Difficulty breathing

I am having this symptom pretty badly again. It has been happening when I first wake up. I feel like I am kinda hyperventilating. It had gone away a long time ago and only recently started happening again. I have been making small cuts to my propranolol/inderal doses but I would be surprised if cutting a few mg would do that. It is extremely uncomfortable when it happens. Do you guys get that? Earlier on in withdrawal is was more like I couldn't get a deep breath and my lungs felt collapsed but now it is more like hyperventilation and they are collapsed to a lesser degree.

Drak i was just coming on to post this very same question. I am having the feeling of not getting enough oxygen and im constantly trying to take deep breaths but not being satisfied! Then my anxiety gets bad and i feel even more short of breath !

I had this feeling for a few weeks after I jumped as well as a few times throughout my taper.  All I could do is reassure myself OVER AND OVER again that it was just w/d and that I was going to be okay.  I was always getting scared that I was going to be getting pneumonia or bronchitis (something I use to get yearly it seemed) and that I'd end up on antibiotics.  When I panicked it would get 10x worse...so if I could just talk myself through it and accept it as just w/d, then it would pass eventually.  I don't have any other advice but that unfortunately, so I hope that helps a bit.  I know it's a very uncomfortable feeling. 

 

All the best,

Schatje

This is odd. I've had a mild version of this "air hungry" feeling before I took the benzos, just from pure anxiety.

 

But, it got MUCH worse about 3 months after I finished my taper. So, I'm inclined to believe after reading here that

it may indeed be related to WD.

 

For me, it's a difficulty getting my lungs (so it feels) to open up fully. It's like I'm chasing that big, full breath that

doesn't happen. It feels like a tightness or a tension, which is why I assume it's anxiety-related... but perhaps made worse

by WD.

 

I'm approaching 5 months off... and it's finally getting a little better. This past week, I've been able to take that deep, comfortable

breath much more often.

 

Hang in there, guys. If this wasn't around PRE-benzo-taper... it's going to go away. Try to remember that it's not dangerous, and that

it's part of healing.

Ive always had very bad asthma and allergies. I guess I can count that as a blessing, because barely being able to breathe doesn't freak me out at all. Its just uncomfortable. Im so used to it, that I don't get scared about it. I know thats a huge trigger for peoples anxiety, and Im glad im spared from it.

 

I know thats no consolation to you, but trust me, I deal with mild to severe shallow uncomfortable breathing everyday, and ive never died from it. One thing that really helps me breathe, is when you exhale, make sure you exhale every single bit of air you can exhale. It helps get stale air out.

While I'm not ever happy to hear about people suffering, I have to say I felt relieved when I saw this thread and read the various posts.  I'm 3 months off and "air hunger" has become a big problem for me as well.  Draklore, you put it exactly right--feels like your lungs are collapsed or that they won't open up all the way or something.  It's REALLY uncomfortable, not to mention scary which of course increases anxiety. 

 

 

Bryan,

 

Like you, this symptom has peaked for me at 3 months.  It started soon after I jumped and has gotten worse over the last couple months.  I hope I'm also like you in that it gets better at 5 months, or before.  I was getting so afraid that I'd be stuck with this horrendous symptom; thanks for letting us know that it does get better.  I needed to hear that!

 

Continued health and healing to everyone,

Mal

Since i started withdrawing off my tablets ive felt like i might have asthma. I keep coughing and wheezing and have trouble with breathing.  My doctor cant find anything wrong with me antibiotics dont work. Never before have i had chest problems. :'(

I too had the breathing issues for the 1st couple of months I was off the K. I would have very slight weezing and felt like I had saliva or something like that in my throat. I felt like I had to clear my throat all the time without much relief. I felt tightness in my chest and that air hunger feeling you all have mentioned. It went away for a couple of months and now it has been back for the last 2 months, not as bad, no weezing, just a feeling of having to clear my throat and breathing feeling difficult. This sx is the one that really can scare me if I let it, but I have been telling myself this is just the healing process, it went away before and it will go away again. I feel sometimes like I have just run a marathon or something. Someone had explained to me that the diaphram is muscle tissue and just like the other muscles in our body respond to the withdraws by getting really tight, so does it and then it squeezes on our lungs. It makes sense to me that it is tight muscle related and I have to say I can definitely feel tightness in my upper abdomen.

 

Wishing everyone fast healing!

I have the same difficulty breathing - it is more or less all the time -  I have to breathe very very deep to get a breath. I did a search on google too and apparently it is very common.

 

I don´t think it is the propanolol Drak, in fact my doctor was pleased I was down to 10mg and told me to just stop the last 10mg in 3 weeks time which I am going to do.  I haven´t had any problems cutting down from 40mg so far.

 

Angel