Trouble Breathing...but Not Panic Attack?

[KwanYingirl]

My asthma is small airway asthma. It differs from the common form of it in that my bronchial tubes stay open but my small air sacs throughout the lung get full of mucous and can't expand. It is a reaction to toxins in the air. So it happens when I'm driving and breathing in fumes, or in stores that have formaldehyde soaked clothing. And mold in the air. Most of my less enlightened docs always said I was having anxiety, but I see the best pulmonologist in the country who is also an environmental specialist. I can use an inhaler but breathing exercises work just as well and I don't end up shaking from the steroids in the inhaler.

 

[Friday]

He had three suggestions that may or may not be helpful for you:
1.) Hyperventilate on purpose. Seriously. Just for about 20 seconds, while lying down, breathe as fast as you can. It teaches your brain that the physical sensations themselves are not something to fear. It actually may actually even help the fear pass more quickly.
2.) Do something active. Burn off some energy. Give your body a physical release for the adrenaline other than just sending signals that you need more oxygen.
3.) Practice mindfulness. Panic attacks are the body fearing what happened in the past will happen now. So help your body focus on just being here in the present moment. That's a bog part of what mindfulness is about. has a lot of good resources on mindfulness. I really like doing something were I am mindfully focused on something other than my body. LIke I cook something, and really notice every sight smell and sound about cooking. Or I go play a sport and I really engage all my senses in the sport. You get the idea. Do something that requires your body to engage, not just your mind, in something that requires a lot of focus in the here and now.

These are absolutely fantastic! :)

The hyperventilating on purpose, especially... Is a swimmer trick to mess with the co2 in your blood stream so that you don't have the impulse to breathe at all & have to inhale on purpose instead of by reflex. It's a dangerous trick, because you can pass out & drown, but it's better than sucking water just a few strokes from surface :p

((Since you said you're hyperoxygenated... I wonder if your co2 levels are off in the other direction? Instead of no impulse to breathe, you have constant impulse to breathe? ))

 

[DogwoodTree]

If it was asthma, for example, not always. Asthma can cause periods of restriction.

They ruled out asthma. It's not triggered by normal asthma issues, and it didn't respond at all to the asthma inhaler.

Did you have the sensation of not being able to get enough air when you had the tests for asthma done?

If I'm energized over something, like being in an unfamiliar place (like a dr's office) or interacting with people in social situations, I rarely get these symptoms. You'd think it would be the opposite if it's anxiety, but overt anxiety actually seems to make it go away. Like...I've never had many symptoms at all when at a T session...way too focused on deeper issues. It's more likely to come up when I'm not anxious (though there have been exceptions). But if I have a lot of latent anxiety, like being nervous about an upcoming deadline or event that I know will be stressful, the symptoms flare up big time.

None of us here can diagnose.

Yep, not really looking for a dx...the drs already tried that. I guess I was just looking if anyone else experiences similar stuff, or if I need to look beyond the PTSD for an explanation/avenue of resolution.

It could also be a body memory that keeps coming up.

Very possible. I don't have a specific cognitive memory to attach to it, and the timing of when it started is kind of strange. But from what I understand, body memories can surface at odd times anyway.

I wonder if your co2 levels are off in the other direction?

I'm sure my co2 levels get out of whack when this stuff happens. Which comes first...the wacky co2 levels (from a biological issue??) or the wacky breathing patterns (from a psychosomatic issue or something??)?

Most people look at me like I'm crazy when I try to explain it. But I recognize that my mom, even though she doesn't identify what's going on, displays similar symptoms where she starts yawning a lot even when she's not tired, seemingly in an effort to get enough air. She also has a significant trauma background, so I'm not sure what the link might be, if any.

 

[Chava]

Very possible. I don't have a specific cognitive memory to attach to it, and the timing of when it started is kind of strange. But from what I understand, body memories can surface at odd times anyway.

No way for me to be certain since I don't know your experience, but body memories seem pretty unlikely if there is no anxiety or even something like an underlying hint of dread. If it's not medical, then it will be difficult for you to know what it is unless you can identify any attached feeling or trigger. When my stuff is related to body memories the feelings are overwhelming or far out of context (like I'm just laying on my yoga mat on a nice afternoon but feel like I'm dying).

