If you suffer from (chronic) hyperventilation, you often suffer greatly from the associated symptoms. There are more than 100 of them and they vary from person to person. Sometimes it is very difficult to describe your symptoms, often because there are so many. Take a look at the list of symptoms of chronic hyperventilation and who knows, you might feel calmer from the confirmation that your complaints have a cause.
Symptoms
It is incredible how many symptoms can be associated with (chronic) hyperventilation. In one person the complaints may be quite mild and only include a number of symptoms. However, sometimes there are completely different symptoms that are much more intense and the list goes on. If, after examination, you are certain that you suffer from chronic hyperventilation, it is important to do something about it as soon as possible, because it will not go away on its own and it will certainly not make you feel better. From this list of complaints, certain symptoms will probably be familiar to you, and there is also a chance that you will recognize one complaint after another.
(Chronic) hyperventilation and anxiety are often mentioned in the same sentence because one is reflected in the other. Someone who hyperventilates does so in combination with fear of something, and someone who is afraid of something will hyperventilate. Therefore, the symptom lists of anxiety and hyperventilation are also the same.
General symptoms
- Feeling cold or experiencing chills, even when it is warm
- Difference in body temperature
- Feeling fluy
Chest/chest
Chronic hyperventilation often causes an unpleasant feeling in the chest area, which can make it seem as if you have heart problems. This can be very frightening, but in the case of chronic hyperventilation it is not dangerous. If in doubt, always have yourself examined by a specialized doctor.
- Chest pain or tightness in the chest
- Feeling like there is a tight band around your ribcage
- Palpitations or the feeling that your heart is beating or pounding very quickly
Muscles
The symptoms of chronic hyperventilation can vary greatly, but in almost everyone it manifests itself in the muscles in one way or another. You can often feel from your muscles whether you are doing well or not so well.
- Physical shocks, the feeling of receiving an electric shock, shaking
- Muscle twitching and muscles that jerk or tremble
- Stiff feeling and complaints in the back, back muscles, neck and shoulders
- General tense muscles
- Being clumsy or feeling clumsy, coordination problems with the limbs or body
- Weak legs, arms or muscles
The head
Complaints about your head are often very annoying because it is difficult to get rid of them. You can really sit with it all day and therefore maintain the complaints.
- Dizziness or feeling light-headed
- The feeling that you are going to fall or faint
- Stabbing pains in your face, head or scalp
- Frequent headaches
- Feeling like your head is pinched or that there is a tight band around it
- Head tremors, a kind of electric shocks in your head
- The floor feels like it is moving
- Burning, itchy or tight scalp
- Tingling and/or numbness in the face
- Numb feeling in your jaw or a kind of toothache
Mind/memory
The moment you are no longer yourself and can no longer be yourself, you often realize that something has to be done. It is extremely annoying that you can no longer find yourself and everything around you goes along with it. Sometimes it seems like you are going crazy and nothing or no one can help you. But nothing could be further from the truth, you can pick yourself up again, but do seek help.
- Often a feeling of déjà vu
- The feeling of no longer being yourself, depersonalization
- Feeling like you are living in a dream and everything is unreal
- Feeling like everything around you is and feels strange
- Concentration problems
- Poor short-term memory
- Bad short-term learning disability
- Difficulty thinking or forming thoughts
- Difficulty speaking
- Being disoriented
- Feeling like you’re going crazy
- Feeling overwhelmed, there is too much to process
- Being obsessed with getting better
- Incessant thinking about negative things, worrying and worrying a lot
- Forming strange images in your head
- You feel like the whole world is on your shoulders
The skin
The strange sensations on your skin are also common with chronic hyperventilation. It is often thought that something is wrong in the brain because of the tingling and numbness. You will notice that when the chronic hyperventilation disappears, these complaints disappear quite quickly and in times of stress or anxiety these complaints will quickly return temporarily.
