Hi All. Having Some Bad Days

[tiredofthis]

Hey there. I'm a newb but needed somewhere to turn. After being virtually free from panic/anxiety for the last year, the stupid thing rose it's ugly head again. I was just walking into walmart about a month ago and was overcome with some crazy dizziness. My guess is that I was walking stooped forward with head bent down. Ever since, I have been as stiff as a board when I get a little nervous. This happens mostly at work though. Go figure. My vision has been off which comes and goes, as does the stiffness. Then of course I have the hyperventilation, shaking, impending doom, going crazy thoughts. I think it all boils down to constant worry of these events happening again. That is, after all, the nature of anxiety. I was having a decent week, just had the tensing up in my upper body, and jaw clenching causing neck stiffness and tension headaches.but no real panic. Then I get home from work and everything magically disappears. Then I had to take the wife to the airport this morning. I get back home into this empty house and I can feel it start. Over breathing, chest breathing, racing thoughts, blah, blah..... I'm tired of this crap. I know it's just worry about another attack. I have gotten so worn down from this I have even had bouts of crying off and on. I thought I had this beat. I did the neurofeedback a year and a half ago and felt great until recently. I started going back for treatments about two weeks ago, and it has helped a bit but I am not free from this beast yet. I tried cutting out caffeine, I don't drink, I do yoga, and yet here I am. Of course like many others here my mind is asking itself if it's something the docs have missed (sound familiar?). This dwelling on the next work day or long drive really sets me off. Now 2 weeks alone in this house is going to drive me batty. Health wise I am good. I had surgery less than a year ago and they tested my blood for EVERYTHING so I am clear there. What to do? A therapist? Well, telling someone else about this in a clinical setting does not sound like much help. Learning relaxation techniques? Trying but easier said than done. All the meds? Been there done that. Every pill has only made the anxiety worse. Going to keep doing the neurofeedback once a week and hopefully will see some relief soon. I hope so. Thanks for listening and I hope you all have a great day!

[RubyJune]

Hey,

I relate so fully to what you wrote. I was also pretty anxiety-free for a year after I stopped drinking, and was really surprised to have a full-on panic attack a week ago. I think I've figured out what mine was about, but I also think that it's really important to identify what makes you strong and in control of your emotions enough to take care of yourself when something crops up. Also, I think it's pretty common to have panic attacks at moments when your body decides that it would be a really bad time to have a panic attack (ie, in your empty house), so don't take it as a sign of a giant relapse. Things can recur without it meaning that this time will be exactly like/just as bad as last time.

Good luck! You're not alone.

[Lee Grant Irons]

Hello tired,

All of the meds for anxiety and depression made me worse too, except for ativan and xanax ( used at different times during my extended illness). It was actually the Ativan and later Xanax that helped stabilize me emotionally and get the anxiety under control. The therapist then helped me think through my numerous intractable problems. I don't think many of us come to this forum with anxiety only and everything else in our lives is peachy. Life is messy. The therapist was someone I could talk to who had no bias, no judgment, no preconceived solutions, unlike my friends and family who all thought I had flown over the cuckoo's nest. It is very important to be able to talk to someone. Most friends and family will never get it unless they go through it themselves. I just happened to be the first person in my circle to go through it first, so I had to be the trailblazer. Now I am the person who my firends and family can talk to when they have problems they don;t know how to deal with.

[vic]

