@jamesfkruntorad- Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect James. I am a mentor for Connect's lung health and cancer groups. I have had lung cancer since 1997 and probably COPD for as long. I do understand what you mean and have felt the same when trying to JUST breathe. It's very scary to inhale and not have it work the way we expect. I would like to ask a few questions so I can help you further.

Are you seeing a Pulmonologist and has he educated you on what to expect and prescribed inhalers? Do they help at all? When were you diagnosed? Are you on O2?

To help start you off, when you feel panicked the first thing that you need to do is slow your breathing down. If you can, sit down. Lean over slightly, with your elbows on your thighs, and just breathe slowly..inhale, exhale. Do this until you feel your chest relax and so that you can breathe more easily.

This happened to me twice while embarking from a plane and believe me It shocked me and I couldn't breathe. The second time it happened I knew enough to slow down and wait and I just inhaled and exhaled very slowly. I held up a whole line of people trying to deplane, but what the heck, I needed to breathe!

Can you try this?

Merry