Hey everybody,
Please note that I am not a doctor so the below information is simply my own advice. Also, do not take any of what I wrote and publish it as yours.
I know for a fact that there are people out there who have problems with anxiety. Let me guess, one of your symptoms aside from feeling constant fear is that you can’t get a full breath of air when you would like. Here are my thoughts on why exactly this is happening. First of all, I heard it best described by Jon from anxietycalm.com when he said that it’s because we are constantly constricting our bodies. Our chests muscles are tight. Ok so there’s that. Now add on all the years of anxiety provoking thoughts we have had. Then sprinkle that with the fear we have experienced from our symptoms of anxiety. Because our chest areas are tight we assume we are having a heart attack/have a constricted heart or that our throat is closing, you name it. I am sure many of you have come up with other ailments but let’s just stick to those so not to produce any more anxiety. THEN, you begin to focus on your breathing because you are so fearful that you will suffocate. This is very fun stuff; really it makes life quite enjoyable (absolute sarcasm). I look at people on the street and think, “You are so lucky you can breath normal!”
Okay, so yesterday I was moving my brother and his girlfriend into their new apartment. I was distracted and my breathing problem went away, but I will get back to that. I will call my brother’s girlfriend Sara so to conceal her identity. I was telling Sara about my issues with anxiety and guess what, she has experienced the breathing problem too! She has the exact same symptoms and thoughts. So the good news is we are not alone. I bet there are more people than we think who experience this.
Please know that this annoying breathing problem can go away. You might think, “I am going to have this obsessive fear of not being able to breath for the rest of my life.” Not true. I have been experiencing these symptoms for three days now and yesterday afternoon until 8:00 p.m. I was okay.
Also, I have to add something that I found helpful. About two days ago I called my dad because I was convinced I was suffocating. He explained to me that our bodies breathe naturally and when we add conscious thoughts about breathing it messes it all up. Breathing is a gift that we are given.
I swear after I am done healing from this I will never again take breathing for granted.
Also, I notice when I sleep I am totally ok! I don’t suffocate in my sleep. It’s because my mind is turned off and my body is breathing naturally for me. If only we could turn off our minds. This is proof that our thoughts are screwing with our breathing. We can change our thoughts.
Okay, so what to do:
Well I am still in the healing process but here are some very helpful tips I have learned through trial and error and from info I got online.
