Sighing Dyspnea Anxiety

I wish I had seen this a year ago. Just a couple months after you I lost my ability to take a deep breath when I want to. How are you doing? Are you still in the same place? I am, sometimes it comes easily, most days it does not. Your story really hit home for me, we sound a lot alike, and aren't too far apart in age either.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone on this thread - really reassuring to see this post and all the ones following it.

I have this same thing, started about 2 years ago (I'm early 30s), and it really freaked me out to start with. Went to the doctors, had every test under the sun for my heart/lungs/chest, everything came back fine (obviously great news, but didn't give me an answer - the best the doctor could say was 'psychosomatic symptoms'). I knew I had anxiety, but I'd never made the connection between the two because the breathing problems felt so physical (and they didn't seem to happen when I was feeling particularly anxious, it was more constant).

My breathing problems have calmed down a fair bit since that first episode (which lasted about 6 months), but still come and go. What I would say is that although I haven't found a 'fix', things like having a proper routine, getting enough sleep & exercise, and eating well have all helped me to feel healthier and more settled, which in turn has helped my anxiety and breathing. And for when I do have the breathing problems, i tried to do breathing exercises like to 4-7-8 one or the one where you count the sides of the square. Helps to calm down and simplify the breathing a bit, and then my brain tends to forget for a while that it's a problem!

Good luck everyone - and if anyone does have anything that has really helped then let me/us know!

Thanks,

Tom

i have been going through this for 7 months straight. i feel like dying! im scared that this will last forever. i dont even know what normal breathing is like anymore! i have 3 kids and my youngest is 4 months old. when i was 7 months pregnant with him, i couldnt breathe good out of nowhere, i started having a VERY BAD panic attack. (ive always had BAD anxiety and panic attacks ever since i was 12 but my breathing always went back normal after 30 mins to a hour.) But after that bad panic attack that day, ive had constant breathing problems ever since. i have to sigh (take a DEEP BREATHE) EVER FEW SECONDS!!! its absolute TORTURE!! ive been to the hospital 20 times in the past 7 months since this has started. i have had X-RAYS of my lungs, CT scans of my lungs WITH AND WITHOUT CONTRAST, ive had urine and blood tests as well. every single time they say everything is FINE and NORMAL. of course i feel very relieved afterwards, but i STILL CANT STOP taking these deep breathes. so one time when i went to the hospital, the ER doctor said my diaphram was FLAT. (its not supposed to be flat.) And he said my lungs were hyperinflated. But the radiologists didnt say that. They always say everything looks good and normal. So i had the radiologist saying everything is normal, but that ER doctor saying my lungs are hyperinflated and my diaphram was flat. i am also a heavy smoker. (trying to quit.) the ER doctor suggested i MIGHT have COPD or asthma. he dont think its asthma though. but all the other times i went to hospital, all the OTHER ER doctors ive seen say that they dont think i have COPD. Their exact words are, "the radiologists say things are normal. if you had COPD They would have said something." And i always tell them about what the first ER doctor said awhile back and they say, "well i dont know why he told you that. the radiologists went to school to read x-rays and stuff so i think you should believe them." The ER doctors know i have BAD anxiety and panic attacks and they are saying its my anxiety. All these constant deep breaths every minute of my life makes MY CHEST WALLS HURT BY BEDTIME. I absolutely HATE THIS. I have done everything i can to stop this. My family dont believe me because they dont understand it. So i just dont talk about it anymore. I have already went through 2 INHALERS. Ive tried EVERYTHING!! I let my aunt do reiki healing on me because she is a certified reiki master and it didnt help that much. i felt like it took alot of stress off me but didnt stop the breathing issues. so i think i will get her to do it again but focus on anxiety. because i didnt know it was anxiety that was causing it at the time. ive tried stress relief lotions and incense. Ive tried the breating technique where you breathe in your nose and out your mouth. that only helps a tiny bit. Its gotten so bad that i HYPERVENTILATE SOMETIMES!!! I thought i was dying. and then another time i thought i was having a heart attack because of it. ended up in the hospital. All the doctors think im crazy with anxiety and every time i go to the hospital, they ALREADY KNOW WHY IM THERE. its sad! but they dont understand this like we all here do! so of course they wouldnt know what this feels like unless they were going through it! I am wondering if hypnosis might help. AT THIS POINT I AM WILLING TO DO AND TRY ANYTHING!! im not even happy anymore. its affecting my quality of life. i just want to breathe normal and feel normal. 2 DAYS AGO i started a anxiety medicine called Buspar. (Buspirone). its 10mg. and im supposed to take 1 pill TWICE a day. so one in the morning and one at night. i will let everyone know in a few weeks if it helped. i also think this condition could be a mixture of BOTH ANXIETY AND OCD. I say OCD because it feels like your body is obcessed with that deep breathe every second of your life and its like you have to have that deep breathe CONSTANTLY. Of course you EVENTUALLY get the deep breathe, but then you try to take another deep breathe 30 seconds later! and its a never ending cycle because you feel like you wasnt satisfied. your body JUST CANT WAIT UNTIL ITS ACTUALLY TIME TO TAKE A DEEP BREATHE. its kinda like taking that deep breathe constantly is like crack or something. like your body is addicted to it. AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO STOP IT. But i want everyone here to know THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND WE WILL FIND A CURE TO STOP THIS. I hope that brings comfort to yall. If something ever makes it stop for me, i PROMISE I WILL COME BACK HERE TO TELL YALL WHAT IT IS. THATS A PROMISE.

