Symptoms of Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome

Yes i have CHS, I have had it off and on for three years, it comes for no apparent reason and can last for weeks or months. It is horrible but I know someday it will disappear just as mysteriously as it came.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share your stories. I feel a tremendous relief just knowing I am not alone, that others have experienced the same things I have been going through the last 18 months.

My first "attack" scared me and I do not scare easily. I wasn't sure if I was going to live or die! Today, I'm not so worried about dying, but on occasion I do feel so helpless and alone. Finding this forum may be the best thing that has happen to me in the last 18 months.

Again, thanks to everyone for sharing.

I started experiencing this problem about 6 months ago...just started
with the constant yawning...i didn't know what it was, so i googled it and it said it was a sign of anxiety....so I dealt with it. Then 6 months ago i go
engaged and planned a wedding and god married in 4 months....all they
would give me is inhalers, breathing treatments, but i told them it didnt
relieve me. i had chest pressure and shortness of breath when doing simple house chorse...and then they put one on anti anxeity stuf...that kinda helped but it was still bothering me. my last step after xrays were coming back clear..and blood work showed nothing wrong...was to try and find an answer myself...I found this site and it had peopel with all my symthons...to the T. Now I will be looking for a breathing therapist..and maybe do some yoga! I am also on Lorazpham...

Hey all,

I started with HVS a little over a year ago. It had also come on in the past, but only lasted for about a week. This time it stuck around. I have had everything you guys are talking about and they usually came in stages. I had the issue with my breathing which even gave me pain on my sides from trying to suck in a breath normally. I then began having chest pains and then also began going through a period of constantly feeling my heart beating anytime I would lay down or become very still etc. I saw a Cardiologist a Pulmonologist and had an X-ray, CT Scan and an Echocardiogram (sp?) done. I also had tons of blood work done and everything came back normal. Luckily I never had all of the issues at the same time while they were at their worst. The latest issue that has come on is this strange dizziness that either comes and goes or lasts all day. It's not vertigo and I do not loose my balance, but it's just an odd feeling that is hard to explain. Thankfully it has calmed down a bit as it was pretty tough to deal with when it first came on. Anyways... I can say that I have been through the symptoms and they have thankfully all lessened in their intensity. My breathing is much better. I do not have the heart issues nearly as much. I do not have the odd chest pains nearly as much and the dizzy feeling is not as extreme. I still deal with everything, but it's not as extreme. I believe the issue with me was and is anxiety which I am now taking Lexapro for. It has helped, but so has just learning to calm down a bit and take life a bit easier. For me it seems that the symptoms have faded with time. Hopefully they will completely fade over time as well. Anyway...you guys are not alone. If you're just beginning to deal with this then the main thing I can tell you is DON'T FREAK OUT. Get yourself checked out if need be to rule everything out and then know that you're going to be OK. I wish I had been around someone to talk to when I started with this junk because I did FREAK OUT. :-P Please try to take it easy and keep yourself calm and don't let your mind run wild. YOU'RE OK! OK? Anyways... I've been there. If any of you want to e-mail me then feel free. I don't mind.

Hi all. Some interesting comments and stories. I remember when I was a teenager I had a problem with my breathing...not being able to get a full yawn...yawning regularly etc...what I have read here. That was then. I am now 46 - a little overweight but otherwise fit. I walk a lot and cycle. I don't smoke (never have) and don't drink alcohol. Had a recent chest infection. The infection has cleared but now I have this...yawning syndrome. It feels like I want to take a satisfying breath but at the last minute it's withdrawn, just can't get that full breath. This is annoying. If I am engaged in something I find there is no problem, but as soon as I start thinking about it..it starts again. I suffer from catarrh regularly. I find that my throat gets dry at times too.
Anyway…good to hear that other people feel the same way and have the same symptoms…

I agree with stvoid, I was not aware of this condition but I really do appreciate reading all the responses. Thanks for posting your experiences, everyone!

