Tell me airhunger will go away!

Now two years of airhunger some days are better than others! It’s not my lungs all five drs say I’m fine!!!  Old news I don’t feel fine. Looking for hope or reassurance it will go away. I’m almost six years off in dec!

Thank you, moderators, for allowing "success stories" like this one.

I just developed this not too long ago. It's so much worse with the mask on!! I feel it in my stomach, and it feels like I'm suffocating. I really feel for you having it so long. I'm always thinking about my breath now.

 

Where do you feel it?

Air hunger has been one of my absolute worst symptoms since I took my last benzo last August. I finally decided to stop drinking coffee a few days ago and I haven't had air hunger since. For me, it was like no matter what I did, I could not get a satisfying breath, and then the more I would ruminate about it, the worse it would get, but then there were times when I was busy doing something or totally preoccupied and I would forget all about it, which made me believe that the air hunger is due to anxiety. I relentlessly searched for posts related to air hunger and it is a pretty common symptom and for the most part, from what I have read it has to do with anxiety (even if you aren't feeling anxious!). I dropped the coffee because I would notice that it would get bad for me shortly after my morning and then after my afternoon coffee. I'm stubborn and LOVE coffee so it took me a while to reconcile with the connection, but coffee just makes my nervous system too anxious which is likely why I was experiencing the air hunger.

 

If you aren't consuming caffeine, maybe there is something else in your life that you are consuming or experiencing that is amplifying your anxiety? I think even sodas have enough caffeine in them to trigger it, but I'm not a soda drinker so I wouldn't know.

Thank you for your comment about coffee. I no longer drink it, though the air hunger started after coffee. I do think the cause is anxiety-related. I, too, find that when I'm absorbed in something, suddenly I don't have it. When I think about it, that thought can grow until it's out of control.

 

I never before understood what air hunger was, but now I definitely know, and it's AWFUL.