Hello, to everyone who was on this forum.
I can't believe that i have even found people with this horrible problem of not being able to take a deep breath and having to yawn constantly. I had this problem 12 years ago, so i would like to try and explain why i think it happened. I was 25 and was suffering from an ulcer, caused by a virus. It made me very ill, tired and run down. I became painky and depressed because i thought i was never going to feel well again. i was always thinking about how i felt and thats when the breathing/yawning symptoms started. It was so bad that i went to the doctors. They thought i had asthma. i had every test done, they all came back negative. i saw a lovely consultant once who said, 'you are perfectly healthy, what you have is pyschological, it will not kill you but you will feel terrible. To this day i think he was right. I know this is caused by stress, depression and thinking about your breathing. Everyone, i believe has a different way of coping with stress and anxiety. I must admit to being a little hypo, i don't relaxe very easily and am better when i am on the go. Stress bought this on in the first place but i think i became obsessed with it because it was so horrible not being able to breath that i couldn't stop thinking about it all the time. I had it for 6 years and it went away because i finally had things in my live that prevented me from thinking about it: i had a baby, my own business and did a degree. I know it was in my mind because it has come back in the last two months because i have been stressed and am giong through the menopause at 46. The menopause has made me depressed and so i starting thinking about my breathing again. i truly hope that i have explained what i think it is. It is not very easy to try and forget it but its only there because you don't realise how much you are concentrating on your breathing. i have proved this to myself so many times. When i am busy and happy it is not an issue. I can make it come back in no time at all the minute i think about it. i think the mind is a powerful thing that we don't understand. Please come back to me on this if anyone wants to know more, i have been there, it is a lonely issue.

Just sitting here reading these posts made me breath better. Sometimes I think we over think breathing, since its a natural process our body does it alone but when we start to think about it, feel like where not getting enough air our body trys to componsate. Then the anxiety sets in, I truely believe that each and every person suffering from this, as I do, is also suffering from anxiety. I read an article about the effects and process that anxiety takes and it talked alot about how the brain switches to a "flight or fight" zone in the middle brain. to summarize take your thoughts off the problem, try to do a word problem, try to write something, watch an upbeat movie. I say upbeat because if your having this problem why give yourself another reason to freak out by watching CSI or something. I've come to except the fact that I am SUPER sensitive to my body and its functions but really I dont trust my body to survive by itself because its betrayed me with this Anxiety stuff, I keep thinking "if my bodies freaking out about nothing, what is it going to do about something thats real?" which is why I will say that anyone that has experianced this problem should seek out counseling, everyone needs someone to talk to that will liston and try to understand.. I know I feel crazy most the time when I try to explain all of this to someone else, expecially when it gets bad enough to bring me to the E.R. Then I feel like I have to tell everyone how crazy I must be but really I would be crazy if I reacted any other way and would do it the same the second time around. I actually find the hospital brings me a soothing feeling. This Air condition never happend to me as bad as it has been the last couple of days, which i've blamed on quiting smoking, having my lungs heal and try to dispell yucky stuff inside them and not knowing for sure how its suppost to feel to breath normal, what my mind says and what my body needs are usually two different things. Also I wonder if through all this deep breathing your not realizing that your over oxygenationating your blood, throughin the blance of Carbon Manoxide off which makes you feel like you need even more air to componsate... maybe a solution would be to use a paper bag to breath during attacks? If anyone has any other ideas let me know.

Hello again i posted last week.
I was just thinking about everyone with this problem. I feel a health forum because i had twelve years free from it!! Anyway, it's come back for the last few weeks, so i thouhgt i'd try to describe how i've been feeling with it, in case it might help someone understand it a bit more.. I have noticed that my shoulders are very tense, they feel like they are burning. Also i definatley hold my breath and move my chest upwards when i have this problem: this causes me to want to breath more, so i yawn and gulp and the cycle begins. i have not got rid of it yet becauce i am so upset about it happening after twelve years that i keep thinking about it!!!! i hope this is useful. Perhaps we need to find out how tense are chest muscles are and find a way of relaxing them!! I still think that once we are relaxed and don't think about the breathing it will go away. I know it's a chicken and egg situation but i think that this is what the whole problem is. We may not realise that we are stressed or tense about something. Through all thses years of experiance i feel strongly about this. I know people with ashama and lots of the ohter illnesses described on this thread, but nobody has had this horrible breathing problem I would also like so say, that no one will understand it either inless they have been through it.
Bye for now, hope to hear from some of you.

