Breathing makes anxiety....worse?

Dear All,

Hope you are all well.

I’ve been seeing a lovely therapist for 6 months now and she’s great in helping me to tackle my anxiety attacks. Elevated heart rate and hyperventilation are the main symptoms my anxieties and they are the worst! I don’t freak out anymore (she removed that fear from me) but they are just annoying. Obviously, breathing is the thing against heart racing and hyperventilation. I’ve tried but when I’m experiencing anxiety, my breathing becomes worse and forced. And then when I try to control my breathing it makes it worse. I learned that if I get out of breath for some reason then it can trigger my anxiety attack so the best thing is not to pay attention to it. See my problem here 😂? I really don’t know what to do...shall I power through and keep breathing and reinforce my anxiety? Any advice or similar experience would be appreciated. Thank you xx

[jjb1983]

Hi,

I also get this too your not alone.

I've started feeling Breathless just on its own and it makes me feel anxious. This feeling generally comes when I have felt anxious all day or feeling anxious not all the time though.

Last night was bad.

I also feel falling asleep i feel like I might stop breathing and my body feels funny. But put this down to my body and mind been exhausted.

I've started deep breathing which has been helping may be you could try a different breathing style.

Anxiety can cause a huge range of symptoms and feelings.

When I work our and get breathless this causes me to feel anxious also.

Hope your feeling better

Jjb1983

[Fablegirl67]

I have this same problem! It's very uncomfortable to say the least. I have no words of wisdom, because I'm still trying to cure myself..But at least you know you aren't alone.