I have felt this way for the past 3 months, I concentrate on my breathing pretty much all the time, and it really puts it out of whack. I totally know what you're going through, it is frightening feeling as though you cannot take a full, satisfying breath, especially when there seems to be no physical explanation for it. You should see your doctor about the anxiety if you are not already doing so, my doctor checked my blood pressure and pulse the last time I visited and i've had a chest x-ray since then which came back normal so i'm pretty sure it's a psychological thing for me too. I'm thinking of going back soon but as it's only been 3 months i'm guessing he won't be able to diagnose me with having a "disorder" yet, even though it sure feels that way to me!

Hey-
i so feel for you. I felt like I was the only one in the world like this!!! Everyone around me thinks I am a nut!!
I am actually seeing a psychiatrist and they tried to put me on some anti-anxiety meds. I took them for about a week and began throwing up every day and had to stop them.
I hope things get better for the both if us!!! I try and ignore mine, but it is just there all the time.
Good luck and let me know how you are doing off and on.
-leah

This might be a little off the main topic, but did you know that most people breathe incorrectly!
The correct way is as you inhale your stomach should go out and as you breathe out, or exhale, your stomach should pull in, I know, I did not breathe correctly for about 30 years(just another fact)!
Sincerely,
sandy

You will get better if you really want to get better! Do not be ashamed of getting a little extra help, heck, we all need a little extra help sometime in our lives!
If you keep practicing on your anxiety breathing, you will get it just try not to wait until you are too anxious to try, it took me a while, I also learned that you must be more positive about it, it does help, it also helps to take the word "can't" out of your vocabulary.
The best to you all!
Sincerely,
sandy

Hey! It gets better, I promise!!

I'm a singer, so I pay attention to my breathing all the time. When panic is at its worst, I feel my lungs burning, and my breathing becoming shallow. Though I tell myself to breath deeply, that's hard to do, because the stomach is roiling, and breathing deep only seems to make my stomach feel worse. Then, my chest would be sore for days after the episode. It was awful. I'd pay more and more attention to my breathing, and wouldn't want to breathe deeply, for fear that it would hurt. Bad thing for a singer!

In any case, singing helped immensely, because you can't sing well unless you breathe deeply! And, since I love singing, I would not even think about breathing. I'd practice for an hour without thinking about being anxious about my breath. And then, I felt great, because I knew that I had placed huge demands on my lungs, and instead of feeling worse, I felt better.

So, if you can sing, you might consider joining a choir or taking voice lessons, or just singing in the car or shower.

In any case, you will want to "desensitize" your body. Counseling can help you do this. Basically, you consciously increase the symptom gradually in a safe environment (i.E., breathe in the "scary" way, whatever that means to you). Then, you realize that nothing bad is happening to you. That way, the next time you feel your breathing is distracting you, you can tell yourself, "this isn't a big deal. I can still function and live my life the way I want to, even with this feeling." i've started doing this with my throat (the latest symptom-prone area), and it has given me a lot of confidence that my throat isn't actually going to close off, no matter how tight it feels, and that I can go on with my life.

I wish you the best! Know you're not alone in this painful and scary journey, and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sending prayers, love, and energy your way!
Paul

Whether it's singing or doing something else that you enjoy it will still help to take your mind off your breathing - simply because you're thinking of the other thing you're doing!!

Another possible solution may be hypnotherapy, sound/light &/or ces machines (check on a search engine or dynamind.Com or alpha-stim.Com) these machines work on the brain wave patterns to reduce stress & anxiety & many other things such that your obsession with breathing may also reduce.

I have ocd & the more stressed, anxious, depressed etc I get the worse the ocd gets!! My ces machine which I started using for migraines has made a huge difference in my stress, anxiety, sleeping ability & has reduced my ocd obsessions.