Automatic breathing stopped

so......I was just surfing for some advice on the "manual breathing" topic and stumbled on this forum.

I am 100% convinced that this is a stress thing however I am also considering the possibility that I am sometimes initiating the process when my heart rate increases after some food and especially the higher carb stuff. I eat ....heart rate gets a little elevated......i get nervous about it and start the breathing thing.

i will also add that i am a super anxious person and poster child for ADHD. my stress level is often very high and worrying about that has a snowball effect on my physical and mental health.

Here are some of the things that are helping me currently:

i have been trying to learn about why am am the way that I am. forums like this are helpful but i am being careful not to get sucked into the doom and gloom theories that can very easily make you feel like you have every infliction under the sun.

I have been able to forget about the controlled breathing specifically by just doing something to divert my attention but it definitely requires action..... getting up..... walking even just around the room.....just typing this message has calmed me down big-time.

last resort is a xanax. really. This work most times but i don't want to get too used to eating pills for everything and i do feel like i will figure it out once and for all.

I'm kinda shocked and truly concerned about the people who are struggling here and even to the point of giving up. i feel all of that from time to time as well so i feel your pain.

I was going to apologize for the long-winded response but i guess this is why we are here.....to talk about our issues......to discover that we are not alone and to share some advice and our findings as we take control.

i feel a lot better already......for now..... but it's progress.

i hope you guys are okay.

Charlie

Your automatic breathing probably did not actually stop, if it did, you would have gone to sleep and not woken up. I have been battling this issue myself what will be a year in july with no end in sight. What you are not realizing, is this is actually only happening to you while you are focused on it, but there are certainly times throughout the day when you are breathing, and you dont realize it, because you arent focused on it, but there is a moment where you are holding your breath which happens then you become focused on it and you cannot automatically breathe and it is very scary. There is something called box breathing. It's something the was developed for military use to keep calm in combat, I believe initially it was a Navy Seal thing or something. I dunno the web is full of mis information. IT WORKS. Box breathing is inhaling 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, exhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds. Keep repeating that pattern for anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes. As long as it takes for your heart rate to get to your normal resting rate. Whether that is 60/70/80. Once you achieve that heart rate, continue breathing for one more minute. This will stimulate your vagus nerve and should relax you. if box breathing is too difficult there is a 5;5 breathing pattern. That is simply breathing in for 5 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds. I find this works, but not as well as box breathing. Also research Vagus Nerve inflammation. You will learn alot of what is happening when your Vagus Nerve is upset and the havoc it wreaks on people. You may need to adjust your diet, sleep, daily routines a little bit. For me its my gut. I dont eat right and that irritation is inflaming my vagus nerve and messing with my respiration and heart rate. When I eat clean for a week or so and drink the right amount of water, guess what, it all goes away.

hello,

i have this annoying thing! i really thought i was the only one. had it for about a year now. started off with my chest (still is sometimes). feels tight, sudden rapid heart rate, feeling faint, sweaty, fear my heart will stop.

then for no reason it switched to breathing. numerous times throughout the day, i will unwillingly concentrate on my breathing and (what feels like) be made to breathe for myself or manually breathe. thing is, its like a habit - i cant not do it, i cant just think oh im doing it again id better stop and it goes. it just happens and for 10minutes to an hour, i feel its necessary for me to manually breathe. only stops when my brain forgets about it by concentrating on something else. definitely worse at night, a million times worse. takes me hours to get to sleep. theres nothing to distract, and its been so long the habit is there to 'manually breathe'. so frustrating. i feel stupid to go to the doctors. i also find it at its worst in loud situations. walking down a busy road is a nightmare as i often feel like i have to hear myself breathe. and now thats a habit, i can barely bring myself to leave the house.

in an ideal world, i feel like the best remedy would be like hypnosis or whatever. if i could be made to forget the habit, it would be gone just like that. assuming inwould fall back into the vicious cycle.

anyone overcome this? like forever? i would really love to hear how. ive tried breathing exercises but they dont work. i mean use manual breathing to combat manual breathing? nope.

i just really want to be free.. i feel like a prisoner.

thanks if anyone replies.

I have gastric problem for nearly a year now and was sometimes facing chest tightness. i recently came in contact with covid patient, and coincidentally my chest congestion increased i thought it could be that i am positive but i didn't had any of the symptoms. i started to fear more and was constantly worrying and searching more online for solutions. i googled and it showed different kind of diseases due to which i was getting mad and then i felt i cant breath properly and then i just kept focusing on my breath. I continuously focused on my breath for two days and got sick of it. I was getting crazy, then i told this to my parents they told me to pray to lord and have belief and dont constantly worry. I tried to not focus on my problem and believed that i will breath even if i dont focus. I realized due to fear my mind was doing this to me. Then i started to focus less on myself and stop thinking about it, soon all my fear shed away and i was all ok. I made this account to only answer this post hope it will help you all because i think all of you may be facing similar kind of problem and nothing worse. dont lose hope and draw your attention to something else, i think its fear which is causing you that you cant breathe automatically, because you are doing so in sleep. hope it will help dont worry all will be okay, and it may take some time so dont give up and believe me shed your fear.

I'v been dealing with this for about half a year now and its completely de-railed my life. I have the same primary symptom that everyone here is describing (unexplained breathlessness) but what worries me is that this happens at night while I'm sleeping (or trying to).

Some people with this have reported being able to sleep while others have insomnia because of it... I'm definitely in the latter category.

As i'm laying there at night, i feel like i'm being suffocated.

This feeling is 24/7. Day and night.

Does anyone else experience this feeling of suffocation at night aswell?

Wow, so many people who are dealing with this crazy thing. I have it for 1,5 year. It's excausting. It is less when im busy. But I cant read a book, enjoy the sun or watch a movie (etc) without focusing on my breath. Has anyone overcome this? Did it go away?

Wow, so many people who are dealing with this crazy thing. I have it for 1,5 year. It's excausting. It is less when im busy. But I cant read a book, enjoy the sun or watch a movie (etc) without focusing on my breath. Has anyone overcome this? Did it go away?

Hi there, have you got better yet? Your thread makes me know that I'm not alone, I really appreciate it.

I'm in the exact situation, but whenever I try to explain to doctors/psychologists via online (due to pandemic), they just say that it maybe due to "your thinking" and "there is no way you cannot breathe when you are speaking well like this" even though I try to describe how my body "forget" to automatically breathe. I have felt so lonely and scared, especially when I'm positive to Covid-19 (I'm under treatment and my PCR CT is over 37). I feel that the doctors/psychologists think that I just make it up and take my problem lightly despite my effort explaining the situation. Though I confirmed that the symptom had happened before I knew I got Covid-19, they insisted on claiming that this symptom was the result of me worrying about getting Covid-19.

Have you found a solution for this? Literally been doing this manual breathing for over 5 years. I can't live this way anymore. I don't feel anxious whatsover, so how could this be anxiety? What do I do?

Hello friends, i am also suffering by Manual breathing for 2 weeks can you please help me for overcome this, please friends