How do I stop this anxiety?

[hourglass]

22 year old male here. About two months ago I started a course of Ranitidine for stomach pains. About a month later I lost my appetite and figured it was a side effect of the medication and thought it would go away. 10 days ago I was sitting in work on an average day and I started to get really anxious. I couldn't concentrate, my mind was going in loops and I felt like breaking down and crying. I got off work and went home and wept. I figured that it was just a bit of stress and that was it.

The problem kept occurring every day. I'd wake up, go to work and have a couple of anxious moments during the day. I would eat very little. I'd come home, try to do things but just get unbearably anxious and have to get up and pace the floor. Sometimes I'd cry. I had booked an appointment with the doctor for Friday 6th June and figured I could battle with it until then, heck it might actually be gone. On Wednesday night my girlfriend was over and I told her how I felt and she helped me with it and I cried in front of her for the first time in our relationship. Then we watched a few shows and went to sleep at about 12. At 0530 I woke up and felt like someone had stabbed me with an epi-pen. I'd look at my phone and blink and time would have moved forward 30 minutes. I woke up at whatever time and called in sick.

I figured I can't wait another week to see the doctor so I got an emergency appointment and he prescribed me Propranolol to deal with the stress. So I'm on day two of Propranolol and I haven't really formed an opinion yet. I'm still waiting for day two to kick in and I feel stressed, uneasy, scared, sick... you name it. 3 years ago I was on Citalopram for depression and I'm thinking I should tell the doctor I want to go back on it.

I can't deal with this anxiety because it doesn't have a reason. It blind sided me out of nowhere at a time in my life when everything is fine. Whether it's financial, personal or work related I have no issues. I'm scared. I've never been this kind of scared any time in my life. I don't know how to stop the anxiety which makes me more anxious and I can't relax.

What do I do?

[Im-Suffering]

22 year old male here. About two months ago I started a course of Ranitidine for stomach pains. About a month later I lost my appetite and figured it was a side effect of the medication and thought it would go away. 10 days ago I was sitting in work on an average day and I started to get really anxious. I couldn't concentrate, my mind was going in loops and I felt like breaking down and crying. I got off work and went home and wept. I figured that it was just a bit of stress and that was it.

The problem kept occurring every day. I'd wake up, go to work and have a couple of anxious moments during the day. I would eat very little. I'd come home, try to do things but just get unbearably anxious and have to get up and pace the floor. Sometimes I'd cry. I had booked an appointment with the doctor for Friday 6th June and figured I could battle with it until then, heck it might actually be gone. On Wednesday night my girlfriend was over and I told her how I felt and she helped me with it and I cried in front of her for the first time in our relationship. Then we watched a few shows and went to sleep at about 12. At 0530 I woke up and felt like someone had stabbed me with an epi-pen. I'd look at my phone and blink and time would have moved forward 30 minutes. I woke up at whatever time and called in sick.

I figured I can't wait another week to see the doctor so I got an emergency appointment and he prescribed me Propranolol to deal with the stress. So I'm on day two of Propranolol and I haven't really formed an opinion yet. I'm still waiting for day two to kick in and I feel stressed, uneasy, scared, sick... you name it. 3 years ago I was on Citalopram for depression and I'm thinking I should tell the doctor I want to go back on it.

I can't deal with this anxiety because it doesn't have a reason. It blind sided me out of nowhere at a time in my life when everything is fine. Whether it's financial, personal or work related I have no issues. I'm scared. I've never been this kind of scared any time in my life. I don't know how to stop the anxiety which makes me more anxious and I can't relax.

What do I do?

The issues aren't current. The stomach pain months ago signaled emotions left undealt with from many years ago. At this point you are ready to deal with those issues you have buried, so you brushed the medicine aside, meaning you did not allow it to work.

It worked in the sense that it made your symptoms worse, to catch your attention. The drug just prescribed will slow your epinephrine or block it, the adrenaline response. Use this time to reflect and find the emotional pain that is causing the physical.

That is your work, as a matter of fact, that is all of our work. Thy purpose is to find thyself, ultimately when all physical methods on the outside fail, to turn inward, period.

Better now than later.

[hourglass]

Any tips with how to start?

