New to this! GAD Concerns & Suggestions

[snicole]

Hey all,

I've found this forum to be extremely helpful and relieving. I don't know about anyone else but reading people's posts about similar situations gives me a sense of relief and helps me realize that I'm not actually going insane!

I'm a 22 year old graduate student in college and had my first full blown panic attack about a year and a half ago. It was the second week of school and I was already feeling overwhelmed. I was not able to fall asleep because I felt like I wasn't breathing properly, which was making my heart race uncontrollably. Eventually I fell asleep. It was my first time having an anxiety attack so the feelings were so unfamiliar. I literally thought I was having a heart attack.
Anxiety does run in my family; (my mom, aunt, uncle, and grandmother have it) so I know that it's genetic.

After talking about what happened with my mom, I realized that I had definitely had a panic attack. For a while, anytime I began feeling anxious I would call my boyfriend, mom, or dad and just talk. This helped put my mind at ease. Recently, my anxiety has gotten much worse. I feel like I'm always on edge just waiting for another sense of panic to take over. I don't even think I have a trigger anymore. I used to think my anxiety was stress-induced but now it seems to come on so suddenly and unexpectedly. Out of nowhere, my hands and feet will feel clammy, I'll experience a shortness of breath, and suddenly feel a little dizzy. Other times when an attack is worse, I'll feel like the wind was knocked out of me for a second and I get weak in the knees. I used to get nervous that I maybe had low-blood sugar (my dad is Diabetic). Anytime he tested my sugar or blood pressure, everything was normal. For a while I made myself paranoid that I had diabetes and during this time my anxiety sky-rocketed because everything I felt, I swore had to mean diabetes.

I try not to let it consume my life but I've found that my head always feels like there's a bit of pressure and I've become so much more aware of my heartbeat it's freaking me out. I feel like my head has it's own pulse a lot of the time (but only when I focus on it). I can feel heart palpitations randomly and I think it's because I'm always so concerned with my heartbeat. I know this is a symptom of anxiety and I'm trying to find ways to keep my mind preoccupied but sometimes it's so difficult. I've also been feeling like my head is foggy or dizzy at times. Sometimes when I close my eyes it feels like my body is swaying a little when it isn't. Does this happen to anyone? I've been doing way too much research online lately and it's definitely not helping my anxiety. Anytime I have a weird feeling either with my head, heart, or any body part, I've been looking it up online and of course coming up with a million things that could potentially be wrong with me. I know I need to stop doing that because if anything, it's making everything so much worse.

I guess I'm just writing this post to see if anyone has any suggestions of ways to get your mind off of anxiety. I've found that sometimes just talking to myself or listening to music seems to help ease my mind a bit. I'm hoping that eventually this won't be an everyday part of my life and I'll find better ways to cope with it. I haven't been diagnosed, but I'm positive that it's generalized anxiety. I don't want to have to rely on medication either. I'm just looking for advice on how I can possibly get my mind off of thinking about when the next attack may be.

Sorry for the length of this!
I'm new to the forum and don't mean to ramble!

[tabs]

Oh my! Your story is so similar to mine! Well, all those symptoms you have listed are quite common in people with prolonged anxiety, in fact I too get the same symptoms as you do. It´s great that you have refrained from searching the web for potential causes of your symptoms - it´s totally useless and will only worsen your condition. Your main disease is anxiety which needs to be properly addressed and treated. I recommend doing sports if you haven´t yet, physical exertion will burn your adrenaline and make you much calmer although first training sessions might not have a considerable impact on you. But be patient and train, you will surely see positive results in a longer perspective. The second thing I would recommend to you is to write out ALL your troubles and worries. After you have done that try to find potential solutions to them. As to things that cannot be changed - well, you just have to accept them the way they are. At the moment I do not see any external(school, childhood memories, demands at work etc.) stress factors so you might just have hypochondria if you worry excessively about your health. In this case I think it would be very beneficial for you to visit psychiatrist that specializes on hypochondria and go through adequate CBT - I myself am going to have it next month. The last suggestion to you is to read absolute classic on anxiety which is Dale Carnegie "How to stop worrying and start living" - this book changed my view on anxiety issues and I am sure it will change your view too. Anyway I wish you the best and be strong in this vicious battle, I believe you will enjoy calmer life soon! :)

[alankay]

First step should be talk therapy so see if you college has counseling covered by tuition. Otherwise GAD could be helped with a course of a med like zoloft for 6 months or a year to see how it help. Alankay

[Perses]

