Stress Center Peer Support

Hi Kirsten,

I go through bouts of anxiety, stress, and not breathing properly several times throughout the year. It seems all of a sudden my stress gets the best of me and before I know it, I am in a mode of muscles in my diaphragm and chest all tight and I can't seem to undo it. Then I will get like burning all down my esophagus and sudden sharp pains running up my chest, which scares me, and then I really can't relax in anticipation of the next one. After trying everything on my own, I find what works for me is to just go to my doctor, which also is scary because I'm afraid she will tell me my blood pressure is too high or my heart is too fast, etc. Finally, I go. I verbalize my fears to her. To my surprise, she tells me I don't have to get my blood pressure checked right now because it probably will be too high since I am in a high state of anxiety. She tells me to just go to like Walmart and get it checked some time. She tells me I have anxiety, not a heart attack. Then she tells me that everyone gets stressed, even her (my doctor who is the mother of three small children). We talk for a while and soon my breathing starts to return to normal. By the time I even got to the car, I totally felt better. For the next two days, there were two occasions where I felt a little residual muscle twinge, but it is gone now. I thought I would feel bad that I couldn't do it on my own as far as trying to relax, but if that works for me, I know in the future when things get so bad I will probably go back to see her and for me that's okay. Anyway, when I forgot about concentrating on my breathing and worrying about, it totally went back to normal. I would strongly encourage you to verbalize your fear to your doctor or counselor and let them help you through it. Best of luck.
Noel

I know what u are feeling with the breathing stuff. I know this is going to sound silly but it worked for me. When I feel like I can not take a deep breath I put vicks vapor rub under my nose and then I can feel the nice fresh deep breath. I keep it in my purse. Hope it helps !!

I am adding my own experiance,since I see the last post was a few years ago.It just helps to talk about it.. alittle background on me, I remember having stress before school plays etc. but a laid back childhood, then in middleschool I dropped out of 7th grade b/c I was teased so much, the summer before going back to school Anxiety reared it's head, I had trouble breathing and I had completely irrationale fears, what if, etc. Sometimes just scary thoughts, the possibility of....... then it went dormant for years. Then in my early 20's I got married, moved, started school again, got a new job all in the span of 6months. I had a breakdown, i was crying, lethargic, had nightmares during the day, obsessive scary thoughts, I couldn't wash knives, my husband put me in touch with a counselor, I thought i was going to the nuthouse. Good news, it was just anxiety and stress, classic symptoms. Since then I've read all lucinda books, and reread them. It helped Immensely it gave me my spunk back, and Anxiety is mixed blessing, I am a better parent, spouse and person b/c of my anxiety. And it's a learning process, different sypmtoms dominate different times in your life. In my early 20's i'd get the shakes/sweat/panic attack, then that digressed and moved onto tension headaches, shooting pains, chest pains, numbness. I sent myself to the ER twice and a Cardiologist just to hear I passed my stress test and heart ultrasound, and EKG with flying colors. I wasn't having a heart attack, just stress. Now It's the difficult breathing, like all anxiety the key is reread the steps, communicate on forums like this, read, and recognize your triggers, take care of yourself, sleep, eat healthy, exercise, Call A friend, get social. I am so grateful to all the posts people put on here, reminding me of all the steps to relax, we are going to be okay, to calm down, relax, we are getting enough air, we won't forget to breate, laugh at ourselves. We'll all probably live to be 100 and die of natural causes and worry along the way it'll be of somthing else! Everyday will get easier, we are NOT crazy, we're just loving,compassionate people who are very sensitive! We're here for each other. Thank you, And thank you Jesus for lucinda and her courage to share, so that we can all share and find peace.

Phillipians 4:6 (bible) "Do not be anxious about anything, but in all things through prayer and petition and with thanksgiving present your requests to God so that he the Lord of peace,whom transends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind"

See even in bible times people were stressed, and there were loving instructions, hope this helps someone, much love peace and prayers to everyone who shares on this forum, you are a blessing to myself and others!

I used to have that problem 24/7. Not anymore, everyow and then maybe..But something that really worked for me was a cardio yoga routine everyday for 20 minutes..it really works..dont be afraid..in fact youll feel like you are breathing better while your doing it...go to excercise tv website..they have some good routines there...

Cool fresh air really helps me. A walk or jog outdoors works like a charm.

Wow! I have the same problem.
I'm constantly trying to take deep breaths cause I feel as though my chest is tight and I'm not getting enough air.
I usually just chalk it up as my asthma, and never really think of it as my anxiety, though when it happens I do tend to panic and that only makes it worse I really would like to know how to help this and get through it without panic. It happens daily, plenty of times through out the day.

yeah, i sometimes focus on my eyes, because during panic they my eyelids start to twitch