Air hunger please help

[lacylay66]

I really need advice, I suffer with anxiety however it’s not a consistent thing, I am just a bit of a worrier is all… 3 weeks ago I experienced for the first time ‘air hunger’ i was worried over something in my life at the time and attributed it to that and it actually ended up going after a couple of days. Fast forward to now, 6 days ago it came back and this time MUCH worse and even painful… I was consistently yawning, monitoring my breathing in my mind and thinking omg I can’t breathe it led to me even having multiple feelings of passing out, it was and still is to now incredibly intense, I feel so short of breath, my chest wall is now really sore because of my constant deep breaths and yawning, my upper back is also hurting me now, I feels like deep muscle aches. I’ve been panicking about it everyday I’m scared to do anything and I have feelings like I’m suffocating almost and it lasts for a few seconds and omg the panic!!! It’s AWFUL. I have an oximeter and my oxygen levels are perfect, my heart rate is also perfect, my temp is consistently around 36.8-37 and has stayed like this throughout these last 6 days. I took the plunge and decided to see my doctor today, unfortunately it was a bank doctor who was covering for illness and he didn’t really seem like he knew what he was saying, he checked everything anyway my vitals were all normal as they are with my own equipment aswell, he even commented on my oxygen levels and he said your oxygen levels are brilliant btw, 99 very good, he then said So I’ve listened to your chest, took your vitals, everything looks good to me I don’t see any red flags so I said I’m wondering if it’s something underlying he said well to be honest as I said, I see no red flags your vitals are very good, you don’t sound short of breath to me and I said yes but I feel it, I feel like I’m suffocating and he said I understand and then asked if there’s anything particular I’m worried about and I said well no I’m just scared I can’t breath and I’m having sore chest because of it and then I said can you tell me if you feel I need to go to a&e and he said I can see you are distressed and again I will reiterate I don’t see red flags. So I said ok are you able to please give me something for the anxiety of this and he prescribed an anti depressant. I left feeling so defeated like I’m not sure what to do, I felt because he was a bank doctor he didn’t organise any potential bloods or even a scan for me so I don’t have to go a&e. As I type this I have tears running down my face as the feeling is so REAL. I have gone 6 days with this so theoretically if it was serious it would have got way worse by now, right? - Ive created an account on here because I’m honestly so scared, I don’t have family to speak to about this and my best friend lives two hours away so it’s not like she can just come over and be here with me. I genuinely feel like something is wrong but to go a&e and sit there all night (I live in a town that is highly populated with little resources) I’d genuinely be there all night and I feel like they may just send me home. I’m hoping someone out there may be or may have experienced something like this and can advise me or even just offer some support. I ordered food earlier and felt so lightheaded answering the door and took a big yawn and I just cried after taking the food, I’m constantly crying over this. It’s hell and I don’t know my mind is saying it can’t be anxiety because why do I feel like I’m suffocating? Surely it shouldn’t feel this real or this bad but then the rational side of me is saying I’ve seen a practicing doctor and he didn’t seem concerned 💔😭 thank you for reading this far, I’m sure my rambling I probably sound mad lol but I’m genuinely terrified I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life.

OP if you need to go back it is to get help with your anxiety which is out of control. Your body is healthy and has been checked. Anxiety = yawning. Stress = yawning. Rapid breathing =stress = yawning.

You need yoga and slow, slow breaths. Keep lengthening your exhale and breathe slowly and quietly in. You aren’t short of air you are just in panic.

Do speak to your gp if not better but listen if they again think it’s your anxiety.

Surely you recognise that you are not in a life-threatening position. The doctor (who was a medical professional, not some work placement sixth-former) has confirmed this. Your anxiety is driving the air hunger, which, if you can calm down and think rationally, is not going to kill you. So taking yourself to A&E is not only a waste of your time, but of the NHS. I'd try the antidepressants you've been prescribed AND make another appointment with your GP to deal with your anxiety. I wish you well and hope you can get yourself to a calm state by slow and controlled breathing or by just ignoring the yawning for breaths.

It sounds like you’re having panic attacks caused by your anxious state of mind. They can manifest into physical symptoms and are pretty common to be honest.

Have you considered trying hypnosis if you don’t want to take the anti depressants?

A good hypnotist should be able to help you figure out the cause and alleviate them to a large extent and give you some coping mechanisms for the future.

I agree with PP, you are having panic attack type symptoms and this is psychosomatic. What do you normally do to manage your anxiety? Try some box breathing, guided meditation/visualisation exercises ( you can look on YouTube) etc.

I get this when my acid reflux is playing up, along with belching a lot. It's a pain but sortable.

Those symptoms could also be low iron or ferritin. I’d ask to get your bloods taken and check everything. I thought I was upset anxious with air hunger. Turns out it got better after taking iron tablets.

Get your Ferritin (iron) level checked out, I had horrible air hunger and anxiety when mine was 7. It’s supposed to be 70-100! Hope you find out what’s wrong and feel better soon.

