http://www.medhelp.org/forums/RespiratoryDisorders/messages/1922.html
The above links includes someone saying:
I had this situation occur last summer where I was consistently taking deep breaths and feeling like I needed to yawn all the time.
This one, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003096.htm , offers heart disease as a possible explanation. “A Vasovagal reaction”, it says, “This reaction is caused by the action of a nerve, called the vagus nerve, on the blood vessels. It may indicate a heart problem.”
The vagus nerve, according to http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C653304.html
is also called ” the pneumogastric nerve, this is the tenth cranial nerve, with many fibers leading to parasympathetic ganglia in internal organs, and can be considered the presynapse starter for the upper parts of the parasympathetic functions.”
Answers.com at http://www.answers.com/topic/vagus-nerve?cat=health defines the vagus nerve as:
vagus nerve
n.Either of the tenth and longest of the cranial nerves, passing through the neck and thorax into the abdomen and supplying sensation to part of the ear, the tongue, the larynx, and the pharynx, motor impulses to the vocal cords, and motor and secretory impulses to the abdominal and thoracic viscera. Also called pneumogastric nerve.
[New Latin (nervus) vagus, wandering (nerve), from Latin.]
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/images/gimo2-f7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/fig_tab/gimo2_F7.html&h=763&w=700&sz=164&hl=en&start=5&sig2=TH00_V7CE4×8Aj7Lf18PjA&tbnid=HDplg3kJUdhSaM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=130&ei=osW0RvKEGqKEeNfntNMK&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvagus%2Bnerve%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
has some nice images of the vagus nerve’s connections.
It’s 2:00 pm now, and I’m still yawning.
