This is going to sound really weird, but lately when i walk past people, just in general like down the block or in a store etc. i feel like i can't breathe. I have to go to some isolated area and take very deep breaths to recollect myself and i have no idea as to why.
I don't have any history of asthma, and I've self diagnosed myself with generalized anxiety and recently social anxiety.
My friend (who is a psychology major) told me over last summer(2013) that i have anxiety based on these symptoms:
- i don't feel comfortable in group settings anymore.
- although i've always been shy, i've grown extremely quiet around people.
- i over think everything down to the smallest of detail when i'm alone and it eats away at me and can make me extremely emotional.
- i get very emotional very quickly.
- i've grown very nervous to the point now where i stutter when i speak.
- i've started to have a very clingy and needy behavior out of the blue.
i was never always like this, i used to have a lot of friends (now i only have 2 and one that comes and goes) and i used to throw parties and surround myself with people all the time, but then i lost my best friend as well as a majority of my other friends and then lost my job. i feel like the problems between me and my best friend have made me not want to trust people anymore which is why i find it so hard to communicate with people and whenever i feel like trying i get really nervous and anxious. don't get me wrong, i was never the life of the party, but i was normal. now i can't even start a conversation and can sit in a room with only three people in it and not say a word no matter how much i want to. i don't understand why.
This all started last spring (2013). I feel like its just been increasing since then because now lately when people (strangers, not family or close friends) talk to me i stutter in my response. this is new. also I've noticed that when i walk to and from work or school, if i pass people i feel like i stop breathing. people always tell me i look like i walk with such confidence even to this day but for some reason i feel like everyones judging me as i walk by and I'm constantly wondering what everyone in my radius thinks of me. i don't know how to stop this and this is entirely new. i do walk at a fast pace, but i have my whole life. breathing was never a problem for me, my health has not changed, i eat moderately healthy so i know its not because I'm out of shape, which is why i looked into social anxiety. Some of the symptoms match my own.
However, the breathing problems I'm having are out of control, and I'm not sure if i should call it asthma or anxiety. Do i need a pump for situations like that?? How do i stop it? And if it is anxiety, how do i get rid of anxiety all together? if i have either problem, they're new, i haven't had them my whole life. so it should be possible to stop them now before they get worse?