Possibly undertone of depression or sadness or trapped feelings? But if it's not too troublesome (or if it is but you don't know how to resolve it yet) I'd personally go the way of distraction and not look for naming it or pinning it down, especially if there are no connected feelings or other sensations. Otherwise it's like trying to "think" your way into understanding body stuff, and that doesn't work for me...but working on the general body/feeling awareness helps over time...usually not when I want to understand, but just sort of on its own time. It just seems like you don't have enough info to know what this is, at least not right now, but good the medical stuff has been ruled out.

 

[DogwoodTree]

When my stuff is related to body memories the feelings are overwhelming or far out of context (like I'm just laying on my yoga mat on a nice afternoon but feel like I'm dying).

This is helpful to know, thx.

Possibly undertone of depression or sadness or trapped feelings?

Depression and sadness don't fit as an explanation because I had several years where those weren't an issue, but the breathing problems were. "Trapped feelings", though...what does that look like for people?

I get an amazing, peaceful, light sensation every so often when pieces fit together on an issue and it seems like I've gotten an answer on something or gotten (even temporary) victory in an area or successfully described part of my inner experience in a way that the other person seems to, maybe, just a little bit, understand what I'm saying.

Like this past week, I had to travel for a few days with my mom, and I think she logged more guilt trip miles than interstate miles. But I didn't let her junk into my space, and I felt so light and free the last day, realizing I had done a pretty good job. I could breathe. Sometimes this relief lasts only for a few minutes, sometimes for several hours. But it's like this grip on my throat and chest disappears for a little while, and breathing is so easy and comfortable and even fun (most other days, I get sooo tired of the struggle to breathe).

I'd personally go the way of distraction and not look for naming it or pinning it down, especially if there are no connected feelings or other sensations.

That's what my T said waaaay back when this first started happening and the dr didn't have an explanation. She said to just try to ignore it, and maybe it would disappear. I genuinely tried to take her advice. Twenty years later...

 

[Chava]

"Trapped feelings", though...what does that look like for people?

It doesn't look like anything, but you'd feel it. Pay attention to what you are feeling besides the breathing thing. Sorry you haven't gotten any answers on it. It's nice when it just feels like everything works out, I know...

 

[Justmehere]

You could also try the opposite of distraction. Focus on just the feeling in your body, don't judge it, don't try to change it, and stay as still as possible in the rest of your body, and just notice. My somatic trauma therapist said this is one way to try and tell if a body sensation is related to unresolved emotions being stored in the body that the brain is not connected with, and/or unresolved trauma. It is a way to let the body process it and let go of it. If this is the case, it may get worse before it gets better, and it's generally only possible to have this happen if someone does feel safe - and you do feel safe.

I used to be randomly, um, constipated, for no clear reason at all. My therapist had me intentionally focus on anything I felt in my abdomen on purpose, without trying to change the sensation, but just notice it, while being really still for 15-20 minutes a day. After years of not being able to find a medical cause or solution, this symptom resolved itself after doing this every day for a week.

 

[sun seeker]

Very possible. I don't have a specific cognitive memory to attach to it, and the timing of when it started is kind of strange. But from what I understand, body memories can surface at odd times anyway.

I wasn't going to say anything if you hadn't come up with this on your own, but now you say this, I'll say for me the trouble breathing does have a lot to do with body memories.

It also comes up when I feel restricted in any symbolic way, as by a deadline as you say. It gets a little confusing but the flashbacks when I go into the body memory have been intense enough to convince me that my body is trying to tell me something with this symptom.

 

[DogwoodTree]

to convince me that my body is trying to tell me something with this symptom

So do you get a break from the breathing issues once you face into whatever the underlying memory is? I almost never get a break for more than a few hours, and even those are unusual. Like...no matter how many memories or other issues I've tried to face, that doesn't seem to predict when I might get a break and be able to breathe. It's when something clicks...when some pieces fit together and I get some kind of insight, that I feel some relief for a little while, but even that isn't consistent.