Please help !! Constant urge to take a deep breath or yawn for over 10 months!!

Hi, I have experienced something quite similar to what you describe. It came out of the blue, when I woke in the middle of the night short of breath, a couple of weeks after recovering from bronchitis. I had never had any kind of breathing issues prior to this, and had always been very physically fit, though my dad had asthma when he was younger. I expected it to go away but it didn't, instead it just got progressively worse over the following 6 months. I saw a doctor and had a number of chest scans and breathing tests, but everything came back as normal, in fact above average for my age. Still, the problem persisted.

I was also suffering from postnasal drip on and off, which seemed to make my breathing worse. I started taking Oregano Oil pills, and Curcumin. Also Ventolin when it was particularly bad. Though this didn't entirely fix the problem, it did make life a lot easier. Three years have passed, and it hardly ever happens now.

You are likely one of the many humans that breathes incorrectly.

I want you to try this experiment.

Stand in front of a mirror, and take in the deepest breath you possibly can.

Notice - did you lift your shoulders?

That, my friend, is the definition of clavicle breathing or more commonly referred to as shallow breathing.

Now, I must warn you, changing the way you breathe is no simple task. You’ve been doing it all wrong for god knows how many years, so be prepared to feel uncomfortable for the first month of this transition.

Once you’ve mastered how to breathe properly, though, your quality of life will increase tremendously. More oxygen means better focus and clarity, as well as better endurance and muscle recovery. This practice will even help with digestion.

So how does one go about breathing properly?

Again, situate yourself in front of a mirror.

The first step is to stand up tall, and completely relax your shoulders.

Next, place your hands on your belly, and completely relax your stomach.

Yes, you really are that fat, EMBRACE IT

Now, you’re going to start inhaling through your nose, while focusing on three things:

Keeping your shoulders relaxed

Keeping your belly relaxed

Expanding your belly outward

This breath will feel uncomfortable. You might not feel like your getting enough air. That’s because your brain has been wired to correlate breathing to the lifting of your shoulders, whereas a proper breath is exercised with the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm.

Next, exhale through your mouth and repeat!

Congratulations you’ve just taken your first proper breath. Actually, you used to breathe properly as a baby, but once you got older and fatter, you tried to hide your stomach, forcing you to breath with your shoulders. (Not proven, but it’s the best explanation we can find)

Now, all you gotta do is consciously catch yourself when your breathing with your shoulders, and override that action by taking a deep breath with the expansion of your belly.

Once you practice for a couple of weeks, it will feel a lot more natural, and you’ll definitely begin to notice the benefits.

Next, is learning how to yawn through your belly instead of your shoulders.

I am so sorry you have been experiencing this issue. I've also been going through this same exact problem and let me tell you IT IS NO FUN 😦 I have been diagnosed with anxiety before and it runs in my family but something tells me it is something else. I can not wrap my mind around for the longest time and I also experience really bad acid reflex. It is to the point to where no matter what I eat it is affecting me and my chest is on fire on top of the FEELING THE URGE TO NOT BREATH. I can not tell you how many times ive felt like passing out our falling over. For some reason I always manage to work my self through it or talking with someone you know or trust. I also think it could be a HIATAL HERNIA and I research some things about it and seen it can give you shortness of breath. Plus when I push on my sternum area it take a deep breath there is definitely some pain around it. I have been to the doctor and ruled out EKG and heart test and need to go into the ALLERGY and ASTHMA doctor to get tested. Also the big one is GASTROENTEROLOGY. I need to get an edoscopy test done to see what is causing my acid reflex and could be a possible stomach ulcer. I feel BLOATED after eating and that puts pressure on my breathing and making it extremely difficult to take a breath. Do not worry you are NOT ALONE! We are all in this TOGETHER!

Hi,

my name is Nicole i am 22 years old.

I am so happy to know I am not the only person who is dealing with this mental struggle of the obsession on taking gasps of breath or not being satisfied when breathing or yawning, i started to develop this breathing habit over 1 year ago. I am still unable to put my hand on anything that triggers this or what is actually causing it? because i take such big gasps of breaths all day everyday until I go to sleep I suffer with pain on both side of my rib cage and what seems to be pulled muscles over my chest area due to this, has anyone else got this problem? or managed to find a cure? or am I just odd?

