I know all these posts r from a year ago but I have been having the sAme issue and it is literally driving me up a wall!! I was having severe panic attacks was in ER four times thinking t hat I was having a heart attack. My doctor put me on two medications for anxiety, seems to be helping for that but I have forgotten how to breathe normally. I am trying t o not take those deep breaths as much but like one person said it gets unbearable. Praying f or relief!!!!! This is so miserable and unless you have experienced it no one really now's the extent of it!
Hi, I have the exact same symptoms iv had it for about 9 months now it started about 2 months after loosing my mum to cancer I was really going through a tuff time but thought I was dealing ok with it, but then one day on my way to work i felt like I couldn't breathe and thought I was having a hart attack called ambulance and the said I had anxiety attack and have been on medication for it ever since the medicine helps the anxiety attacks but I still get days when I'm yawning to get a deep breath and still feel light headed. If anyone finds a complete cure please let me know
I feel so relieved that i am not the only one after reading this thread! My symptoms are very similar to most described on here (the need to constantly yawn to get a satisfying breath and if you dont yawn it gets unbearably irritating). I noticed this problem about 3 years ago around the same time i got bad anxiety and its progressively got worst. Im gonna go back to my doctor and tell them its anxiety as i just keep getting prescribed new inhalors which isnt helping. Now its time i kicked this anxiety in the butt once and for all and get my life on track.
Try breathing with your mouth closed with good posture. Inhale shallow breaths over ten seconds (filling your belly, not your lungs) and then exhale through your nose slowly (deflating your belly). This will be uncomfortable at first because our oxygen-CO2 balance is off and we have trained our bodies to breathe incorrectly. The key to this is shallow, small breaths; this is counter-intuitive because it seems like we need more air and a complete breath, but we really need less oxygen. Commit to this method for a day and see if your breathing improves. The goal is to re-train your body to breathe like this unconsciously. Another trigger to our hyperventilation is being so conscious of our breathing; practicing correct breathing will help make it automatic and will further decrease our symptoms.
I have been using this method over the past hour and feel great relief. Every few minutes, I still feel the need to take a large inhalation of air with my mouth open, but I have stopped feeling the need to yawn. I have suffered from this for a little over a year now and was previously very healthy and not anxiety-ridden. However, when I began a full-time Master's program while working full-time, I began having these breathing problems and have had them ever since. Doctors have prescribed Zoloft and Xanax which helped, but I don't like taking prescription medication. I hope the relief persists and I hope it helps some of you out there.
YES!!!!! Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome!!! 100% !!! I have had episodes of this that have sent me straight to the emergency room. Three times I went into full blown hyperventilation which, by the way, makes you feel like you are DYING!! The doctors had nothing helpful to tell me, had no idea I was even hyperventilating! I found out what I had by accident one day when I mentioned my symptoms to a woman I knew. I now consider this woman my LIFE-SAVER because she suggested I google "chronic hyperventilation syndrome" my symptoms subsided tremendously once I realized that this is what I have. Before that conversation with her I was TERRIFIED that it would happen to me again. The slightest need to get air would snowball into full blown hyperventilation. Since then, I have not fully hyperventilated but I still have, and have had as long as I could remember, the urge to sigh or yawn. Let me make clear that for most of my life, all I had was that serious urge to constantly take a deep breath, but couldn't. Only in my thirties did I fully hyperventilate and I'm sure that was caused by fear and panic and not understanding what was happening to me. Breathing exercises are the way to go! And above all else... stay calm! AND... if you believe this is truly what you have, don't take meds!!!!!
google "chronic hyperventilation syndrome"
Have your doctor check you for a B12 deficiency. I had this problem for about 5 years and due to some other symptoms I was diagnosed with low B12 levels. It took a while but my symptoms went away after 6-7 months of taking B12 supplements.
The lower levels of the B12 "normal" range in the US are also too low. The normal range is about 200 - 900 and you should supplement your B12 if your levels are lower than 500-550. My level was 295 and my primary care doctor thought I was fine. Another doctor said I should take B12 since my levels were in the low normal range. Google B12 deficiency for more information.