Hello everyone. I am glad I found this blog and hope that my story helps you out. I like most of you have a long story...about 5-6 years ago I started to feel lightheaded at certain times, i thought nothing of it, I just thought i was loosing condition because I had stopped bike riding which I would do almost every day. I'm 23 and about 2+ years ago these symptoms of lightheadedness/dizzy spells started getting worse and at the weirdest moments like driving on the freeway, at the movie theaters, sitting still, in class etc. Mainly staying still which was made me realize this wasn't poor exercise or lack of exercise. At this time I had been in Tae Kwon Do for about one year and had been getting a good dose of exercise each week. I then told my mom after watching a movie at the theaters because it got to the point where I had to stand up and leave the theater and felt dizzy the whole way home. We ended up going to the ENT, cardiologist and finally ended up with the Neurologist. After EEGs and CT scans they found a small brain cyst and was considered as the cause of the dizzy spells and was put on a nootropic pill and on valproic acid which is an epilepsy medicine to avoid dizziness. I was fine after settling in on the meds because they made me extremely sleepy, specially the nootropic pill, its a sedating type of medication. This I now realize was what made my dizziness go away for a long time, after that diagnosis and that prescription I went to an internship at one of the parks in Orlando, FL which was a very demanding job and long hours and sleeping late, but I was just fine. After the internship i was feeling good but I was falling into all these side effects from the meds so i started under my own guns to quit taking them and felt fine for about 1.5 months after which I had a horrible dizzy spell/ panic attac on the plane due to the lightheadedness, i thought i was gonna faint on the plane I actually asked for a medic and was fortunate enough that there was one onboard and calmed me down, at that point I took my meds to see if I felt better. From then on I went to my Neurologist and told him i stopped the meds because of side effects, he made me stop taking the nootropic pill and left me on valproic acid...big mistake. I felt worse and worse, I went to another doc and he said it was epilepsy, he wanted to change me from valproic acid to some new epilepsy medicine which was extremely expensive, we bought one bottle and i hated it, made me feel worse. I saw a doc which according to everyone is an extremely good doctor and he did MRIs EEGs eco, halter monitor, blood tests etc. Everything was fine, and turned out that there was no brain cyst, it is just a blood vessel that is venign, nothing wrong there, the EEG however showed two abnormal spikes during the test, so he too diagnosed me with epilepsy and prescribed another epilepsy med, another newer form of the valproic acid, a new formula. So I took it and still no improvement. I then was so worried, the epilepsy diagnosis made me even more worried that I would have a seizure all of a sudden and maybe even crash while driving and it all made things worse. I then started having horrible panic attacs, felt depressed, heart palpitations got worse, I felt like I was dying and was dizzy for a full 2 months nonstop, I would wake up dizzy, it would get worse throughout the day I would think I was having a heart attack at times and I felt short of breath, I was really stressing. Finally, at my sister's church group, someone recommended a very good neurologist. So I went and he saw all my tests, heard my story and was extremely patient and finally said I have no cyst, no epilepsy (THANK GOD!) and asked me if I liked things to be certain ways, very picky about things like arrangement of things in the house or my room. So I immediately told him yes, I told him that everyone tells me I am sometimes obsessive compulsive, he told me ok well you have what is called as Hyperventilation Syndrome (HVS) and you basically unconsciously breathe too much and overdose on oxygen and your brain releases too much of something I forgot exactly what, but he told me he's heard this story many times. So finally he's slowly taking away the epilepsy medicine because it should never be removed immediately or can really cause a seizure even if not epileptic, and he put me on Luvox, this medication to my surprise is for the treatment of OCD Obsessive compulsive disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder SAD. But 2 days after I started this medication my constant dizziness went away, I felt like a new person, my personality changed, I felt like a human being again not like a zombie half alive. I am no longer nervous, I now know what is wrong with me, I am not 100% yet, but it is still a 10,000% improvement from how I was, and I am getting better and better, I can drive confidently again, I wake up feeling excellent, I am back to running, Tae Kwon Do, drove on a trip and have been fine, and its only the 2nd week of medication. The doctor tells me I will feel better and better with time, and that i will be taking this medication for about a year because I have had this for so long. But a year, heck that's okay, its only one small pill a day, not so many as with epilepsy medicine, and epilepsy medicine is forever. I was even worrying how I was gonna feel when i got older and my health diminished even more. I was imagining I would only live to 40 or something. I am typing this and feel perfect, I flew on a plane again and was fine, no panic attacks, no palpitations, I do yawn a lot all day, but I dunno when that will completely go away or if at all will, but hopefully this helps you and talk to your doctor about it. Maybe your story is similar to mine and I hope I didn't bore you or made you worry worse and made you panic with my story. There is hope out there, we must also never forget about god, tall these things are spiritual battles as well. May god bless u all and I hope you all improve, I know how horrible this condition feels. Feel free to e-mail me or chat. I would like to hear from you guys.

