Bagabag

Allow me to do a play of words as the first entry to this blog.

“Huwag mong bagabagin ang iyong sarili sa isang napakaliit na bagay” goes a cliché in Filipino. (Don't worry yourself too much about such a very small matter.) The noun “bagabag” is the equivalent of the “English” anxiety. 

 Have you observed people breathing into paper bags?  This is believed to be a treatment for what is known in medical parlance as hyperventilation syndrome, usually associated with panic disorders. It is a psychological condition that prompts victims to breathe too deep and too fast.  This increase in breathing becomes counterproductive as more CO₂ than usual is exhaled.  While CO₂ is a mere byproduct, we still need a minimum amount in the bloodstream to maintain the proper pH balance in our bodies.

“Paper bags have been used for years to treat hyperventilation syndrome. The idea is that rebreathing the air we exhale makes us inhale more CO₂ and helps us to quickly add the CO₂ back into our bloodstreams. It works.” says Rod Brouhard, a paramedic and advocate of emergency medical services.

“The trouble with paper bags is not that true hyperventilation syndrome patients are at risk from the treatment,” Brouhard continues. “On the contrary, while it hasn't been shown to really help hyperventilation syndrome patients, it hasn't been shown to hurt them, either. What paper bags do hurt are the dangerous medical conditions that look like hyperventilation. Heart attacks and asthma are most commonly confused with hyperventilation syndrome.”

Panic attacks usually begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 minutes, and subside over the next several hours. Panic attacks or moments of anxiety are the usual reasons that you may hyperventilate.   Often, panic and hyperventilation become a vicious cycle. Panic leads to rapid breathing, and breathing rapidly can make you feel panicked.

However, rapid breathing may be a symptom of a disease, such as: bleeding, heart or lung disorder, infection.  A physician can best determine the cause of your hyperventilation. Rapid breathing may be a medical emergency -- unless one has had experience with this before and reassured by a physician that one’s hyperventilation can be self treated.