Breathing anxiety

[HLeon]

If someone can help me out with my problem I'd REALLY appreciate it. Here it goes: For the past week I have had some kind of difficulty breathing. Instead of me breathing subconsciously, I am doing it manually all the time, and it feels really bad. I know its mental because when I occupy my mind doing something it goes away and I breath, without me knowing it. But when I am not doing anything it seems that I am just concentrated on my breathing, and cant think of anything else. I pass the whole day like this, and unless I am doing something, I am going thru a living HELL. I really hope that someone can help me out,because I just dont know what else to do

[MariaA]

Just a little curious...how old are you and when you say you want to forget the traumatic experiences in your life do you just mean the breathing thing or are there underlying things?
Sometimes I have the breathing thing on a daily basis...sometimes it goes away for a couple of weeks/months. Just reading your note can make me become short of breath. I know what you mean about loving life...I do too although I have anxiety mixed w/ a little depression and somedays it's bad and somedays not. My pshchologist believes that MOST people go through a period in their life where they have anxiety/depression for anywhere from 3 months to 2 years. Some go untreated mostly the ones w/ basic depression but anxiety actually is a good thing because it keeps your body/mind in check and makes you find what the underlying cause is.
Mine started similliar to yours. One night I just felt like I was manually breathing and it stayed for about a month (I thought I had allergies) then went away and then over time came back and turned into panic attacks.
I do take an anti-anxiety med that calms my mind down on a daily basis. That's been hard because I have resisted medication but like my psych says...if you had diabetes would you not use insulin? It's a medical condition...sometimes your chemicals get out of wack and takes a med and time to get it back in the groove.
I hope that your traumatic experiences have not been terrible...I have been through my own in a short while BUT I am realizing that it made me who I am. Your not going to die from anxiety which is what it sounds like your having. It's almost like you have to dare the devil and not be afraid of it. Ask it to give you it's best shot and if it does and when you live through it then pat yourself on the back.
I would definitely go see your general practitioner for a checkup...maybe they can recommend a psychologist!!!! You need to do this!!! People who have never experienced this type of thing don't know how to react.

[HLeon]

Well I went to a general doctor, and he told me that nothing was wrong with me. He told me that my heart, and health are perfectly fine. He sent me some anxiety pill called clorazepam(2 a day) which has calmed me down, but I still manually breath. I wish that it was something that would be ocassional (every once in a while) but its not. Its something that haunts me day and night. Sometimes I just want to take sleeping pills and just fall asleep. I am currently seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist, and hope that they will help me get my life back. All the money in the world cannot buy what I want. And thats to stop thinking about my breathing, and just lay in bed and relax watching a movie. I really pray to God that something will happen to me, and that this will just be erased from my mind because it sometimes makes me scream and it gets me angry. I am 21, and I am not only suffering from this, but I am also suffering from shizoaffective disorder. But lately I have been more concerned with my breathing, than with the voices. If I had a choice between the two I'd pick the voices. My mom tells me to just not think about it. Yeah its really easy for her to say that because she is not experiencing what I am. She thinks that whats wrong with me is something minor, but in my world its a living hell. I was wondering, how do you cope with this? and is it all day long for you? or does it happen periodically?

[MariaA]

Do you take medicine for your other disorder?
Could it be any complications from that?
When my breathing bothers me it happens differently. Sometimes it will just bother me for a day and go away. Sometimes for a month or more.
At first it was a lot like you but then overtime it will just come an go. It makes me angry too but the mind is so fascinating and I think it does these things to let us know something is wrong w/ our bodies.
I think instead of letting it bully you...try telling it that it can't take control of your life and live that way WHICH I know is very hard!!!!!!! Over time you can convince yourself but right now your caught up in the anger.
I prefer valium versus the type of drug your taking. It has a more mellow affect and can be used over a longer period of time. Ask your doctor?? Just beware. These drugs are addicting so don't stop all at once take it continually as the doctor has prescribed. I resisted at first and then did as the doctor said and now I'm doing much better compared to a year ago. Just is a chemical imbalance.
I remember the whole trying to watch tv thing. That drove me crazy (not that I'm not) :)!!!! Who's really sane or normal??
HANG IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HLeon]

So what you're trying to tell me is that in time my condition will just go away slowly? I really hope so. This new pill that the doctor sent me (clorazepam 0.5mg) has really calmed me down a little but I just wish that the whole thing would just go away.How long did it take for you for this thing to go away slowly? What medication helped you out the most? I have told the doctor about my condition and he keeps on sending me the same lorazepam which hasnt done NOTHING. I go to a general medicine doctor for a checkup and he sends me clorazepam which has really helped me out. Sometimes I think that my psychiatrist just doesnt care. I tell him that lorazepam is like taking nothing, he just keeps sending me more. I tell him that the geodon(which is for my schizophrenic disorder) accelerates my heart very rapidly, and he just sends me more milligrams. For this reason I have stopped taking geodon for a while. And yes I hear voices, but sometimes I dont know which is worse, the breathing, or the voices. The voices taunt me, but the breathing REALLY bothers me. Its like I am respirating manually, instead of it being a nonthought process. So you think Valium would help me out for this condition?

[MariaA]

I'm not sure exactly what will help specifically for you but I have taken both of the others and have found I feel more like myself on valium. The others are considered fast acting. valium is more slower but tends to stay in the system longer. My breathing subsided over a couple of months although I still get attacks from time to time.
I think you should find another pschyiatrist...what about throwing a psychologist in the mix. She/he can't prescribe med but seem to do more behavioral therapy.
How do your voices taunt you...do you think they make the breathing worse.
My heart goes out to you. Does your family have a medical history of mental illness?  i do unfortunately. I took prozac for a week and went total nuts and still feel like sometimes I am fighting the effects it had in my brain. There are some great drugs out there though. They are making new strides. Have you taken anything else?
The breathing thing becomes almost a obbsessive compulsive disorder. I think as long as you can cling to that "loving life as much as possible" feeling as much as possible...you can become stronger.

[HLeon]

Well yes I am also seeing a psychotherapist, and all she does is ask me questions, and I answer. I have started to see her about 2 weeks ago, and when I go there it feels go to just let go some of my emotions. She has told me to try and occupy my time doing something. She told me she was going to teach me some distraction techniques, so that when the breathing problem starts I can think about something else. (If only it were that easy) I asked her yesterday about valium, and she told me that valium is very strong and psychiatrists dont often prescribe it because its very addictive and makes you dopey. Hey I was just wondering how do you take valium? 2 times a day? before going to sleep? The psychotherapist that I am seeing seems real nice. But my psychiatrist in my opinion is just a plain a**hole. I told him that the lorazepam wasnt doing nothing for me. He just prescribed it again. He tells me to take it before going to sleep, and that the effects last 4 hrs!? What am I supposed to do with that?? I told him that the geodone(which is for the voices) really accelerates my heart, and he just prescribed more milligrams. Its like he wasnt even listening to me. He was talking to me about changing psychiatrists, and I think thats what I am going to do, because he always has an attitude, and I just dont like him for some reason. The general medicine doctor that did a checkup on me and sent me clorazepam has done more for me, than the psychiatrist has done for me in the last couple of months. The general medicine doctor sent me clorazepam, and it has helped a little with the breathing, although I think about it sometimes.(mainly when I am just laying around, doing nothing)So hey I was wondering about the valium, do you feel that it has really helped you out? And how often do you take it? In the morning, and before going to sleep?