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Chronic hyperventilation syndrome..here we go again

Posted , 34 users are following.

Badluckj
Badluckj

Jesus. I can't take this. The dizziness inability to concentrate, weakness. The fact that's it's all in my head and other people have suffered years with it, I can't do that. I can't imagine a prolonged life this way, it's making me severely depressed to the point of tears. Does anyone else suffer from this? I've had it before and beat it for years, got it again beat it again..this time however seems like forever. The hopefulness of wanting to beat it isn't there. I go to the gym, I'm physically active, I run my own business and now I am reduced to this again. It all started when I got home from vacation, I got sick had to go on a Zpak and was bed ridden for 5 days.. The anxiety and panic started and it's morphed into several things, full blown panic that's subsided (for now) depersonalization (faded somewhat) and now the hyperventilation a day everyday. I see a CBT therapist once and awhile, I started 3 years ago when I had my last big break down...she helped but I feel like also what can be done NOW? Like is there a distraction out there I haven't tried? I have not taken meds as I'm pretty stubborn I feel like if they don't work I'll just go off the deep end. I don't know, it's summer and I just want my life back. I've beaten this before for years but this time it feels like my life is over. The only peace I get is the wee minutes before going to sleep because I know it's all going to stop until I wake up again. Man this sucks.

6 likes, 72 replies

72 Replies

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  • kayla1865
    kayla1865 Badluckj

    Posted

    I've been feeling the same way.. I can't get through a full day, most days, without feeling like something is wrong. I constantly have to self-teach myself how to breathe right, I constantly have heart palpitations, my chest hurts and feels like there's pressure. I even get a pressure feeling around my head, I feel weak, numb/tingly along my limbs/hands, and I always feel tired... sad
    • kayla1865
      kayla1865 Guest

      Posted

      I keep feeling like nothing is real. It's like I'm on auto-pilot, half the time. I can't explain it well. And I'm constantly feeling down. rolleyes
    • Badluckj
      Badluckj kayla1865

      Posted

      Hi Kayla, you on any meds? Have you looked into breathing retraining? I'm a no on both..I feel like if I don't acknowledge it then it will just go away. Lately I find I can be distracted, and feel ok, for instance I went out for dinner with a friend and a had some moments where I wasn't thinking about it. I feel it's like this: There was a time in life we didn't feel this way, so it must be possible to be that way again. If we can just accept it like "okay, go ahead be dizzy and lightheaded..this is my life now let's keep going" We will cope much better with it and will definitely go away...it feels like there is an anvil on my head though..like such anxiety and compulsion to take those Deep breaths. I think we need to break the habit somehow..but it's so hard to want to go out and go active and social to distract ourselves
    • kayla1865
      kayla1865 Badluckj

      Posted

      You see, I've been distracting myself more, but I seem to keep wanting to remind myself that I'm feeling OK. That's what makes everything rush back. I don't know why I keep doing it. And I'm having bad dreams. I have been for about a month now. I have a fear of dying... My mom pointed it out to me, before I even realized it, and I believed it even more so, after I started having severe anxiety.
    • Badluckj
      Badluckj kayla1865

      Posted

      I'm not afraid of dying because, well..if I die then there is no more suffering. I definitely fear a life of anxiety much more. Don't give the fear of death any power, think of it as death= no more pain ever again, it's kind of a win. But I understand.. My anxiety when it first started was afraid of dying...I think it might boil down to being unsure of what happens when we die. I think reminding yourself you're okay is a good thing. Reinforce yourself with those positive thoughts.. You've had all these panic attacks and look, you're still here. I've had them for 13 years and look, I'm still here. I know 100% they can't kill us.. But the real fear for me is am I going to have to live the rest of my life feeling awful
    • kayla1865
      kayla1865 Badluckj

      Posted

      But, I am scared of death. I can't help it, honestly. And I don't know where I'm going to go when I die. 
    • Guest
      Guest kayla1865

      Posted

      me too and when I'm alone it feels bad sad
    • Gulfdigs
      Gulfdigs Badluckj

      Posted

      Hi, can you update on if anything has worked for you? I believe I have had this for 4 months now, and it is the worst thing ever. I have had every work up imaginable and they found nothing. ER 3 times. All kinds of specialist. I take xanax 0.5mg twice daily. Doesn't really help but if I don't take, gets way worse. Started Lexapro recently out of desperation, so far only made worse. My

      main symptoms are chest tightness, stomach tightness, extremely short of breath, brsin fog, dizziness, panic attacks.very very active before this, now I can hardly work or do anything. I do believe to break this self perpetuating cycle of over breathing, we have to retrain our breathing with a respiratory therapist, buteyko breathing, and or Frolovs device. I purchased that device, and will share if it works. Supposed to be easier and quicker than buteyko, but they go hand in hand. Personally I think that I was under a lot of stress and had anxiety increasing for years, then started training core/abs every day for like a month. I think the tightness in my stomach along with anxiety changed my breathing pattern from more in the diaphram to more in the chest. Plus during my workups, endoscopy found EOE. Esophagus disease causes very difficult swallowing usually caused by food allergy.

