Comments on: Asthma Linked to Anxiety Disorders

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:00:30 +0000

I have had asthma since I was 5 years old and I have anxiety for years. I started taking effexor for the anxiety a few years back and gained about 40lbs over a year and had a very severe asthma attack. Never had a problem with weight until taking effexor. When I have breathing problems I am very calm and do not panic because. I am so use to it. But I can understand people who get asthma late in life panicking but not my case. I recently stopped taking effexor and hopefully lose weight and my asthma will improve. I was wondering if the asthma medication causes anxiety disorders?

By: Maria

Maria — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:31:51 +0000

Hi our son is a highly gifted individual (iq 136), who has been treated from 4 to 9 with therapy only for PTSD and anxiety disorder; then added in risperadal, eventually to add in ADHD medicine and recently added in anxiety medication. He is now 11. Still in therapy. He was pretty much a tv video game junkie till about 2 years ago. Now he is very active with his karate and strength training. When he cannot catch his breath, he falls into a full blown panic attack, or is it the other way around; panic attack then not being able to catch his breath and so forth.
He loves being active, so we treat the anxiety and the asthma. We recently got him a respitory trainer from ultra breathe, he uses it twice a day as directed. We are noticing after a couple weeks a slight difference.
Any other suggestions; I just want him to have a normal childhood, where he is not relying on all those medications?

By: richard

richard — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:18:32 +0000

This page and the comments are frustrating because the links between asthma and ptsd or stress/anxiety disorders seem obvious to me. The key is this : was the asthma poorly controled ? I have had asthma all my life and most of the time it was NOT well controlled. Now i believe i have developed an anxiety disorder or perhaps even full-blown ptsd as a result of repeated life-threatening asthma attacks. I have been to the ER more than 50 times and each time i was fighting for my life. When i was younger, i could shake off the psychological effects, but now im in a state where i avoid any physical activity or environment other than my home for fear it may trigger another attack. i just keep reliving my last few visits to the ER over and over in my mind: gulping in air til the muscles in my upper back burned, the spots dancing before my eyes as the dizziness sets in and the overwhelming fear of losing consciousness. I have never been in the military and i wasn’t at ground zero but i have nearly all the symptoms of ptsd.

By: Joy

Joy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:45:53 +0000

I have always had asthma and have lived with it and it’s symptoms. My problem occured 5 years ago when I had a pure out panic attack for no known reason. I have since had problems with anxiety that a panic attack may occur again. My question is there any links to the medications that we are taking that may cause the anxiety? If so how do we stop the cycle?

By: Mea

Mea — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:32:44 +0000

Hello,
While all along we have known my son has PTSD and GAD since he was 4 and witnessed sever violence for a brief period of time, we never knew asthma was part of a panic attack.
He has been going through some serious counseling for the past couple months dealing with issues that are very real to him, he is 10. Recently he had what we thought was a viral infection, just this unproductive cough that made his chest and head hurt, after 3 trips to our primary care doctor, she put him on a dose of steriods because his bronchial system was swolen in inflamed. Well the attacks kept coming, especially after a hard karate work out. So I took him to the ER, they immediately gave him a breathing treatment, went through all the ER protocal, sent us home with an albuteral inhaler. He takes lemactal and risperadone at night, so he pretty much zonked out, but the next morning had the same cough, so we used the inhaler and it did not work, the earlies primary care apointment was 4 in the afternoon and it was 8 am, so again we headed to the ER, this time they sent us home with a nebulizer. I was still clueless how my child all of the sudden had asthma, of course since we have not had a hard freeze this winter everyone around was just saying alergies, well he never had alergies. So I was still cluess, till researching online a bit.
Your article while starteling, gave me a sence of releif because I can help predict when he needs a treatment instead of doing what the ER said and have him use the nebulizer 4 x a day. That seemed a little extreme. Well we have an appointment with our primary care to learn more and set an emergency appointment with his psychiatrist. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction.