Hide under your covers and breathe under them. Dont let air escape and re-breathe the co2 back into your lungs. You will notice an improvement almost immediately.

Hi all CHVS! often referred to as the (mimic). As most gps have little or no knowledge of it ,people with this disorder get diagnosed with a wide range of problems. Emphysema , lung disease, heart problems, bowl /stomach disorders ect, I'm sure all of you that have been diagnosed with this will already know the endless list and tests you have to go through, and because of that for those of you who have NOT !!! been diagnosed by someone with knowledge and experience of this disorder i suggest you seek proper medical advice as some of these things if not looked into could be the death of you! i sincerely hope not . I myself was found to be suffering from CHVS in 2006 ,the symptoms had started around 1 yr earlier after inhaling dust from an extraction system rather a lot of it ,this caused upper and lower bronchial infections .When exposed to pollutants stress danger ect its our bodys reaction (often termed as fight or flight) is to change our breathing pattern to one of shallow and quick similar to a panic attack there are many reasons for getting chvs and the problems it causes can be terrifying ,over the yrs i have been prescribed many different drugs some highly addictive. After 5 yrs of it i have come to the conclusion it can be managed and treated . But if left unchecked for any length of time can cause very serious psychological problems which in turn worsen the chvs sending you into a downward spiral. The chvs causes stress ,the stress increases your breathing rate and so on, it just gets worse and can reach a point where your totally incapacitated both physically and mentally but that would depend on how serious your problem is ,as it manifests its self in varying degrees . i myself was lucky ,well i like to see it that way i got to see a doctor just at the point where i considered life had become to unbearable i hope non of you reach that point ever .it can be corrected to a degree the breathing side that is ,as for the psychological damage i cannot answer that yet as this is a life changer .to those of you who do have it get yourself to the docs they should have already sent you to breathing therapy yep sounds silly but you have basically go stuck in a bad breathing pattern . your stuck in fight or flight mode and chances are if not treated its gonna keep dragging you down physically and mentally. Anti depressants help ,but be warned ! they have a down side the ones that are helpful are addictive and if not taken only when needed will cause a come down. just like a junkie the fact you don't have it stresses you out causing bad breathing all over again . i find alcohol worsens chvs lots of caffeine also ,keep your life as healthy as possible if you can avoided drugs like diazepam lorazipam ect due to their addictive nature and the side effects ,but if you really need them go ahead they do help enormously when your first diagnosed again it depends on how bad you are i can only speak for myself .At breathing retraining they will teach you to slow your breathing this is hell on earth you want to breath but you cant stick to what your told ,practice your breathing techniques hourly and slowly the really nasty parts of chvs will subside ,it wont be easy but don't let it get the better of you ! you will want to yawn sigh take big lung fulls of air. but don't its not easy but keep at it. They can only give you a ball park figure but its a good one and you will feel 1000 times better in a few months ,but just because you feel ok don't think it has ended for some it may never come back .for others you will be stuck with it so just because you feel ok don't just stop you breathing practice it just might come back and bite you in the ass. as for the psychological side effects like depression lack of concentration mood swings thats a different ball park but i would advize if available some therapy to adress these problems if they do appear i hope you all do well in fighting this disorder and wish you all the best :-)

