The Shadow of the Mind: Coping with Hyperventilation Syndrome and Anxiety

The shadow of the mind, the onset of hyperventilation syndrome

I had had an unusual school life since high school. Hyperventilation syndrome first occurred when I was a freshman in high school. Pulse, respiration, oxygen saturation, etc. are normal, but the patient shows symptoms of respiratory difficulty and is distressed. As can be understood from the word “syndrome”, it is known to occur frequently when it appears.

It often occurs when people are suddenly under extreme stress and can also occur from various causes such as overeating, drinking too much, or cold hands and feet. It causes excessive breathing and a lack of carbon dioxide in the body. So you may feel dizzy, have seizures, faint, or, like me, feel numb in your hands and feet.

In most cases, symptoms improve with rest. If this doesn’t work, medications may be given, but this is extremely rare.

On a fairly warm spring day during my freshman year of high school, I arrived at the meeting site in the rain for a choir club meeting. It was hot and raining, so I turned on the air conditioning to remove the humidity and my hands and feet ended up getting wet. After greeting the elders of the group, I sat down and sat on the floor. at that time! Suddenly my hands and feet began to feel numb. “Isn’t my blood flowing because I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor?”

But it wasn’t that. The numbness gradually spread to the center of my body and began to spread down my lower jaw and neck. My breathing became labored and I thought it would be over soon and I continued the conversation hiding the symptoms, but my jaw joints tightened and I couldn’t forget the next words. My hands and toes curled up and I started having trouble breathing. Even when I breathed in, I didn’t feel like I was breathing, and when I breathed out, I didn’t feel like I was breathing out. The searing, stabbing pain was like a parasite creeping into my body and squeezing my heart.

I cried and screamed at the pain I felt for the first time and my body was twisted. Everyone around me who was watching rushed to help me straighten up. “Hey~ Hey~ Why is it like this? Is it epilepsy?”, “I don’t know, it’s the first time I’ve seen something like that”, “Was he really sick?”, “No, I don’t know.” Words mixed with all kinds of worries and speculations swirled around me and I looked and someone took off my wet socks and warmed my body.

How much time had passed… Once the infernal pain passed, I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes some time later, my whole body had lost all strength and was as soft as wet seaweed.

“Kireng, are you okay now?”

“Yes, yes…”

When I tried to talk a little louder, the numbness returned, so I calmed down, lay down for a while, and went home.

At that time, when the Internet was not as developed as it is now and people were afraid to go to the hospital, I did not know what caused the symptoms or what the name of the disease or symptom was. One thing is certain: even if there is enough pain to die, it is not possible to die, and it is possible to return to normality and live a normal life right away.

I subsequently fell several times over the years and I could guess that it was due to mental issues. As I continued to live a life where my heart beat uncontrollably, seeing my parents deal with financial and other problems every day, my nerves became extremely sensitive. With my heart beating so fast, it wouldn’t surprise me if I had an arrhythmia tomorrow.

It’s been a day. After arguing with my mother in the morning, I went to school. I opened the creaky, poorly constructed door of the container, left the house, and walked happily through the mud of the alley. As I walked out onto the sidewalk where the main road is, I saw dozens of students moving east, west, north towards the school. Considering the students standing on the bus who had no time to breathe, the number appeared to be well over a hundred.

As I walked one step at a time and passed the bus stop, my hands and feet went numb again and I collapsed on the spot. The adults around him said, “Oh my God! Look at him! Does he have epilepsy?” He ran towards me, spreading my hands and feet and massaging them. And he asked me. “Hey! Are you okay? What’s wrong?” I spoke while enduring the pain of my hands and feet becoming entangled and my heart constricting. “Well… if it’s a little… ugh… it’s okay… I… I’m… sorry. I… I’m sorry… “It’s… nothing. .. I… lie down… on my side… like this…” The adults were surprised by my unexpected answer, and I had to call my parents. When they asked me if it would work, I answered again. “Ah.. it’s you… it’s okay… really.. it’s so special.. it’s you.”

Contrary to what was said that it was nothing serious, he remained lying on the pavement for a while with a rather pained expression. After a while I regained control of my breathing and, although some numbness and pain remained, I tried to get up again. This is because being late soon leads to hitting the teacher.

In the end, I was late before even going to first period, but I was able to be released safely after telling my teacher what had happened.

Hyperventilation syndrome, are you okay now?

Unfortunately, these symptoms still occur today. However, it only appears once every few years, when the body is in such poor condition that it breaks down. And even if it appears, the pain does not reach the point of compressing the heart. Because now we are addressing it appropriately. Now that I think about it, it’s been over 20 years since I became aware of this symptom and addressed it.

As with hyperventilation syndrome, there are many ways to manage your anxiety disorder. I’ll go into more detail at the end of the book, but in this episode I’ll present some of the things I’m putting into practice myself.

1. You have to practice. Constantly.

In my case, when I do anaerobic exercises, that is, strength training such as gymnastics, I sometimes experience shortness of breath, which is a type of somatization symptom of anxiety disorder, although it is not a hyperventilation syndrome. Since these symptoms are believed to mean that you are stressed, try to enjoy aerobic exercise as much as possible and get enough aerobic exercise after anaerobic exercise.

2. Don’t eat or drink too much.

Eating delicious food is fun. Even drinking alcohol, which paralyzes the mind, can be enjoyable when talking and hanging out with people. However, if this becomes excessive, abnormal signals will inevitably appear in the body. In particular, if a person with a history of hyperventilation syndrome eats or drinks too much, it is very likely that the symptoms of hyperventilation syndrome will appear a few hours later or the next day. This is also a conclusion based on the results of an experiment (?) using my symptoms of difficulty breathing, and there are also research results showing that a moderate diet and moderate alcohol consumption or abstinence can help with stability emotional.

Even with this little, sometimes I eat and drink too much, and when that happens, I try to rest for a few days and wait for all the stress built up in my body to go away.

3. Solve problems quickly.

When given a new task at work, anxiety naturally sets in. It may be good anxiety to solve a problem, but if the problem continues to be left unattended, it can turn into bad anxiety, and if not caught in the early stages, it can cause persistent anxiety symptoms.

Therefore, when I start a new job, I increase my confidence by understanding and researching the job well before starting and then making it my own. This is the main way to eliminate the first symptoms of anxiety. And if it’s something important, get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible to cut through the tail of anxiety.

When I’m overwhelmed with work to the point where I don’t know what to start with, it may seem natural, but I tend to set priorities and tackle them. I’ll talk about this in detail later, but I try to calm my anxiety by understanding the overall context by organizing things from time to time using planners, diaries and smartphones.

Not long ago, we transported a high school student who was taking medication for anxiety disorder. I don’t know exactly what the story was or what the condition was, but my heart sank. This is because the symptoms started at the same age as me. And I thought. I need to finish the book as soon as possible. This is what I’ll do. I need to reveal to the world the wounds of the past that are hidden under the new skin, dissect them thoroughly, and quickly tell the story to those who need it. So that their pain can end as quickly as possible.

#Episode #shadow #heart #empathized