Hey there. I'm a newb but needed somewhere to turn. After being virtually free from panic/anxiety for the last year, the stupid thing rose it's ugly head again. I was just walking into walmart about a month ago and was overcome with some crazy dizziness. My guess is that I was walking stooped forward with head bent down. Ever since, I have been as stiff as a board when I get a little nervous. This happens mostly at work though. Go figure. My vision has been off which comes and goes, as does the stiffness. Then of course I have the hyperventilation, shaking, impending doom, going crazy thoughts. I think it all boils down to constant worry of these events happening again. That is, after all, the nature of anxiety. I was having a decent week, just had the tensing up in my upper body, and jaw clenching causing neck stiffness and tension headaches.but no real panic. Then I get home from work and everything magically disappears. Then I had to take the wife to the airport this morning. I get back home into this empty house and I can feel it start. Over breathing, chest breathing, racing thoughts, blah, blah..... I'm tired of this crap. I know it's just worry about another attack. I have gotten so worn down from this I have even had bouts of crying off and on. I thought I had this beat. I did the neurofeedback a year and a half ago and felt great until recently. I started going back for treatments about two weeks ago, and it has helped a bit but I am not free from this beast yet. I tried cutting out caffeine, I don't drink, I do yoga, and yet here I am. Of course like many others here my mind is asking itself if it's something the docs have missed (sound familiar?). This dwelling on the next work day or long drive really sets me off. Now 2 weeks alone in this house is going to drive me batty. Health wise I am good. I had surgery less than a year ago and they tested my blood for EVERYTHING so I am clear there. What to do? A therapist? Well, telling someone else about this in a clinical setting does not sound like much help. Learning relaxation techniques? Trying but easier said than done. All the meds? Been there done that. Every pill has only made the anxiety worse. Going to keep doing the neurofeedback once a week and hopefully will see some relief soon. I hope so. Thanks for listening and I hope you all have a great day! I'm same don't always get full on panic attacks but with worry nd stress I feel it In my neck nd throat it becomes tight and sluggish nd swallowing can make me panic thinking I can't swallow. I listen to a guy on YouTube he's fab nd very inspiring type in how to stop worrying and start living it helps loads honestly gud luck ;)

[Srm1135]

Im withdrawling from some serious meds right now and think that its the end of the world. I have been having a 24hr panic attack since Monday. I too was panic free for a long time. It just seems to come and go and we have to accept it as a part of our lives. As crappy as it sounds. But, I'm right there with you, fighting the battle, you are not alone. Good luck.

[vonnhelsing]

Join the club!!! Anxiety free for 10 months I was really enjoying life again and starting to feel normal and then BAM! one night had a severe coughing fit to the point where I started wheezing and got a massive panic attack. Since then its been back in my life again and am finding it hard to cope. It all happened at the same time as my best friend (who I depended on a lot while I was at my worst) leaving the country forever and quitting my heavy smoking and heavy drinking cold turkey.
All combined together I guess it just built up to a massive panic attack. Understandable. Another one month and I should be back to normal. I hppe

[Steven Daws]

I have been in similar situations, it is very disturbing. I have waves of panic attacks lasting from minutes to a whole day, they can persist for a few weeks, then they disappear for months. I never used to believe that meds would help me, but I did have clomipramine (UK Name). which really seemed to help. The only drawback was It made me gain a lot of weight, which made my health phobias worse.

Talking to someone that is impartial can be really helpful, so I wouldn't rule it out until you try it. Being on forums like this can also be helpful, most people who don't suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, don't realise how debilitating it can feel.

I hope you find the help you need.

[Lee Grant Irons]

It just seems to come and go and we have to accept it as a part of our lives.

There are a lot of things that I can accept. I can't change the laws of nature. I can't change history. I can't change what other people are going to do or say. However, I will never accept that me or anyone else can't improve our current health conditions. I think that is how I managed to get better 5 years after my health crash. If I would have given up and just accepted that I was going to be sick the rest of my life, I would still be sick, because my illness was do to an actual condition that doctors continued to misdiagnosis and mistreat. It took me having to get mad about it in order to do something about it. Getting mad about it finally drove me to the therapist to have someone to talk to to help me work things out in my heaed and try to pvercome my anxiety and depression. I was so bad that the therapist recommend that I ask my doctor for Xanax to get me stabilized. Once stabilized and with access to a therapist to help me work through the really tough stuff, I started working on all of my problems, both health and other (after all, life does not stop when you are sick). Being stabilized mentally and having someone to talk to then helped me do the hard work of finding a doctor who would work with me, researching my own medical condition, and working out a test and treatment plan that took the next three years to find the combination of things that were really wrong with me.

So, no, I would recommend that none of you just accept that you are going to be this way the rest of your lives. Get mad about it. Anger is a more motivational emotion than anxiety.