Shortness of breath

[thelespaul]

Hi all,

I’m new to anxiety, only started about 5 months ago. Today I’m dealing with a new symptom and it’s shortness of breath. The last 5 months I’ve had multiple doctor visits and blood tests/ekg etc so my physician has ruled out any health concerns and told me my symptoms are due to anxiety. Any tips on dealing with shortness of breath? Thank you.

[Cromball]

I personally have shortness of breath all the time from anxiety. I believe I over breathe - a type of hyperventilating without realizing - especially true in googling symptoms and thinking of worst case scenario. Right now, it is pretty much like that every day as I live in NY and can’t escape the bad news. The one good thing is I’ve had this symptom so many times and it lasts for days, weeks or months depending on when the anxiety ends. I am winded doing anything during these times and can’t believe it’s anything that’s not serious. But I think it’s probably happened 8 or 9 times in last 3 years and I always get back to myself eventually after the anxious period has passed. I do some breathing excercises to make sure I’m not taking in too much oxygen and I’m working the breathing muscles correctly. Make sure to try to do stomach breaths - don’t breathe in just to chest as those are usually short breaths. Some tricks - count how many breaths in a minute while calm. I am usually between 6-8 breaths per minute - consciously slowing down. When stressed - see how much faster your breathe is without changing it. If it’s much faster, you know you are over breathing. Then work On slowing it down with belly breaths. 3 in 5 out. Work up to 5 in 8 out etc. Hope this helps. Stay safe and healthy ! We will get through this

[thelespaul in reply to Cromball]

First and foremost I wish you all the best and all the health. NY is rough right now I know we’ll all get through this.

I’ve been pretty anxious as well because I’m in CA and we’re hit pretty hard but thank you so much for the advice. I will definitely do all that and hope this goes away. It’s hard to convince myself that this is all psychological but hopefully like yours it passes. Thank you and be safe!

[Cromball in reply to thelespaul]

Thank you. Same to you ! Also - I noticed that with any new symptom - the wrong thing to do is wake up each day and think about whether the symptom is there or not. The more you think about it, the more you are staying in the cycle. If you can try to go about your day and push through difficult things without focusing on the symptom - whatever it may be - you will get rid of the symptom faster.

Here are some helpful articles I keep handy regarding this particular symptom as it is one that always comes with anxiety for me. Don’t read about the possibilities it could be - more about the anxiety and weak muscles

painscience.com/articles/di...

my.dchs.nhs.uk/Portals/0/He...

anxietycentre.com/anxiety-s...

These are just my observations but hope it helps you to heal this symptom a little faster :). Stay safe and healthy !

[thelespaul in reply to Cromball]

Thank you so much again! Be safe!!

[FearIsALiar in reply to Cromball]

Thanks

[steadfast66]

Try to eliminate things and people from your life that make you anxious if you can. Try not to worry about trying to please people, it will take a lot of pressure off your shoulders. Please know the difference in what you can do something about and what you can't. Take deep breaths. Do something that you like. Read a good book to take your mind off yourself. Volunteer to help others in a non-profit. Be thankful, out loud, for those things that are going right in your life.

[thelespaul in reply to steadfast66]

Thank you for the advice steadfast66! I’ve stopped smoking, quit caffeine, etc to not trigger the anxiety but during these days specially with the corona virus I can’t help but be anxious all the time. I will try my best to do your advice so thank you!

[FearIsALiar]

Same here. So scary

[thelespaul in reply to FearIsALiar]

You asked in another post if I’ve gotten better and yes I have. I checked in with my doctor and she thinks it could be asthma related but I haven’t had an asthma attack in 10 years so she prescribed me an inhaler that I’m not sure really helped. Not really sure what I did differently but my anxiety has been under control for a couple of months but some days I’ll feel the shortness of breath but not as scary. Sorry I don’t have a clear answer but I think time is what helped.

[Agora1 in reply to thelespaul]

thelespaul, I'm happy to hear your condition is under control. I wish you continued

success in going forward. Please stay Safe. xx

[thelespaul in reply to Agora1]

Thank you!

[FearIsALiar in reply to thelespaul]

Oh I’m glad ur doing okay. I am still having this..had it since July. I’m so worried

[thelespaul in reply to FearIsALiar]

Thank you. It’s one of the scariest things I’ve gone through. Maybe even scarier than the chest pains and heart palpitations. I’m sorry you’re going through this and I wish I had answers. Just make sure you check In with your doctor to make sure it isn’t anything other than anxiety. Practice breathing exercises and go outside and breath in fresh air (as long as it’s safe without a mask) and I also worked out when I was having good days maybe that helped with the SOB. I also bought sugar free ricola to help me with the SOB but go easy on that since it might give you gas and diarrhea.