  • Jajzmama571
    Jajzmama571 Badluckj

    Posted

    It's me again! Lol. I just can't get over how much this post sounds exactly like I feel! I wish I could be more helpful and you know what's crazy... My symptoms all came back after being on ZPak also!! And the antibiotic bactrim. But I'm also taking the medication for my anxiety/depression so it could have done something weird interaction wise with that. Where are you from in the US? I'm in Michigan. I hope we can find some peace in this chaotic mess! And like you, the only time I feel decent is before falling asleep! During the day it's awful, most the time I barely leave the chair but I force myself to because well, I have kids and have to get my butt up and take care of them. But like you stated I know some of it is in my head because if I'm really distracted and doing something to keep me busy or that I enjoy I don't realize it until I think about it but I'm feeling okay! Not 100% but better. I overthink everything and look into every little pain or feeling I have or get on dr Google and that's like the worst thing to do! Google is the devil to us with anxiety! But yet I can't stop doing it when I know what it's going to end up doing to my mind after!! Ugh!
  • markdontknow
    markdontknow Badluckj

    Posted

    I have similar issues I don't hyperventilate but I constantly feel like I need to take a deep breath and I can't stop thinking about it. It feels like my breath doesn't catch if that makes sense. Then every few minutes I get a deep breath and its so relieving and immediately it starts again. I'm asthmatic and a pot smoker so I thought it was asthma related but it doesn't feel like an attack I've done all the breathing test lung xrays and nothing. There is no rhyme or reason I can think of that induces it sometimes I'm fine for a week a month then boom its back sometimes a few days the worse time was 2 months. It started 2 years ago. I've never been depressed or stressed out really. Damn I'm frustrated. I know I can breath because the test say so and having a few asthma attacks when I was younger I know what not being able to breath really feels like, but I know I can't at the same time.

    • kimjen
      kimjen markdontknow

      Posted

      You are the first person in my whole 52 years on this planet that has described what I experience! I have felt so alone with this. Constant visits to doctors, psychiatrists, hypnotherapist you name it and never has anyone made me feel like I'm not the only one. 

      my first episode was when I was 10 years old and pretty much lived with it ever since. 

      I live my life, have a wonderful husband, 3 amazing children and even run my own business but this just plagues me and I don't understand why.

       

    • michelle6590
      michelle6590 kimjen

      Posted

      Hi Kimjen

      I came across this forum today and this is the first time in my life I've seen that other people go thru this too ! Mine started at 16 yrs old and I can go for years without symptoms .It's so awful when in this hyperventilation period . It could drive a person crazy !

      Praying for peace ! One thing that brought me out of it 3 years ago was Buspar . Now I'm taking Niacin and it has helped . Not completely gone but it's taken the edge off

  • anxietygirl90
    anxietygirl90 Badluckj

    Posted

    I've had this for 4 years and start breathing therapy with a special physio next week. It's ruined my life too along with the anxiety. Fun stuff

    • markdontknow
      markdontknow anxietygirl90

      Posted

      Did the physiological effects get worse with time? In the beginning I chalked it up to asthma. Then my Dr. said it was probably allergies causing Bronchospasms. Ran all the tests and nothing came up but got 3 new meds anyway.after about a year of good and bad periods I began to realize the meds didn't help the issue at all. That's around the time I began to obsess over it. I'm 2 yrs in now and I don't exactly know what depression is but during my last episode around the 5th day I was really frustrated and next thing I know I got angry at my wife and kids for no reason I sat on the floor in the corner of a room and I had a feeling of helplessness I've never experienced before. My wife finally came in and told me to stop acting like a Lil bitch and I kind of snapped out of it. That's when I did some more research and found a whole group of people experience the same thing that gave me hope. but the more I read I realize this issue has really messed with people's minds. I've always been easy going and am wondering should I be prepared for the struggle to get worse. For the first time in my life the glass is half empty and I don't like it.

    • anxietygirl90
      anxietygirl90 markdontknow

      Posted

      I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this!

      The frustration is common! When I was 1 year into my breathing problem, it started getting worse and I didn't have days in between episodes where it let up. I went to the hospital numerous times but they would only give me a chest X-ray and tell me I'm fine. One day it got so bad I tried to commit suicide by taking a lot of pills but luckily my boyfriend at the time found me and rushed me to hospital where I had my stomach pumped.

      I know it's from the anxiety because if I take enough Xanax it will settle down a little. I finally got the hyperventilation syndrome diagnosis only 2 weeks ago when a physician tested my arterial blood gas levels and they were all out of whack. I get out of breath just talking sometimes. I'm due to see a breathing physio in a few weeks to retrain the brain/breathing connection and also due to start ssri's as my anxiety has gotten a lot worse and I'm incredibly nauseous everyday/not eating.

      It can be real hard work some days. The breathing doesn't get worse id say.. in the beginning I freaked out over it more so probably made it worse by doing so.. either that or I'm getting used to it now. When I can take a deep breath I don't quite recognise who I am.

      Take care and I'm here to talk if you need, I know how hard it can be

    • kimjen
      kimjen markdontknow

      Posted

      Yes please let us know!

      I found a respiratory physiotherapist about 8 years ago and she really helped me but I found as soon as she finished the sessions I was back to square one again. I wish my gp would take it more seriously and refer me to someone. I am currently having CBT on the NHS which is via telephone and hopeless. I have had 2 sessions and repeated the same questions over and over. She doesn't know what to do for me because I can't tell her what is making me anxious. To me it is a chicken and egg situation, I can't breathe so I get anxious and then I can't breathe 😩 How do you explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it?

      so good to hear people discussing it it's what I have wanted for years!

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