- Burning feeling on your skin, for example on your face, neck, scalp or shoulders
- Itchy skin
- Numb skin
- Changes in your skin color, for example looking pale or getting red skin
- Tingling all over the body, especially on the hands and feet and in your face, sometimes even numbness
- Other sensations on your skin
- Skin problems such as infections, rashes or eczema
Mouth and stomach
Every person likes to breathe without problems, but with chronic hyperventilation, breathing properly is not self-evident. This gives you complaints, and these are very annoying and sometimes frightening complaints that only make you worry even more about breathing. It is very important to do something about your breathing as soon as possible.
- Feeling of suffocation
- Feeling that you cannot swallow and that your food is stuck in your throat
- Lump in your throat, tight throat
- Swallowing complaints
- Aerophagia, swallowing too much air causing frequent belching
- Stomach complaints or abdominal pain
- Difficulty speaking, coordination problems with the mouth or tongue
- Difficulty pronouncing certain letters, slurred speech
- Clicking your mouth or throat or making a rasping sound
- A tingling feeling in or around your mouth
- A burning sensation in your mouth, burning tongue
- Feeling as if your tongue is swollen
- Twitching in your mouth
- Binge eating where you crave sugar and sweets
- Lack of appetite
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Feeling nauseous and vomiting
- Weight gain or weight loss
- Dry mouth
- Yawning very often
- Feeling like you have to force yourself to breathe
- Being short of breath or having difficulty breathing
- Metallic taste in your mouth and hypersensitive to odors
- Grinding your teeth
- Frequent urination as if you have a urinary tract infection
Ear or hearing
Chronic hyperventilation even affects your hearing. You may not notice your hearing complaints until you have gone through this list of symptoms.
- Reduced hearing or even deafness
- Noises in your ears, ringing
- Beating sound in your ear, low rumbling sound
- Feeling that there is something in your ear canal that is blocking your hearing
Sight
If your eye complaints are definitely a side effect of chronic hyperventilation, have it checked by an ophthalmologist to be sure.
- Seeing everything blurred as if it were foggy
- Watery eyes or dry eyes
- Itchy eyes
- Being hypersensitive to light
- Seeing spots
- Seeing flashing lights when you close your eyes
- The depth of your vision feels different
To sleep
If you suffer from chronic hyperventilation you are often very tired, and you would love to have a good night’s sleep. But that is not easy due to the many complaints. You become increasingly tired and eventually it can become chronic if you do not do something about it in time.
- Chronic fatigue, so you are constantly tired and/or exhausted
- Not being able to relax due to excess energy or nervousness, overwhelming feeling
- Restless sleep, nightmares, crazy dreams
- Feeling very weak due to low energy
- Sweating attacks, especially at night
- Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- Noises in your head that keep you awake
- Waking up sick in the middle of the night
- Being startled awake or having a panic attack
- Feeling worse in the mornings
Fears
The moment fears start appearing in your list of complaints, you are actually already late. Fears are difficult to overcome, but it is possible. Do something about it before more fears arise.
- Afraid of everything
- Afraid of being locked up, not being able to get out somewhere, so wanting to sit near an exit
- Fear of being in public
- Fear of dying
- Fear of going crazy
- Fear of fainting
- Fear of making mistakes
- Hypochondriacal (afraid of getting sick or having something serious wrong)
- Fear of impending disaster and often thinking in doomsday scenarios
- Irrational fears about certain circumstances
- Unusually frightening thoughts
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of what people think of you
Emotions
You can suffer greatly from emotions, but those around you can also have a hard time with this.
- Very easily startled
- Have little patience
- Feeling depressed
- Dramatic mood swings
- Often being grumpy or unreasonable
- Being emotionally dulled and feeling numb
- May cry for no apparent reason
- Increased or decreased libido or disinterest in sex
NB!
The symptoms in this list may also belong to other conditions, which is why it is important that you have a thorough examination by a doctor to ensure that your complaints are caused by anxiety or (chronic) hyperventilation. A doctor can often tell you by a simple measurement whether your carbon dioxide level is good.
