Hi everyone,
I know a lot of people talk about the feelings of breathlessness on this forum. I am sure it has a lot to do with panic and anxiety. I have found that if I don’t take something very calming I will hyperventilate and it’s honestly driving me nuts. I used to have a very high threshold for stress but now I definitely do not after I lost my mom. It’s like my world came crashing down on me. I am middle aged, 45, but I felt like a helpless child losing my mom.
I still to this day feel helpless and very sad about the whole situation. The breathing though, is so upsetting. I have never in my life felt like I didn’t have control with breathing. I wonder if my PH levels are off? I have had so many tests done now it’s ridiculous. The only thing that looks off is that my bicarb was low? My doctor did not seem concerned with that. I am just very tired of this. I have also tried all the breathing ‘techniques’ and it honestly does not help me. I sometimes feel like my body and brain went into a state of shock when I lost my mom.
Thanks for any input.
Hi Jen. The breathlessness is actually directly related to anxiety, I suffered from it myself to the point I nearly passed out because I would near enough forget to breathe. Or pass out because I breathe too much. Needless to say physically I felt like crap too.
I recently ran into an article that touches up on anxiety and breathing. Turns out anxious people are generally shallow breathes and/or tend to hold their breath, which causes chemical imbalance in the body and it’s poor oxygenation, which ironically leads to even more anxious feelings.
Look up benefits of Diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing). Starting to practice it tackled that problem for me. It was hard at first because as a shallow breathers we unlearn to use the diaphragm to breathe (which is all sorts of wrong because that’s how we breathe when we are born) so it definetely took some time to incorporate it into my unconscious breathing.
I practiced by laying down flat, putting one palm of the hand on my chest, and the other one on my belly.
Breathe in deeply for 4 seconds, making sure only the hand that is on your belly rises, then you’re doing it right. After a while you learn to do this on a daily basis not only when laying down. I recommend you Youtube or Google the technique, I’m probably not the best at explaining it.
I do feel much better with the shortness of breath now, I really focus on breathing the correct way now especially when extra anxious or can’t sleep. It does do it for me. I’m very sorry about your circumstances, I do hope this helps a little bit.