Welcome,

I am sorry to hear what you have been going through. Having fears around breathing sounds very scary. Have you talked to your doctor about your concerns? Having more evidence to disprove your fears may help to alleviate them. Also, have you thought about speaking to a counselor about this? As this is effecting your life so often it might be a good idea to get help in taking control of the anxiety now.  

It concerns me that you say sometimes you think you can't do this anymore. It is normal to have those thoughts and feelings when we are struggling but it is important to not deal with this alone. If you ever have those thoughts again I encourage you to call the crisis line in your area. They have people there who can work through grounding exercises with you and help support you emotionally. Also, if you ever have serious thoughts of harming yourself please call 911 or tell someone you trust. Please don't be alone in those very scary feelings.

In controlling the anxiety, relaxation techniques and working on challenging your anxious thought will help with practice. What relaxation techniques have you tried or are considering trying? When we are very anxious we have less ability to think rationally; so, it is important to relax first before we start trying to change our thinking. When you are a bit calmer try working through these questions:

Also, ask yourself what advice would you give to a friend if they were going through the same thing? I find it surprising how many people have the answers within themselves but often do not give themselves the same amount of compassion as we give our friends and loved ones.

What are your thoughts on all this? It has been a few days since you posted last. How are you feeling today? 

Ashley, Health Educator

I just started this program a week ago and so far it has been okay. I'm 26 and have always had anxiety and depression but have been able to manage it. The past few months have been extremely difficult for me to the point where I had to take a month off work and begin taking medication (ciprolax). It started with me getting a bad panic attack at work and I felt I couldn't breathe. For the first month I was getting panic attacks multiple times a day and always having a feeling like I couldn't breathe properly or wasn't getting enough air. This made me so depressed that all I wanted to do was sleep and couldn't bring myself to go outside. I finally had to pull myself out of it because I got offered a new job somewhere else. The medication at this point began to start helping. The past four weeks I have still been struggling with a lot of crying and feeling overwhelmed with my anxiety. I have moments throughout the day where I feel like I get sensations that I will stop breathing or that I am not breathing right. This sometimes causes a panic attack (I get them every few days now). It has become so frustrating that I had to take two days off because I couldn't stop crying and didn't want to leave my bed. I constantly think about my breathing and it has become an obsession that I can't seem to break. I was hoping someone could give me some advice if they have been through this before. I get moments where I feel like I can't do this anymore and I can't live my life like this or I'll just go insane. I can't enjoy things I used to do because my mind is always racing.