[ladyluciferous]

I receive counselling and my counselor thinks my main issue is anxiety related.
For almost three years now I've had difficulty breathing , which worsens when i'm nervous/stressed, but since Friday I can hardly breath at all, well I can but it's really short breaths and I'm having bursts of shaking almost every 10-20 minutes. It keeps sending me into a panic which is making everything worse. There's a period in between where my body seems sort of warm and tingly and I start to relax a little but then I start shaking again. Is this anxiety? I don't know what to do I'm terrified of hospitals and being with people in general to be honest. I'm wondering if there's an underlying physical problem.

I don't know what triggered it either I was up late friday night playing a video-game then it just came on out of nowhere and has persisted on-and-off to today. I have barely slept because of the shaking.

Do you think this is just bad anxiety attacks? I don't know what to do.

[Perna]

It sounds like anxiety to me but if you are physically worried, I'd make a doctor's appointment (not do the emergency room route) and get a physical and tell the doctor your problems, have the doctor do various tests, etc. to make sure your body is fine and not an issue. I have anxiety and asthma and I can tell the difference. You kind of have to rule out physical problems though, so you can address the anxiety ones.

Too, your other behavior (eating habits, sleeping, interacting with others) can influence and worsen/make better difficulties like you describe.

I suspect that while you were playing the video game, your brain was just in neutral and you had a thought that panicked you; I do that all the time when I'm reading. I can't tell you how many times I am suddenly in front of the refrigerator when I was reading a moment before (my thoughts about what I read making me anxious so I jump up and change the venue, like you can "change" from a book/reading, LOL).

My T use to tell me I was afraid of being afraid and I found that a little helpful. We learn these behaviors and we can learn better ones.

[Nicolesimmons]

I agree with Perna, I went through the same things you are, thought for sure I had lung problems, its best to go to the Dr. to get blood work done, and have them check your O2 stat, and then when they tell you everythings fine, your mind will be at ease, and you will realize its anxiety. I suffer from anxiety and when my mind is occupied I tend to not notice the signs of anxiety. I take medicine to control my anxiety disorder, but at first I thought I was sick scared and went through alot of procedures even a heart cath to find out it was my nerves all along.

[VeraQuan]

I had the similar problem as yours. turned out that my blood press was lower than the normal . so i suggest you to see a Dr. to check out your body situation first. besides,i think you should figure out what make your anxiety.
hope you be better

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Above does sound like an anxiety problem but as stated above, I would rule out all physical causes as well. Lately especially, I have been getting chest pains, the heavy chest and feels like you can't breathe deeply, oh and the shaking... I will shake all the cups off the head board in bed when I'm having an anxiety attack. But someone on PC and my doctor told me to reduce my caffeine intake and sure enough, it helped. Of course it didn't fix the problem, life is too complicated for it to be that simple. But last week I was having approximately 20 panic attacks a day. I cut down to 0-1 bottles of Mtn Dew (as opposed to the 5-8) a day and I'm down to about 5 attacks per day now. The jittery feeling triggered the shakes which in turn triggered everything else.
One thing that helps me, the moment I feel the chest pain come on since mine starts with chest pain, I tell myself "OK you're just havaing a panic attack. Things are fine. Deep breath... Change thoughts, change subject. What should I do this weekend?" I try to remind myself of the facts and then try to change the subject while the facts are still fresh in my mind. Doing so helps the attacks to only last a few minutes, most of the time. But still often I will have much longer ones. But with this new technique I've started, the attacks are much shorter and more spread. But seeing a doctor helped this as well because he reassured me it wasn't physical (other than the migraines) and that helped during the attacks. The best of luck to you in this trying time!