I've been thinking about being breathless and I'm wondering whether anxiety has a role to play even when you've a lung disease...
You see, I find myself becoming anxious and ratty...not really bad-tempered as such, just a bit cross...then my breathing goes all to pot.
Before I have a shower for instance...which is silly, because I can manage perfectly well and take the portable oxygen into the bathroom with me...but find my tummy in knots and then my breathing goes...
Walking down to my shed...for goodness sake it's only a little way...not exactly a marathon...and I have my oxygen on but find myself getting terribly worried in case I can't breathe...which makes my breathing worse of course.
There are many other times as well...even making myself a cup of coffee can trigger it off.
Must emphasise that this isn't every day...but it is most days...the best way to describe it is that I don't 'feel safe'...
The pursed lip breathing helps a little...sitting down helps as well...but of course those strategies are for the COPD really...they not addressing the accompanying anxiety.
Any advice gratefully received.
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Every time I get under a lot of stress (not so much anxiety but, if you like, emotionally agitated) you can almost guarantee I get an asthma attack. I never quite see the connection as I thought it was supposed to be atopic but it happens with regularity.
I have suffered with anxiety and it is very scary,you are right you feel afraid and scared of many things,please ask if you can try citilopram it was great for me,not had a problem since,I was frightened to turn the tap on in case I could not turn it off ,also could not be in the car,had to get out quickly if in a queue,so frightened could not sit still,not even in the doctors room,so she saw me at my worse,had the paramedics out twice,could not move but could not stop trembling. Absolutely awful,I got very breathless too,
I think a lot of your symptoms are common to a lot of us, when it happens to me I just keep telling myself it will pass and I just keep repeating this until I calm down dont know if this is any help I just wish I could help you more ♥♥♥♥
Hi , I have had exactly the same feelings , and you like me know you're being irrational but still have these feelings if absoulete dread and fear . I find what has helped is what they call square breath in , so breath in and then breath out slowly for longer than you breath in , if you imagine a rectangle and count the short side as you breath in and long side as you breath out. ( not sure why it's called square lol ). Also I have a handheld fan and put this to my nose and mouth and a bottle of water . I have got much better and find these techniques really helpful . Just practice and be prepared wherever you go. . Take care xx
I was prescribed small dose oramorph by the hospital as I make myself much worse by panicking. GP is not happy about it but I am very careful about it's use and it keeps me from really freaking out. My worse trigger is going up stairs even though I am quite capable of doing it I can't breathe up there and I know it is in my head.
Vashti dear, I know what you are trying to say. we are all us aware of our conditions but at times like you are speaking about we are ultra aware and it's a horrible scary feeling. Fear is a fecker, and we need somebody right away to tell and to be reassured by them. In the absence of that we can turn to things we have learned, like, proper breathing, tactics that help etc. At the end of the day, I promise you that it will GO AWAY Been there and done it. I take Rescue remedy, honestly it does work! Do you have Samaritans where you are? Often a little, or long, talk to a kind stranger will take away those fears, please work through this by whatever means you can. I feel that you must know by now how valuable you are to us all, love and love, Polly x x x
Hi Vashti, it was not until I joined this site did I realise I was not alone in experiencing the panic.
One theory is that the CO 2 and oxygen balance gets out of sync and causes the panic. But I often wonder if it's the " Pavlovs dogs" effect as well, I can't understand why I cough as soon as I come in my front door and my chest tightens.
I have a machine that measures my breathing rate, and even anxious thoughts makes me breathe faster, it's easy to get into a vicious circle of breathlessness and panic.
Trouble is as well, some essential medications have anxiety as a side effect for some people...but they have to be taken.
I have been practising meditation for some time and it does help....but when I started we were encouraged to concentrate on the breath and that was very uncomfortable.
I find gentle belly breathing with relaxed diaphragm and shoulders helpful..but difficult to do if I loose concentration...and gentle breathing through my nose not my mouth.
I was given Seroxat to help with the anxiety, but it made me very sick so I couldn't go anywhere anyway and my GP told me to stop after my husband rang him.