Dear Snicole,

I have had life long anxiety that is at its worst in new situations. So, my freshman year of college, about a 3 or 4 days into the semester, I called my mom and insisted that I needed a fifth year of high school because I wasn't smart enough or prepared enough. I had no real basis for this conclusion. Naturally, my mom explained to me quite calmly that people only get 4 years of high school and that I should at least stick it out for a month. I dropped two classes, found two others, made new friends, realized I wasn't doomed to fail, and had the best time at school. I can tell you lots of other stories, but about a year after I graduated from college I decided to go to India on a special program at Madison, WI. I was required to spend 8 weeks at Madison learning Hindi/Urdu. So, sure enough, I arrive there, and in a couple of days, am feeling panicked, call my mom and tell her I need to quit because I'm too stupid, never will learn, everyone is smarter. Now, at this point, I'm wiser to my issues with anxiety and so I tell myself: look this is what you want to do, you can quit any time, study hard and you'll do fine. Soon enough, I stabilized. At the end of the summer, however, I started to get these tingles or electric jolts through out my body, kept me up at night. Went to see a neurologist and his first concern was that maybe I had something like ms, which had never occurred to me. But, he could tell right away that I wasn't actually suffering tremors. His conclusion, after a further examination, was that I was hyperventilating. In stressing about going to India, I had somehow conditioned my body to take shallower breaths over several weeks. Crazy but true. Hyperventilating can cause dizzy spells,

[newzie]

Your symptoms manifest just like mine; the 'idea' you are having trouble breathing.

A couple things about your post:


Anxiety does run in my family; (my mom, aunt, uncle, and grandmother have it) so I know that it's genetic.

I tend to think anxiety is more learned that passed on gene wise. That is not to say there is no sort of pre-disposition to it, but I think it is more of a nurture vs. nature thing. The good news is, you can unlearn this.


I used to get nervous that I maybe had low-blood sugar (my dad is Diabetic). Anytime he tested my sugar or blood pressure, everything was normal.

It's funny you say that, when I first experienced anxiety I though it was low BS as well, my brother is diabetic and I would test my blood sugar and see it was normal; I was almost upset it wasn't diabetes:P


I guess I'm just writing this post to see if anyone has any suggestions of ways to get your mind off of anxiety.


Well that is the trick to think about it less or not at all. I have done this and it works. When you stop thinking about it daily/weekly those rare times you do, it has much less power over you. The question is how you do that. Well the first thing is to get your self comfortable with it. Invite the anxiety and 'tell' it it has no power over you. Sure I might feel like I can't breath, but I can.

All anxiety is, is discomfort. We've all had discomfort in our lives, whether it is a rock in our shoe or a bruise. We know it we won't be comfortable for a little while but eventually it will get better. That is the same thing with an anxiety attack...discomfort. The trick is not letting it consume you and take you down a negative thought cycle. You can just say, anxiety is here, it will suck for 5-40 mins, and then it will go away. It is nothing but a fleeting feeling.

Good luck!

[snicole]

Thanks for all the responses!

Newzie, you're right! I guess that saying that anxiety more "nature vs. nurture" is more accurate sounding!

[Perses]

Hi Snicole,

I had to run out before I got to finish my post. Bottom line: I get very anxious starting new things, especially school. Yes, I do think that anxiety can be genetic or biological, that is to say that there might be a worry gene, or there might be a genetic predisposition to worry.

I actually do have diabetes, which is way easier to manage than my anxiety because it's such a common disease, and because eating very little in the way of carbohydrates keeps your blood sugar down. One time last year the nurse was having a hard time drawing blood (I have small veins). I told her that if I fainted, to keep drawing the blood. I fainted, and she managed to get enough blood. So, when I got my test results back I was amused to see that my blood sugar was 92, hardly low at all.

It strikes me that since you are in graduate school. By the way, I'm not clear as to whether you are in college or in graduate school. Those are two different things in America. At any rate, I've always had great experiences going to my schools' mental health clinics. You might want to see what's available for you there. They are trained to deal with students and usually have group therapies.

[snicole]

By the way, I'm not clear as to whether you are in college or in graduate school. Those are two different things in America. At any rate, I've always had great experiences going to my schools' mental health clinics. You might want to see what's available for you there. They are trained to deal with students and usually have group therapies.

Perses,

Thanks for the response!

To further clarify, I graduated college last year and received a bachelor's degree. I am going to school for teaching and am attending one year of graduate school to receive my master's degree. I can definitely look into my school's health services. I'm sure they'd be extremely helpful.