Chronic hyperventilation syndrome or simply hyperventilation syndrome is a respiratory disorder that may either be psychologically or physiologically based.
The signs involve breathing too deeply or too rapidly.
People with this kind of disorder feel that they can not have enough air, thus, leading to a panic attack.
Ironically, the most common cause of this syndrome is actually anxiety or other related emotional disturbance.
In a nutshell, your panic attack may lead to another panic attack.
Odd and confusing, right? Chronic hyperventilation syndrome happens when your blood is slowly and constantly depleted of carbon dioxide.
When you have too little carbon dioxide in your blood, the receptors that were ought to bond with your carbon dioxide molecules bond with oxygen instead.
Oddly enough, your blood ends up having very little oxygen available for your organs and systems.
Consequently, everything in your body receives too little oxygen.
They are all deprived of this very important element they need to function well.
This results to different symptoms occurring in different parts of the body.
This is the reason why often times, a person may be sent to numerous specialists looking for what is not there.
Hyperventilation syndrome may produce various signs in different systems and in puzzling combinations.
You may have cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory and even gastrointestinal complaints and only after ruling out problems in your stomach, ears, or brain, may the doctors eventually conclude that you have chronic hyperventilation syndrome.
Some of the most common signs of this syndrome are shortness of breath for no apparent reason, chest pains, palpitations, frequent yawning or sighing, sweating, dizziness, trembling, tingling and numbing of extremities, insomnia, dry mouth, forgetfulness, confusion, blurred vision, tachycardia (rapid pulse), depression, and erratic blood pressure.
These symptoms involve different body systems and it is highly possible to experience some of them all at the same time.
Chronic hyperventilation syndrome may be treated in different ways.
Below is a list of possible treatments: Medications - Since hyperventilation syndrome is believed to be mainly caused by stress and anxiety, anti-anxiety medications are used to treat it.
They function by alleviating anxiety attacks and therefore lessening the occurrences of hyperventilation.
Psychotherapy - This kind of therapy helps the patient deal with his or her fears and face the dreaded situation which usually leads to hyperventilation.
This may be composed of talk sessions with a therapist and some simulations of feared circumstances to help the patient get over them.
In psychotherapy, the goal is to help the patient think correctly and get rid of his or her misconceptions and irrational fears.
Meditation -- The most important part of meditation that helps in treating chronic hyperventilation syndrome is the application of breathing techniques.
Since hyperventilation is a respiratory disorder, it is important that the breathing of the sufferer is controlled and brought back to its normal pace.
A traditional way of dealing with the syndrome was to have the patient breathe into a paper bag for the restoration of carbon dioxide.
However, some doctors are against this because of the possible inhalation of too much carbon dioxide.