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[MrsJ88]

Been lurking around this forum for a month and finally decided to post my story. I have struggled with anxiety and panic attacks since spring 2011 after my grandpa passed away suddenly due to an aneurysm. Never had this in my entire life until then. I would have severe panic attacks where my chest would hurt, left arm would go numb and legs would tingle, I would hyperventilate... Ugh it was horrible!! Like I said this started March 2011 and finally around November 2011 or so the panic attacks laid off a bit. In the mean time for the chest pain and arm going numb I seen a cardiologist and had an EKG done, wore a 24 hour heart monitor twice and was told my heart was perfect. But I just couldn't believe it and kept having anxiety about it. I don't know where I got this obsession with my heart and I always think I'm having a heart attack :( its the scariest thing EVER! Well recently the chest pain is back but it feels different than it did when I was having the panic attacks and I'm not having those right now, just severe anxiety over my heart! I tried Zoloft 2 years ago and it made me worse, so I have opted to go med free. But I am struggling right now!!! :( my chest has started hurting again and I hate it. It scares the crap out of me! Just looking for someone that can relate to all of the anxiety craziness. I have a new baby that is 5 months and I am a first time mom so I want to fully enjoy him and not be riddled with anxiety so much! My panic attacks went away while pregnant and thank goodness I haven't had a full blown attack in like a year... I'm just sick of the anxiety. I have a constant fear of death or feel that I'm dying and that I don't have a future or very long to live. Also I am always too aware of my breathing and concentrate on it too much. I'm 24, I want to enjoy my husband and baby and not feel like this anymore! I used to be so happy and bubbly and now I feel as if I'm grumpy and scared all the time. Any insight?

[MrsJ88]

I wanted to try a different med since I haven't taken anything for anxiety since the Zoloft that one time 2 years ago but I am breast feeding so my doctor advised me not to

[blondieqtpie]

I've tried Paxil, Effexor and Cipralex for my anxiety and panic... All failed. I'm currently taking Celexa... For 2 weeks... It doesn't have they many side effects... But I found it made my zombie like... So I recently switched to taking it in the evenings rather than mornings. So far it seems to work. But everyone is different . I go off and on ssri's... Always keep my Benzos because of their instant effect. So far celexa send to agree with me... But it's like trial and error with Meds ... Hopefully you will find what works for you. But I also have been doing meditation and self hypnosis and playing relaxing games and listening to relaxing music... Which has helped lots. Try meditation. Smart phones have apps for it.

[MrsJ88]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah I don't wanna feel zombie like or anything cause I have a baby and my husband works an over night shift so I want to always hear my baby wake up when he needs me.

[locksey]

Hi , I kan relate to all yr symptoms above a much more ... I've had panic disorder now for over 20yrs and ive had ok times and really bad time and also the symptoms change .... I also had a ECG done and wore it for 24hrs and stil looked for reassurance after that :-/
You cud ask yr dctr for propanalol ... It's for anxiety but also slows yr heart rate down , I also take sertraline , this kan be used for depression or anxiety... I've never had any side affects with either ov these and I've weaned my self off them twice over the years and again ' no problems '

[missmello]

In the past my anxiety was all about my heart.. I would have severe panic attacks where I would almost black out because my heart would just be pounding, and it would happen frequently and lasted for a few months. They did ultrasounds, ekg, sent me home with a heart monitor and everything came back normal. I was in my late teens when this was happening. I was taking lorazepam as needed and they eventually stopped.

I have heard a lot of good things about Celexa, though I have never tried it myself. I was recently put on Zoloft and that gave me awful side effects and made me feel 100x worse, I stopped it after 1 day. I have read online somewhere (can't remember where) that there are medications you can take for anxiety that are low risk during pregnancy and while breast feeding. Of course in a perfect world you don't want to take anything that could potentially harm your baby but if you talk to your doctor and pharmacist there are options out there if you feel like you really need something to help you get through this. You can even research it online.

[sharacel91]

I have a real bad anxiety and think I'm always having a heart attack in fact I always worry about my heart and I struggle with the physical symptoms I'm usually fine until I get a palpitation or chest pain or pain in my neck the. It sets me of. I could be doing nothing watching tv not thinking about it and ill get a palpation where it really takes me away and my heart after poufs an go sooo fast I can feel it, it's awful. Only think is I've only ever had an ECG done a year ago and my doctor won't send me to have any more tests done which really gets me down because she says its anxiety but I how for she know?! She doesn't ever check my bp when I see her I'm just slightly worried how she know its just anxiety?! I hope you recover soon its awful this type of anxiety. I have had hypnotherapy done before and it's helped me but still I have issues I want to sort out so now in trying CBT.

[cabcom]

This path that has been chosen for us is not an easy one, but take courage in the fact that no matter how bad our days turn out to be, we still wake up the next morning, and may just keep waking up for years to come. Fear drives us to believe a lot of things, but reality usually sets the record straight.

[MrsJ88]

This path that has been chosen for us is not an easy one, but take courage in the fact that no matter how bad our days turn out to be, we still wake up the next morning, and may just keep waking up for years to come. Fear drives us to believe a lot of things, but reality usually sets the record straight.

Very true!