My rational side is saying yes surely it is not an emergency but I’m in a lot of pain and I’m so fixated on my breathing. It’s really awful. I’m going to start the anti depressants tomorrow but I keep panicking if I’m safe because I literally feel like I’m suffocating

I don’t tend to experience physical symptoms of anxiety, it usually passes after a chat with chat gpt this is the first time ever that I have experienced air hunger so I don’t even know how to control it 😭

Should I write to them again Monday? I have checked the symptoms of low iron, but the only thing that would fit is my diet as I don’t really eat iron rich foods, I don’t have history of iron problems or any in the family or any gyno issues that would contribute to a low iron nor am I pregnant, I wonder though…

Start taking the anti depressants, which ones are they? You'll need ones that focus mainly on anxiety. This is classic panic attack stuff. Its very distressing and frightening.

Put your energies into focusing on reducing your anxiety and feeling more in control when you get the panic and 'air hunger' symptoms. If you dont have any other symptoms of iron deficiency, its likely to be the more obvious culprit - anxiety.

Nothing wrong with seeking bloods in due course but dont focus overly on this, seek strategies for managing the anxiety.

Air hunger is the most debilitating symptom caused by my low ferritin, which coincidentally causes anxiety symptoms too. Definitely get your ferritin checked.

Sertraline 20mg

Yeah I’d definitely ask to get your bloods checked. Mine I had to keep taking deep breaths and wondered why I was so anxious. I’ve had really bad anxiety in the past so it wouldn’t have been a surprise. But then I had bloods done and took iron tablets and felt loads better!

And if it’s not that, at least you’ll know it’s probably anxiety and can look at managing that instead.

I’m not sure my doctor will do it as I checked the notes of the GP, they wrote ‘patient looks physically struggling with mental health’ not sure what that means…. Bit of an insult I feel 🤣but they said that and also wrote ‘patient seems to be very distressed/mental health seems to be culprit’ no further tests needed.’

I use chatgpt to help me through guided breathing, particularly box-breathing. It’s been a lot worse this week with a lot of covid symptoms coupled with an increase in stressful family situation. It’s very uncomfortable, and alarming at times.

As well as breathing, the fluttery panicky feeling reduces with distraction of audiobook or mindless tv in the background.

You need a short course of diazepam to help with your panic. Worth getting iron checked as a pp mentioned but the diazepam will relax you enough to so you get some respite from the constant anxiety in the meantime

There are at home test kits to check iron I think. Don't know how accurate they are though. Seems to be resting kits for all sorts since COVID days.

It's not really an insult, but an observation that most of the PP commenting on your thread are also picking up on. Do try the antidepressants over the weekend at least and make an appointment to talk to your GP about your mental health. If it is, as most of us here suspect, due to anxiety, then the doctor who wrote that you were "physically struggling with mental health" is correct. As a child, I used to have panic attacks in the evening where I was experiencing air hunger. I thought I was dying each time it would happen. My father would sit with me and breathe with me, telling me that if I was truly not getting enough breath, that I would not be able to hear him. You need something or someone to get you to regulate your breathing and to tell you that you're not dying. If you have no one around you, use some of the advice PP have given you about distracting yourself and trying some guided breathing.

Hi OP. I couldn’t no respond as I suffered with the exact same thing about 10 years ago. It was horrendous and there were multiple times I drove myself to A and E and one time I called an ambulance as I genuinely thought I was dying. It was anxiety. The breath hunger and over breathing leading to an awful pain in my chest and back was horrendous. You have my sympathies. However, I’m writing this as it was “only” anxiety and has completely gone away. I wish someone at the time had told me that it can’t hurt me and it will pass and it is nothing to worry about. I found getting into a good pattern with daily meditation helped- I was NOT the meditating type. I used headspace and did their anxiety meditation course where the speaker educates you about anxiety and the physical sensations it can cause.

ten years later and if it crops up now I just notice the feeling, label it as uncomfortable and sit with it. It will go away I promise. Sitting with it is the key, don’t try to get it to go away. Sit with the sensation, acknowledge it as uncomfortable and then move on. Even if at first you are doing this 100 times a minute like I did.

I second this. Get your bloods checked.

Hi op.

I had this. You need to learn to breathe into your diaphragm.

This is what I had to do, and now at the first sign of it, I stop what my GP called hyperventilating or over - breathing, and instead I purposefully breathe into my stomach. I make my belly button rise with every slow breath.

I also count 5 in and 8 out.

At my worst my lips went numb, my nose was tingling and I had pins and needles in my hands. This is 14yrs ago and I'm fine now!

@littlecreeature my GP suggested headspace when it happened to me 14yrs ago. I absolutely loved it. Was very sad when he sold up and his voice wsdnt on the meditations anymore.

Op, I highly recommend Michael Galyon on YouTube for some calm guided meditations. His voice is melty.

Goodness, I'd have hit the roof if someone wrote that in my notes.