excuse the spelling mistakes eariler was in a bit of a rush

I have been suffering with this for the past two days straight. The first day I was experiencing a yawning sensation without being able to get a full yawn in. I then found myself short of breath and fighting to get a full breath. I started forcing myself to yawn in order to get a full breath but that was only successful 1 out or 6-10 times.

Day 2 I spent doing the same thing. The end of day one left me sleepless until I took some nyquil to force myself to sleep around 6am. The end of day 2 was exactly the same.

This morning (day 3) I woke up and was fine... until I got a stressful phone call that my paycheck wouldn't be in on time and that I was going to have to pull money out of nowhere to pay for bills (STRESS!). After my cousin convinced me to go to the emergency room I finally did. They ran a gamut of tests on me and just as I have always been my whole life, I was healthy as could be. It all comes down to stress (for me at least).

I found that meditation helps but only until more stress interupts and then it's the same thing again. It's a snowball effect. I get stressed, start having trouble about my breathing problem, and then get more stressed about my breathing and it just keeps building and building until I am hyperventilating and can barely get a partial breath. I found that meditation helps. Just turning off everything around you (with the exception of music if that helps). The problem is meditation only helped me while I was meditating.

I have found that Nyquil helps because it puts me to sleep and I don't have to deal with the problem. Smoking cannabis helped me but only for an hour or so. My doctor prescribed me Xanax today to help them problem. I start tonight. We'll see if it works.

-edit-
I have found that cannabis of the indica family are successful with relieving stress. The sativa family could have the opposite effect. You should consult a physician before using cannabis and make sure you are in compliance with your state regulations on medical cannabis use.

I lack the ability to finish a deep breath. I am 38. I have asthma but it doesn't negatively affect my life. I don't notice it 99.5% of the time. I am active and play indoor soccer and ice hockey. My problem started over a year ago after working with a personal trainer. I was face down on an a workout ball and pulling small weights in a rowing motion as I would arch my back through the lift. Since my stomach and chest were pressed into the ball, I couldn't breath too well. The next day I had this problem and I was quite upset about it. I would be able to take a deep breath or yawn on random occations. After about a week or two it went away. It has been over a year and just came back. This time I don't know why. I am able to breath better in the morning right out of bed and it gets progressively worse. I don't know why it came back. I played hockey on Saturday but was fine Sunday. No breathing issues. I don't get winded during normal daily activities. I wish I knew what the cause and/or fix. This is such a frustrating thing to go through.

i just got back from my doctor and he told me that this is allergies exacerbating my asthma. if you have asthma, try getting an allergy medication. i told him that a lot of people on here attribute it to anxiety and he told me that this problem causes anxiety, not the other way around. i'm sure it's the diagnosis for some people, but i know it's not me. i don't feel axious until i realize i can't breathe. anyway, on top of my inhaler and rescue inhaler, i am now taking singulair. hopefully this will help. if it doesn't, he's going to explore the mitral valve prolapse route.

Hello me again,
has anyone who doesn't have medical problems found a way of ridding this problem like i did 12 years ago!!! Unfortunatly i don't seem to be doing a good job myself at the moment. I know i am tense and keep thing about my breathing, cause i'm on this forum so i must be thinking about it!! Been reading a lot about chronic hyperventilation syndrom: I found it very interesting, worth reading about. A lot of my symtoms appear to be caused by hyperventilation. i have ruled out medical issues because i had every test done 12 years ago. Be intesting to hear of any one who has overcome this.

