Can anxiety cause long term shortess of breath?

[smithjr1981]

Hi..was just wondering if anybody knows of anxiety causing long term breathing problems?...I have been diagnosed with anxiety, and for over a year have had shortness of breath that seems to be getting worse and worse..I think I may have something wrong with my lungs, but a little under a year ago, I went to a pulmonologist, and had a lung function test done, and it was normal, however, my shortness of breath keeps getting worse and worse, and medication is not helping...Please Help!!

[scaredjo]

breathing worries are a huge part of anxiety and the more you worry the worse it will feel, trust the lung tests and if your breathing is worrying you dont focus on it and do something to take your mind off it. you have to believe the doctors its the first step forward

[Kate76]

Hi,

A big YES, definitely!!!!!!!!  I have had shortness of breath for 10 years with my anxiety.  I did not believe it at first,  I was so short of breath I thought for sure I had some lung disease.  I do have mild asthma but a lot of my shortness is due to anxiety.  My mother has severe asthma but the doctors told her, after several trips to the emergency room that it was anxiety.  They validated her lung disease, she is a severe asthmatic, but she also has anxiety with it.  BELIEVE your pulmonary function tests, they are not wrong.  You can relax, you do not have a lung disease.  Once I realized that yes, I do have mild asthma but the shortness that I experience most of the time is stress or anxiety, it was not as frequent.  When it does kick in again I can usually pinpoint what emotional situation triggered it.  I could not believe at first that it could go on so long, but it does.  This is the pathway that your anxiety is taking.  My mom also has had it for over a decade.  Once you come to believe it is anxiety you can relax.  Do Dr. Weil's relaxation breathing, go for brisk walks to relieve stress, focus on thankfulness, and try to get at the root of your anxiety.  Anxiety is a funny thing.  Sometimes it comes out in other ways and you think you have a new disease but you don't.  I had severe numbness and tingling in my body for 4 years.  I thought for sure I had MS or some other neurological disease.  The more I worried and was convinced the worse the symptoms got.  My doctor ordered an MRI and I reviewed my negative results with a Neurologist.  After they told me I was fine the numbness and tingling was reduced by 80%.  I still get it every now and then but realize that this is how my body copes with stress, in physical symptoms.  They seem to come out of no where and are involuntary.  That is why it is hard to convince yourself that it is anxiety.  The symptoms can be so strong and last for years you become convinced it is physical.  

My anxiety, I believe, comes from a very insecure childhood.  I am trying to change my thinking.  I grew up with a very negative mother who always explained situations with little hope.  Everything and every situation had a bad ending, she was the queen of doom and gloom.  Now, as an adult, I kindly and respectfully ask her to not go on and on with the negative and especially not in from of my small children whose eyes get bigger than saucers when she is telling these awful stories.    She is a retired nurse which makes things worse, she has medical knowledge which can be dangerous.  Her view of the world has a very dark cloud.  My view was also like that but the past few years the cloud is lifting.  I am changing my view of the world.  It takes time, it takes years to changing your thinking patterns, it takes positive support.  Our bodies are tricky, my mind is very smart.  If there is bottled up stress it will find a way out, and sometime that is in physical symptoms.  There is hope.  Be thankful that your tests show good results and tell yourself, even get a copy of your results and read them to yourself.  This helped me.  But also be aware if your body produces something new.  I have to constantly fight my demons but they are not going to win, I am declaring WAR.      

[smithjr1981]

well I was just wondering..because I smoke, and my lungs are feeling worse and worse...I don't breathe like I used to, and they hurt so bad...especially when I fist wake up