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deep_sea2 t1_iy2gt99 wrote

This is technique to control hyperventilation, such as in a panic attack. When you hyperventilate, your oxygen (O2) levels go up and your cardon dioxides (CO2) levels drop. In a healthy state, you need a certain O2 and CO2 balance, but hyperventilating tips the scale to having more O2. If you have too much O2, your blood PH changes and becomes too alkaline. If you remember the book or movie The Andromeda Strain, the researches discovered that the killer virus does not survive in alkaline environment, so an infected person had to hyperventilate in order to not drop dead.

The idea is that by breathing in and out of a paper bag, you would inhale more CO2. The extra CO2 balances with the extra O2 you get from the hyperventilating. I don't think the breathing in and out of the bag necessarily helps calm the panic attack, but it does help prevent the panic attack from creating further medical complications.

The current medical opinion is a bit divided. The science behind it still makes sense, but some doctors might argue that this technique might cause other types of harm. An incorrect use of the paper bag might lead to too much CO2 and not enough O2, which causes another danger. This technique can also be unsafe for those with certain medical conditions.

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useablelobster2 t1_iy2rega wrote

Your body only knows to breathe because of increasing CO2 concentration, so unless you tape the bag to your face, you are likely to know when the air in the bag is too stale. Too much or too little O2 isn't something you can detect.

That is also why hyperventilating and holding your breath can cause you to fall unconscious, you run out of oxygen without hitting CO2 levels which tell your body to breathe. Never try to hyperventilate in order to hold your breath longer, doubly so if it's to dive underwater.

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Nexusowls t1_iy2r0o4 wrote

Why does the blood alkalinity matter? Isn’t it just the over saturation of O2 that causes issues?

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hiricinee t1_iy2rgm2 wrote

IT is NOT the over saturation of O2. Theres a relative plateau you reach as you hyperventilate in terms of how much O2 you can accumulate (and its pretty close to what you live at normally) but your body is able to blow off a tremendous amount of CO2, which is an acidic compound. As you blow it off your blood becomes more alkaline, which causes some temporary problems-- dizziness, weakness, more anxiety, and carpopedal spasms. If you ever see someone in a BAD panic attack they will sometimes feel cramping in the feet and hands, or even contract the muscles in their feet and hands. It tends to make them panic more and slowing down their breathing is pretty much the only way to turn it around.

Divers actually take advantage of this sometimes, they hyperventilate before a dive to suppress their respiratory drive by blowing off CO2, but it can be kind of a risky technique because your oxygen level doesnt really rise that much.

O2 toxicity tends to only happen with overdelivery of oxygen, on room air its pretty difficult to accomplish.

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rubseb t1_iy2tfyl wrote

No. Over-saturation of O2, i.e. hyperoxia, certainly isn't healthy but the symptoms aren't as acute, and the partial pressure of oxygen in normal air simply isn't high enough to cause oxygen toxicity (at sea level pO2 is about 21 kPa and toxicity only occurs above 30 kPa). That is, no matter how fast you breathe, in normal air you can never raise your blood oxygen to toxic levels.

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