hyperventilation?!

[baratron]

Now that was... not what I was expecting.

My doctor reckons that 90% of the symptoms I've been complaining about are due to something called hyperventilation occulta, or unseen hyperventilation. I am unconvinced. Exceedingly unconvinced. But reading about it on the web, it does seem to be a real thing.

I didn't think I hyperventilated, but apparently you're only supposed to breathe 12-14 times per minute. What? I normally breathe at least once per second. You mean that's not normal? I'm sitting here now trying to breathe only through my nose, and finding it really damned hard - I think normally I breathe through my nose and mouth together. I feel as though I'm not getting enough oxygen, and desperately wanting to open my mouth and gasp for breath, but apparently that's the worst thing I could do.

How am I supposed to learn to breathe a different way? (Semi-rhetorical question - one of the links above talks about a course for people with asthma to learn to stop hyperventilating). Huh.

Comments

breathing

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

I had that for a while just before my finals, which my GP reckoned was causing pins and needles in my hands and episodes of weakness, etc. Which sounds like the more recent part of your symptoms, is that right?

The remedy was to breathe into a paper bag each time I felt panicky/lightheaded/tingly - the CO2 conc increases so you're effectively breathing less, but less awkward than trying to change your breathing habits while panicking/feeling lightheaded/tingly. The long thin stiff bags you get prescribed pills in worked best.

Sounds worth a try.

Re: breathing

[mhw.livejournal.com]

That's one of the breathing techniques we were taught in our anxiety classes, and, by golly, it's worked wonders for me!