DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVISE ON THIS ONE. I AM GOING THRU ALOT OF STRESS IN MY LIFE AND I IMAGINE THATS WHY IM AM GOING THRU THIS GROWTH SPURT. MY 16 YEAR OLD IS DOING BAD IN SCHOOL. IM GOING TO BE LATE ON MY TAXES, MY MOTHER IN LAW JUST FOUND OUT SHE HAS BREAST CANCER AND ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS HAVING BRAIN SURGERY NEXT WEEK. AND ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW IM BREATHING. I TRY TO DO THE IN 2 OUT 4 COUNTING THING BUT THEN I FEEL LIKE I CANT EXHALE ENOUGH. THEN MY JAW GETS TIGHT AND I START TO GET A HEADACHE. AND I CONCENTRATE SO MUCH THAT I JUST KNOW ANY SECOND I WILL GO INTO A PANIC ATTACK AND NOT BE ABLE TO BREATH. I DONT KNOW IF ANYONE WATCHES THE REAL WORLD ON MTV BUT I WAS WATCHING IT WITH MY KIDS AND THEY WERE DOING THIS STUNT WHERE THEY HAD THEIR HANDS TIED BEHIND THERE BACKS AND BUNGEE JUMPED. ONE OF THE GIRLS WAS SUPPOSED TO GO UP AND JUMP AND SHE SAID SHE COULDNT FEEL HER HANDS THEN SHE COULDNT CATCH HER BREATH IT GOT SO BAD THAT THEY HAD TO CALL AN AMBULANCE AND HER HANDS WERE ALL CRAMPED UP. I WISH I NEVER HAD SEEN THIS BECAUSE ITS MY BIGGEST FEAR. JUST FREEZING LIKE THAT. THE MIDWEST PROGRAM SAYS YOU WONT PASS OUT YOU WONT DO THE THINGS YOU ARE AFRAID OF AND I ALWAYS FOUND COMFORT IN THAT, NOW I FOCUS ON THAT STUPID SHOW. HELP, I HOPE SOMEONE CAN GIVE ME SOME ADVISE ON THIS. THANKS LC

I had that problem for the longest time.
I was constantly trying to "catch my breath".
What happens when you take alot of deep breaths in succesion is that you hyperventilate, and it feels like you are not getting any oxygen, but in reality, you have too much oxygen, and if you just realize that the body knows how to breath, and allow yourself to stop taking those deep breaths, your breathing will "feel" normal again, even though there was never any danger to you, even when you were hyperventilating.
The past few days I have been able to take my focus off of my breathing, and it has just been normal.
When we stop fearing a symptom, thats when the symptom disappears.
The hard part is learning to float through the fear and not add our own fears on top of the feelings.

THANKS! IT HELPS SO MUCH TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS FEELING WHAT YOU ARE FEELING AND YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON GOING THRU THIS. SINCE THIS STARTED TWO MONTHS AGO I HAVE BEEN RESISTING TRYING TO RELAX. I HAVE BEEN SO RESENTFULL THAT I AM GOING THRU THIS AND I WANT MY NORMAL LIFE BACK SO BAD THAT I ALMOST SEEM TO BE PROLONGING GETTING BETTER. IT SEEMS CRAZY BUT THAT WHAT IS HAPPENING I THINK. ANYWAY THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT. LC

Joe is right...
I had this as well, I just find if I try not to do the count breathing and try to breathe as natural as possible this usually goes away followed with an incedible sigh of relief. Then I start worrying about my health : ) but I'm working on that one!

Hey LC,
I saw that same MTV show and I accually found comfort in seeing it. Knowing she probibly doesn't have the skills that we are learning with this program.I was able to watch and say wow thats what anxiety can do. It is powerful but it is just our thoughts. It helped me see that when I'm having symptoms to just say yep thats my anxiety and it won't hurt me. I doubt the girl on road rules/real world has had much training, otherwise when she was saying my hands are numb she would have known that her anxiety was kicking in and would have known how to deal with it. So maybe we can look at it as another lesson that we do know what to do when our symptoms start. good luck