Stress-induced breathing bullshit?

Here is the essence of 'mindfulness', which is a fancy word for awareness.

Focus outwardly when you're starting to freak out about anything inside the mind and body. Other people, biking, reading, creation through writing/art/hobbies.

Get out of your head and head into the present moment.
 


johnmatrix said:
In my opinion it's the wrong perspective to have. Why play yourself down by thinking of your existence as insignificant to the rest of the universe? ALL reality is created in your mind. Now THAT is empowering. Without a conscious observer there is no solid reality, there are hundreds of quantum experiments that prove it.

You Really Are the Center of the Universe | Psychology Today

It's a very interesting alternative theory to what you're saying.
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This.

I never quire recovered from reading this book:

Quantum Enigma » Physics Encounters Consciousness
 
I have this. Usually followed by being severly bloated. It may be your bloating compressing your lungs.

Then again, I am a full blow hypocondriac or maybe not, since I have 30 'holes' in my brain revealed on an MR scan to go with almost chronic recurring headaches and weird muscle spasm. Are you having other symptoms? Headaches? I'm thinking I might have contracted Lime disease at some point or a similar neurological infection.

I do now that all symptoms get worse with anxiety. You focus too much on your body so everything will feel strange and wrong. I believe the advice to go bang some bishes, get a girlfriend will probably be helpful. Then there will also be someone to help with the funeral when you die of unknown causes.

'I was right' - inscription on the hypocondriac's tombstone.
 
I get this from time to time, too. It gets worse with allergies or <4-5 hours of sleep, but exercise has never seemed to have an effect and I'm definitely not overweight or out of shape. Stress/anxiety is a huge factor, though. I used to have a boyfriend who would get in a "marriage" mood once in a while and every time he'd start talking about it, I'd have trouble breathing for weeks. Procrastination makes it worse, too, as things start to pile up.

I think the biggest thing that's helped for me was just scheduling in more fun stuff and downtime. It's really easy to let yourself become a total workaholic, but if you force yourself to enjoy a little of your freedom, it helps. In the short-term, ocean air, eucalyptus trees, and humidity seem to help.
 
I've been dealing with these same symptoms.

I quite frequently have what is called "air hunger" and yes, most doctors are stupid about it.

Fortunately, it's pretty clearly a stress issue.

A few ways I have found to deal with it:

-Good amount of exercise each day
-Regular socializing
-Benzodiazepine (Ativan, Lorazepam)

What makes it worse is letting it get to you, and letting it stress you out even more. That's the problem with stress, it's a circle of misery with the symptoms perpetuating the issue.

Socializing has been the most effective treatment. I work at cafes during the day, I go to parties or events every evening, and I make as many friends as possible along the way which leads to more social activities. I realize this can be difficult if you are an introvert, but life is all about overcoming challenges.

I wish you luck, fellow sufferer.
 
Thanks for the reads, bros.

Went to bar w buddies in bar yesterday, and totally forgot about it for the evening. Now I only have to become a raging alcohol and pool shark - and I'm in the clear.

But for srs, pretty much going to be going down the list and doing all this to relieve this crap - finish off the 6 pack, find a breathing yogibro to start doing some yoga [when I do excessive ab work - I do feel kind of 'free' for next little while + my folks used to always tell me I forget to breathe - so good chance of this contibuting to my issue], reading into NLP to start de-stressing that way, start picking up my phone again.

I'm thinking of maybe getting my dealer to get me a couple of tablets of Xanax/something just for extreme attacks. I've read the horror stories - but I doubt a tab once a week on a really bad day will develop any dependancy. But will definately end that "stressing about stressing loop" which fucks up the next 3 days for me. This would just be temporary bandaid until I clear some of these other blankets of stress, and a bandaid I take once a week, not daily/etc.

And last but not least, I'm going to begin practicing the whole "I am but a speck of dust on a planet which is a speck of dust in the universe" thought process - but that's definately going to be the hardest part and something tells me this takes some people most of their life to figure out. Or we'd all be walking around enlightened and wouldn't know negative anything.
 