I've been getting that same feeling for the past two days since I moved back into my parent's house for the summer. I haven't had the feeling since I was a teenager (and slept in this same bed) and now I'm 28. I'm going to try paying attention to sleep positions - maybe I sleep differently in this bed than I do elsewhere. Or maybe it's just the stress of being around my parents that's doing it. I'm also studying for the bar exam although I'm not that stressed about that yet.

erica56 wrote:
i have the same problem with not being able to take a deep breath. It's not that I can't inflate my lungs - it's that at the end of the breath, I don't feel my throat expand properly like it does at the end of a good full yawn. When this happens, I try to make myself yawn but I just can't get that full expansion. I too have been unsuccessful in getting a diagnosis from doctors. I was tested for asthma but don't have it. I will have this sensation for hours at a time and it's been going on for years. I'm 27 y.O.


you really sum up exactly what my problem is. In addition to this I just have a generally strange feeling in my throat as though it is swollen or congested. Also, do you know that kind of cough where things are "breaking up" ? well i never get that type of cough anymore. it's always a dry hacking cough. I thought this meant I had a problem with my throat. I went to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist and he said I had a serious heartburn problem that may be causing some throat irritation. but since being on heartburn medication for a while now I still have the same throat/breathing problems. I also have slight asthma but almost never have an "asthma attack" and inhalers (advair and albuterol) seem to have zero effect on my problems getting a full breath of air. I'm starting to think it's just a throat spasm i'll have to live with for the rest of my life. i wonder if i'll just get used to it at some point. I'm 26.

I absolutely agree Grapes!

I have been reading this thread for a few hours now, and am relieved to see SO MANY responses, and most of them pointing to the same thing...stress. I find it very interesting that this thread is still growing after two years. Shows the depth of illness coming from stress, and so many people on the thread (including myself until recenlty) didn't even realize it was creeping up on us, or that it's even the cause of this problem. I came to the realization last weekend after researching the net that I have chronic hyperventilation syndrome (7 years) and breathing pattern disorder (now)as a result of stress and wokring at a computer. I've been on disability from work since 2/1/09 because of it. I have a strong history of anxiety/fear too, and I spent most of the time on the couch, which allowed my breathing to slowly get better. I tried going back to work twice now, part time, but each time it only lasted a few weeks because my breathing would get bad again. Looking back it all makes sense. I work at a computer eight hours a day, transcribing half the day and mousing the other half. The shortness of breath is half related to tense shoulders, which of course happens when you're doing that type of work. I just read on the net about the connection because working all day at a computer and breathing pattern disorder. I've had the job for six years and have woken up with sore, tired upper back the last four or so. I was told that this type of work causes back fatigue, not strengthening, so this has been building for a long time. My problem got REALLY bad a week ago when I spent 1 1/2 days at work trying to work while the whole time rearranging myself to try to breathe. It was challenging, but mostly ridiculous to do that to my body. I left at lunch time and have been paying for it ever since. I can hardly walk at this point since my breathing is basically broken now, so I'm back on the couch.

My history is:
1. Began hyperventilating 7 years ago due to tensing my trunk/stomach/diaphragm, causing hyperventilation/shallow throat breathing.
2. Sore, tired upper back past 4 years.
3. The last few years the first thing I did every morning upon waking was tense up. I now know that I also have a very weakened nervous system, adrenal system, and my cells aren't making energy. Truly, this job (and my life) was too much for me to handle. I have also developed an ulcer recently. (No wonder)
4. Last fall I noticed waking up every day with a sore, tight throat.
5. Quit smoking/alcohol/sugar/wheat mid January in an attempt to rid body of Candida.
6. The final blow...2/1/09 unable to get a deep breath and trip to the ER.

I was diagnosed with GERD during this too, the kind that affects the larynx/vocal cords, so that was what I thought I was dealing with most of the time. Since getting that under control I finally came to realize that this is the real problem, and that GERD is just a bonus problem. ; ) While disabled I lost 35 pounds (lost my appetite/fear of eating/began alkaline diet) I began seeing a naturopath to heal my gut 6 weeks ago, who diagnosed me with all the above health problems. He has me on many supplements, and this month I'm on an anti-allergen diet, including a mercury detox supplement. I suspect the detox has something to do with my very bad episode right now as detoxing usually causes nasty symptoms, including anxiety/muscle tension.