i suggest that everyone hire a reiki master and tell them about your breathing problems due to anxiety and see if they can heal you. That is what i am going to do. ALSO talk to a OCD specialist and see if they can help you. Also TRY hypnosis and see if that helps. i am really going to try that because at this point i will do and try anything. and PLEASE get on a anxiety medicine like buspar, it might actually help you. I just recently got diagnosed with GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER. So its not like normal anxiety. im sure all of yall here have it too. so when you have GAD, you kinda HAVE to be on a anxiety medicine because its NOT going to go away on its own. Also, GET A INHALER. it really does help a little! its something you will want to have with you. Do this BREATHING TECHNIQUE where you breathe IN your NOSE and OUT your MOUTH. it helps to calm you down. AND ALSO DIAPHRAM BREATHING AS WELL AND NOT JUST CHEST BREATHING. and TAKE TIME FOR STRESS RELIEF!!! that is very important!! Go for a walk, work out. Whatever you enjoy doing that calms you down.

i am a BAD CAFFEINE DRINKER! thats ALL i drink! i never drink water! do all of you drink alot of caffeine every day? like Coffee, Redbull, Soda, and other energy drinks? if so, that could be part of all this. i drink DR PEPPER NONSTOP all day . and redbulls too. too much caffeine can do ALOT of things to your body. So PLEASE SLOW DOWN on the caffeine and drink alot of water every day and see if that helps. i started doing this 2 days ago and i will let yall know if it helps. Drink AT LEAST 3-4 bottles of water each day until you get used to it. then after that, drink the reccomended amount each day. water is very important in our bodies and it also has A ROLE in helping us breathe properly. im drinking my water as i type this lol. ALSO drink gatorades too if you can. if you are SUPER DEHYDRATED, i suggest go to the hospital to get fluids. thats kinda the only way to get back right if you are. just please drink lots of water every single day. its very important. And ALSO, GET YOUR LIVER CHECKED. I was planning on getting my liver checked as well because i have been hurting on the right side of my abdomen under my ribs. so im getting my liver checked just in case. so yall should do that too. but you would be amazed at what anxiety meds and alot of water every day can do for you! also see a therapist too. I PROMISE we will figure out how to control this one step at a time. Like i said, If anything works for me, i will be back here to tell yall i PROMISE. Also one time when i went to the hospital, a woman doctor was there and she told me HER HUSBAND was going through THE SAME THING I WAS and he got diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and he started taking anxiety medicine and it finally all went away. So maybe anxiety meds will help if they are prescribed correctly. Also i heard that GERD could cause this in some cases. If you have bad acid reflux, get prescribed something to take every day for it just in case. But all this might really be bad anxiety. I am Praying for yall! GOD BLESS. Dont give up!

