Hyperawareness of breathing

[Mrpokemon65]

3 days ago I had my very first anxiety attack, and I’m 18 after I had calmed down I could not stop thinking about my breathing, I still have been thinking about it I feel like if I stop breathing I’ll die, I’m trying my hardest to cope with it but it really sucks, anybody with this who had gone through it and has tips ??

[oliviaaa1]

I’ve been thinking about my breathing for weeks it’s not fun at all I hate it it’s so annoying. Distraction helps me

[Mrpokemon65 in reply to oliviaaa1]

From what I’ve been seeing distraction is not good, people who have gone through this have said to just give into it, to live with it, expose yourself to it, I’m trying that rn it sucks feels really uncomfortable but I know this is the first step to recovery

[oliviaaa1 in reply to Mrpokemon65]

How’s your breathing now?

[BravoSixGoingDark]

It does suck! Sorry that you're going through it! I will say that this happened to me badly about 3 years ago. It bothered me for a while (1 - 2 months or so), however, for me at least, my brain got bored worrying about something that I did all the time. It took a while, but eventually I realized I was thinking about it less and less. You're not going to stop breathing, your body won't let you. Even if you were to and you passed out, your body would start breathing again, so death is not going to happen. It is more just your brain trying to solve a problem that is not there and eventually, your brain is going to get bored with it and move on. (At least mine did.) You're stronger than you realize, and you'll get through it!

[Mrpokemon65 in reply to BravoSixGoingDark]

Thank you so much, you are so strong, I’ve only been going through this for 4 days and I’m already going insane, I won’t give up tho, the only way to get better is myself

[BravoSixGoingDark in reply to Mrpokemon65]

True, but time does wonders to heal you as well. Don't beat yourself up too badly. You should know there's thousands of people like you and you're not the only one. That fact alone helped me to realize if other people can do it, then so can I.

[FearIsALiar]

There is an anxiety community on here. It is very helpful many people have struggled with the same things. I use to be hyper aware of my breathing but your brain naturally just knows how to breath.. it does it on its own! You don’t need to think about it or even stop thinking about it for it to actually stop. It’s not possible .