Anxiety Feeling

[Chloe]

Even having been on medications the feeling of anxiety has never gone away I will still wake with heart pulps & get them through the day as well as a feeling of a knot in my stomach.

Is this normal, is this as good as it's going to get for me?

I'd like to hear people's stories. Has you ever been anxiety ridden?

Thanks

[SamC]

how long have you been on your meds? what are you taking and what dose .... if you have been on them more than 6 weeks i would say go back to your docs, you maybe need a higher dose of what they gave you or a change in meds

I used to have all this along with pretty much all the other fun symptoms that come along with anxiety, i suffered GAD, panic disorder and health anxiety, pretty much every day i felt yuk and it got to the stage i didint want to go anywhere or do anything from fear of what might happen etc. I was given propanalol to start 20mg but it didnt really do much so i went back to my doctor and they put me to 40mg which i could take up to 3 times a day. I only ever took 1 in the morning, as part of my fear was taking tablets too, but that 1 tablet helped me lots. I also made sure my mind was kept active, i have horses so they kept me busy and also done zumba and running (excercise is v good for anxiety sufferers) so to start, check your meds you might need a diff or stronger dose, keep your mind active with other things and know that we all get down days but keep your chin up, you will get through it.

I just wanted you to know it will get better but its a struggle, I was bad for almost 2.5 years then for nearly a year i really fought back and ive been OK for 3 years now every day i still fight myself about something but it doesn't bother me anymore it feels normal and my symptoms have all gone away so when you get control of it, it gets better but to get control you really need to find a med that takes the edge of and works for you then when you have that it makes it easier to rationalise what you are thinking which helps get control BUT it does take time and ALOT of patience so keep battling on and you will get there hun :)

[Chloe]

how long have you been on your meds? what are you taking and what dose .... if you have been on them more than 6 weeks i would say go back to your docs, you maybe need a higher dose of what they gave you or a change in meds I used to have all this along with pretty much all the other fun symptoms that come along with anxiety, i suffered GAD, panic disorder and health anxiety, pretty much every day i felt yuk and it got to the stage i didint want to go anywhere or do anything from fear of what might happen etc. I was given propanalol to start 20mg but it didnt really do much so i went back to my doctor and they put me to 40mg which i could take up to 3 times a day. I only ever took 1 in the morning, as part of my fear was taking tablets too, but that 1 tablet helped me lots. I also made sure my mind was kept active, i have horses so they kept me busy and also done zumba and running (excercise is v good for anxiety sufferers) so to start, check your meds you might need a diff or stronger dose, keep your mind active with other things and know that we all get down days but keep your chin up, you will get through it. I just wanted you to know it will get better but its a struggle, I was bad for almost 2.5 years then for nearly a year i really fought back and ive been OK for 3 years now every day i still fight myself about something but it doesn't bother me anymore it feels normal and my symptoms have all gone away so when you get control of it, it gets better but to get control you really need to find a med that takes the edge of and works for you then when you have that it makes it easier to rationalise what you are thinking which helps get control BUT it does take time and ALOT of patience so keep battling on and you will get there hun :)

Hi SamC,

I have been on a few different medications and am currently on 150mg of Zoloft & 20mg of Propranolol 3xdaily. I've Been on them for nearly 3 months! I have never really felt back to normal before all of this happened 2 years ago! I was getting bad panic attacks and wouldn't leave the house but it's not the panic which is a good think I guess it's just the heart pulps and knot in my stomach that I get daily, mostly when I am trying to relax like I feel like I can't sit still I start analysing my heart beat & how I feel. It's so annoying cause I don't want to change medications again I can't go through all of that, I'm just not sure if this is as good as it gets for me?

It's just so annoying I just want to feel normal again like before all of this happened I would never have known what anxiety was now I'm constantly analysing symptoms of it!

Thanks for taking the time to share your story it really helps.

:)

[Chloe]

Also I'm not sure if having been off my pill for a month might have contributed to this??

[SamC]

Oh you came off a pill, do you mean the contraceptive pill? if so then yup that will def make you feel different but its more mood swings and things that causes not so much heart flutters i wouldnt think UNLESS you were worried coming off the pill ie worried how you might feel and how it might change your emotions then that will have def flared up your anxiety.

I have never taken anything other than propanalol so dont really know about zooloft but i would have thought 3 times a day 20mg would have helped, you can go up to 40mg a day with propanalol so maybe worth visiting your doc maybe he will suggest increasing it OR maybe you might find a 40mg tablet is strong enought hit at once to just take it 2 times a day, its about finding a balance for what suits your body but i think possibly seeing about increasing to 40mg even if its 2 times a day might help you alot.

Also make sure you take your propanalol not long after eating i found that helped the heart flutters stop, what i normally do is eat when i wake up then liek 30 mins to 1 hour later take my tablet and that balances it good for me

Try putting on some relaxing music when your trying to relax and read a magazine (avoid any illness stories) or a book coz it keeps your body relaxed but your mind active on something else rather than your symptoms you may also find that helps :)

[Chloe]

Yeah came of the contraceptive pill. It's so frustrating like I don't know if this is normal anxiety or is my meds not working just so confused & totally over it all, it's a battle everyday that I'm barely fighting!

I might try 40mg of propranolol & see how that goes. It's like one minute I'm good & the next I'm not if you know what I mean, I don't want to keep bothering my doctor I feel like she's over me & the fact that I have tried multiple medications doesn't work in my favour. I just must be one of the unlucky people that a tablet can only work so much & then it's up to me I guess :s

[SamC]

meds only control so much, with the propanalol all it really does is keep your heart rate at a constant rhythm, slows it down and keeps it regulated, its kinda like if your going to have a full panic attack it will stop you, so it does not elliviate any of the emotions, stress, fears accompanied with anxiety, that part another med can help you with but again it will just take the edge of it, most of the work with anxiety you need to do yourself to over come it.

Anxiety is a constant fight with your own mind and it feels impossible sometimes trust me ive been there but when you get your meds to how they make you feel more comfy then you can work on trying to control your thoughts when you get control of your thoughts and can take an irrational thought and make it rational i.e when you feel a pain, you can turn round to yourself and think confidently i get this all the time, its nothing, if i stop thinking about it it will stop, that is you rationalising a thought and thats the point where you establish control and when you get that control and can comfortably tell yourself to bugger off when you feel a panic coming on, life goes back to normal-ish. Im not going to lie anxiety never really leaves you but it does get a lot lot better but takes time and not giving up.

The most important lesson i learned is that the more i thought about something the more it happened and if i read about something i would get symptoms of that thing and no matter how many times i read about this i didnt believe that my mind could create aches and pain BUT it does and as soon as i learned that and believed that i was actually causing all these symptoms and providing anxiety with a breeding ground with worrying all the time, thats when it clicked for me and I took control

so basically what im saying is when your ready something will click and you will get control back so yes its a pain and yes its a daily struggle and yes most days you think why me lol and yes you will go from one worry to another but one day it will get loads better and this is coming from me who used to convince themselve they had every tropical rare disease going, i even stopped eating beef and convinced myself i had mad cow disease once of course i didnt well not in the actual sense lol but at the time it all feels really real so it is hard but the fighting is worth it in the end, just try and keep your days as normal as possible and dont stop doing what you enjoy :)

[Enduronman]

I'd like to hear people's stories. Has you ever been anxiety ridden?

Thanks

I think we all have and or are Chloe..and are all working to rid ourselves of this disorder, and we will.

Merry Christmas.

E-Man..:)