Day 7 Weird Symptoms

After coming home from fishing I started to feel like I had a hard time breathing. Only it was the perception of having a hard time breathing not the actual thing. Not sure if this makes sense. It was a sensation.

The sensation went away before bed and then came back the next night around the same time it came on before. What is different than my usual is that around 6pm I normally have a panic attack or panic sensation. 3 years ago I had a panic attack at 6pm and for the next 2.5 years I would get this sense of dread around the same time. Only this time I decided to go out and see a play. The panic didn't come at all. After the movie though the sensation of not being able to breathe came on. It lasted about 3 hours again. It wasn't real but my brain was really latching on to this one and I started to get a panic sensation etc. Finally I just let it be and it would go away then come back.

Today the sensation came back, this time it was earlier. I allowed it to happen and again my brain fixated on it like a symptom. Intrusive thoughts came and I almost wondered if maybe there was something wrong. I decided nah, screw you Im going to go to the gym and run. I ran, and at the 20 min mark, the sensation would come and go. Obviously there is nothing wrong with my breathing since I ended up running for 30 mins from 7-9mph and did a few rounds of sprints. I was totally fine but the sensation would still come and go and my brain would fixate. Finally I thought "whatever stay or go I dont care"

I decided to hit the weights. I hit them hard. This part was great because I continued to realize what paper tigers panic attacks and anxiety are. Nothing more than adrenaline. I felt out of breathe, hot, shaky and mild nausea from the hard work out, it felt ....just like a panic attack! The work of adrenaline. I told my brain "c'mon you can dish out a long ass panic attack and you can't take 30 mins of weights?" I was getting angry now. I did one last set. I finally felt like I was really going to hurl.

I left with the feeling that I had really seen behind the curtain and the sensation of not being able to catch my breathe left...until I got home 40 mins later. I didn't matter, it showed itself to be some kind of symptom or whatever it is.

Victory for the night even if the symptoms comes back.

 

Yay! I have panic like breathing episodes too. I find they the hardest symptom for me to remain calm about as they are the most uncomfortable. However, I have seen many episodes come and go so quick like you to know there is nothing really wrong. I find it helps when I have these "victories" to write them down on a list. So, if the symptoms returns worse and doubt creeps in, you can remind yourself of the truth.

 

I read someone post about this somewhere and they said just practice belly breathing until your brain starts to do it on its own. It’s kind of like if you monitor your breathe, something that should happen naturally, you make it more unnatural the more you monitor. But your brain will soon remember when we sort of ignore the symptom and our natural state returns.