I have had what's called myofascia release since this whole thing began, which loosens tight intercostal muslces in the ribs and that really helps to free up your breathing. I see a OTR for this. I stopped seeing her four weeks ago when I was much better. Now I have to wait another week for an appointment with her, which is killing me, as I know how helpful it will be after the therapy. I highly suggest this to all. I began seeing a physiotherapist last week becuase they're supposed to be the ones to fix screwed up breathing. Unfortunately she doesn't know about breathing pattern disorder, so I don't know how much help she will be. I ordered a book off Amazon called Self-Help for Hyperventilation Syndrome: Recognizing and Correcting Your Breathing Pattern Disorder. Someone else on this thread suggested a CD on the same subject using biofeedback. It's called Breathing for Life by Dr. Erik Peper. Sounds intriguing. Also, the second person to post here suggested putting your finger in your mouth between slightly open lips and it automatically causes you to breath using your diaphragm. It really works. I've been doing it for hours, trying to get the pressure off my larynx, so I can get a deep breath and break this vicious cycle. I have at least stopped hyperventilating and getting some deep breaths. It's a bit of a miracle and I recommend it too. I am focusing most of my efforts on my upper back with self-massage, stretching, free weights to strengthen back, but my back still feels tight, which always made me suspect that upper back muslces are invovled. I also found a website that shows how to use acupressure to decrease anxiety and some back stretches. Will be interesting to see how this works. I have been doing accupuncture for the past two months, and it has definitely helped strengthen my nerves (mentally and physically). My sleep has greatly improved because of it. I don't have increased symptoms when I sleep (thank God) like many people have mentioned here, but my symptoms are bad enough during the day anyways. The more I think about it, the worse it gets. Like most people stated, it goes away when involved in life, but can creep up in the quiet times, or dwelling on it. A couple people mentioned it going away on vacation, or coming on while visiting parents(and only then). Stress, to me, is the obvious answer, esp. since most people say that they don't have asthma, or that their meds don't touch this problem. I've read alot lately that probably most asthma is stress-related also, and overdiagnosed.

I think I've covered most of it, and apologize for such a long post. Please email me with anything you wish to ask/answer, etc. Thanks!

hello gomogo2000
i will write to you a bit more later in the week explaining a few more things about what i think triggers this so called breathing disorder. I just wish to say i'm sorry to read how much you are suffering from this. It's such a frustating condition. Have you read some of the treads in the anxiety forum. There are quite a few people posting on there with this problem!!

I too have been suffering from these same symptoms....The breathing problems started about a year an a half ago. When it first started I was in class and I kept feeling the urge to yawn like I couldn't get air down. But I couldn't yawn and the more and more I tried I became light headed and my body started to tingle and sweat. I was scared to stand up that I might faint....I wound up in the emergency room. They ran all sorts of tests and the only thing they found was that I was hypothyroid, which they claimed wouldn't cause the breathing issue. I have been to my docters over and over they have treated me for anxiety, and asthma and still I have the breathing problems. I have been doing a lot of research because I also have been diagnosed to have autoimmune disease. The less severe form of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and I found that these symptoms are linked to the chronic mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings. WOW!!!! I have had 10 silver fillings since I was 14...I am now 26. Since then I have had some crowned...but I know for sure there were no preventative measures taken during removals. I am now in the process of getting the remaining six fillings replaced with white fillings. The dentists are using a rubber damn for safe removal as well as plenty suction.
I just wanted to spread the knowledge and suggest if you have any silver fillings that you consider removal!!!

