Tiredness, Headaches and Floaters

[Jarv]

Hi All

I have been suffering from physical anxiety symptoms for about 18 months now and each and every day I long to be back to the way I was before. I have read the books and even believe I know the answer to dealing with this, which is to not fight the problem and ignore it. The problem is I just find this so hard to do. It is as if I want the problem to get worse and I want to put the symptoms onto myself when of course this isnt the case. I just find it so hard to deal woth the problem. All of the books say roughly the same thing but when I am sitting at work with my body pressed into my desk and my body tense with floaters in my eyes it is almost impossible to 'ignore' the problem and 'let it be' as the books say.

As the title of this post suggests my three main symptoms are and always have been extreme tiredness, headaches and floaters. I am really worried that this will simply never go away. I have heard spme people say that they have had anxiety for 10+ years and it really scares me to hear that. I simply hate my life being like this and I cant deal with it any more. I am so frustrated by it all and this headaches and tiredness is unbearable.

Im sorry for the long post I just needed to say that somewhere as I feel so sad and down and am really loosing all hope now.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Jarvis

[MissCKC]

I completely understand where you are coming from. I have been told to just ignore the symptoms too, but I also find it to be extremely difficult. It is definitely a lot easier said than done. When I am in the middle of having an attack I try my very hardest to go on with what I'm doing, but it's like I can't stop focusing on the symptoms (and what they could be) and I lose all my concentration skills. I mean how do you ignore the fact that you feel like you can't breathe or just ignore having really bad headaches? Than afterwards I feel generally tired and frustrated. I have been getting floaters too..a lot on and off throughout the day! They are horrible. I also have been reading the posts where people say that they have been suffering for up to 20 years. Those scare me too. It makes me feel like there may not be an escape from this. It makes me feel trapped sometimes. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I can relate to how you are feeling. I hope today is better for you :) !

[Jarv]

Hi

Thanks so much for the reply, its reassuring to know that someone feels the same as me but at the same time bad that you are also going through this horrible feeling.

I know exactly what you mean and can relate to the things that you say. Just sitting here typing this my head feels 'heavy' and my eyes are bad. I actually have really bad eye problems. Its not just the floaters but I also get 'dark patches' in my eyes. The sort that you would normally get if you were to look at a bright light and then look away. Except I get this all day everyday even if I have not been staring at a bright light. Blurry vision is also a big problem for me, I just wish all of these horrible symptoms would just go away. As I say I believe that I do know the answer and I know that what the books are saying is true and will work but as they say you really have to try so hard and I dont think that I have it in me because everytime I feel the symptoms and tell myself to ignore them something in my mind tells me to feel them even more. Its really hard to describe but it is as if their are two parts of me; one that wants me to get better and the other that keeps making me think of the symptoms which of course makes them even worse.

I really hope that you do start to feel better. Please feel free to talk to me if you ever feel that you need to.

Thanks so much

Jarvis

[The Melody of Rain]

I'd just like to express my sympathies to you in regard to your situation, Jarvis. I'm an ex-sufferer myself (6-8 years approximately) but headaches were never an issue. I had eye-lock, tension, muscle spasms, dizzyness, mind-blanks, depersonalisation, derealisation, agoraphobia, depression and social phobia, but never headaches or indeed floaters. Am I correct in my knowledge that these are black spots in your peripheral vision?

Is there ever a point when you dont feel anxious? Tell me about that, I'd be interested to hear it.

[Jarv]

Hi

Thanks for the reply and I am sorry that it has taken me a while to get back to you.

I am sorry to hear that you had to suffer with all of those symptoms, it really is horrible and I believe that no one deserves to suffer with this horrible illness. I do not ask for anything special I just want to be the same as everyone else.

Floaters arnt really spots in your preheripal vision, instead they are mainly spots in your normal vision. Sometimes they do appear as black spots but they are mainly little balls or spots which appear against a bright background. The sky and a white wall are the two backgrounds I mainly experience floaters against.

I dont really ever have a time when I dont feel anxious. Sometimes the symptoms are much worse than others. For example yesterday was unbearable and I believe that I experienced the absolute full force of this illness. It was brutally physical and I could hardly move. It really felt as though I had a ton of bricks on me. Today has been a bit better although I could still feel my muscles tightening up for most of the day. I just wish that it would all go away.

My mind seems to be 'locked' on the anxiety. When I try to ignore the symptoms my mind is still on them as I am thinking about trying to ignore them if that makes sense? So one way or another my mind is always on the symptoms meaning that I am alkways anxious and may even be making it worse which is such a horrible cycle.

Thanks once again for the reply and I hope to hear from you soon.

Jarvis