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?

Thank you for writing this. Reading it is everything I'm going through now. It makes you feel a little bit better when others are experiencing the same thing and you're not alone. I hope you're doing better and I hope you see this to share what might have worked for you.

i have had this for 20 years. when i was a kid roughly around 8 i noticed myself yawning alot, and trying to take deep breaths, but when i went to sleep it would return to normal so of course i wasent to worried, years later it came back and now all i do is think about it. its hard to eat at times because it feel like im suffocating or hypervenalate. when i finally take deep satisfying breath or yawn i feel ok for few mins then right back to it. I know its anxiety and over thinking on my breathing but does this ever go away? its so crippling...

I am going through this now.

Sarah

Any update???

hi, I'm 17,

I've only started having that feeling where I cannot get any satisfaction for deep breathing about 4 days or so ago, I know it's definitely from my anxiety, and I keep feeling the need to inhale deeply but yet again, it's not giving me the satisfaction, I'm going to get it checked in a few days if it does keep happening, but so far, I haven't really been able to find any solution for it, but just letting you know that I found this extremely helpful to know that it is a real thing that it can be eased, and all the replies too are giving me much comfort knowing there are little ways to make it more comfortable breathing

It feels so good to read all of your messages and to feel like I'm not alone. I had something like this when I was a teenager along with spasmophilia, and as soon as my GP told me it was all anxiety (getting bullied in high school) it vanished. Then it never occurred again until 2 years ago. I had been staying in New Zealand for 7 months at the beginning of the pandemic and it was pretty chill there. But then when my visa was about to expire and I started to make plans to get back into this dangerous world (I have been a digital nomad since 2018, always on the move), I had another episode that lasted for about a week. My therapist at the time told me it was more than likely anxiety but I didn't trust her fully so none of the breathing techniques did anything. And then it went away. A year later, after I got vaxxed and I could finally travel more freely again, I had another episode and this one lasted 2 weeks, before it went away. And a month or two after that, it came back and I've had it ever since, for almost 10 months now. Since meditation and therapy didn't seem to change anything about it, in December I finally decided to get on meds. My GP put me on Xanax, 1mg/day, but it didn't change a thing. I didn't have any other side effects, it seemed like it did absolutely nothing. After a month I simply went off it without any withdrawal symptoms. I went to see another physician who told me it was probably anxiety as breathing tests were perfect (130% of the normal lung capacity). He said Xanax was not continuous enough in its action so he put me on Prazepam (Lysanxia), but didn't do a thing again and I was on it for 3 months. Again, went off it without any withdrawal. Now my working hypothesis is that it might be related to sleep apnea. I had it a few years ago before my weight loss surgery but 6 months after the surgery, the sleep apnea was gone so they stopped the CPAP treatment. Now of course, COVID lockdowns and slowing physical activity helping, I've regained some weight and it's possible I could do sleep apnea again. But even if I do, it would be weird if my dyspnea was linked to it because I didn't have any dyspnea last time I had sleep apnea. In any case, I'm seeing a sleep specialist/psychiatrist in late july to do a polysomnography again and, if I do have sleep apnea, to see if a CPAP solves the problem. If it's not that, back to square one, because blood screenings are all good, EKG is A-OK. So maybe it's just because I didn't find the right meds/dosage yet. I just read the post about BUSPAR in this thread, I might ask the psychiatrist about that in July. In the meantime, hanging in there, and glad to see I'm not alone.