Help For Fast Breathing

[Radha]

when i get a hyper, adrenaline surge, i have a very hard problem, hard time handling the fast breathing like you are running, but i am just lying down, i try to distract myself and take deep slow breaths but nothing helps, any suggestions or ways to help slow it down quicker? thanks, this is really exhausting!

radha

[juliegee]

Hi Radha,

I'm a newbie, so forgive me if my suggestions are old news to you. I've had the same thing happen to me when I was in the hospital with really bad tachy- 180-200bpm. I was breathing really fast and the ER doc said I was having a panic attack. The only thing I was paniced about was my out of control HR! It seems to me that it's a chicken or egg question- which came first? Chances are your fast HR is what's causing the rpid breathing. Mt doc has recommended bearing down like you are about to have a BM to slow the HR. It seems to help. When my HR is slowed, my breathing returns to normal. Hope this helps.

Julie

when i get a hyper, adrenaline surge, i have a very hard problem, hard time handling the fast breathing like you are running, but i am just lying down, i try to distract myself and take deep slow breaths but nothing helps, any suggestions or ways to help slow it down quicker? thanks, this is really exhausting!

radha

[Dizzy Dame]

I lay down, elevate my legs and force myself take slow, deep breaths (I have a way of counting to keep them slow...I count "one-onethousand, two-onethousand" when I breathe in, hold it for one second, then breathe out for four seconds). Most of the time it's a matter of waiting out my surges, but if I allow myself to breathe too quickly (like my body wants to) then I make things worse. It may be difficult to force yourself to breathe slowly when this happens, but for me that's the only way to keep the surges from going out of control.

Hope this helps!

-Lauren

[cardiactec]

mack's mom, when your rates were 180-200, what did they diagnose? just panic? do you have POTS? inappropriate sinus tachy?

[kmpower]

Dear Radha,

There is a very cool instrument, called RespErate. They sell it to lower BP (I know, I know, it seems inappropriate here, but...) but it actually works by lowering the rate of respiration. You wear a little strap around your belly (like a heart monitor but it measures repiratory movement) and it feeds into a small unit which you hold.

Using very pleasant musical harmonies, it guides you to very gradually slow down your breathing. The pacing is important, because if you were to try to slow down your breathing too quickly, your body would feel out-of-breath and you would automatically try to "catch up".

http://www.resperate.com/

I think I have heard it is the only FDA approved nonpharmaceutical treatment for BP.

Anyway, even if the instrument is not for you, try being very gradual and maybe find some music which helps for background.

Best wishes.

OLL

[Radha]

thanks so much to all of you for your suggestions, i really appreciate it, i wish you all well and hope you get some relief soon, yes when my heart rate slows down the breathing slows down too, i am not panicked or upset at the time, i will look into the resperate machine, thanks again

radha

[sstephan]

I know how you feel. I hate it when I can't slow my breathing down. I just try to stay calm and know that this too will pass.

[Guest dionna]

i actually have the opposite feeling. i feel as if i can't breath at all. hmmm... i don't which would be worse. i am sorry that you all have to go through that. but i do hope that you all get better and to radha i hope the others advice helped you out so you can get to feeling better faster. take care.

dionna

[Guest Anne L]

when i get a hyper, adrenaline surge, i have a very hard problem, hard time handling the fast breathing like you are running, but i am just lying down, i try to distract myself and take deep slow breaths but nothing helps, any suggestions or ways to help slow it down quicker? thanks, this is really exhausting!

radha

Radha,

In the ER we had a patient who was breathing too fast breathe into a small paper bag. That helps change your oxygen-carbon dioxide ratio, and it's especially useful if rapid respirations cause tingling or chest pain.

Anne L

[persephone]

I wholeheartedly recommend REsperate- it is GREAT. Really works well and is worth it.

[Radha]

actually there are times i have difficulty just getting a deep breath, and then other times breathing too fast, i use oxygen at home and that does seem to help, i was looking at the resperate but it is so expensive, do you really think its worth it? thanks again for all your concern and ideas, i cant tell you how much i appreciate all your help

radha

[persephone]

I paid ?120 (about $250?) for mine. It was worth every penny.

[Radha]

thanks for replying and letting me know its worth all the money for the resperate, take care

radha