[GeneralWorrier]

22 year old male here. About two months ago I started a course of Ranitidine for stomach pains. About a month later I lost my appetite and figured it was a side effect of the medication and thought it would go away. 10 days ago I was sitting in work on an average day and I started to get really anxious. I couldn't concentrate, my mind was going in loops and I felt like breaking down and crying. I got off work and went home and wept. I figured that it was just a bit of stress and that was it. The problem kept occurring every day. I'd wake up, go to work and have a couple of anxious moments during the day. I would eat very little. I'd come home, try to do things but just get unbearably anxious and have to get up and pace the floor. Sometimes I'd cry. I had booked an appointment with the doctor for Friday 6th June and figured I could battle with it until then, heck it might actually be gone. On Wednesday night my girlfriend was over and I told her how I felt and she helped me with it and I cried in front of her for the first time in our relationship. Then we watched a few shows and went to sleep at about 12. At 0530 I woke up and felt like someone had stabbed me with an epi-pen. I'd look at my phone and blink and time would have moved forward 30 minutes. I woke up at whatever time and called in sick. I figured I can't wait another week to see the doctor so I got an emergency appointment and he prescribed me Propranolol to deal with the stress. So I'm on day two of Propranolol and I haven't really formed an opinion yet. I'm still waiting for day two to kick in and I feel stressed, uneasy, scared, sick... you name it. 3 years ago I was on Citalopram for depression and I'm thinking I should tell the doctor I want to go back on it. I can't deal with this anxiety because it doesn't have a reason. It blind sided me out of nowhere at a time in my life when everything is fine. Whether it's financial, personal or work related I have no issues. I'm scared. I've never been this kind of scared any time in my life. I don't know how to stop the anxiety which makes me more anxious and I can't relax. What do I do?

Even though my situation isn't exactly the same as yours I find myself agreeing with a lot of the same things you've described! I didn't have stomach pains and I'm not on medication but I completely lost my appetite and lost a lot of weight. I couldn't put a reason down to it other than worrying and my anxiety, I'd be that focused on worrying about different things that I'd either completely forget to eat or wouldn't be able to stomach anything.

As for you explaining about the sudden anxious feeling when you're at work I also experience this. I'll be sat at my desk and sometimes even the fact that I'm not anxious at that current moment triggers it, and boom, within seconds I'm sweaty, feel sick, on edge, fidgety and just want to escape the room and go home. It's such a hard feeling to control, and I think the hardest step to make is also the right one; you have to stay in the situation for as long as you can, eventually it will get better and it will start to pass. But if you teach your body and mind to run then you'll start to believe that is the only way for it to pass.

Seeing your doctor is good, they'll be able to help control the anxiety for now but you also have the support of your partner. That's crucial when battling any mental health problem and they'll play a big roll in fighting it too. Finding different things to calm and distract you from feeling anxious is the first step, at night time this could be music, reading a book, or talking to your partner. As well as this exercise can be a big stress reliever, personally it helped me a little. We're all here to help you, you'll never be alone! :)

[hourglass]

Thanks, it feels good to talk about it. I'm feeling a bit better today, I haven't had a panic attack. I still feel a bit iffy, I hope it passes.

[PanicCured]

Try my method and let me know how it goes. As soon as you feel the first sign of anxiety, remain still and see it as a wave passing over you. Don't go to the internet, don't Google, don't come on this forum, don't call a safe person, don't pace, don't look for a safe place, just remain still, and allow it to pass. Don't analyze it. Do not overbreathe. Breath light and calm. See it as an over exhausted nervous system set very high, releasing adrenaline, and the adrenaline will get metabolized and pass. But do not add any fear to the fearful symptoms you are already feeling. Allow the initial fears, and crazy thoughts to do their thing. Peak like a wave, then come down and the water settles. Don't keep the wave going. Just allow it all to be, be patient. Wait a few minutes until it fades. The thoughts will fade when the anxiety fades. Just allow it to be and pass over you. Once you can master this, you won't have fear of a panic attack anymore. It will lose its power. Why fear adrenaline or brain chemicals?

"It is the 2nd fear that keeps the whole thing going"- David Johnson



Of course it is good to first get checked by a doctor so you can rule out other possibilities, and get the diagnosis of anxiety, but please try this exactly as a I described. Just give it a try.

[surpassit]

I, personally, am against taking medication for my anxiety due to the fact that when you stop taking medication for any reason the anxiety comes back but worse than before. I wouldnt take any sorts of meds. Just tell yourself that you're stronger than what you're feeling.