Deep breathing with Anxiety??

[Coneym]

Does anyone suffering with anxiety or panic disorder ever find themselves starting to deep breath, slowly at first, then perhaps faster till you finally get that satisfying deep breath or have a satisfying yawn?  Once I get that satisfying breath, everything is fine for a time and then it sometimes starts again.  It nearly puts me into a hyperventilation syndrome sometimes.  How do you handle it and does anyone else have this?

[dmbfan07cb]

i get this all the time, where I feel like I have to get that FULL breath.  Sometimes the only way to get it is to yawn. it's actually (as far as I know) an early indicator of hyperventilation.  I've learned that when that happens I'm not breathing enough, sometimes I'll notice i'm even not breathing at all.  Have you ever found yourself holding your breath for no reason?  What works for me is I take 3 deep breaths, 3 seconds in through my nose and 5 seconds out through pursed lips, like your blowing a kiss.  It seems to help me when that happens. then after that try to breath slowly and normal and put your hand on your stomach and chest and make sure your breathing with your stomach and not your chest (your hand should move up, not your chest)  hope this helps you.  

[shelzmike]

I have had nearly every symptom listed under "Anxiety Symptoms", but this is one that usually does not show up under that list. But to answer your question, yes! This used to happen to me all the time. I never felt like I could get a good enough breath and thought that I was breathing too shallow.

However, I finally realized that this was part of my anxiety and was able to ignore it and once I was able to ignore it, by the time I thought about it again, it was gone.

As far as breathing goes, while we do have control over it, we do not have ULTIMATE control (which I think is the scary part sometimes). I mean, we could hold our breath until we passed out, but what happens we we actually pass out? We start breathing immediately again! Therefore, solving this problem is a matter of trusting our own brains and bodies to know what it needs and that we need to accept that over which we have no control. Easier said that done, I know - however, it is possible.  

It is scary, and rather annoying, but when it all comes down to it, it is nothing to worry about and "normal" in the anxiety sense of the word! Good Luck.

Mike

[Millie999]

I find that when I become aware that I can't quite catch my breath, I take a few minutes and  I focus on relaxing my shoulders (as usually find they are raised to my ears!) and then focus on my chest and imagine it expanding, giving my lungs more room, and then do a few rounds of abdominal/belly breathing - it works. The more you practice this the easier it is and you will end up doing it automatically.  Yoga helped me a lot with this - maybe join a local class, one that concentrates on the relaxing aspects of yoga.

[EroToo]

I am trying the belly breathing and it seems to work.  It doesn't work when I am in a full panic about feeling like I am not getting enough air.  Any suggestions on how to calm down so I don't panic and try every second to take a 'full' deep breath?