i can't inhale automatically anymore

[cantbreatheright]

Hi, my name is Hunter and I can't breathe automatically anymore unless I'm asleep. I do not know why, either. I've been to three doctors and I have bronchitis and pharyngitis, but they never have been able to solve my manual breathing problem. It's not like I forget to breathe sometimes, it's just that I'm always telling myself to breathe, I know I don't have Ondine's curse because I can sleep and breathe, but for some reason when I'm awake, I have to remind myself to do so. I'm very afraid that I will forget to breathe or something.

I crack my neck a lot so maybe it's a nerve problem? I don't know. I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and doctors say it may be just a secondary symptom of my anxiety. I have difficulty believing this because I don't feel anxious. I'm also experiencing a really odd olfactory response where everything has been smelling like a weird cough syrup for the past few days. It also feels like I'm breathing vapor rub.

Please help me. I'm sick of this ****.

[regil]

See if your Doctor can get your diaphragm checked.  If you crack your neck a lot, the nerves that help control the diaphragm pass through the vertabrae in the neck, and the diaphragm controls a lot of your breathing.

[Jerry_NJ]

I have had brief periods of the same symptom and I think it starts when I start playing games with counting... say walking and thinking (must be bored) wonder if I can walk to the next corner in 10 breaths, pretending there is some prize.  Often it is a bad guess and I change it to 15 breaths .. the point is I start concentrating on breathing and find when the game is over I have to keep thinking breath even though I am no longer counting.  Nutty game, and I can break the dependence but not sure how other than I just forget about it and start breathing normally - in fact I feel myself slipping into thinking too much about breathing an may have to concentrate on something else to break the dependence on conscious breathing.