hello' me again!
I was not going to write on this thread anymore so that i could stop thinking about this breathing problem. However, there are so many of you out there with this probl;em that i feel i must contribute my experince of it. I still think it's the only way to rid it. Ok, like i said earlier, it's easier said then done. I have been under a lot of pressure lately so i am still experiensing these horrible symptoms. The other day i did 3 hours of gardening, it was great!!! Was relaxed and enjoyed it. No problem with breathing then!!! Sat down for a rest, it came back because i was tired and started yawning so i started the cycle again. It is such a strange experience. It is all i think a balance of relaxation, getting fit, being focused on something else apart from your breathing and getting rid of the stress in your life. Unfortunately it's probably stress that is causing the breathing to start the cycle. It's such a difficult one. I definatley feel worse if i am sitting down not doing anything or if i am bored or stressed out. Hope we all find a good way of curing this problem. It will go away, i know it will, it did for me for 12 years, like i said, i had too much to think about!!! look forward to hearing from you soon

Like you Grapes, this has been an on again off again problem. I have been diagnosed with asthma, as I wheeze occasionally and some tests a few years ago showed it. I think that anxiety is really what is causing the larger issue. I yawn and take shallow breaths to get that "cleansing breath". I find that gardening works as well. The funny thing is when I am working or distracted I am fine, it is when I catch myself thinking about it, it becomes a problem It is nice to know I am not alone. I would keep visiting this site, to reassure your self that you are okay, and like the rest of us, your body is trying to tell you to relax and "smell those flowers."

Hello, Dannybell,
it is nice to hear from somoone who agrees that it is there at it's worst when we think about it!!! This is definatly reasuring. I also think that apart from all the other things i mentioned in my earlier post, that feeling depressed also brings the symptoms on. Today, i went crazy and cleaned my 'flower shop,' (yes i have my own flower shop, you must have knowed!) Again no breathing problems, because i really enjoyed what i did. I was also very busy with work which was not stressful. When we all get these breathing symptoms we should try and think how we were feeling when they happen. Looking back all those years ago, i was depressed and very very anxsious and stressed out. Today the sun is shinning i feel good, with lots of enery. We must all try and be happy, relaxed and think about breathing out insteade of in!! I am sure most of us have cronic hyperventilation syndrome. It will go away!!! Be positve, don,t let it matter, it is the only way out. For those that feel at there worst, it might be worth seeing someone who could help show you how to slow your breathing down. (been reading a lot about this). Bye for now

spelling awful again. Sorry been writing quick, while serving customers!!

Mine started 2/8 went to the ER was told I had nothing wrong with me. Had the heart checked, lungs checked, all fine. THen had an endoscopy and found to have gastritis, swollen esophgus, and hiatal hernia. I have lost 91 lbs since 2/8 BP is normal, I go to a chiropractor, and that was when I noticed a real difference. I take prilosec, eat small meals, walk daily, drink plenty of water, and I bulked up on a liquid vitamin, magnesium, "B" vitamins galore, probiotics in my diet, and am awaiting thyroid test,I have many symptoms of an underactive thyroid and this is indeed linked to that, as well as anxiety, depression, etc, all these things are strangely linked together,

Geoffrey

I can relate to a lot of the same symptoms that many of you are experiencing.
I am now eighteen years old, my breathing problems started when I was in Grade 10, a couple of years back. It happens at random intervals. Sometimes I can go months at a time without having the slightest issue, but it has just gotten a lot worse. I yawn repeatedly, unable to "complete" the yawn by breathing deeply for a minute or more, and until I complete the yawn by inhaling deeply, then exhaling, I can't breathe at all.
When this first started happening, my doctor sent me to all sorts of specialists. I had my bloodwork done, a CT scan, a lung scan, wore a moniter that marked any and all changes in my lungs and heart when I breathed for a week, and all of these showed nothing. Finally, having a drastic attack, I went to the hospital, and underwent numerous tests, including repeated bloodwork, and it showed nothing.
My doctor prescribed a Ventolin diskus, which sometimes helps a little but not really. I also went on hormone pills, in case it was hormone related, but they havent helped. My doctor seems convinced that it is anxiety, but I know it's not. I don't smoke.

Has anyone found any way to cope with this? I'm deeply concerned.