Hello guys. Original poster again, I woudlve never expected this post to have captured as much attention as it has, i feel like its my duty to always come back and check up. I dont know how long its been since i posted this, maybe 2-3 years. Well im 23 now, yes i am still experiencing this and it seems like this is soemthing that will be here to stay for me. Now i dont say that in a negative way however. I am HAPPY in life. I long ago decided to take tje thought of mind over matter in life and have basically forced myself to continue to live my life regardless of this symptom. This year i am set to graduate from college and even moved out of my parents house with my girlfriend. For all of you dealing with this my best advice is to not let it conquer you. Do not allow it to be a reason for staying in and hiding from the world. FIGHT this symptom and keep teling yourself that youre okay. Just a couple of weeks ago I tested positive for Covid and got an oximeter. Ive realized that during the moments where i feel the breathlessness my oxygen levels are actually higher than usual. Not sure if theres medical reasoning behind that but all im saying is that most of what we are dealing with is mental. KEEP FIGHTING AND PUSHING FORWARD

I Started with this problem 4 days ago, on an extremely stressful day. I think what triggered it were stress, anxiety and stimulants, because since last month I'd been taking phentermine for weight loss (a derivate from amphetamine), and a few days ago I also started drinking energy drinks with high content of caffeine.

I suddenly developed this constant urge to take deep breaths. It is like an itch around my stomach, I started feeling uncomfortable and anxious as this itch intensified. Then I'd feel I was out of breath and in need of oxygen. This feeling would not stop until I took a deep breath and got that satisfying relief feeling and rush of oxygen. This would constantly repeat on and on throughout the day. It was very annoying because it distracts me from normal daily activities, and the unpleasant feeling of being out of breath all the time is terrible.

This is fairly new to me and I'm a medical doctor. I believe this is a psychological issue and a diaphragm muscle tension problem, which we try to relief by getting this nice feeling that produces muscle contraction in the diaphragm. All of this is the result of stress and anxiety.

I'm trying to find a solution. I'm on klonopin 1 mg with nice results. It seems to relax the diaphragm muscle, and the need to take deep breaths diminishes. I stopped taking stimulants too.

I also started an antidepressant (fluoxetine 20 mg), I hope it helps with the obsession (thinking about deep breathing all the time) and the compulsion (taking deep breaths).

The more we stress about this problem, the worse it gets. The more we reject it, the more it intensifies. The more we think about it, the more it is present in our minds.

It helps not rejecting deep breaths, because they are a normal physiological process. But don't over do deep breathing, because the brain gets addicted to that rush of oxygen and nice feeling from deep breaths, so we start thinking that normal breathing is not enough. Medication helps reducing the frequency of deep breathing and the anxiety. I'll keep posting my progress. The thought of living like this forever scares me, but I won't let it get the best of me.

Are any of you having any other symptom as well? Like chest pain or dyspnea that is sometimes trigger by an activity

Are any of you having any other symptom as well? Like chest pain or dyspnea that is sometimes trigger by an activity

Fluoxetine solved my problem. I'm so happy it worked. Now I don't have the urge to take a deep breath. I'm back to normal and it is a huge relief that this condition was not going to last forever.

Hello friends I have more difficulty than deep breathing My age is 22 I have this problem all of a sudden the bread sighing pattern keeps coming i do not know what to do for this And for me yawning keeps coming It makes me feel scared but I have no trouble sleeping as well as I have no such thing as a cold cough I could not tell you what to do about it..

Hello everyone,

I stumbled across this forum after searching for a very similar problem I'm having. Full disclosure, I do have generalized anxiety and OCD and very bad health anxiety. This is all stuff I’ve had for the past 10 years at least.

Last October 2020 I remember wanting to be able to take a deep breathe and it just felt unnatural to me. I thought it was Covid so I got a Covid test and it came back negative. The feeling went away after 2 days. Fast forward 5 months to 2 weeks ago and I had the feeling again, this time shortly after exercising doing squats. Feeling lasted for 2 days.

Fast forward again to 3 days ago. I woke up and went downstairs to workout and I was feeling a little uneasy and decided to workout anyway. The workout itself was fine but after the workout I just couldn’t catch my breathe. For the past 3 days I’ve been experiencing what everyone else here is describing: a sort of air hunger that a yawn will satisfy. I need to take deep breathes to get the satisfying feeling but on occasion I feel like I just can’t quite fully fill my lungs. I feel the need for this deep breathe maybe every 4 minutes or so.

I’m able to sleep no problem. The first minute of getting up and walking around all seems fine, then I remember about the breathing and it all comes back. I am able to complete my workouts with no extra difficulty though.

I am 35 years old and a male. 3.5 years ago I had a full workout from a cardiologist where he did an ultrasound, stress test, etc and all came back fine. 2 days ago I did speak with a family member who is a doctor in pulmonary and critical care and he said it sounds like nothing physiological and the fact that I was extensively checked out within 5 years means it’s unlikely something serious developed. I’m also not a smoker and a relatively healthy person.

But I keep thinking it is something with my heart or lungs despite what I’m reading here. Then I reason with myself saying I can still workout with no extra effort needed and the past 3 instances of this cleared up on their own - if it was truly something bad I’d like to think it wouldn’t go away. I don’t know.... it’s just a very uncomfortable feeling.

I would say I am a little more anxious these days due to a few reasons but if this breathing issue never bothered me years ago then why is it manifesting now? What can I do now to alleviate this? Appreciate any advice!

Thanks