Stress Center Peer Support

does anyone get shortness of breath with their anxiety?I mean mine lasts days and even weeks. It's terrible. I feel like I cannot be too active because I'll start to feel dizzy. I feel like i can never get a good enough breath and i catch myself yawning a lot. .. I think it helps me get some more air in my lungs. This is the most UNCOMFORTABLE symptom ever!! It seems to just linger around for days. I feel like an old lady trying to breath! Does anyone else experience this for longer than a day and what do I do? I feel like eventually my body will just give up. Not even ativan helps this feeling. It helps calming me down but the shortness of breath still lingers. I know this is from anxiety!

The shortness of breath is definitely related to anxiety. I have experienced the shortness of breath, and it was the first symptom that I experienced that triggered my panic attack, and anxiety. I then started getting the shortness of breath on a regular basis, but still went out and exercised every day while feeling terrible and the breathing symptom.

I no longer experience the shortness of breath symptom and have fully recovered from anxiety. I have managed to make a 360 degree turn from being extremely sensitive and fearful to the body symptoms, to completely desensitizing myself to them.

These things are what helped me to fully recover:

(1) Feeling the body symptoms and knowing it is only anxiety and not letting it scare you.

(2) Learn to under react to your body symptoms. Let them be there and pay them no attention.

(3) This is very important. Even when you feel the symptoms of anxiety creeping up on you, use positive self-talk or listen to your favorite lesson on the Combatting Stress and Depression Program programme, to prevent yourself from having an Anxiety or Panic Attack were you release more adrenaline into your body, which only intensifies the body symptoms and makes you more fearful and delays your recovery. If you can get really good at feeling the symptoms and not react to them, you will become desensitized to them and eventually they will go completely.

(4) Exercise every day. Go out and walk for 30 minutes twice a day. This helps to get rid of the excess adrenaline. Remember adrenaline stays in the human body for up to 48 hours. The only way to get rid of it quickly is to exercise.

(5) Listen to great music - use Youtube.com, and listening to the following tracks:

This love - Craig Armstrong
Craig Armstrong - let's go out Tonigh
Maxwell - This Woman's Work
Lisa Gerrard - Man on Fire
Sigur Ros Vanilla Bonus

(6) Do not watch the news or read negative stories in the newspapers or search any medical forums using the internet.

(7) Read the book: "Telling Yourself the Truth" by William Backus. Great book on mastering the art of rational thinking.

(8) Remember, it takes time for your mind, body and nerves to adjust to your new ways of thinking. But once your mind and nerves get use to you under reacting to your body symptoms, you will become desensitized, and return to feeling normal.

It took me 2 and a half months to fully recover. I went through the whole Combatting Stress and Depression Program programme in 2 weeks. I listened to all the lessons from dusk till dawn. And still lesson to the programme daily. You really have to believe in yourself and your recovery.

I hope this helps.

This is my first time here but I had to reply when I read this. I am also having shortness of breath and it is really bothering me. I even went to the emergency room a week ago for it. It was just a new symptom that I haven't had yet and of course I am still not convinced that I don't have some physcial problem. They did a number of test on me. Chest x-ray , even a cat scan because a test came back positive that I may have a clot somewhere. All of the test came back normal. He said the blood test that said positive for a clot sometimes comes back positive when there isn't anything. It was only a little over the normal reading. But of course to someone who has anxiety its not easy to except that it's only anxiety and not something else. Anyway I still have shortness of breath on and off all day for several days. I just wish it would go away and I would stop worrying that something is wrong with me. I even decided to go on a medication after going to the emergency room and I was one of those that was very afraid of medication but I decided to do it while I am trying to change my way of thinking. They prescribed celexa and xanax, I was told it would take at least 2 weeks to really feel it working. I have taken xanax a few times but don't want to take this one very often I don't want to get addicted to it. I even concidered trying a natural progesterone cream also. I'm not sure if you were the one asking about that or not. But I ordered a saliva test on line to have my hormones tested. Haven't gotten them yet but can't wait to see if that is a problem for me. It is good to see that I am not alone here just sorry to see you going through this too , it's no fun. Take care

Oh, my gosh! I thought I was the only one who had the same thing. It is the most awful thing anyone could ever go through. Shortness breath was how my very first panic attack began, the day after Thanksgiving 2007. I was just lying on the couch watching television and all of a sudden bam! Just like that I sat straight up. It took about two months for it to go away for me; but I still think about it every day; in the back of my mind I'm anticipating it will return. I thought I was crazy. I went to two different emergency rooms in one night.

This is my first time on here so please bear with me. I have shortness of breath also with mine I also have a thickness in my throat .My doctor says its due to anxirty and as soon as I have that under control it will go away.I try to remember that so that I dont overreact with it but sometimes thats hard to do. I hope you start feeling better soon.

I have this same thing!! I get it often along with the I am going to pass out feeling. I get all the crazy thoughts along with this and it hard for me to let it go because I always think "what if I ignore it this time and it really is something?" I seem to be obsessed with having something wrong with my heart because of the shortness of breathe. It is so frustrating because I do know I have anxiety. I had it for almost a year and it has been gone for 4 years. Recently I lost my grandfather and it just came back full force. Sorry to babble on but I can relate to this completely! You are not alone.

Holly,

Go back into the program and remember that there are three things that need to happen before we can get better! 1) You create your own panic. With thoughts and actions... It can be very difficult because with our own minds we become obsessive.. Become obsessive with positive thoughts!!! 2) use the coping skills as best you can. Breathing, exercising, postive thinking. meditation, distraction... adn 3) Do not avoid your fear of anxiey. Float with it.

Laura

To answer your question I have felt it also!! It feels awful. My suggestion to you is to figure what is really bothering you!! Try to let it go.