In Wigan the people who run the pulmonary rehabilitation course refer you to do a relaxion course after to address this issue. Might be worth asking your resperatary nurse/service team if same is available in your area.
Hi vashti as you said it's not the illness itself but the fear of not being able to breathe. I think anxiety is very common in people at your severe level and can make the sob worse. How about visiting the doctor for some anxiety meds? x
Next time you see your GP Vashti please just tell the same tale just as you have told us. I believe that you will be offered a prescription to help with this very real condition. Almost more important your GP can record this on your notes. Then if it does become worse there is a reference. Also, I find that I do get little extra reassurances when I am in hospital because this condition is on my notes. Plus the meds do help me keep under control what was leaping out of control at times. It doesn't stop the sheer terror of when you actually cannot breath but the everyday anxiety.
I have experienced the feeling of being unable to breathe through sheer anxiety, could barely put one foot in front of the other but it hasn't happened often only when afraid.
If you're not getting enough oxygen your brain can trigger panic attacks.xxx
Like others on here I was given Citalapram to help with my anxiety and a small dose of oromorph to take four times s day to help with the breathing. If you can also practise breathing techniques as described by Kelly I am sure they will help. aKso the idea of a fan is good I was told by respiratory nurse to use a fan when I am short of breath.
Hope some of the tips suggested by everyone are useful and that your anxiety and breathlessness improves xx
I think you are right Vashti and I know that Pete does suffer with anxiety at times and depression too at the moment. He feels everything is going wrong so his breathing suffers. You could speak to your GP and maybe take up some of the advice given on here.
I hope you can find a solution that will help you. It is not easy.
hi vashti, I read your post and know exactly how you feel and also all the helpful answers. I got up this morning, fed cats let dog into garden al the time feeling breathless and then a little thought comes into my head like 'I cant breathe' and then got frightened and breathing got worse and the im thinking is this panic or copd that is getting worse and I wont be able to breathe at all in a minute and on and on it goes, muscles below chest tighten ect. I get so fed up with my self especially when I know there are so many of you much worse than me so ashamed of my fear too. I really thank you all for being here and understanding what I am talking about. I also think with the winter coming I am getting scared of that and the darkness, hate that. love to all xxx
You have put into words the way I feel when presented with a challenge, then I have to have a 'moment' to sit and pull myself together before tackling it. As you say, it is not all the time or every day, but it is unpleasant all the same. I also get a kind of tingling in my thigh muscles and stomach, like butterflies. I do the slow breathing to help. ( and use a fan)
Facing food, a shower, getting dressed some days, going out, and so on. Call them anxiety attacks or panic attacks, whatever they are, the breathlessness is awful. Someone said 'Emotionally agitated' that is a good description. I feel generally agitated during the day and that builds if I have to do something. I have found that the feeling can arise when I am just lying down and thinking about the thing I have to do, then it vanishes, only to rear its head later in the day.
One of my medications can bring this on just after I take it, then it settles down. ( an anti-depressant called Amitriptyline.) I am going to mention all this to lung specialist in October when I see him. He will want me to up the dose of this med, and that will make me want to sleep all day and feel like a zombie.
For all these reasons, I struggle through the anxiety, know that the breathlessness will go, and stay seated until it does, but I will still have a sharp mind. Just knowing that others experience it too reassures me.
I get nasty chest pains when I feel stressed and then suddenly have to gasp for air. The only way I can cope is to keep very still, then slowly take a breath, I gasp a bit at first but the breath does come back.
Stress is a HUGE HUGE problem for people with lung diseases.....I didn't realise right away, but learned about it from the clinic, and read about it, and whenever I get stressed I fight for breath......very frightening. I live in a situation which can be stressful quite a lot of the time, so I have learned how bad it is for me. TRY to stay stress free!!!
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advice needed please
READING BREATHING TESTS
Advice please,
Weather and breathing
Been prescribed morphine small dose after a hospital stay.
