i have a friend who has this phobia that she will stop breathing and now im thinking about it SO much that even last night it was so hard for me to fall asleep cause i was paying attention to my breathing and since i was thinking of that so much i was breathing weird and it felt like it was gonna just stop. now i cant egt it out of my mind and im so scared and i dont need a new problem right now i have too many. does anyone ever getthis and can help?

Holly,

This fear actually has nothing to do with your breathing, it's just an obsessive thought. Because really, deep down, you know that you will not stop breathing. It's not going to happen, it's nearly physically impossible. My first panic attack was triggered by a thought that I was going to stop breathing. That was 4 years ago. I haven't stopped breathing yet. The way I got over this fear was to look at it as just another irrational fear that is provoked by anxiety. Put up the stop sign, bring on the distraction. Another thing people do is put that hands up by their mouth so they can feel the air leaving their mouths. You are breathing and no you will not stop! You can also try to stop breathing. It wont happen. Whenever I have an obsessive thought, I try to play into it, because once you're not afraid of it anymore, it isn't going to bother you. So say, "ok, body, let's stop breathing then, now, do it now, right now..." I promise you on my life, that in 10 minutes, an hour, next week, you will still be breathing and you will have never stopped. It's just one of those things our bodies do for us and we wont stop.

I used to get this all the time and I would end up hyperventilating over it. Once I realized it was anxiety and obsessing and stopped fearing it, it went away. I wasn't having a heart attack, and I wasn't having a stroke, and I wasn't having a medical breathing problem. All was due to over focusing on my breathing and then fearing what was going to happen. I would go for a walk which forced my breathing back to normal and made myself see there was nothing to fear. Haven't had this happen in many years due to the fact that I just stopped being afraid of it.

Karilynn,

Excellent!!!! Holly, Please re-read her post over and practice as best you can. It's the anxious feelings you are really afraid of. Your breathing will take care of itself.

Thank you Karilynn so much. Its just,as you know, so scary. Why am i so weird like this? My boyfriend is totally normal and i told him about how i felt with that and thought it was weird. blaah! but thankyou folks for your help. i appreciate it.

hey holly i can relate to what you are talking about i obbsess so bad over my breathing its scares me so bad any ideas i read all the post and printed them to reraed over and over