chloe
x