Always looking for something

[Rocco 0]

Hey! So I suffer from panic attack and main fear is a breathing obsession! Does any1 else suffer from yourself always looking for somthin wrong with yourself iv been doing it a lot lately also I have been panic free from a year till 2 weeks ago I had a relaspe

[Gilly 1086]

Yep, but anxiety will make you do that, you're anxious, why? You have physical symptoms, so that must mean there is something physically wrong? Right? That is what anxious thoughts tell us, but that doesn't make them true. It can be hard to overcome them and be rational when you are in an anxious mindset.

[Rocco 0]

Ye it's soo hard I'm telling myself there's ntin wrong yet I still get anxious! The breathing thing is the hardest to forget about

[Always-onguard 20]

Yeah same here Rocco. I'm always searching for an answer. I have some weird breathing issues as well with my anxiety.

[Rocco 0]

How do u deal with it?

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi Rocco. We have to disbelieve our own senses that tell us we have a physical problem. I have said before that nervous illness can mimic any physical symptom and, as we are so suggestible, that can mean anything someone tells us or we see or read about. Breathing is THE most fundamental of all man's physical requirements and when that seems to go wrong we can get really upset. But it is caused by the restriction we cause in our chest muscles due to tension. I have felt, in the past, as if I was suffocating and that can really be frightening but I know that if it occurs again what the cause is so it loses a lot of it's ability to scare me. Accept it FOR THE MOMENT. If your GP has told you you are OK then believe him/her and go about your business with the symptom there but make it less scary by realising that it is 'nerves' and that it won't harm you. Searching for reasons is such a waste of time and effort. Does it matter when we know the reason? The trouble is we don't believe it do we? We are convinced it is some terrible disease the doctors are not telling us about. What fertile minds we have.    Jon.

[Always-onguard 20]

I agree with Jon but it's hard for me to just let go. I keep searching but my symptoms of shortness of breath never match anything I look at. With mine it feels like my airways open too much and I can't feel the breath go in and out. Sort of like my nasal pasagaesand lungs are coated with something that won't allow the friction between the air and the tissues. It not a classic rapid breathing or tightness in my throat. That's what I have such a hard time conveying. Its not like i have a blockage itmore like its an over dialation of my airways.

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi Always. I am not suggesting you just 'let go'. If it were that easy there would be no need for sites like this.  By going into your problem in detail and trying to find the cause and answers you accentuate the feelings. You can't ignore them either. Were it so easy. BUT, you can accept them as part of the nervous reactions you have to fear because fear is at the root of all our troubles. If we didn't fear the symptoms then they would gradually recede because they feed on our fear of them. We need to go with the symptoms. Not fight them, struggle with them, or continually try to find an answer.  I suggest that once we have been cleared as OK physically by our medics then we accept the symptoms and try and take the fear out of them then they just become a nuisance; no more than that. By the way, I hope you don't Google. Anyone caught Googling on this site is told off!!    Looking up symptoms to a nervous person is like stoking the fires of anxiety. We are not medically trained. Diagnosis is best left to those who know.    Regards.   Jon.

[Always-onguard 20]

Well I do Google. All the time. I just have to find out what's wrong. Sometimes drs just pass things of as anxiety while not listening.

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi Always. The problem with Dr.Google is not that he is saying what is untrue it is the interpretation of what he says that can cause a problem with the nervously ill. Take a headache. It is one of the most common human maladies and could be anything from a brain tumour to the start of a cold. Without the knowledge and the presence of other symptoms most of us, because of our susceptibility, assume it's a brain tumour and start to worry all the more which adds to our anxiety. A diagnostician spends five years at medical school, three years internship and a lot of time learning in between yet we question them. They don't always get it right but good news is not news and the hundreds of thousands of successful operations go unnoticed while the odd one that goes wrong gets blazing headlines. If they don't seem sympathetic it may be that they are fed up with being doubted all the time.  I was an electrical engineer. If someone kept doubting my decisions would I have stayed in the job? No way.  Why do we frighten ourselves? Because we seek reassurance and that is only natural but constantly seeking it is not good for our mental health. Once told we are physically OK we have to believe it; we have no alternative. Anyway, my computer is set to self destruct if it goes anywhere near Dr. Google.     Jon.

[Rocco 0]

Thanks guys up stop googling so haha! Feel better cuz the meds I'm taking ease the systoms I suffer from an I try to distract myself from the breathing an nausea an wen I do it right I'm fine!

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi Rocco. Taking your mind off your problems is fine. If we can just forget ourselves for five minutes then we have achieved something. Build on that. Five minutes; ten, then all day. It can be done. The realisation that you can do that gives you a head start.  Good luck.   Jon.