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Can't get a deep breath? Yawning a lot? Read this....

Great information here. Print it and take it to your physician if they're not up on Hyperventilation Syndrome.
http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Hyperventilation.htm

and a few others....

http://www.familydoctor.co.nz/index.asp?U=conditions&A=32893

http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hyperventilation_-_makes_you_feel_as_if_you_can%27t_get_your_breath#Treatment_of_Hyperventilation

http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/symptoms/hyperventilation


Also check out Dinah Bradley's book, Hyperventilation Syndrome: Breathing Pattern Disorders and How to Overcome Them


Hang in there gang, you'll be alright! The good news is it's almost always psychological produced by anxiety. Do a search on Hyperventilation Syndrome and you can find plenty of good info these days.In the immediate, things you can - and

should do:

1. If you smoke, quit. Lay off the booze - depressants only exacerbate your anxiety. Lay off the caffeine. If you must have coffee stick with decaf, or espresso/lattes, etc.


2. Drink things like green tea and chamomile tea instead. A cup or two an hour before you go to bed will help you relax. A warm cup of milk and a banana help too.

3. Go for quiet stroll around the block. This helps more than you'd think. The distractions of looking at the birds and flowers and stuff helps take your mind off these issue, which in turn allows you breath autonomicaly (as intended).

Exercise in general helps a lot. Not crazy crossfit training, but light rowing, treadmills, etc. And while you're at the gym, take a schvitz. A steam/sauna/whirlpool will all help stress melt away which is what you need.

4. Get a bunch of paper bags from the dollar store and use them when you feel your breathing getting out of whack. Unfortunately when things start to go wrong its easy for the reptile part of our brains to get stuck in a negative

feedback loop. So because your blood gas is out of whack - you're low on CO2 from overbreathing - then it feels like you can't good breath - even though there is nothing physically wrong with you, remember that!!! - so then you start

overthinking it, getting more panicked, and it's ultimately self-defeating. So grab a paper bag - never plastic - put it over your mouth and nose, then take 6-12 regular/easy breaths. This should help get your CO2 level back up. Rinse

and repeat as needed.
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180749 tn?1443595232
Lots of useful information to get to know your body systems. Also anulom vilom pranayam (alternative nostril breathing) will help.
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Avatar universal
Apolgies for the formatting but apparently it doesn't like raw text and I can't edit it, but I hope it helps. Cheers!
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Avatar universal
After the immediate:

5. Don't rule out meds. No one likes to take them, but sometimes you need some serious help to get your anxiety under control and your brain back to normal. One of the problems of the low level anxiety that causes this problem is it

depresses your serotonin levels. While you may be able to get past this yourself there's no point in suffering needlessly for the sake of taking some pills for a few weeks - and usually about 2 weeks is all it takes. Benzodiazepines, Z

drugs, Antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) all really do help immensely. Without meds you might be looking at dealing with this for a few months - 6-8 weeks is about the average to resolve itself.

6. If you want to go the natural route my best suggestion would be Suntheanine - that's the best brand name for L-Theanine, check out the info on the website, just Google the name Suntheanine. What is it? It's the stuff in green tea. In

short it calms you down but leaves you alert. A lot of L-theanine on the market is inert and therefore no good, only Suntheanine is guarenteed active. Take one of these - 100mg - at the start of the day and it'll help a lot. Niacin,

Folic Acid, B complex vitamins, potassium, all help too. If you have any acid reflux going on with this as well you should be taking 150mg Zantac once or twice a day as well.