[MrsJ88]

I have a real bad anxiety and think I'm always having a heart attack in fact I always worry about my heart and I struggle with the physical symptoms I'm usually fine until I get a palpitation or chest pain or pain in my neck the. It sets me of. I could be doing nothing watching tv not thinking about it and ill get a palpation where it really takes me away and my heart after poufs an go sooo fast I can feel it, it's awful. Only think is I've only ever had an ECG done a year ago and my doctor won't send me to have any more tests done which really gets me down because she says its anxiety but I how for she know?! She doesn't ever check my bp when I see her I'm just slightly worried how she know its just anxiety?! I hope you recover soon its awful this type of anxiety. I have had hypnotherapy done before and it's helped me but still I have issues I want to sort out so now in trying CBT.

What is CBT, if you don't mind me asking?

[scared44]

What is CBT, if you don't mind me asking?

CBT is cognitive behavioural therapy! Its very good :-)

[Ahlstrom]

CBT is cognitive behavioural therapy! Its very good :-)


Indeed, the smell of marijuana used to give me panic attacks because an incident involving alcohol and weed initially GAVE me my anxiety disorder. I was not able to hang out with my friends because they were smoking all the time. Cognitive behavioral therapy is amazingly simple, I could stand the smell of weed within 2 days of cbt. Basically you expose yourself to whatever is causing you anx/panic attacks in a very small amount and think positive thought and good experiences you may have had in the past with it. I told my friends to smoke a bowl and blow the smoke around me and concentrated and repeated to myself that I was fine and that it was just my anxiety. I also thought of great times I had getting stoned with my buddies. This essentially re wired the way my mind perceived the stimuli and fixed it into what I wanted. It didn't go as smooth as you would think though, I did have a couple of panic attacks trying to face my fear, but the end result was great, now I am completely unresponsive to the smells. Your brain is much more powerful than you think.

[MrsJ88]

I just don't know what I'm afraid of to be able to try CBT out. My anxiety stems from my grandpa dying, so now I have extreme health anxiety. Always think I'm dying of something, heart attacks, etc.

[Ahlstrom]

I just don't know what I'm afraid of to be able to try CBT out. My anxiety stems from my grandpa dying, so now I have extreme health anxiety. Always think I'm dying of something, heart attacks, etc.

Yes that is rather difficult, do you have physical symptoms? If so that's something to work with, whenever you get them just keep thinking and repeating that it's normal and anxiety is toying with you. If not then you probably could see a therapist, they know much more about it then I do, my post was more of an anecdote...

[MrsJ88]

Yes that is rather difficult, do you have physical symptoms? If so that's something to work with, whenever you get them just keep thinking and repeating that it's normal and anxiety is toying with you. If not then you probably could see a therapist, they know much more about it then I do, my post was more of an anecdote...

Yes, I have many exhausting symptoms... I don't even know if I could name them all there's so many, but a few are; chest pain, frequent yawning trying to get a deep breath, nausea at times, light headedness, racing heart with just walking around my small apartment, heart feelings like it flops in my chest, being asleep then randomly feeling as if I'm gonna quit breathing and I sit straight up in bed scared to death (very odd feeling) almost feels like my breath is taken away, just so many symptoms that trigger and set off my anxiety.

[sharacel91]

I am the same I don't know what brings my anxiety on it can come and go at the weird times! I could be watching I film but for me it's more of the physical symptoms I struggle with but I've been told by my dr CBT could help so fingers cross!

[raggamuffin]

Acceptance is a hard thing to do. Fears around the heart are so common with anxiety. With the fight or flight response to perceived danger and our fears the adrenlaine filled blood is pumped to the chest wall muscles. To protect the vital organs from impact. It's an ingenius system, however with an anxious state of mind we put our body through the fight or flight response far more often than is necessary.

Every symptom our body gives off is it's way of showing us it's overburdened with stress and worry. It's crying out for rest. But when we get a symptom often we do the opposite of what's required (rest) instead we panic, fear it/ We pile even more stress and worry onto the body. It's no surprise that the symptomns can last longer or get worse.

If a heart specialist said there's nothing wrong with your heart then that's the truh. Acceptance can be a hard thing to master especially with an anxious state of mind. Rational and logical trains of thought are few and far between.

But remember we do not have 5+ years of medical knowledge under our belt. The fight or flight response as said before pumps adrenlaine filled blood to the chest and also limbs. TO fight or fly. If an angry dog was in the room with you this fight or flight response would kick in. Once you're out of the room you calm down, the danger is removed and you return to normal in time. With anxiety you're often on edge 24/7. We're hyper sensitive to any change in our body or surroundings. When this happens too much the excess of adrnelaine causes all sorts of muscle aches and pains. Chest and arm poains are very common. Then if we start fearing heart attacks these symptoms can become all the more common. It can feel like someone is satr on your chest for hours. Or it can feel like a sudden sharp pain. it might get worse with moving or breathing and you stop in your tracks and feel utterly terrified.

Key is again acceptance. it can be very tough, but if all the checks have come back fine thenb it's time to try your best to read more about anxiety and udnerstand it. It feeds off fear and worry. With more knowledge anxiety has less fear and worry to feed off.

Ed