Shadow of the mind, the beginning of hyperventilation syndrome
I had been having an unusual school life since high school. Hyperventilation syndrome first occurred when I was a freshman in high school. Pulse, breathing, oxygen saturation, etc. are normal, but the patient shows symptoms of difficulty breathing and is distressed. As can be seen from the word ‘syndrome’, it is known to occur frequently once it appears.
It often occurs when people are suddenly under extreme stress, and can also appear due to various causes such as overeating, drinking too much, or cold hands and feet. It causes excessive breathing and a lack of carbon dioxide in the body. Then, you may feel dizzy, have convulsions, faint, or, like me, feel numb in your hands and feet.
In most cases, symptoms improve with rest. If that doesn’t work, medication may be administered, but this is extremely rare.
On a fairly hot spring day during my first year of high school, I arrived at the meeting place through the rain for a choir club meeting. It was hot and rainy, so I turned on the air conditioner to remove the moisture, and my hands and feet ended up getting wet. After saying hello to the seniors in the group, I took a seat and sat on the floor. at that time! Suddenly my hands and feet began to feel numb. ‘Isn’t the blood flowing because I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor?’
But that wasn’t it. The numbness gradually spread into the center of my body and began to spread down my lower jaw and neck. My breathing became rough, and I thought it would end soon and continued the conversation while hiding the symptoms, but my jaw joints stiffened and I couldn’t forget my next words. My hands and toes became curled up, and I started having difficulty breathing. Even when I inhaled, it didn’t feel like I was breathing, and when I exhaled, it didn’t feel like I exhaled. The throbbing, stabbing pain was like a parasite creeping into my body and squeezing my heart.
I cried and screamed at the pain I felt for the first time, and my body was twisted. Everyone around me who was watching me rushed to help me straighten up. “Hey~ Hey~ Why is he like this? Is it epilepsy?”, “I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this”, “Was he really sick?”, “No, I don’t know.” Words mixed with all kinds of worries and speculations were going around me. I looked and someone took off my wet socks and warmed my body.
How long had passed… When the hellish pain was over, I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes some time later, my entire body had lost all strength and was as mushy as wet seaweed.
“Kireng, are you okay now?”
“yes yes…”
When I tried to speak a little louder, the numbness came back, so I calmed down, lay down for a while, and went home.
At that time, when the Internet was not as developed as it is now and people were afraid to go to the hospital, I did not know what caused the symptoms or what the name of the disease or symptom was. One thing is certain: although there is enough pain to die, it is not possible to die, and it is possible to return to normal and live your normal life right away.
Afterwards, I fell several times over the years and was able to guess that it was due to mental issues. As I continued to live a life where my heart beat uncontrollably, seeing my parents struggling with financial and other issues every day, my nerves became extremely sensitive. With my heart beating so wildly, it wouldn’t be surprising if I had an arrhythmia tomorrow.
It was one day. She went to school after arguing with her mother in the morning. I opened the creaky, poorly constructed container door, came out of the house, and walked brightly through the mud of the alley. As I went out onto the sidewalk where the main road is, I saw dozens of students moving east, west, north to school. Considering the students standing on the bus and not having time to breathe, there seemed to be well over a hundred people.
As I walked one step at a time and passed the bus stop, my hands and feet became numb again and I collapsed on the spot. The adults around him said, “Oh my! Look at him! Does he have epilepsy?” He ran over to him, stretched out his hands and feet, and massaged them. And he asked me. “Hey! Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He said, enduring the pain of his hands and feet being rolled up and his heart being squeezed. “Well… if it’s a little… ugh… it’s okay… I’ll… be… sorry. I’m… sorry… “It’s… nothing… I’ll… lie down… on my side… like this…” The adults were surprised by my unexpected answer, and I had to call my parents. When asked if it would work, I answered again. “Ah.. it’s you… it’s okay… really.. it’s so special.. it’s you..”
Contrary to the saying that it was nothing serious, he lay on the sidewalk block for a while with a quite painful expression. After a while, I regained control of my breathing, and although some numbness and pain remained, I tried to stand up again. This is because her tardiness soon leads to a beating from the teacher.
In the end, I ended up being late before even going to first period, but I was able to be released safely after telling my homeroom teacher what happened.
Hyperventilation syndrome, are you okay now?
Unfortunately, these symptoms are still occurring today. However, it only appears once every few years, when the body is in such bad shape that it breaks down. And even if it does appear, the pain does not go to the point where the heart is constricted. Because we are dealing with it appropriately now. Now that I think about it, it has been over 20 years since I became aware of this symptom and dealt with it.
As with hyperventilation syndrome, there are many ways to manage anxiety disorder. I’ll go into more detail at the end of the book, but in this episode, I’ll introduce some of the things I’m putting into practice myself.
1. You must exercise. Steadily.
In my case, when I do anaerobic exercise, that is, strength training such as gymnastics, I sometimes experience shortness of breath, which is a type of somatization symptom of anxiety disorder, although it is not hyperventilation syndrome. Because these symptoms are taken to mean that you are stressed, you try to enjoy aerobic exercise as much as possible, and try to do enough aerobic exercise after anaerobic exercise.
2. Do not overeat or drink too much.
Eating delicious food is fun. Even drinking alcohol, which paralyzes reason, can be enjoyable when you talk and hang out with people. However, if this becomes excessive, abnormal signals will inevitably appear in the body. In particular, if a person with a history of hyperventilation syndrome overeats or drinks too much, it is very likely that symptoms of hyperventilation syndrome will appear a few hours later or the next day. This is also a conclusion based on the results of an experiment (?) using my symptoms of breathing difficulties, and there are also research results that show that a moderate diet and moderate drinking or abstinence can help with emotional stability.
Even with this little, I sometimes overeat and drink too much, and when that happens, I try to rest for a few days and wait for all the stress accumulated in my body to go away.
3. Solve problems quickly.
When a new task is given at work, anxiety naturally begins. It may be good anxiety to solve a problem, but if the problem continues to be left unattended, it can turn into bad anxiety, and if it is not caught in the early stages, it can cause persistent anxiety symptoms.
Therefore, when starting a new job, I increase my confidence by understanding and researching the job well before starting and then making it my own. This is the primary way to eliminate early anxiety symptoms. And if it’s something important, get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible to cut off the tail of anxiety.
When I’m overwhelmed with work to the point where I don’t know what to start with first, it may sound natural, but I tend to set priorities and deal with them. I’ll cover this in detail later, but I try to calm my anxiety by understanding the overall context by organizing things from time to time using schedulers, diaries, and smartphones.
Not long ago, we transported a high school girl who was taking medication for anxiety disorder. I don’t know exactly what the story was or what the condition was, but my heart sank. This is because the symptoms started at the same age as me. And I thought. I need to finish the book as soon as possible. That’s what I’m going to do. I need to reveal to the world the past wounds that are covered under the new skin, dissect them thoroughly, and quickly tell the story to those in need. So that their pain can end as quickly as possible.
Tags: Episode shadow heart empathized
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