7. Manage your anxiety. Generally you'll have some pretty good ideas of what's making you anxious - work/money/lovelife, or lack of them. And it doesn't have to be overwhelming to set this off. Just the day to day low level anxiety we

suffer can make this problem happen. Stress, anger, all that stuff only contributes to anxiety. So you need to work on learning to let go - no more road rage! - keeping cool and clam, and there's a million different ways you can do that,

so find what works for you. Yoga, Tai Chi, reading a book, etc. Talk with your friends and family about it. They love you and you don't want you to suffer. Sharing the burden helps immeasureably. Just look at how your fellow sufferers

react, everyone is very supportive of each other in reassuring you that you're not alone, and you're not! Never forget that! Anxiexy, panic attacks, etc. are all the result of trying to be strong for too long by yourself. Sharing is

caring. :) And just being able to have a laugh will do wonders for you.

8. Medical. Go see your doctor armed with information on HS. Many physicians don't know much about breathing disorders - and this one has been around forever, there are records of it in the Civil War. You may need to need to be referred

to a counsellor/psychologist/psychiatrist. You may also have to find a respirational physiotherapist - they specialize in helping you retrain your breathing so you get back to autonomic (normal) breathing. Bet you didn;t even know they

existed, huh? :) You also want to get referred to an Otolaryngologist - Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor - and a Gastroenterologist for an endoscopy to look at your oesopeghus and upper GI tract to rule out any physical problems - chronic

sinitus, GERD, dysphagia and globus - that sensation of a lump in your throat - etc. Acid reflux and chronic sinutis can contribute to or exacerabte Hyperventilation Syndrome. If possible, get a full workup done, blood gasses - CO2 in

particular, Ferritin Blood Test - which measures ferretin, the protein that allows you to store iron - a lot of HS sufferers are iron deficient. It may be as simple as needing some antibiotics.

9. Health. Anxiety generally leads to bad habits which is what causes HS. You come home from work and you're tired and stressed. Do you make a healthy meal - which actually helps to combat that stress? No, you eat fast and junk food

instead. So you really need to work on diet and excercise, but diet in particular. Odds are your diet is very acidic, and it should be akaline - general rule is your diet should be at least 60% alkaline and 40% acidic, if you can swing

70/30 or 80/20, even better. Google 'alkaline diet' and 'acid alkaline diet', you find charts of alkaline and acidic foods, diet plans, etc. Alkaline diets -besides being healthier overall - help regulate you blood ph - which is part of

the problem you have now. Take a lemon for example. You'd think it's acidic, but it's actually very alkaline. And that's what stimulates your pancreas to create sodium bicarbonate neutralizing acids and regulating ph - and when your

blood ph is in balance, you won't overbreath, thus ending the cycle which starts HS to begin with. So yes, diet is probably the single biggest factor in combatting HS. Get into the habit of drinking an alkaline based green smoothie every

day. Cruciferous vegetables are your good pals! Sure you can cave and have some junk now and then - life isn't worth living without pizza on ocassion! - but just make sure it's really just now and then. And when you start eating

healthier on a regular basis you don't even want to go back to the junk. So it's win-win. It can be hard to get started, but once you do you'll wonder why you haven't been doing it all your life. And as mentioned above, regular

excercise, even if it's just going for a walk every other day, every little bit helps. When you're fit, you look better and feel better and that's a great anxiety killer - again, just one more thing that'll prevent HS from coming back.

Just always remember that this is a temporary condition. It may come, but it will certainly go. Remember that it's not only treatable, but preventable - however you will have to put work into make that happen. Keep the faith, my friends.

You'll get past this. You're not alone - estimates are 10-30% of the world population goes through this to varying degrees at least once in their life, so you're in good company. Support your fellow sufferers and you and they will get

over it that much faster. And pass along this information. When I first went through this, I thought it was the end of the world. As I learned what it was and how to deal with it and prevent it from happening it helped beyond measuring.

I went from being scared to being more aggravated by it and determined to get over it. Much like GI Joe, knowing is half the battle. :) When you realize you don't have to be afraid of it, it helps a lot. If you follow this advice, and

throw in your own personal tweaks with what works for you, you'll have this licked in no time flat. Be patient, be calm, and the sun will shine once more. Best of luck, friends! :)


Yr. pal
Sparky

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