By: John

John — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:37:02 +0000

The scariest feeling I ever had just occurred a couple of hours ago. I just left work to catch my train. The air was cold and it triggered my asthma. I got frightened and started breathing heavier. I had to stop my walking to try and calm down and breathe easier. But fear took over and i felt nervous like i might die this time. My felt like I might faint but didn’t. I was trying to communicate to a fellow pedestrian in the street to help me. She contacted 911 for me. It felt like I lost consciousness and was battling inside to keep myself from dying. Meanwhile, I tried taking my inhalators to feel better but it was a battle that I thought was over. I convinced myself inside that i can get better. Eventually, I gained my consciousness ( I didn’t faint) and started coming out of it. EMS came and I went in the ambulance. There was nothing wrong with me according to ems. I had a very dry mouth. I went to a nearby food place to have water and take a seat. I was able to go home and relax for now but I’m still shaken from this. I think there is a definite link between this. When I was a little kid, I didn’t have asthma or allergies. However, i remember every once in a while, getting a choking sensation and not being able to breathe. I would run to my father and it would go away. when I became a teenager, I was diagnosed with asthma. the attacks i had as a little kid which were different went away. It was just asthma and asthma attacks. In my early adult years, the asthma attacks became less and less. Then one day when I was 30, I walked out of the street and walked into a heavy gust of wind and started panicking that I could not breathe. I started hyperventilating and passed out. the ems person told me I had a panic attack. I’ve never had it treated but realized to try and control it with my mind. Everyonce in a while, I would still have one. But none were ever like this. i’m scared. I am an average sized 45 year old male now, not heavy at all but the asthma has never went away and this time the panic took over the asthma.

By: jim

jim — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:51:53 +0000

I have both anxiety and asthma. I need help with both. I hope i can help myself with this. This is great information. http://www.camrepa.com

By: Stacie

Stacie — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:54:41 +0000

Mike,
I do not have asthma, but my three boys do. I have not seen them in any panic situations (and hope not to!), but my mother-in-law developed astham later in life (her 50s), and I saw it bring her to tears. When you can’t breath, things get scary, and they get scary FAST! This is a woman who was raised not to show unbecoming emotions, so to see her cry shocked even me.

I am a birth doula and I am with women during labor and birth. Epidurals, those miracle take-the-pain-away fixes of today, can sometimes cause a similar panic. An epidural works by numbing a person from about below-the-breast down. Once in a while it either starts too high, or instead of the numbness going down it goes up. A person suddenly feels they cannot breath, and panic ensues. The difference is, the body will continue to breath on its own so it is not like having an asthma attack.

But it makes sense that an asthma attack is made worse by the anxiety that comes with the, “I can’t breath!” feeling of fear.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:04:28 +0000

Hi, CJ! Thanks for dropping by.

If you haven’t already done so, you need to have yourself checked by a doctor for your breathing problem. It probably isn’t dangerous, but you won’t know until you have it confirmed for you.

The anxiety you feel when you’re short of breath likely is caused by your not being able to breathe well. Anxiety can even cause nausea. That’s entirely normal, and shouldn’t give you any cause for alarm. If the anxiety continues after you’re breathing normally, then I recommend that you seek out a mental health care professional, who will help you learn to manage it.

Panic attacks and shortness of breath are not dangerous per se, but are nothing to laugh at, either. They certainly feel dangerous! Again, I urge you to seek some therapy to help you manage the panic attacks and your reaction to the shortness of breaths. And do get yourself checked to make sure that the shortness of breath is not a medical condition.

Please let me hear how you are doing. You can either leave a comment here, or better, use the contact form at the top of the page to send me an email.

By: CJ

CJ — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:02:36 +0000

I’ve been searching online and trying to figure out why I have short breaths or not full breaths. I know I”m still breathing but I can’t inhale all the way sometimes. Other times I breath just fine and don’t notice it. I’m 32 and have had a panic disorder since 17. I’ve always felt like I can’t breath when I have the attacks. But for the past 3 years I feel like I’m not breathing good most of the time even when I”m not having panic attacks. But I also have anxiety at those times when I don’t feel like I’m breathing well. Sometimes it will make me feel naseous too. Am I experiencing something dangerous? or is it all in my head?