COPD and Anxiety

[Gail561]

Sometimes I would get confused if I was having a COPD Flare Up or an Anxiety Attack especially after having Respiratory Failure 4 years ago. I would panic really quickly and my breathing would get really labored. I spent 5 days in the hospital to be sent home with 02 and inhalers. Every time I would get sick would worry and the symptoms would feel 2 x as strong. As time went on and learned to take some of my weight off - some of the labored breathing isn't as bad. I know I will never feel cured of having COPD. I the hard part is the mind tends to get frustrated as I cope with dealing with COPD every day. Take my inhalers daily except my rescue - don't leave home without my POC. Come home back on a concentrator. Sometimes I wish I could just walk way from all this. But this is my life now. It's not all anxiety but having a chronic illness some days is not an easy road to take. I try to smile and keep my chin up. There are days I just want to cry but I also know this is my reality. I know that there are others on this journey with me. There are just days I want the mind to shut down and laugh but I can't. Sometimes wonder if I am just too hard on me. I gave up smoking after the respiratory failure and had a few cigarettes after this point which is why my quit date don't match up this when I really hit rock bottom. Close to a year later in Aug I had the sleep study which told me I have obstructive sleep apnea as well. That was also why I was struggling so hard as my breathing would stop when I slept. Almost 4 years later you think I can handle all this and say this is my life. There are days I just get so upset and wish there was a restart button. Having help with both has made a difference for me and even with the anxiety baggage as well. Learning I have what they call an overlay and staying positive is not easy. Would it be okay to let the tears flow once in awhile? Stopping smoking has helped slowed down the progression of this chronic illness but it didn't cure me :-(. #thomas and copd‌

[MarilynH]

I'm so sorry sorry that you are going through all of this but I'm so glad that you here at Ex we're all for you and I'm so glad that you quit smoking I'll mention  Thomas3.20.2010 I'm not very tech savvy so I haven't figured out how to copy and paste stuff stay close. 

[Gail561]

Thanks I will stay close by.

[marciem]

Hi Gail561‌ !  We are in the same "world", I also have COPD (severe) and am still adjusting my life and wrapping my brain around it.  I've only recently been put on supplemental oxygen (a POC) and that was a real adjustment curve... I was kicking and screaming not to do it, but oh well.  

I am on my last two days of Pulmonary Rehab, and it has helped me a lot.  I was pretty inactive before I started rehab, and they've gotten me up and going, even going to the gym on my non-rehab days.  The education has really hit the mark in so many ways for me.

Welcome to EX!

[sweetplt]

I am so sorry about your life’s journey Gail561 ... Thank you for sharing your story...~ Colleen 351 DOF 

[Barbara145]

So glad you are here.  There are a lot of us living with COPD. I had respiratory failure 3 years ago.  I quit smoking 6 years with the help of this site.  I was sent home from the hospital on oxygen and strong nebulizer meds. I started walking the very next morning.  Pulling my oxygen and walking my dog.  Only a short while but I did it everyday.  I have not been on oxygen for over 2 years.  Walking is amazing to improve breathing. Saying a little prayer that you will accept your life the way it is and perhaps begin doing some positive things for yourself and your breathing.

[marciem]

Thanks for that, Barbara145‌ !  I've never heard the words "respiratory failure" applied to me, per se, but I know on my six-minute walk my ox. sats tanked to 86 after 3 minutes, prompting the Rx for oxygen.  I guess my resting usual at doctor's visits has been in the low-normal range so they didn't take it further.

It is good to know that regular walking and cardio exercise (which I've been doing religiously since starting rehab, lugging my POC with me now for the past two weeks) might offer some hope of going without eventually.  Hope is a good thing!   I know I'm going to be better off even if I don't get totally off the suppl. oxy. but it does give me a carrot when I don't feel like putting in the work LOL!

Edit to ask... Can you quantify "only a short while"?   .  And approx how far maybe?

[Gail561]

Thank you for the welcome and being on this journey with me.

[Thomas3.20.2010]

Thank you, Gail, for this heart felt share! Today is World  COPD Day and our slogan this year is "All Together to End COPD!" We truly are together! I have had anxiety/depression long before COPD but now as you so eloquently expressed each exacerbates the other. I have pneumonia right now and have been in the ER 3 times this bout due to racing heart and severe shortness of breath. As mentioned by Marcie Pulmonary Rehab really helps as does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques for the anxiety and down right panic attacks. As of today there isn't much out there. I take Prozac and Clonazapam yet find myself desperate frequently. Thee hardest part as suggested is the permanency of the "new normal." Not smoking is the best thing we can do for ourselves. 

Breathe Easy! LLAP

[Gail561]

I haven't had pneumonia and was given a shot for it back in 2015. I guess in that part of it I've been lucky. The theme that really stays close to me is when we can't breathe nothing else matters. It's been suggested to walk when I can and deep breathing excercises and the most part they do help.