Breathing Isn’t Optional

Breathing isn’t optional, at least that is what my mother tells me. Sometimes though I wish it were…

You see, about a year ago I stopped breathing correctly. I began to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose as result of the constant state of heightened panic I was experiencing. During a panic attack it is common for the person experiencing the panic to believe they are not taking in enough air when in actuality they are taking in too much air. For months I believed that I no longer had the ability to take a deep breathe, but really I was gasping in so much air that my body didn’t even know what to do with it all.

Crazy as it sounds, taking in too much air is an actual medical condition called Aerophagia. Healthline reports that, “Aerophagia is a medical term for excessive and repetitive air swallowing…symptoms include abdominal distention, bloating, belching, and flatulence.” I would personally like to call it annoying, uncomfortable, and super duper embarrassing, as I have shown all of the above symptoms of aerophagia.

As I am sure y’all can guess, aerophagia and anxiety are connected. For many, swallowing air is an unconscious way of coping with stressful situations.I have no idea how I even got started on this, but y’all I did! I am a bonafide mouth breather (Stranger Things reference intended.)

Of course one of the main ways to control aerophagia is to learn to control your anxiety. Controlling my anxiety has never been my forte, so controlling the symptoms of aerophagia has been a struggle! (I mean yes, now I can burp the alphabet, but it is super uncomfortable!) As many of y’all know, I take medication, but medication alone does not do the trick for me. Here are some exercises I use to help control my symptoms of anxiety and aerophagia:

Yoga with Adriene

I am a sucker for these free yoga videos on Adriene Mishler Youtube channel Yoga with Adriene. She has a yoga video for every mood, experience, and activity you can think of! Here are my favorite video’s that help me with anxiety, and that help me breathe like a normal human being again:

Breath Control

As stated above, breathing isn’t optional, and the practice of breath control is so important. This breath control guide was given to me by a gastroenterologist that I paid way too much money to see only for him to give me a breathing guide printed from Google Images. Let me save you the money, and just give you that same Google Image he printed for me.

You’re Welcome.

Google Image aside, I’ll just let my girl Adriene teach me the breathing exercises the doc recommended:

Food

Food. Controlling your food and liquid intake is the hardest part! I shaped my diet for a month and a half to the exact specification of the do and don’ts list, and y’all it worked! It provided awesome results! Then coffee, chocolate, and pasta came back into play, and I was a goner… Still the goal is to stay away from anything acidic.

Belch Be Gone

The control I have over my anxiety and breath fluctuates daily. Some days I am as cool as a cucumber, and breath like a yoga pro. Other days I am in such a state of panic I belch every 30 seconds. Either way breathing isn’t optional, and it is always an experience. I don’t have all the right words to talk about the connection between anxiety and aerophagia, but it has been proven by scientist that there is a connection. It is not pretty and it is super embarrassing, but to those who suffer like I do, you are not alone!

If you are curious how I get through a much needed Mental Health day check this Blog Post out!