Vadym said:
At random times, seems like I can't get a deep breathe in - only thing that helps is yawning or not paying attention. If I'm occupied - I don't notice, but since it's become a daily trouble, I am aware of my breathing at all times - which just perpetuates the fucking cycle.

Obviously it's not an actual shortness/lack of breath or I'd be dead... 5.5 months ago.

I've been doing research on this for months now ever since I developed it about 6 months ago - and the common roots I've found are:

a. stress
b. 80% of the people i see asking about it are computer people
c. doctors are all stupid in regards to it

Anyone have this - or have learned how to handle it/resolve it? I was surprised to find so many IT/computer people managing w this problem - so I assume there'd be atleast a handful who know/have on here.

Honestly - I can't even identify what stress is or how to relieve it. Everything is stressful if you're not a trust fund brat or semi-retarded, so wtf brain - y u doin this to me? I've started exercising again very actively again past few months - which if it's helped, I don't know it.

Canadian "free healthcare" means everyone gets their 10 minutes, but noone gets a fucking answer - so doctor is useless. The only use for one would be to get some Xanax/that type of crap - which I've researched gets rid of the symptoms with the anxiety but adds a whole other cartload of issues to your health.

Anyone have experience with the issue or what's helped? I'm not sure if I should take pills, relocate to a hot climate and abandon everything, or shoot up a movie theatre.
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I've had this before and it literally hit me out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me. I was like you on the internet trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It was only the beginning of lots of different anxiety symptoms that really spun out of control for awhile.

It took awhile (about 2 years) but eventually I figured out I was a drunk ass and the alcohol was causing all of it.

I stopped drinking and 6 months later I didn't have ANY of that shit anymore. Sure you feel better right away after you stop, but it will still take a little time for your thought patterns to go back to normal and your body to restabilize. But it will. Every once in very blue moon I get a random old thought about the breathing thing but it goes away in 1 second and doesn't bother me, which is what's supposed to happen.

Look at your substance habits, do you drink a lot? Do you smoke a lot of cigs/weed? There's a very high chance it's causing your anxiety. That shit fucks up your physiology and throws your system all out of whack.

Good thing is it's easy to fix. You just stop using whatever substance it is you're using and it goes away and you feel 100% normal again.

Also, anxiety is just trippy head game shit caused by real chemical imbalances in your body from substance abuse, real life stress, etc. It won't actually hurt or kill you, even if it feels like you can't breath, you can. So don't worry about that.

You will probably disregard this advice when you first hear it, but eventually you will come back to it after you see you're not getting any better. Hopefully sooner than later.
 
Maybe some meditation / yoga type shit could break you out of this. Never had this myself - but you def hit the nail on the head in your first post; thinking about it perpetuates it.
 
I totally agree. Never take drugs to try and rid what is a psychological issue.

I suffer with anxiety on a daily basis and breathing can sometimes become an issue, which can lead to dizziness.
You will struggle to get in a breath because your lungs are already full. This is due to you taking very small breaths (due to stress or anxiety).
What really helps may feel un-natural as you have a sensation of shortness of breath but you need to exhale until your lungs are completely empty and then hold it there for a couple of seconds.
You will naturally then just want to take in a deep breath and the natural rhythm will return pretty quickly.

You should Google breathing techniques.

Breathing is a habit just like any other. Over time you can alter your breathing technique.
Dont get me wrong, this is not something you do constantly just when you become aware of it and over time this will become the natural way once more.

The above is just a way of dealing with it whilst remaining in a stressful environment. Your main goal should always be to locate the source of your stress/anxiety and eradicate it.

Hope this helps.
 
This is pretty straight forward. Many people live in spinal extension. Try reaching as high into the air as you can, you will extend your back to get there. When you extend the ribs flare out and you breath in.

The problem is not usually lack of air, it's over abundance of air. When you're in extension you can't breath out. Your lungs are constantly full of air.

