Really Bad Day!

[Peak]

Well I'm freaking out at the moment.

Yesterday I was feeling really dizzy most of the day and for no real reason. Didn't feel anxious had had a nice weekend but I was feeling tired. When I got home I took my BP and it's shot up to 150/90 my BP is raised anyway but normally 130/80 or 140/80. Took it again this morning and first reading was 160/90 but then took it a few seconds later and it was 150/90. This is freaking me out and I'm leaving now to go to my GP to be checked out. Really thought I had this licked. :(

[raggamuffin]

Ther reaosn for feeling dizzy is anxiety. Neck tension, stress etc. Keep hydrated. Don't start assuming dizziness or any other symptom anxiety throws at you is anythin other than anxiety. When you start assuming the worst, such as a disease or condition you're allowing your anxiety to feed off more fear and worry and symptoms will last longer or feel more intense.

BP will always fluctuate and will certainly be aggrovated when you feel anxious. I imagine much like checking your pulse, checking your BP ca become an obsession. Don't rely on taking your BP all the time, it's not a help, more like a hinderance which will cause fear and worry. I'd say pack away the BP machine and instead focus on helping your anxiety. A healthy diet, looking into starting CBT are good first steps. There's no overnight cure for anxiety but the more you understand it the less fear there will be about symptoms and such like. It takes time but can be done.

Ed

[em1]

I Totally agree with ragamuffin you should not keep on taking your BP as It will turn into a Accession that you have to do every single day,everyone's BP will go up and down w everyday Depending on what they're doing and when you have anxiety it fuels everything like keep on Checking if your ok etc,if you have had tests by your GP then please try and relax and take there word for it that your Heath is fine, Believe me I know how hard that is,I've had anxiety for 21 years on and off so I know what I'm talking about,yes it's exhausting Physically and mentally but it won't harm you no matter how bad it feels that time,you will get better but you have to stop Checking

[Peak]

Cheers both for your replies, very much appreciated. I think it's the fact that it caught me surprise that threw me. I have had panic attacks and dizzyness etc all brought on by anxiety in the past but a few months ago I completed a CBT course which really, really helped me deal with my anxiety and since then all of my physical symptoms have either disappeared or have reduced greatly. Yesterday though it just came completely out of the blue and I was feeling absolutely fine before hand, no real anxiety worries, just feeling pretty good about everything and then wham, started feeling really dizzy and a couple of times could have lost my balance and fallen over. Because I know I do have raised BP and hadn't checked it for a few weeks I thought I should check it as I actually thought it could be that my BP was too low. So when I saw that it was the opposite and had gone up higher it freaked me out.

My GP though is excellent, very understanding and knows and understands about anxiety and how it affects me. She listed to what I had to say, took my BP and confirmed it was still higher than normal but said "it's not dangerously high" and then we started to discuss other things that could have caused it. She has managed to calm me down quite a lot although I still feel concerned about my BP but far less than I did. The one thing CBT did teach me was not to do all the checks I used to do like checking my BP every week, my pulse every day etc and I do have this under control, although there are still times when I want to do both but manage to resist. What I still have difficulty in doing though is what my therapist describes as "living with uncertainty". That always made me feel uncomfortable as I feel I need to know definites but I now know that this is not possible and counter productive anyway. Most days I manage okay, it's only days like yesterday when things come out of the blue and you haven't been able to prepare for them that I can so easily be knocked by into the whole anxiety wheel where what you do just perpetuates it rather than breaks out of it.

[raggamuffin]

Tha'ts the problem, even when we feel mentally fine it can take our bodies months to get better as the anxiety and stress will have built up over months if not years before surfacing as anxiety and all the nasty symptoms it can bring about. Anxiety and stress can easily raise BP as does anything, standing up, walking, running, feeling tired. Same with our pulse. So more often than not we're fine.

Uncertainty is difficult, especially when we're anxious and conjuring up all sorts of possible dangers that we feel we must protect ourselves from. but as corny as it sounds we have to live in the here and now because nobody can predict the future. As with anxiety we must learn acceptance of this fact.

Ed

[em1]

I also get alot of dizzyness with my anxiety so i know it's really naff when it happens,tho I think I've had every test under the sun and it's allways come back as clear,your GP sounds fab and please don't forget if she thought for
Moment that it was Dangerously high she would have put you on BP tablets,she knows how bad you suffer from anxiety and doctors are there to help you and treat you they would not just send you away with nothing or say it's nothing if they thought it was something to be worried about :)

[bonehead]

You may be deficient in Vitamin B and/or Iron, specifically B3 or B6.