Can you have anxiety disorder for no reason?

[Cforte]

Everything is great in my life, I am not worried or anxious about anything and I have no resason to be depressed, yet everytime I see a doctor about my "feelings" they say it is anxiety. Can you have anxiety for no reason? I am a mouth and chest breather, I can not breathe through my nose due to constant sinus problems and a possible deviated symptom, and every time I try I feel like I can't get enough air and have to breathe deeply. After 5 minutes of nose-breathing (the longest I have ever done), my nose hurts really bad like I have been inhaling razor blades. I also woke up this morning feeling like I was breathing too shallow, like my subconscious-breathing wasn't working right and I had to work at breathing. That caused me to panic for a time. My "feelings" are:
1.) constant, all day every day feeling of not getting enough air or oxygen, though I am breathing, causing me to take deep breaths all the time and yawn very deeply, and includes excessive belching and burping
2.) reoccurring feelings of tightening, pain and constriction in my chest
3.) reoccurring feeling of a lump in my throat (I do have swollen tonsils)
4.) Constant feeling of light-headedness, fatigue, and like I'm about to faint

Again, I have no problems in my life, no reason to panic or have anxiety, and this just started out of the blue two weeks ago. If this is anxiety, does any medication make the "feelings" go away? I can't live this way, it is screwing up my life, and all for no reason! Thank you.

[Bwpersy]

Do you have asthma? I have been experiencing symptoms very similar to what you're describing and I've had a doctor focus on anxiety as the problem too. However, I visited another doctor who has diagnosed me with asthma and says he believes this is the reason for my symptoms. Get tested for asthma, if you're not sure if you haven't or not. Treating the asthma has made a positive difference in my symptoms in only two days.

[Paxiled]

My own view is, if you don't feel anxious, you aren't anxious.  The physiological symptoms people get from anxiety differ a lot depending on lifestyle, severity, personality, etc.  But we all feel really anxious and have irrational fears.  You have all the signs of sleep apnea, especially the swollen tonsils.  I'm going to guess you've been tested for it, and if not, get a new doctor.  You also say you have a "possible" deviated septum, but any doctor can see if you have one or not, so again, what you might need most is a different doctor.  I have a deviated septum from nose injuries from basketball, but I still breathe through my nose.  You really need to see a specialist who can properly diagnose you, as it really sounds like you have an obstruction somewhere and surgery can fix some of the causes of that and a device can fix some others.  If you're problem isn't anxiety, drugs for anxiety won't fix the problem, and they are not by a long shot problem free to take.  And if anxiety isn't the problem, while they might make you not care as much about all this, they won't fix the problem and it might be capable of being fixed by a doctor who is knowledgeable enough to do so.  

[Cforte]

Maybe "not caring as much" about this will be good for me temporarily until the real problems get fixed. i think I am overthinking this and too worried about and in-tuned with my own body, always being worried about my heart and breathing, always feeling like I can't breathe (not just at night, but all day) though I am breathing. This is causing me to be in constant fear, fear that I am not breathing right and thus could die, fear that my heart isn't right and thus can die, fear to get out of bed because physical activity make these feelings worse. For example, this morning I woke up and used the bathroom. My heart rate went up, but it seems like my mind thought my body was still in a deep sleep because my breathing remained slow and with long intervals between breaths. Of course, this almost caused me to panic and only by taking a lot of deep breaths every few seconds did I feel a bit better. But I can't sleep because I can feel my own breathing and heart and it scares me, plus I am afraid that my sleep apnea could actually kill me. I am just in constant fear and worry, so I think meds might be able to calm me down, to help me live at least until the other problems get fixed. All the doctors I have seen don't seem as worried about my "symptoms" as I have and they did many tests already, including an EKG, blood sugar test, the dr listened to my lungs, respiration, and heart, looked at my nose, all that, and said I was fine. So maybe the symptoms of sleep apnea and the deviated symptom (I was diagnosed with sinusitis) are just causing me to panic? If so, would meds work? I know they have side effects, I have researched many of them. But I can't live like this anymore. I can't sleep, I can't function during the day...I have no life anymore. Would meds work to take my mind off this temporarily so I can have a normal life until the real problems get fixed? And thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.

[Cforte]

Btw, I've also been diagnosed with pectus excavatum, when the sternum and breastbone are sunken inward. The experts say that in a majority of the time it is only cosmetic and causes no real issues. But in a few it can put pressure on the heart and lungs. I do have this, so I am wondering if it is putting some pressure on my heart and lungs and thus causing my breathing problems and others, or if it is not serious at all but is so uncomfortable that it makes me panic?

[Paxiled]

This all depends on the quality of your doctors.  They have done tests on you and said you don't have the problems you say you have, which indicates anxiety.  On the other hand, you describe conditions that can be treated, and apparently no treatment has been prescribed, which has left you more and more frustrated and frightened.  As for meds, they are very different for different people.  They can be very easy to take and stop taking or very hard.  Once you're on one that works, the tendency for most people is to no longer try and fix the underlying problem, and eventually the drugs stop working and you have to go through the problem of stopping them.  So if you decide you do need to go on medication, that you've exhausted medical solutions and therapy and your life is so disrupted you need to move on, that's the time for medication, but it is a process and try not to let it interfere with attempts at a permanent solution.  Good luck.

[Paxiled]

Oh, and as far as the sternum issue, while I have no knowledge at all of that and have never heard that discussed, if it was as dangerous as you fear your doctors would have done something about it if they are at all competent, don't you think?