Can't Tolerate Deep Breathing

[Akgirl]

I cannot do deep breathing, or diaphragm breathing. When I do I instantly get faint, my vision gets staticky and I get very spacey. I also feel like this when yawning. Has anyone else experienced this?? Last week in my physical therapy session they asked me to begin belly breathing and I immediately begin feeling unwell, I then fainted and went into convulsions. I am convinced it was from the breathing not tachycardia. Any thoughts??

[lejones1]

I don't know much about deep breathing and the ANS. But I do know that deep breathing can be a seizure trigger - it's one of the things they have you do during an EEG. And your reaction sounds potentially seizure-y. Do you have any history of seizure activity?

I guess one other thing I can think of...deep breathing is supposed to lower your BP. Maybe you're having an exaggerated response and your BP is crashing?

[Akgirl]

Oh ya that makes sense! I do have seizers when fainting but the nuero said they are not true seizers they are actually convulsive syncope. He explained that I am fainting from the pots and the convulsions or seizers are how my body reacts? I had a 3 day hospital veeg and they had me hyperventile to look for abnormal brain activity (I had none) and during thst test i dont think they checked my vitals at that time. Thanks so much

[weathermandj]

I'm not alone then. I get lightheaded when I deep breath and a tiny bit spacey. It sounds like you get a lot more spacey than me. My vision doesn't get staticky either. I was told to practice deep breathing for anxiety relief and this happens to me every time I do it. I keep telling my therapists that deep breathing doesn't do anything for me. Interesting that we both have that!

[jangle]

Probably hyperventilation, you should try yoga type breathing exercises which actually train you to use less air.

[Hope]

I can't sing anymore, or very quickly I'm getting dizzy and grayed vision. This is an improvement. When my symptoms were worse, I couldn't have a conversation without this happening.

[issie]

Stimulates vagus nerve, will lower blood pressure and heart rate. Could be the cause of the dizziness with fast breathing. Like jangle said - there could also be a hyperventilation happening. A while back we had a discussion on this and there seems to be an imbalance in CO2 vs. O2.

My inability to sing is getting better with working on my immune system. I still have to sit to sing - but, can at least sing again.

[brethor9]

me too! I get dizzy and lightheaded just when my doctor checks my lungs at appointments lol

Bren

[pink1975]

Me too! Dizzy and spacey from deep breathing. I can sing still so that a plus since one of our favorite things to do is play Rock Band on our Wii!

[weathermandj]

Probably hyperventilation, you should try yoga type breathing exercises which actually train you to use less air.

The breathing is slow though. Therapists, in the past, have made me do the exercise with them and it causes lightheadedness when I breath in deeply. Yoga is something that I want to look into. The smaller breath exercises seem like a better fit for me, perhaps.

[Akgirl]

I hooked up to my pulse reader and did various types of breathing and yawning and I instantly go into tacky when I deep breath of any kind?? I feel the effects after the second breath so I don't think it's hyperventilation. I also followed the steps for yoga breathing and had the same results. Grrr I am so sick of pots, it feels like this sickness is never ending.....

[weathermandj]

I hooked up to my pulse reader and did various types of breathing and yawning and I instantly go into tacky when I deep breath of any kind?? I feel the effects after the second breath so I don't think it's hyperventilation. I also followed the steps for yoga breathing and had the same results. Grrr I am so sick of pots, it feels like this sickness is never ending.....

Yup. Exactly what happens to me too. May be POTS then? I never thought about it much until you created this thread. It's interesting...

[seattle chris]

The deep breathing test I did during my last round of autonomic testing was disastrous. I felt light headed and upon recovery thought my head was going to explode. One of the worst things I have ever gone through.

[Akgirl]

Seattle Chris, did they say why?? It's so hard for me to wrap my head around this. Everything I read online says that yoga breathing helps with venous flow??

[seattle chris]

Akgirl - The frustrating thing was that I didn't receive much feedback from on my horrific symptoms. The test results indicated mild sympathetic dysfunction (based on heart rate and blood pressure), but nothing was recorded regarding my symptoms (how I felt). The physician thought I was crazy when I grabbed my head but wasn't overly concerned as the vital signs didn't indicate anything concerning. My doctor didn't know I had these feelings and didn't have much commentary when I explained the issue. I made a trip to the Cleveland Clinic last week and the doctor didn't have much feedback regarding this either. I am having some other testing done next month so perhaps some kind of clues will be revealed (but I am not getting my hopes up).

[Chaos]

Have the same issue myself. Every time I have to "breathe deep" for a doctor to check my lungs, I get so lightheaded, I feel like I will pass out.

I did/taught yoga for 15 years prior to getting ill and still do some of the yoga breathing but can't tolerate a lot of the patterns because it triggers these same reactions. Like Hope said, when I was first ill, conversations caused me to have these symptoms. On a good day, even doing my best "breath control" while attempting to sing, I have real challenges even while sitting down.

http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hyperventilation_-_makes_you_feel_as_if_you_can%27t_get_your_breath

Just from a biological point of view, I thought the above link had some interesting points about how our lungs help balance CO2 and O2.