Anxiety and feeling breathless

[Budgiebird]

Does anyone else feel breathless with anxiety. I always feel like I can’t get enough air. I have several chronic illnesses and have regular medical checks but no medical reason for the breathless feeling other than anxiety. It’s quite distressing at times.

[tranzcrybe]

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨...

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘴:
1] 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘮 - 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘹𝘺𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.
2] 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘹𝘺𝘨𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 (𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘵𝘤), 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 (𝘤/𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨) 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘮 - 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦.

𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 '𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵' 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 '𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭' 𝘮𝘪𝘹, 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘺 - 𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘮 (𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘦). 𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵.

[Petal22]

Hi Budgiebird,

Sorry you are feeling this way…

I understand anxiety and it does feel distressing at times.

Have you been able to speak to your gp about this? You could do a mental health plan together this will enable you to see a psychologist who can give you many strategies to help you to manage your symptoms.

Here to chat

[Budgiebird]

Thank you for those tips.

[Budgiebird]

Thank you. Yes I have a mental health plan and am seeing a psychologist. She’s lovely but I still struggle with this breathing thing at times.

[Pumpkinella]

Hi Budgie Bird,

Thanks for sharing and yes I basically always have the feeling like I cant really breathe. Like I'm out of breath. It is quite uncomfortable. For me, If deep breathing exercises don't work I just accept the sensation. Over focusing on it for me makes it worse. So I say - for now there is a tightness in my chest - but all things come and go.

Its just a away of helping me relax and not get anxious about the anxiety.

Have you tried mindfulness practices? Physical activity is also really good to reduce overall stress. Maybe a fast walk in the mornings?

Love

Pumps

[PeachPenguin]

I experience this exact feeling everyday. It's relatively recent (has only started within the last 6 months) and as others have said, very uncomfortable and seems to get worse when I think about it. I find it quite a frustrating feeling to deal with to be honest!

Exercise is really helpful, particularly going for a walk with music or a podcast as that way I can focus on both sounds and sights. Also doing an activity such as cooking, colouring or doing a puzzle is helpful to focus on something other than the breathlessness.

Hope this may help, even a little!