Inability to take deep breaths, any advice?

[ThomasD]

Can't find jack shit on this anywhere online at all. I have asthma and smoke Cannabis. My breathing is actually fine, i have more issues with tickly chests than poor breathing, and seems to be exercise induced. Anyways, back to the question. Whenever I take a deep inhale, almost instantly (nothing to do with the weed been smoking for years) my body shakes and tenses up, like I can't hold my breath for very long. I have the same thing going when I take my inhaler, i can't hold my breath long enough to inhale it fully because my body tenses up and shakes, it's like my body is about to give in if i don't take a breath. This worries me because surely I should be able to hold my breath for longer...

I can breathe underwater for a while just fine, it's only when I take a DEEP breath. It usually starts happening about 2 seconds after i've fully got the air into my lungs. Anybody else get this? Should I be worried? Again, my breathing is fine and I don't get tight chests or anything. I do cough a hell of a lot though.

 

[Cheshire_Kat]

I have asthma as well, and smoke daily.
You should probably talk to your primary physician about this.

 

[ThomasD]

I've spoken to my doctor, he couldn't think of anything. Like I say I can hold my breath fine if I don't inhale deeply. Bronchodilators don't seem to solve this, so It can't be a breathing problem. Maybe I'm inhaling too harshly? I seem to use all my body power into inhaling deeply, If I don't, I feel like i'm not getting the smoke into my lungs properly.

 

[Jibult]

I've spoken to my doctor, he couldn't think of anything. Like I say I can hold my breath fine if I don't inhale deeply. Bronchodilators don't seem to solve this, so It can't be a breathing problem. Maybe I'm inhaling too harshly? I seem to use all my body power into inhaling deeply, If I don't, I feel like i'm not getting the smoke into my lungs properly.

Oh my god, you mean deep breaths of smoke?

I thought you meant just a breath of air, just regular breathing.

My guy, if the act of smoking does this to you, the absolute best advice would be to stop smoking until you know what specifically is going on with your respiratory system. All I'm thinkin' is that you're about to fuck around and collapse a lung (and I'm probably wrong but still, it's what I'm thinking.)

 

[ThomasD]

I think it would be wrong to assume that, but I wasn't 100% clear on my condition, I've only been smoking for a few years, and i'm 19. So I highly doubt i'm going to get a collapsed lung any time soon.
My asthma has become better since smoking but only due to the Bronchodilation effect, that is, breathing in and out. I should note I'll have likely had this problem all my life but never noticed until smoking because that is only when strong deep breaths are necessary. This has happened since I began smoking, so I doubt it's an effect of smoking itself. Again, my Asthma is generally exercise induced and can be worse in the morning and before sleeping but is generally fine.

Tbh I think I've been overthinking it. I notice I put all my effort into inhaling deeply and maybe I begin shaking because I inhale too hard, try it yourself use all your energy into taking a deep breath and your body will probably start shaking after a few seconds.

I don't know why I seem to feel it's necessary to take such deep breaths though. It never feels like the smoke is going in my lungs otherwise. And yes i've perfected my smoking technique don't worry about that. I never inhale too much smoke. I guess I have it figured out, I know my body, I just felt uneasy about the fact I couldn't find anybody who has this. Thanks for replying.

 

[ThomasD]

I can't seem to figure out how to take a deep breath without using all my energy and muscles, how tf do I only use my lungs / chest / stomach? My whole upper body muscles tense up.

 

[Jibult]

Overthinking shit like this is so easy to do. I don't know what exactly's happening with ya but I might be able to help with learning to breathe with just your diaphragm. I'll be honest, though, it felt kind of patronizing to me just reading this link before I'm about to post it, but I figured someone else may have already written something on the internet about proper breath control and here we are:

https://betterhumans.coach.me/this-...y-a-surprisingly-important-guide-e65935f21c30

1. Breathe through the nose
Every breath you take should go in and out through the nose. You can think of your nose as a little factory that refines and prepares the air coming in to be used by the body as efficiently as possible.

When you breathe through your mouth, the lungs get a lot more “unfiltered” air that is raw, cold, dry and full of viruses and bacteria. So, be kind to your lungs and breathe through your nose, will ya?

If you feel like your nasal passages are too tight to breathe trough, that’s most likely because you’ve been breathing through your mouth for so long that your nose has adapted.

It usually won’t take more than a couple of days of nose breathing to open up your nostrils again.

2. Breathe with the diaphragm
The air you breathe in through your nose should go all the way down in your belly. 70–80% of the inhaling should be done by the diaphragm so that your breathing is nice and deep. That has a couple of advantages:

It helps your lungs with the gas exchange because it’s much more efficient in the lower parts of the lungs.
The diaphragm ”massages” your liver, stomach, and intestines, giving these organs a rhythmical balance.
The lymphatic system, which is important for your immune system, gets the help it needs to get rid of the waste products from the bowels.
The pressure in the chest and belly is decreased so that the heart won’t have to work as hard.
The chest becomes more relaxed, and so does the neck and shoulders. As a result, the likelihood of pain in these areas goes down.

When it comes to isolating which muscles you use to breathe, you're going to have to take active steps to be aware of what you're doing with each inhale/exhale. The easiest way I can think of would be lying down on your back with one (or both, whatever's comfortable) hand flat against your chest. Now breathe, but try not to move your chest (I know, easier said than done when you don't already have the muscle memory). It'll take some trial and error to keep your chest still, but just focus on which muscles are in use when you breathe. If you simply can't keep your chest from moving, then with every breath try and keep close your eyes and isolate which muscles are working-- visualize it in your head, where it is in your body, and then work on your degree of control over it. Then open your eyes and focus on not using those "upper body" ones while keeping your hand-on-chest to continue concentrating on using your diaphragm/belly to breathe instead of your chest.

It sounds like a complicated ass process but it really shouldn't take more than a few seconds to figure out whether or not you need to practice breathing with your diaphragm, and fuck, man, this is really hard to explain in text. It's like trying to describe the color blue to a blind man.

 

[ThomasD]

Thankyou for this mate. Just been for a smoke and tried just using my lungs and diaphragm to breath in and it works fine. I think it has something to do with my anxiety. My body is often tense even when relaxed. Btw weed resolves this.

Im not sure how to close this thread if somebody may that would be great because I guess it's to do with anxiety. It often manifests itself physically for me. In fact at the moment that's all it's been doing, i've felt fine mentally.