How long did you try them for? I know what you mean though. They can be helpful sometimes while at others not so much. They were very effective when this all started, and not as effective as the symptoms returned a 3rd time. But currently I find the breathing exercises keep the symptoms at by and give me something I can control which in turn makes me feel better about the whole thing. Although things are steady now, the breathing exercises helps me maintain good breathing. In the beginning I definitely had to persevere by doing them multiple times a day every day. And every person will respond to the exercises differently and some my work on some people and not others. But the method I used is the Buteyko Breathing method which I first learned from a Patrick Mckeown book and then from an online class through Learn Buteyko Online which is more of a wholistic approach where you incorporate breathing exercises throughout your day and making small changes in support of overall health.