Breathless from Anxiety

Since seventh grade, I knew I had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). While the other students enjoyed lunch, I’d struggle to get through the rest of an assignment. Almost every word looked imperfect, causing me to cross-out and rewrite them multiple times. Bubbled tests took on their own rigorous nightmare. During this period, I experienced other rituals like symmetry and tapping to eight – on different objects (to prevent undesirable events from happening). Over the years the focus shifted to the fear of gaining weight, to the avoidance of germs and chemicals, among countless others.

When anything felt out of control, I leaned on obsessions and compulsions to lessen the discomfort. Though this cycle kept me stuck, it eased the unbearable, painful feelings for a moment, which brought the adrenaline back down – at least until a year ago.

‘I Can’t Take Full Breaths’

One day after work, I met my boyfriend at a local health food store. Everything seemed normal, until I got out of the car and started walking. Out of nowhere my chest tightened, and my heart raced out of rhythm. The parking lot appeared distant and dream-like, but I concluded that I simply needed water and food to calm down. Inside the store, the light-headedness and tight chest worsened, so we quickly grabbed the items and headed to the benches. As I picked up  a piece of sushi, my hand began to tremble. I rubbed water on my neck and face, but it didn’t help this time. Out of desperation, I stood  up and paced, when all of a sudden a wave of electrical shocks vibrated from my shoulders down to my fingertips. Both arms jolted around, as my breathing became labored. In an attempt to ground myself, I crouched down onto the concrete, only to experience the whole right side of my body go numb. Tears welled up, as I asked my  boyfriend to call 911.

After the paramedics conducted tests, they concluded that the intense physical symptoms likely resulted from a panic attack. Though the news eased my mind and most of the symptoms were resolved, I still  couldn’t take in full breaths. The medical assistant taught me box breathing, but each time I tried to take in a deep breath, my lungs cut off mid-inhale.

Earlier that week I watched a video by a somatic experiencing practitioner, who claimed you can induce a heart attack by hyperventilating. Looking back, I believe hearing this caused me to hyper-fixate on breathing long after the panic attack. The paramedic assured me that you’d fall unconscious and your subconscious would regulate breathing well before a heart attack could happen. Still, I could not take full, satisfying breaths the rest of that day, which turned into weeks.

Searching for Answers

That night, after relentlessly diagnosing myself with several diseases I finally fell asleep. With my active brain turned off, breathing must have occurred naturally. The following morning, however, my lungs began cutting off mid-inhale. Every so often I would achieve a full breath, but very infrequently. Another major panic attack happened that day, which caused my breathing to become even more labored. This time, I  drove to urgent care – the doctor said my oxygen levels looked  normal, and my lungs and heart sounded fine. She prescribed an antihistamine for anxiety, and said to go to the ER if my breathing doesn’t improve in the next few days.

After the medicine kicked in, I experienced nausea and a dry mouth, but the dyspnea stayed the same. At this point, I thought there must be a blockage in my lungs or a heart arrhythmia. The ER specialists conducted more tests (even checking for a viral infection), and again, everything came back normal. Though this felt relieving, I  left more confused and scared with no explanation.

Back at home, I searched online for anxiety-induced shortness of breath, which is also called air hunger. As I read forums filled with other’s stories, I felt more hopeless. One sufferer said that they’ve had air hunger for ten years, another said it’s been twenty years, and so on. I couldn’t believe this terrifying new reality may be for the rest of my life. Not willing to accept this, I researched for advice from anyone that’s overcome this ailment. I found several strategies, and I can confidently say I no longer struggle with constant air hunger. When it starts to rise up, there are tools to disarm the sensation before it takes over.

Solutions that Work

Here are two strategies I found to help with anxiety-induced shortness of breath.

Nose Breathe Technique

When you’re anxious, you’re more likely to over-breathe through the mouth, which causes a dysfunctional breathing pattern. This disregulation lowers carbon-dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood stream, making your body more sensitive to any increase in CO2. Your cells  absorb oxygen, and they give off CO2. Howard Cooper, a leading ‘Rapid Change’ therapist in the UK, explains that the trick to improving air-hunger is to build up your tolerance to slightly higher levels of CO2 over time to “give your body an opportunity to acclimatize”.

An exercise he demonstrates is called the Nose Breathe Technique. First, you want to use a control pause to figure out how much carbon dioxide you can tolerate. You breathe in the nose, then out, and  following the out-breath you’ll pinch your nose and count to the  number of seconds before there’s a definite urge to breathe again.  Then, cut that number in half, so if the number was 20 seconds, you will work with 10 second breath-holds. Cooper suggests to alternate between taking a couple of breaths in and out through the nose, and holding and pinching your nose on your second breath out for a couple of minutes. Afterwards, go about your business, but repeat this cycle 5 to 6 times a day. Every 3 to 4 days, try to increase the control pause. An additional benefit is that nose breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the body’s ability to  relax and reduce stress.

Run/Exercise

Trey Jones, a mental health advocate and YouTuber, recommends matching the body’s survival-state energy (fight-flight) by exercising. When feeling threatened, your body naturally wants to run away (flee), or fight something off. Staying still while under intense stress, your  body will tense up as it pumps more blood to pertinent organs, making  it more likely to hyperventilate. Jones says that exercise “opens up the lungs and breathing cavity, reduces tension, and clears your mind which is huge”. Though moving around while you’re feeling panicked  may sound scary, if you’ve been cleared by a doctor to exercise, there’s nothing to fear, and you’ll find that breathing becomes more natural and full.