Hyperventilation Syndrome: A Common Problem often Missed

Abstract

Hyperventilation syndrome is far more common than generally believed, and thus usually unrecognized. It often produces misleading complaints that include alterations of consciousness, inexplicable sensory and motor sensations, and it is often masked by coexisting somatic symptoms such as unusual chest pains. Obscuring recognition further, symptoms attributed to the panic disorder are often, in reality, those of hyperventilation. Proper diagnosis of this breathing disorder depends upon a heightened awareness of its various manifestations, which can then lead to effective means of diagnosis and management.