WHAT IS IT? WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
If you do not think hyperventilation syndrome can be cured, ascertain first that there is no proven physical problem in the lungs that is causing it or making it too easy to trigger. Note that a list of the causes mostly includes psychological causes, but you do have to have the physician test for the physical causes. Assuming that the physical causes have been ruled out, then the following is the way to go.
Understand that hyperventilation itself is a survival mechanism to
However, if you have fear thoughts that are repeated before you experience hyperventilation, then you are triggering it through your thinking - and can therefore cure the cause, thus relieving the symptom.
Have you always recovered, even though it tired you out? If so, then you can still live a life even if it were an incurable handicap. In that case, many strategies could alleviate and/or reduce the symptoms.
Hyperventilation is simply "overbreathing" which occurs when a person breathes more rapidly than is needed to meet the body's demand for oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide. It can be from a bad habit of upper-chest breathing, where breathing tends to be shallow and rapid. If one simply consciously chooses to use diaphragmatic breathing, the inhalation will be deeper and slower. The "cure" in the moment is slower and deeper breathing, perhaps even forcing it through stopping the flow, as suggested below, through one nostril.
It is known that upper-chest breathing is a normal and usually brief response to any threatening or anxiety-provoking situation. It is triggered by the fight or flight response and is your body's way of preparing for the strenuous activity of fighting or running away from danger. A person who feels continually threatened may constantly activate upper-chest breathing AND tensing of the diaphragmatic muscles such that diaphragmatic breathing is impossible. Breath retraining is virtually 100% successful, if there are no actual physical lung problems, but only IF the person persists in the practice of deep and slow breathing.
The actual cure lies in changing the beliefs that trigger the fight/flight response, but some people persist in insisting that there is some mysterious, magical process by which their hyperventilation occurs. That is not true, lung problems aside, and is, indeed, preposterous.
But there is no shortcut. But there is a guarantee of a cure, if one persists and does what is recommended!
What happens
I am "on alert" when I am with people, because I feel I need to stave off the threats that could possible happen to me. I am vulnerable and if they don't like me, if I don't make a good impression, then that means that I am no good, which means that I will be lonely, which means that I will not survive. Is this true???
Loneliness:
Barbara: I'll be lonely and miserable
Barbara's Affirmations By Area
Essential position: I am little and others must approve of me or I'll die (literally or happinesswise). They must love me
Opposite: I am powerful. I am capable. I am the creator. I am self-sufficient. I can learn whatever I need to learn. I can do virtually anything any other person has done with sufficient learning and details.
What will happen to me? I'm doomed. things are out of control. Life is out of control. (Misconceptions about control - I must control things. I can't handle what happens. I can't go with the flow.)
Aspects: (Each of these represent an opportunity to change something. If they are early enough then the process can be stopped, prevented, cured, stomped out.)
Beliefs
Thought process (misinterpretation, misperception, lack of reasoning)
Situation/trigger (and choice to be in the situation)
Build up (anticipation/anxiety, worry
Physical condition
Hyperventilation itself
Action
Recovery
Analogy: The hair trigger
Don't pick up the gun --> No problem
Don't stick finger in the trigger area --> No problem
Adjust hair trigger, repair it --> No accidental triggering
Finger next to hair trigger --> Bullet unstoppable
We don't have a choice about a natural mechanism happening in response to a natural trigger, but we do have choices to not incur the triggering of the natural mechanism. If we focus on trying to change nature, then the problem seems like it has no solution. If we focus on changing all that leads up to it, then there are lots of solutions.
Principle involved: Cause --> Effect
The elements in the process:
Situation: Without the situation that triggers the thought, the effect would not occur.
Cause: What one thinks about the situation, interpreting it with a threat
Without this cause, the effect would not happen.
Effect: Terror --> Physical reaction to terror, kept up by more terror thoughts
Also, less able to function/think due to CO2 out of balance
Extremely exhausted after effect to work off, over time or on a
systematic basis that takes less time
Description of the hyperventilation process - This explains the process, which is clearly a physical reaction that is not "spontaneous" and is caused by a thought of danger. Once the process starts it generates an out of balance situation where excitement further destabilizes the breathing, in a self-feeding loop.
The high pH value resulting from hyperventilation also reduces the level of available calcium (hypocalcemia), which affects the nerves and muscles, causing constriction of blood vessels and tingling.
Prevention: No caffeine, no sugar or foods that turn to sugar easily
Stress management
Belief handling and correcting; correct view of thoughts being real
Regular exercise
Rest, including napping routine
No negative talk, not allow negative self conversation at all
Implement positive conversations and corrected beliefs
Yoga breath training
Buddhist meditation and breathing
Go to a psychiatrist or psychologist, preferably one who specializes in the area.
During hyperventilation or immediately before: Place finger to close one nostril, close mouth, stops hyperventilation. Can be done in a social situation; if someone asks just say something like "I have a breathing problem and this regulates it" or "I have a tickle in my nose and this prevents me from sneezing". See WebMD.
Whatsoever may be the causes of hyperventilation and anxiety but it is important to know how to manage the symptoms of them to keep breathing process under control. Managing stress and preventing anxiety are the basic steps to prevent hyperventilation and other breathing difficulties.
One needs to learn basic breathing techniques so as to manage the symptoms of hyperventilation and they can easily have control over breathing phenomenon. You have to sit down or lie down and then start concentrating on your breath, pinch your nostril and try to breathe through a single nostril in order to slow down the breathing process.
One more way of treating hyperventilation is through diaphragmatic breathing. One has to breathe deep from the abdomen. This really helps you to manage the severe symptoms of hyperventilation. It gradually changes the oxygen levels and carbon dioxide levels in the lungs.
Try finding out best stress relieving techniques like meditations, yoga and aerobics that can keep you away from panic attacks and symptoms of hyperventilation.
Exacerbates Reduces or Relieves
Dysfunctional fear beliefs Key is to rework the identified beliefs
See their falseness (that it is not actually
not a threat)
Stressful thoughts
Negative thinking, self talk Stop, dispute and/or replace
Zero tolerance policy
Reinforcing negative thinking
Negative talk, any Zero tolerance policy
Poor breathing
Habit Deep breathing practice
Posture Stand tall, shoulders back
Overweight
Lack of rest, sleep
Irregular schedule
Feelings of anxiety Magnesium
Blood sugar swings Sugar metabolism control
Rapid, deep breathing, possibly exceeding 40 breaths/minute. Slow the breathing.
Oxygen is consumed for the production of energy and carbon dioxide is expelled as an end product
done, done long enough
