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Friday, October 10, 2008 Harleen asks

Q: breathing problem

can you please advise me. since last fri i'm having difficulty breathing and have on and off pain on my left arm and hand and sometimes on chest. it's got worse everyday since friday. when I breath it's feels like i'm not being able to breath fully and properly when I breath out and noes feels so dry and when I put a touch of water in both my nose nostrils, it makes my nose fele better but not my breathing thing. I feel light headed because i'm not breathing properly. Whereas before on a normal day before this hapen I was breathing normally. since this Monday it feels like i'm having to control my breathing whereas before the breathing would control itself and I would not have to think about it. Then I keep getting confused with my breathing, whether I should being breathing out or it is my breathing turn to breath in. last night was horrible the worst as I could not breath properly, I didnt know how to breath, in or out breathing, thats why i cant properly. why is my breathing like this? why is my nose feeling dry, why do i have this pain on my left side. i went to my doctors today but she said its anxiety. I asked her how do i breath normally and about my nose, her response was not to think about it.

 

i'm 28 years old and a healthy weight.

 

HHHHHHHH

 

 

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Answers (1)
10/10/08 12:40pm

Hi Harleen: It sounds like you are having a really hard time! There are a few things that I would recommend. First, don't worry about breathing correctly. I suspect you are becoming anxious over being anxious. Breathing correctly isn't the end of the world, but you can learn to do it properly.

Relax about the breathing thing. You don't need to beat yourself up. When you are able to back off on yourself a little, find a relaxation CD and use it often. You could use the one that my colleague Dr. Fee and I have produced, called Stress Less! that has some very nice sections designed to help people who are suffering just like you.

Second, find a therapist that can help you work through some of these issues. It's hard to do it alone. You can find one in your area at Psychology Today.

Finally, you might ask your doctor to prescribe something to help you calm your nerves. A short (and I emphasize short) course of something like Xanax can help you get past this bump in the road.

 

I hope this helps,

Dr. Diana Walcutt

The Stress Masters

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