hi there, think I've got it too. Mine started with this odd tremmbleing first in my hands but then everywhere. Thought I was dying! I've also had cheast pains, headaches, and dizziness. I went to the DR thinking I was going to get the bad news. The C word was rushing through my head. I'm only 24. Dr sent me for a blood test but also wondered if I had HVS. I googled it and found that there are some breathing exersices you can do. For five mins breath in slowly for 7sec then breath out slowly 11sec. This should mean you breath less the 4 times per min. HVS is when you breath too much and the balence between oxegen to carbon dioxide is disterbed. You get short of breath because your body doesn't need to breath as much. Do the breathing exersixdes three times a day and you'll eventually train your body not to breath so often when you're not thinking about it. It's really hard at first to breath only 4 times in a min, but it helps a lot. Even if you find I need to breath once or twice more it isstill very helpful.

After searching my symptoms on the net, I have CHS. This was triggered fast after my Dads  brutal battle with cancer, I was his caregiver throughout his battle and after he died I had terrible depression stress and anxioty. I went to the ER on my first and so far only panic attack thinking I was dying of a heart atack. After running all the tests, I was given a great bill of health. healthy as a horse, But I was still struggling to get my breath. knowing it is not life threatning brought some relief, but the symptoms were still there. After some reading, I know this is mental or phsycological triggered by the stress and anxioty which causes my breathing patterns to be rapid and deep, in tern increases oxygen levels in the blood, decreasing c02 levels. This is not allowing the co2 and o2 exchange to happen poperly and tells the bain I am not getting air, so I breath deeper which creates a vicious cycle. These things have nearly cured the syndrome.........prescription of busporine (busebar), breathing exercises which are the 7/11 method inhale 7 seconds and exhale 11 do this quite a few times throughout the day. also exhale and push all the air out of your lungs and try to hold it,( DONT PANIC!) slowly inhale for 7 seconds then exhale for 11 seconds. exhale more than you inhale and retrain your brain to breath correctly. also stop watching the news and avoid drama and stress. exercise and relaxingwith comedies.... I got control of this sydrome doing these things in three days. I am still aware of my breathing and still do exercises. In a panic attack breathing into a paperbag still works great for 8 or 10 breaths at a time until you get control.

I realize this is an old post, but I wanted to contribute as well, in case someone happens upon it while researching CHS, as I did.

For several years, I've been hyper-aware of my breathing, trying to regulate it myself. I also suffer from anxiety disorder, and the issues might be related.

Initially, I was treated for asthma, but the dyspnea persisted. It comes and goes. I might go months without symptoms. A couple of months ago, it started again, worse than ever. It got to the point that I went to Emergency, thinking I was having a heart attack. I had several EKGs, a chest X-Ray, a lung scan and an assortment of bloodwork, but everything came back normal. I was diagnosed with 'dyspnea' of an undetermined origin.

My PCP sent me for an ECG and an upper abdominal ultrasound, both of which were normal. My symptoms, however, are progressing. I feel as if I'm never able to take a deep breath, and there is a constant sensation of pressure in my chest. I'm almost positive this is a result of CHS, but my doctor seems stumped. Does anyone know how common/recognized this condition is? I am very frustrated and significantly losing quality of life at only 28-years old. I was prescribed anxiety medication, but., to date, I don't notice a difference in my breathing. If anything, it feels worse.

I wish the best of luck to everyone else who's suffering from these debilitating symptoms. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I cant believe I have found other people with the same weird symptoms that I am experiencing. 

Hello Friends....

I have also same kind of symptoms...it started 2 months back, and feeling same thing every day. I have started doing exercise and some yoga, but still no improvement. The only technique help me is breath in and out...

This will start from morning and I will feel all day till I will go to sleep..dizziness, weakness, uncomfortable, yawning..etc

Can any one please send me if there is any techniques of breathing to be take care..also what about the food...Do we need to avoid any type of food.

I checked with my doctor he told me to do exercise and eat everything.

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Do you still have the symptoms? I am looking for some answers for my mom. I believe she has CHS