Brian Kersey
09-20-2007, 06:16 PM
I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH OF MY STORY. I DIDN'T REALIZE I PUT IN SO MANY DETAILS!
hello all,
i first want to say thank god i found this site. just by reading other people's stories i feel better. i am 22 years old and have been suffering from anxiety since i was an early teen. the first few years i suffered from panic disorder i only had maybe 1 or 2 attacks per year. nothing crazy. when i turned 19 i finally had a severe panic attack. i was going through a stressful time which probably helped to bring it out. my entire father's side of my family suffers from panic disorder. i was prescribed lorazpam to take as needed when attacks would come. after my first major one i had an attack everyday for about 2-3 months. i also became agoraphobic. i eventually after a few months did not need medication and was able to continue on with life.
since then over the past 4 years i have had attacks but i was able to deal with them without the use of medication. the symptoms of one of ym panic attacks vary greatly- rapid heartbeat, feel faint, feel like i cant breathe, stomach pains, vision blurry, sound is distorted, yawning consistently to help with breathing, tingling feeling in hand and feet. the usual symptoms a lot of people have. anyways i had a few bad ones but nothing to stop me doing anything in life. i was able to travel and do lots of things. well about 2 months AGO i came into some very stressful situations. i began to have panic attacks again that were very difficult to deal with on my own or i needed meds. i began taking citalopram about a week since i have had very bad attacks the past 3 weeks and have become agoraphobic again. i actually love driving and sometimes would hop in my car to clear my mind and just drive around. for the past 2 weeks i have barely left my house and only got in my car once to drive about a mile down the road to pick up my brother.
this has been very debilitating for me. i commute about 45 mins. to school and about 30 mins. to work. i have not been able to do either because of the fear of driving. i should also mention that about 7 months ago i began weight lifting. i fell in love with it. it actually made me feel a lot better. i would work out consistently 3 days a week/ 1 hour per session. over the past month i started cutting my workout shorter because i felt like i was gonna pass out or have a heart attack. for 6 months before this i never had one single problem. eventually it got the point where i would workout for about 10 mins. and would get so nervous about my heart that i would quit working out. now i'm afraid to hit the weights again in fear of having a bad attack. i should also mention i used to take a few bodybuilding supplements (shock therapy, storm - nitric oxide energy booster and creatine). i took them for about 4 months and also never had a problem up until a few weeks ago when i started having really bad attacks. i also do smoke cigarettes but have been trying to quit.
i finally had enough with all the worry and panic so i went to my doctor's last week who said i showed signs or arrhythmia and sent me to the ER for tests. my GP also gave me the prescription for citalopram. i was at the ER for about 6 hours. they did 2 ekg's and ran some blood tests. the first ekg showed possible problems with my heartbeat but the second one said no. the also said my t waves were inverted but that most athletes have inverted t waves. they sent me home and told me to follow up with a cardiologist. i have an appointment next week. they said not to worry because it was probably caused by the anxiety.
as of right now the citalopram hasn't really shown any real difference so far. i take 10 mg once a day. i feel a little calmer but its only been a week. i actually felt really drowsy the first few days. i have only driven once in the past week to pick up my brother from work. little baby steps i guess. i have gone on a few walks around my neighborhood. i completely stopped taking bodybuilding supplements and working out. i have also cut way back on smoking. only 3-4 a day since last week. i know smoking is bad an i should quit but it is very hard to right now.
here are my questions:
-does anyone else have a similiar story?
-has anxiety affected working out for you?
-if you have taken/take citalopram how did it work out for you?
-any suggestions to help me out.
THANK YOU FOR READING MY POST. I KNOW IT WAS EXTREMELY LONG.
hello all,
i first want to say thank god i found this site. just by reading other people's stories i feel better. i am 22 years old and have been suffering from anxiety since i was an early teen. the first few years i suffered from panic disorder i only had maybe 1 or 2 attacks per year. nothing crazy. when i turned 19 i finally had a severe panic attack. i was going through a stressful time which probably helped to bring it out. my entire father's side of my family suffers from panic disorder. i was prescribed lorazpam to take as needed when attacks would come. after my first major one i had an attack everyday for about 2-3 months. i also became agoraphobic. i eventually after a few months did not need medication and was able to continue on with life.
since then over the past 4 years i have had attacks but i was able to deal with them without the use of medication. the symptoms of one of ym panic attacks vary greatly- rapid heartbeat, feel faint, feel like i cant breathe, stomach pains, vision blurry, sound is distorted, yawning consistently to help with breathing, tingling feeling in hand and feet. the usual symptoms a lot of people have. anyways i had a few bad ones but nothing to stop me doing anything in life. i was able to travel and do lots of things. well about 2 months AGO i came into some very stressful situations. i began to have panic attacks again that were very difficult to deal with on my own or i needed meds. i began taking citalopram about a week since i have had very bad attacks the past 3 weeks and have become agoraphobic again. i actually love driving and sometimes would hop in my car to clear my mind and just drive around. for the past 2 weeks i have barely left my house and only got in my car once to drive about a mile down the road to pick up my brother.
this has been very debilitating for me. i commute about 45 mins. to school and about 30 mins. to work. i have not been able to do either because of the fear of driving. i should also mention that about 7 months ago i began weight lifting. i fell in love with it. it actually made me feel a lot better. i would work out consistently 3 days a week/ 1 hour per session. over the past month i started cutting my workout shorter because i felt like i was gonna pass out or have a heart attack. for 6 months before this i never had one single problem. eventually it got the point where i would workout for about 10 mins. and would get so nervous about my heart that i would quit working out. now i'm afraid to hit the weights again in fear of having a bad attack. i should also mention i used to take a few bodybuilding supplements (shock therapy, storm - nitric oxide energy booster and creatine). i took them for about 4 months and also never had a problem up until a few weeks ago when i started having really bad attacks. i also do smoke cigarettes but have been trying to quit.
i finally had enough with all the worry and panic so i went to my doctor's last week who said i showed signs or arrhythmia and sent me to the ER for tests. my GP also gave me the prescription for citalopram. i was at the ER for about 6 hours. they did 2 ekg's and ran some blood tests. the first ekg showed possible problems with my heartbeat but the second one said no. the also said my t waves were inverted but that most athletes have inverted t waves. they sent me home and told me to follow up with a cardiologist. i have an appointment next week. they said not to worry because it was probably caused by the anxiety.
as of right now the citalopram hasn't really shown any real difference so far. i take 10 mg once a day. i feel a little calmer but its only been a week. i actually felt really drowsy the first few days. i have only driven once in the past week to pick up my brother from work. little baby steps i guess. i have gone on a few walks around my neighborhood. i completely stopped taking bodybuilding supplements and working out. i have also cut way back on smoking. only 3-4 a day since last week. i know smoking is bad an i should quit but it is very hard to right now.
here are my questions:
-does anyone else have a similiar story?
-has anxiety affected working out for you?
-if you have taken/take citalopram how did it work out for you?
-any suggestions to help me out.
THANK YOU FOR READING MY POST. I KNOW IT WAS EXTREMELY LONG.