The 4 differences between anxiety and breathing problems

These are the main differences between breathing problems and anxiety attacks.

These are truly stressful times. Although the situation seems to be improving, the truth is that the pandemic has turned upside down the lives of many people who are afraid of catching it.

Some symptoms of anxiety coincide with those of COVID-19, especially shortness of breath and chest tightness. As the fear of having the disease causes even more anxiety, whoever is experiencing one of these episodes worries even more, having even more difficulty breathing and feeling worse.

With this in mind, today we are going to see what are the main differences between anxiety and respiratory problems associated with illness, as well as to see some ways to find out if you are anxious or not.We will also look at some ways to find out if you are having an anxiety attack or not.

Main differences between anxiety and respiratory problems.

Episodes of anxiety are pictures that many people can suffer throughout their lives. Behind them there can be all kinds of causes that provoke in those who suffer from them all kinds of symptoms, different in each person but sharing as main experienced emotion a deep fear and dread of how things will go.

The global pandemic is a serious enough problem to increase the number of cases of anxiety attacks. In addition to the fear of how society will develop in the aftermath of this crisis is the fear of the virus itself, since the disease it causes is potentially fatal. Being a respiratory disease, COVID-19 can cause shortness of breath, a symptom that many people manifest when they have an anxiety attack.

If we put ourselves in the shoes of a person who is experiencing an anxiety attack and taking into account that COVID-19 is the protagonist of the news, the fact that we begin to be short of breath is something that will alert us very easily. We will associate this shortness of breath to the coronavirus, since it is the disease of the moment and the main danger. We will believe that we have been infected and that we are showing the first symptoms, that we are just one step away from being admitted to the ICU..

Believing this, the situation will get worse, since the more anxiety, the more we will be short of breath and the more we think about COVID-19 (or any other serious respiratory disease), the more anxiety we will have, and so on, successively until someone or something manages to calm them down. Having coronavirus disease is not the only thing that harms our health, but so does constantly thinking about it and not knowing how to differentiate between anxiety and respiratory problems of medical cause.

That is why, with the intention of helping all those people who have ever suffered from an anxiety attack, we will now look at the similarities and differences between excessive anxiety and respiratory problems.

Symptoms of anxiety and breathing problems

First of all, let's know what are the symptoms of anxiety. This problem does not manifest itself in the same way in all people because, just as we have different personalities, intelligence and abilities, our way of manifesting a psychological problem is also different. However, what coincides in all cases that there is an anxiety attack is an irrational fear and dread, especially not knowing how the episode is going to end or thinking that they are in a potentially dangerous situation..

In the current context, concern about the virus is normal and it is natural for people to be very stressed. Added to the fear of catching the virus is the uncertainty of how all this will end, the economic and social repercussions it is implying and whether the "new normal" will end up being the future "normal", a world in which it is going to be very difficult to adapt.

The thought of all this is something that can cause an anxiety attack in all kinds of people, especially those with a neurotic personality or an anxiety disorder.. Among the symptoms that we can find in a picture of this type we have.

• Feelings of fear, panic and nervousness.
• Obsessive and uncontrollable thoughts
• Repeated thoughts
• Flashbacks of traumatic events
• Irrational ritual behaviors
• Excessive sweating
• Numbness in hands and feet
• Shortness of breath and hyperventilation
• Chest pain or palpitations
• Inability to be calm and quiet
• Dry mouth, Nausea and dizziness
• Feeling unsettled, on edge
• Tiredness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Blank mind
• Irritation
• Muscle tension
• Excessive worry
• Sleep problems: insomnia and lack of restful sleep.
• Diarrhea

Taking COVID-19 as an example respiratory disease, among its primary symptoms we can find the following three.

• Fever
• Trouble breathing
• Dry cough

Other less common symptoms of this disease are:

• Aches and pains in various parts of the body
• Nasal congestion
• Rhinorrhea (runny nose)
• Sore throat
• Diarrhea

Distinguishing between the two disorders

Looking at the symptoms of both problems, we can see that what an anxiety attack and COVID-19 have in common are breathing difficulties, although their severity is different.

It is clear that if you are suffering from an anxiety attack you are having a problem and that the ideal is to consult a psychologist This already provides us with one of the differences to differentiate between the two disorders: anxiety is a psychological phenomenon that in most cases does not have organic causes, while breathing problems are linked to physical alterations.

But perhaps the most notable difference between the two is the fever. Although this symptom can occur in very extreme cases of anxiety attacks, this is very rare, while in the case of diseases caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, it is common that in addition to not being able to breathe well, the body temperature rises.

Another clearer distinction is runny nose. In respiratory problems in general, it is frequent that there is excessive production of mucus, while in an anxiety attack it is frequent that the body temperature rises.while in an anxiety attack this does not happen. It may happen that the person who is experiencing an attack of this type has a cold and a lot of mucus, but it will not be the anxiety that causes it, but the respiratory problem itself.

Another aspect in which anxiety and respiratory problems differ is in their duration.. A panic attack that includes difficulty breathing can last between 20 and 30 minutes, reaching its peak after about 10 minutes. On the other hand, breathing difficulties associated with a respiratory disease, whether mild like a cold or severe like the coronavirus itself, have a varied duration depending on what the medical problem in question is, but last at least several days.

How do you know if it is anxiety or a respiratory disease?

Naturally, the best people to diagnose respiratory diseases are doctors, while the best people to detect an anxiety attack are psychologists. However, it is useful to know what to do to distinguish between these two problems without having to go to a hospital and, on the one hand, giving doctors more work than necessary and, on the other hand, risking contagion.

In addition to taking into account the above-mentioned differences, what we can do to see if we really have a breathing problem is the following exercise:

• Sit or lie down with your back straight.
• Exhale completely through your mouth
• Close your mouth slightly and inhale through your nose for a count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of seven
• Exhale audibly through your mouth for a count of eight.
• Repeat steps 3 through 6 three more times for a count of four breath cycles.

If we have been able to do this exercise without being short of breath, it is most likely that we have had an anxiety attack. In people suffering from a respiratory disease it is not possible to complete the exercise, since the lungs are too affected and the breathing difficulties are getting worse. and the respiratory difficulties will worsen in a short period of time.

Likewise, given the exceptional nature of the situation in which we find ourselves, regional and state governments and different health organizations have made telephone numbers available to users to contact people who, without the need to go to the doctor, can inform us whether we may have the disease. If it has not been possible to complete the breathing exercise just mentioned, the most advisable thing to do is to seek urgent medical help.

Bibliographic references:

• Solomon, C. (2015). Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine, 373(21), pp. 2059 - 2068.
• Sylvers, P.; Lilienfeld, S.O.; LaPrairie, J.L. (2011). Differences between trait fear and trait anxiety: implications for psychopathology. Clinical Psychology Review. 31(1): pp. 122 - 137.
• Wu, J. (2015). Episodic future thinking in generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders, 36, pp. 1 - 8.
• European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. (2020) “Outbreak of acute respiratory syndrome associated with a novel coronavirus, China; First cases imported in the EU/EEA; second update”. ECDC.