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Avvie Cunnington
08-19-2014, 08:18 AM
Hi all :)

My name is Avvie! I'm 23 and from Peterborough in the UK. I apologise in advance for the long post!

I've suffered with depression and insomnia for around 5 years now. And during that i had 1 panic attack. Out of the blue around 4 months ago i had a severe anxiety attack that lasted hours. It happened for no reason and I didn't know what anxiety was, i thought i was dying.
From that first attack i had one every other day for a week and decided to get myself to the doctors. They confirmed it was anxiety and prescribed me Diazepam.

I slowly adapted to it and the tablets helped. Until around 2 months later where i suddenly went all dizzy and light headed at work and nearly fainted. This scared me, especially when it happened again a few days later. I decided to get my self to hospital worried it was more then just anxiety. They hooked me up to an ECG machine and then wheeled me down to Emergency room which terrified me. I was left alone for around 3 hours with this machine constantly going off. Finally a doctor came through, took some bloods and said its just anxiety and sent me home. My anxiety started to feel like it was lasting 24/7, constant high heart rate and palpatations, and my whole body ached making me feel like i had lung cancer, kidney failure etc. My own fault as i was constantly googling my symptoms.

I had an event monitor given to me, and was given Propranalol, as it seems my heart rate is always above 100.

Anyway one day at work i went extremely light headed and had to sit down, but the feeling wouldn't go away. It lasted for 3 days non stop, aswell as this i always wake up every morning with a feeling like an elastic band is around my lungs and chest, i struggle to catch my breath and had had shoulder pain for about 3 months. So back to the doctors i went. I finally had a doctor who listened, he signed me off work for a week, and said that the lightheadness and tight chest was due to anxiety and the propranalol, but for my peace of mind he sent me to get an x-ray of my lungs and chest (to clear my mind that i wasn't dying of lung cancer) I had my xray yesterday but have to wait a week for the results! I was also referred to cardiologist but that wont start until 14th October

So that's my story, unfortunately i feel my depression creeping back again and thought it would be a good idea for me to find people also suffering and see if that will help me, or if i can help anyone else.
I'm sorry for the long post, (i don't usually ramble on like this) and thankyou if you managed to get the the end without falling asleep

I'm looking forward to talking to some of you guys! If anyone needs anyone to talk to feel free to message me!

A x

Rain
08-19-2014, 10:01 AM
Hello ! Welcome to the forum,

I can tell that you've found the right doctor, i am fortunate enough to have one like this since i'm young. It's a major step to realize that your body is fine. My doctor made me do the same tests and even without the results, he told me that they would be negative, and they were.
Your story looks a lot like mine and i'm sure you are on the right path to fully understand what's going on with your anxiety.

By the way, have you tried to breathe properly? It may be hard at first, even discouraging but i've been breathing like this for one year now and i've done a lot of progress coping with anxiety, even if i'm far from being back to normal it was a huge help.

NixonRulz
08-19-2014, 07:00 PM
Hi all :)

My name is Avvie! I'm 23 and from Peterborough in the UK. I apologise in advance for the long post!

I've suffered with depression and insomnia for around 5 years now. And during that i had 1 panic attack. Out of the blue around 4 months ago i had a severe anxiety attack that lasted hours. It happened for no reason and I didn't know what anxiety was, i thought i was dying.
From that first attack i had one every other day for a week and decided to get myself to the doctors. They confirmed it was anxiety and prescribed me Diazepam.

I slowly adapted to it and the tablets helped. Until around 2 months later where i suddenly went all dizzy and light headed at work and nearly fainted. This scared me, especially when it happened again a few days later. I decided to get my self to hospital worried it was more then just anxiety. They hooked me up to an ECG machine and then wheeled me down to Emergency room which terrified me. I was left alone for around 3 hours with this machine constantly going off. Finally a doctor came through, took some bloods and said its just anxiety and sent me home. My anxiety started to feel like it was lasting 24/7, constant high heart rate and palpatations, and my whole body ached making me feel like i had lung cancer, kidney failure etc. My own fault as i was constantly googling my symptoms.

I had an event monitor given to me, and was given Propranalol, as it seems my heart rate is always above 100.

Anyway one day at work i went extremely light headed and had to sit down, but the feeling wouldn't go away. It lasted for 3 days non stop, aswell as this i always wake up every morning with a feeling like an elastic band is around my lungs and chest, i struggle to catch my breath and had had shoulder pain for about 3 months. So back to the doctors i went. I finally had a doctor who listened, he signed me off work for a week, and said that the lightheadness and tight chest was due to anxiety and the propranalol, but for my peace of mind he sent me to get an x-ray of my lungs and chest (to clear my mind that i wasn't dying of lung cancer) I had my xray yesterday but have to wait a week for the results! I was also referred to cardiologist but that wont start until 14th October

So that's my story, unfortunately i feel my depression creeping back again and thought it would be a good idea for me to find people also suffering and see if that will help me, or if i can help anyone else.
I'm sorry for the long post, (i don't usually ramble on like this) and thankyou if you managed to get the the end without falling asleep

I'm looking forward to talking to some of you guys! If anyone needs anyone to talk to feel free to message me!

A x

Hi, Avvie. That seems like a unique name. At least here in the good ol USA

Your 3 day experience was my experience for 3 years. It's horrible no matter what the time frame as you know.

Depression and anxiety go hand in hand. When you don't know why you feel so horrible from anxiety, people often get depressed because they feel it will never get better.

But wait! Here is the good news!

You have had all the check ups from the white coats and you are just fine physically

Your mind just needs to catch up.

And it will, I assure you

I suffered for years before I finally realized what was going on. The docs were no help at all here

Research of anxiety is what led me to recovery. Once I understood what it was and how it acted, I made the decision to not let it control me.

I kinda whipped its ass

Because that's how we roll in da hood. We kick ass

I hope you find your way soon. It's just a thought away.