hyperventilation?!
Mar. 13th, 2003 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baratronNow 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-13 06:17 am (UTC)I agree especially with the 'doesn't require meds or invasive stuff to try and fix' - I also find myslef with lung stuff that when there's an improvement, it's pretty obvious to me that there *is* an improvement fairly quickly (a matter of a few days, not weeks or anything)
As for learning how to do it - yeah, that takes practice. And it's annoying. But it can be done. One thing I've found useful in readjusting my own breathing practices is really basic breath-counting meditation work - basically, I inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, and hold for four counts. (This is not natural human breathing rhythym, by the way - especially the 'hold' bit. But doing it apparently realigns your body in interesting ways. And I know that doing it for a few minutes a day makes a bigger difference in the rest of my day than I'd expected - I haven't had a significant asthma problem in the 14 months or so I've done regular breathing work, and only used my inhaler I think 4-5 times in that time.)
I agree with the 'get a referral to someone who can help with specifics' though.