Ok, I didn't find very many threads about this: I experience this exact problem. I experience it a few times a year, and it usually lasts a week or two, but I've had 2 bouts with it in the last few months (one presently). It always has to do with calming down/slowing my metabolism. It can drive a person crazy, because you can't get that "calming feeling" of a yawn, or a sigh/deep breath. Like others described, it feels like there's something taking up space in your lungs, or a belt around your rib cage or something. Also, after several days, your chest and back start to hurt from straining so much. And you do wonder if you look like a total idiot with your mouth open, searching, trying to find that yawn that just won't come. And when it finally does, you feel like high-fiving the nearest person. It also gives you problems calming down and going to sleep at a decent hour.
Here's what I've noticed when it happens to me:
I can still breathe, I just can't breath in a satisfying/filling manner. My lower diaphragm breathing is still just fine. I can intake air down there. However, I can't get full breaths when I breathe with my chest. This doesn't pose so much of a general breathing problem, as much as a metabolism-slowing problem. I need my upper chest breathing to yawn and sigh. This doesn't seem like that big of a deal to someone who's never experienced it, but imagine 1. NOT being able to CALM DOWN, and 2. being frustrated and stressed because of the very fact that you can't calm down, and it all revolves around the problem of not being able to breathe (or at least feeling like you can't). I do feel like I'm going to hyperventilate and even worry that I'm going to pass out, but so far it's never happened. It's like the concept of waterboarding--it seems like an almost insignificant PHYSICAL action, but it has inense PHSYCHOLOCIAL effects (although fortunately, I'm sure it's not as bad as being waterboarded). It is not asthma: I can perform strenious activities just fine. I occasinally run a couple of miles around my neighborhood and experience no breathing problems at all. I'm a vocalist in my spare time, so I have a pretty nimble diaphragm too. I can't stress enough though, that this is an actual PHYSICAL problem. I've had dozens of people tell me I'm too stressed, or that I'm thinking too much about yawning, but I'm a very stable person mentally. It's not just my imagination.
My health: I'm 28, 5-9" and weigh 145 lbs. I jog on occasion. I eat a pretty healthy diet (my wife is always watching our food content). At most, I have one cigar per week, and I've never smoked habitually. I have two other ailments that I'm aware of: 1. menier's disease (an inner-ear equilibrium disorder that affects me a few times per year--I take a weekly single dose of a diuretic [the same as perscribed to high-blood pressure sufferers]) and 2. hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating in my palms). Does anyone else share either of these problems?
What I've done: I've been to a resperatory specialist, and described my symptoms to him. Unfortunately, by the time of my appointment, the breathing problems subsided. He said that he's heard about what I described, but didn't know much about it! (So physician ignorance of this is apparently quite common)
He said to make an appointment the next time it occurs, but I never did, because my bouts don't last long enough to reach a scheduled appointment. I also had x-rays that revealed nothing. I've had my lung capacity tested as part of my work related physical exams, and they are fine. Also, no bouts directly correspond to excessively stressful times in my life. (I went through a divorce and don't remember experiencing any bouts!) On top of this, I don't have a stressful job, and I'm not a high-stress person. My first bout happened about 7 years ago in college in no particularly stressful time (~2002).
Here's what I've been looking into:
Q: Do this bouts appear in conjunction with seasonal allergies and/or the aftermaths of minor colds? A: Maybe, but not always.
Q: Does this have anything to do with post nasal drippage? A: Maybe. At some point in my childhood I remember talking to other kids about how I can suck from my sinuses down my throat and swallow (it makes a squeezing sound in my head). I know it sounds gross, but I've been doing it all my life, and that's what post-nasal drip is. But it seems like some people couldn't. If this is true, maybe my throat, lungs, whatever, is getting filled up with more mucus.
Q: Is it thyroid related? Today, I read about iodine deficiency (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine_deficiency) and thyroid problems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid). Among other things, the thyroid releases hormones to regulate metabolism. Perhapse it's those hormones we feel when we reach a yawn or deep breath/sigh and feel the calming sensation. One explanation for thyroid problems is idoine deficiency (iodine is synthesized in the thyroid to make particular hormones). I've realized we switched to non-iodized salt at some point in the past. Does anyone else use non-iodized salt? Somehow, I don't think this is the problem though, even though it sounds like a good explanation.
Q: Is it related to some type of pollutant in the air, that some are more sensitive to than others? I don't know. I lived in two different areas of my state (Louisiana), one in a smaller, wooded city, one in a medium industrial city. I doubt the same pollutants could exist everywhere, and not affect more people than it has.
But anyway, I found this place immediately when I searched "yawning difficulty" so I figured I'd leave this message and we can keep this thread going, and eventually someone may come up with an answer. I know I would LOVE to be rid of this problem.
Keep talking about it. We've all experienced doctors who haven't been of any help, so maybe we'll have to figure this one out ourselves
James
(I just got a sweet yawn while wrapping this up! High five!)