domiel
02-10-2014, 01:43 AM
This is probably going to be all over the place, so I apologize in advance. I’ll start with a little background just in case it is helpful – I was originally diagnosed with AHDH at a young age but reacted opposite to the medication than what was expected. I was then given some type of anti-anxiety medication but I do not remember as it was many years ago. I suppose the diagnosis was unofficially redacted as AHDH and possibly handed to an anxiety disorder, but I don’t have it on paper. I stopped medication eventually and from my memory I do not recall any adverse effects for a while. I started to always worry and dwell about near everything and eventually it was just a normal part of my life. I always live in the past and worry about the future. I can function and go out in public and doing activities but I have anxiety before I actually go and do it.
Fast forward many worrying years to a little over a month ago where I was diagnosed with high blood pressure which the cardiologist believes is caused by my hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The high blood pressure had me obsessing over it for weeks after finding out about it. I could feel my whole body move with each beat; I would check my blood pressure many times throughout the day, too many times. I went to my cardiologist and had a stress test/ekg/ultrasound and everything with the heart was ok except for the minor obstruction and the blood pressure. I was prescribed metoprolol tartrate and that’s when the issues really started.
The second day into taking the medication, I could not sleep. I kept having a stomach ache that would come and go, along with a blank feeling. It would come in waves. Of course I looked up every symptom of the medication and every result from high blood pressure. I got up and was unable to speak so of course I think I’m having a stroke. I’m hyperventilating and about to go to the ER but I calm down enough where I convince myself I had a panic attack, based on my googling of the symptoms.
A week later the same thing happened but I had shortness of breath and some other symptoms. To save time, I ended up going to the ER and turned out I had the flu. The flu ran its course and I felt a lot better but then I started having sleeping problems again. Right as I was about to fall asleep, I’d be awakened feeling alarmed and like I was going to die. It happened again and again and it got very frustrating because I was unable to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep, and I didn’t have the problem the next night. The following night after that I had the same issue but eventually fell asleep. This time I woke up from a mid-sleep alarm for me to take my medication and I had this recurring thought that really made no sense. I knew I wasn’t dreaming but I just couldn’t shake this irrational thought out of my head. I took my medication and tried to sleep, but I kept having a ton of anxiety about this thought and I kept waking up on the verge of sleeping with this thought. I finally fell asleep and here I am.
I am so sick of not being able to sleep and worrying all the time. I am short of breath only whenever I think about being short of breath. I do not know if this anxiety is caused because I have an anxiety disorder, or if it’s related to the medication. I find it hard to think about anything else, and I’m not enjoying myself. I’m rarely depressed but this is making me depressed and also filling me with a lot of anger every time it happens. I am really frustrated and don’t know what to do. I called my cardiologist and he said the symptoms I described are not related to the heart but I cannot stop obsessing about it. I can’t accept the fact that all of this could be caused by anxiety. That is why I am here. Can all these symptoms really be caused by just an anxiety disorder? Does anxiety really have the potential to ruin me the way it has this past month? I plan on going to the cardiologist and discussing with him options for anxiety medication, or (hopefully not) what else is wrong with me, but in the meantime I really need to have some confirmation or acknowledgement that I am not alone.
Now I have anxiety posting this thread because I feel I wrote too much.
Fast forward many worrying years to a little over a month ago where I was diagnosed with high blood pressure which the cardiologist believes is caused by my hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The high blood pressure had me obsessing over it for weeks after finding out about it. I could feel my whole body move with each beat; I would check my blood pressure many times throughout the day, too many times. I went to my cardiologist and had a stress test/ekg/ultrasound and everything with the heart was ok except for the minor obstruction and the blood pressure. I was prescribed metoprolol tartrate and that’s when the issues really started.
The second day into taking the medication, I could not sleep. I kept having a stomach ache that would come and go, along with a blank feeling. It would come in waves. Of course I looked up every symptom of the medication and every result from high blood pressure. I got up and was unable to speak so of course I think I’m having a stroke. I’m hyperventilating and about to go to the ER but I calm down enough where I convince myself I had a panic attack, based on my googling of the symptoms.
A week later the same thing happened but I had shortness of breath and some other symptoms. To save time, I ended up going to the ER and turned out I had the flu. The flu ran its course and I felt a lot better but then I started having sleeping problems again. Right as I was about to fall asleep, I’d be awakened feeling alarmed and like I was going to die. It happened again and again and it got very frustrating because I was unable to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep, and I didn’t have the problem the next night. The following night after that I had the same issue but eventually fell asleep. This time I woke up from a mid-sleep alarm for me to take my medication and I had this recurring thought that really made no sense. I knew I wasn’t dreaming but I just couldn’t shake this irrational thought out of my head. I took my medication and tried to sleep, but I kept having a ton of anxiety about this thought and I kept waking up on the verge of sleeping with this thought. I finally fell asleep and here I am.
I am so sick of not being able to sleep and worrying all the time. I am short of breath only whenever I think about being short of breath. I do not know if this anxiety is caused because I have an anxiety disorder, or if it’s related to the medication. I find it hard to think about anything else, and I’m not enjoying myself. I’m rarely depressed but this is making me depressed and also filling me with a lot of anger every time it happens. I am really frustrated and don’t know what to do. I called my cardiologist and he said the symptoms I described are not related to the heart but I cannot stop obsessing about it. I can’t accept the fact that all of this could be caused by anxiety. That is why I am here. Can all these symptoms really be caused by just an anxiety disorder? Does anxiety really have the potential to ruin me the way it has this past month? I plan on going to the cardiologist and discussing with him options for anxiety medication, or (hopefully not) what else is wrong with me, but in the meantime I really need to have some confirmation or acknowledgement that I am not alone.
Now I have anxiety posting this thread because I feel I wrote too much.