This causes what's known as the Bohr effect which wikipedia explains poorly, but basically if you never breathe out, there's too much oxygen and the blood becomes alkaline. Alkalinity causes the red blood cells to increase their affinity for oxygen (the blood wants to suck up oxygen instead of carbon dioxide). Bohr effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Because breathing works through diffusion, just like most everything else, the carbon dioxide in your cells doesn't diffuse well into the blood and then out through the lungs. So while you have all kinds of oxygen in the blood and lungs, it doesn't go into the cell and the cell can't get carbon dioxide out.

This is largely a function of posture (spinal extension/rib flare) because your posture influences how well the diaphragm can move. This is a really simplified explanation but fixing posture will fix the way you breathe. To fix this posture is not as easy as just sitting up straight. Everyone has right/left imbalances, they fill different portions of their lungs better/worse, etc.

If you can find someone who has taken the Postural Restoration Institute courses, they can probably fix you. Average physical therapists usually aren't worth much. You need the super geniuses.
 
I think a good yoga tape or, even better,a class taught by someone who can be there physically to help you with your breath conrol, would be of great benifit to you. It might also help you ease back into physical fitness. I wish you luck. It certainly has helped me to gain a little more awareness of my breath. During the day I will take several deep, controled breaths and relax any tensed muscles. I have found it very helpful.
 
Advice from WF is gonna fuck you up man.
Start doing high intensity interval training.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43pIkeA_ZZg]Words of Wisdom - Training Compilation (HD) - YouTube[/ame]

If I don't work out for a while, I get this feeling like I can't get a deep breath. When I yawn, it doesn't satisfy... Also, I feel like I'm forgetting to breathe sometimes.

All that from sitting down too much. You don't need pills or drinks that's all bullshit

Vadym said:
Thanks for the reads, bros.

Went to bar w buddies in bar yesterday, and totally forgot about it for the evening. Now I only have to become a raging alcohol and pool shark - and I'm in the clear.

But for srs, pretty much going to be going down the list and doing all this to relieve this crap - finish off the 6 pack, find a breathing yogibro to start doing some yoga [when I do excessive ab work - I do feel kind of 'free' for next little while + my folks used to always tell me I forget to breathe - so good chance of this contibuting to my issue], reading into NLP to start de-stressing that way, start picking up my phone again.

I'm thinking of maybe getting my dealer to get me a couple of tablets of Xanax/something just for extreme attacks. I've read the horror stories - but I doubt a tab once a week on a really bad day will develop any dependancy. But will definately end that "stressing about stressing loop" which fucks up the next 3 days for me. This would just be temporary bandaid until I clear some of these other blankets of stress, and a bandaid I take once a week, not daily/etc.

And last but not least, I'm going to begin practicing the whole "I am but a speck of dust on a planet which is a speck of dust in the universe" thought process - but that's definately going to be the hardest part and something tells me this takes some people most of their life to figure out. Or we'd all be walking around enlightened and wouldn't know negative anything.
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Have you tried, just taking a break from work and taking a few deep breaths? Usually the most important part is breathing out completely, then air just goes in by itself.

Also since you are aware of your breathing constantly now, do you notice tensions in your stomach or chest?

For me personally, I notice that some thoughts like I need to make money, I need to survive, etc. are accompanied by tension in the stomach. Which leads to shallow breathing and stress. I need to make money, I need to survive are usually caused by fear of death.

I find the key to break this chain between fear-based thinking and reaction in the body that follow that thinking. Since it is impossible to win against the mind, it is easier to just consciously relax stomach and take a few deep breaths. It is like a mini meditation that can be 30 seconds long. Do things a few times a day and you might feel better.

Also the best and deepest type of relaxation comes when you flex the muscle properly first. This could be the reason why working out helps.

But in general, do not a big deal out of it. Just make sure to stay relaxed as much as you can as often as possible and body will take care of breathing. It is not something you need to do, breathing just happens.
 
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