Is hyperventilation a mental disorder?

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asked Apr 12, 2023 in Mental Health by Walkopopper (2,210 points)
Is hyperventilation a mental disorder?

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answered Apr 12, 2023 by Marybeth122 (3,140 points)
Hyperventilation can be a mental disorder some people who have mental health issues also experience hyperventilation as a result.

However Hyperventilation syndrome is an anxiety related dyspnea and tachypnea that is often accompanies by systemic symptoms.

Hyperventilation is most often caused by panic or anxiety.

Panic attacks and emotional distress are the 2 most common causes for hyperventilation.

Anxiety and getting scared and being fearful of something may also cause hyperventilation.

The three signs of hyperventilation are difficulty in getting breath, tightness in the chest and very rapid heartbeat.

Hyperventilation is breathing that is deeper and faster than normal.

It causes the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood to drop.

This may make you feel light-headed.

You may also have a fast heartbeat and feel short of breath.

Hyperventilation is when you experience rapid or deep breathing that is usually caused by anxiety or panic.

This over breathing, as it is sometimes called, can even actually leave you feeling breathless.

When you breathe, you inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.

What does hyperventilating feel like?

Feeling that you can't get enough air (air hunger) or need to sit up to breathe.

A pounding and racing heartbeat. Problems with balance, lightheadedness, or vertigo.

Numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or around the mouth.

Unrecognized and inadvertent hyperventilation may contribute to the currently dismal survival rates of cardiac arrest.

Excessive breathing creates a low level of carbon dioxide in your blood.

This causes many of the symptoms of hyperventilation.

You may hyperventilate from an emotional cause such as during a panic attack.

Or, it can be due to a medical problem, such as bleeding or infection.

In very rare cases, people who hyperventilate can have low carbon dioxide blood levels that can cause a spasm of the blood vessels that supply the heart.

If a person already has heart disease, this spasm may be enough to cause a heart attack.

The signs and symptoms of hyperventilation are difficulty in getting breath, tightness in the chest, very rapid heartbeat, sweating, tingling or numbness, faintness, feeling of unreality, visual problems, rigid muscles, cramps, sudden emotional outburst, for example crying, feeling too hot or too cold.

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