Oh, what I meant by that is, if you had a condition serious enough to cause you to stop breathing, you would know it because you would have had other things happening before the breathing problems!
For instance if you had asthma, or COPD, spinal cord injury... you would already know it, right? So that is why if you have air hunger along with anxiety, it is in all likelihood, just that...anxiety. (I just want you to rest assured that you are probably not dealing with this as a result of some rare, or scary ailment!)
So here is that breathing exercise that I mentioned before...I hope that it helps you too:)
The Divided Breath:
Think of your lungs as having 3 equal parts: the top third, middle third, and bottom third. In one continuous breath, but divided into 3 parts, fill first the bottom and pause, then fill the middl/pause, and finally the fill the top third and hold if possible for a second or two. Exhale in the same manner, but reverse. Let out the top, then the middle, then the bottom third of lungs-remember to pause slightly after each part-finally pushing all the air out of the bottom third of your lungs to complete the cycle. Don't worry if you can't manage the whole cycle at first, it will get easier. The pauses will get more controlled, and you may be able to hold the breath for 3-5 seconds before the exhale, eventually.
This will prevent rapid/shallow breathing (hyperventilation) and put you in control of your breathing again, until your anxiety levels drop, and it becomes normal/automatic again:)
This has helped me through a lot of breathing episodes. Remember that breathing is an automatic response...until our anxiety gets in the way! Practicing these techniques will really help get it back to normal.
Take care,
S.C.