urbangrad082
09-04-2012, 10:44 PM
Hey Gang,
First and foremost I would like to thank everyone in advance who takes the time to read my story. I am so glad I found this forum. Over the past few months I have been suffering with anxiety issues. Although, they have not prevented me from living my life, they have been a source of great discomfort. I'm not sure if the first incident was a panic attack or not. My doctors, including the ER doctor and my therapist, say it was probably not. However, I have given myself anxiety over that incident since. On March 27th of this year I was sitting in my grad school class. We had about 30 minutes left and were taking notes for the following weeks midterm. I have always been an excellent student and was not nervous about this exam at all. Actually, life was looking great. I was about to go on a trip with my military unit, graduating top in my class with a Masters, and deploying abroad this fall. I had job security and things were in great shape. I have been through a lot of hardship throughout my life and have always handled stress very well. For instance, deployed with the military in the past, graduated the very top of my class during undergrad, and was a cop for awhile. Nothing ever seemed to bother me stress wise.
All of a sudden while in class, just out of nowhere I got extremely dizzy. It wasn't just a lightheaded feeling, but an intense wave of dizziness. I felt as though I was spinning out of control. I kept myself fully composed and excused myself to the restroom thinking maybe relieving myself would help. After using the restroom didnt alleviate the dizziness I looked in the mirror and noticed I didnt look right. Then, I started to worry and my heart started to beat. I still remained calm and stepped outside for fresh air, hoping that would help, and to call my mom who is a nurse. I spoke to her on the phone and she told me to go to the ER. I walked back into the classroom where the class had just concluded. I spoke with my professor and asked him to escort me to the security office, which he did. While enroute I called EMS. I remained coherent the entire time, able to hold a conversation, and didnt feel panicky. I just remember being very dizzy, nauseous, and after not getting better my heart was pounding. The security officer said I looked "clammy." Also, the extreme dizziness came in waves, even while I was enroute to the hospital. At times it got very intense, even when I was laying flat on the gurney.
When I arrived at the ER they ran tests and discharged me saying that it could of been one of two things. Either 1) I didnt eat enough (had only one protein bar the whole day and a ton of coke zero with like 4 hours sleep) or 2) the start of an infection. Well, oddly enough about 3 days later I got a lot of ear fullness and started sneezing up a yellowish-green type discharge. I went in to the ER again and the doc put me on a Z-pack and said I had a sinus infection and middle ear infection. All these months later not a day goes by that I am not headachy, have nausea, feel dizzy, and have this out of body/derealization feeling. I am constantly worried that I am going to get dizzy again like I did the last time. I spoke with a therapist and she said that I am worrying too much about the first experience that I have given myself anxiety.
I dont know what to think. Does anyone have insight into this? Did what I experienced that first night sound like a panic attack or could it have been what they say and the start of an infection? Could I have convinced myself that it was panic and given myself anxiety and maybe even PTSD over it?
I am working hard to overcome this by following what my therapist calls the Nike therapy of "Just Do It." No matter how bad I feel I just go out there and do it. She said this is what CBT is and that there is nothing she can really do for me since I am already doing this on my own. Will this anxiety eventually go away? Like I said, no matter how bad I feel...I still do all the things I normally do and if I feel super bad I just try to relax and keep on truckin.
First and foremost I would like to thank everyone in advance who takes the time to read my story. I am so glad I found this forum. Over the past few months I have been suffering with anxiety issues. Although, they have not prevented me from living my life, they have been a source of great discomfort. I'm not sure if the first incident was a panic attack or not. My doctors, including the ER doctor and my therapist, say it was probably not. However, I have given myself anxiety over that incident since. On March 27th of this year I was sitting in my grad school class. We had about 30 minutes left and were taking notes for the following weeks midterm. I have always been an excellent student and was not nervous about this exam at all. Actually, life was looking great. I was about to go on a trip with my military unit, graduating top in my class with a Masters, and deploying abroad this fall. I had job security and things were in great shape. I have been through a lot of hardship throughout my life and have always handled stress very well. For instance, deployed with the military in the past, graduated the very top of my class during undergrad, and was a cop for awhile. Nothing ever seemed to bother me stress wise.
All of a sudden while in class, just out of nowhere I got extremely dizzy. It wasn't just a lightheaded feeling, but an intense wave of dizziness. I felt as though I was spinning out of control. I kept myself fully composed and excused myself to the restroom thinking maybe relieving myself would help. After using the restroom didnt alleviate the dizziness I looked in the mirror and noticed I didnt look right. Then, I started to worry and my heart started to beat. I still remained calm and stepped outside for fresh air, hoping that would help, and to call my mom who is a nurse. I spoke to her on the phone and she told me to go to the ER. I walked back into the classroom where the class had just concluded. I spoke with my professor and asked him to escort me to the security office, which he did. While enroute I called EMS. I remained coherent the entire time, able to hold a conversation, and didnt feel panicky. I just remember being very dizzy, nauseous, and after not getting better my heart was pounding. The security officer said I looked "clammy." Also, the extreme dizziness came in waves, even while I was enroute to the hospital. At times it got very intense, even when I was laying flat on the gurney.
When I arrived at the ER they ran tests and discharged me saying that it could of been one of two things. Either 1) I didnt eat enough (had only one protein bar the whole day and a ton of coke zero with like 4 hours sleep) or 2) the start of an infection. Well, oddly enough about 3 days later I got a lot of ear fullness and started sneezing up a yellowish-green type discharge. I went in to the ER again and the doc put me on a Z-pack and said I had a sinus infection and middle ear infection. All these months later not a day goes by that I am not headachy, have nausea, feel dizzy, and have this out of body/derealization feeling. I am constantly worried that I am going to get dizzy again like I did the last time. I spoke with a therapist and she said that I am worrying too much about the first experience that I have given myself anxiety.
I dont know what to think. Does anyone have insight into this? Did what I experienced that first night sound like a panic attack or could it have been what they say and the start of an infection? Could I have convinced myself that it was panic and given myself anxiety and maybe even PTSD over it?
I am working hard to overcome this by following what my therapist calls the Nike therapy of "Just Do It." No matter how bad I feel I just go out there and do it. She said this is what CBT is and that there is nothing she can really do for me since I am already doing this on my own. Will this anxiety eventually go away? Like I said, no matter how bad I feel...I still do all the things I normally do and if I feel super bad I just try to relax and keep on truckin.