sparklejoy
10-20-2014, 08:49 AM
Hey guys! I just made a profile on this site about 5 minutes ago for the purpose of sharing this story. I'm paranoid I'm posting in the wrong place or somehow doing this wrong, so be nice!
A little background – I’m a healthy female in my mid-20s, in good shape, with a very low-stress lifestyle, and I’ve been dealing with anxiety ever since making some drastic life changes almost two years ago (got married, moved far away, etc. – happy changes, but changes nonetheless). When it first started, I’d wake up and have adrenaline rushes at night for no reason and would be in a constant state of fear during the day – often about really weird, irrational things that never crossed my mind before. That was over a year ago.
Over time, it got better on its own. I probably never would’ve looked into it if it weren’t for some scary chest pains that started back in August. My husband suggested they were anxiety related, but I was convinced I had a heart problem – even after a doctor took an ECG and told me it couldn’t be my heart. I tried to tell myself it was just a weird muscle thing, but whenever I felt it again I’d get frantic and have to talk myself out of going to the ER. Making things worse, I was now anxious about my health: Constantly aware of how hard or fast my heart was beating, wondering if I was short of breath (making myself short of breath in the process), and never sleeping through a night without waking up panicked and feeling totally drained in the morning.
Then, out of the blue, I had a panic attack.
The fact that it happened when I was totally relaxed (I thought) and that it was completely distinct from anything I had previously felt was what finally convinced me that it was officially some kind of physiological anxiety making my body do these weird things.
I spent the next day reading everything I could on anxiety. I cut back on caffeine, started jogging, started meditating, getting more vitamin D, and eating healthier. I felt more hopeful, but the chest feelings persisted, and I still couldn’t sleep through the night.
Then three weeks ago, I heard about magnesium. I’m very skeptical of most things (my husband is a pharmacologist, so I have a pretty good BS meter) and am wary of medications of any kind. But after making sure I couldn’t overdose / get addicted / mess anything up in my body, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try magnesium supplements, if only for the placebo effect (most people don’t get enough magnesium anyway, and I learned that if you have any kind of anxiety issues, you almost certainly don’t).
The first two weeks I had good days and bad days, BUT I slept through the night occasionally, which was new. Then this past week, I switched to magnesium citrate (easier to absorb)… And it is blowing my mind.
I have slept through every night this week with no chest pains whatsoever.
The first time I woke up feeling rested (like a normal person), I cleaned our whole apartment and made my husband’s lunch and then just sat down and cried. I was just so grateful to feel normal (chipper, even!). My body had been so stressed for so long that I forgot what it was like to watch TV and not have to pretend to be relaxed while silently doing breathing exercises to stave off anxious feelings. I went from having once-a-week episodes of pacing around saying I needed to go to the ER and not believing the doctor to feeling like that was just a terrible dream.
I think all the big life changes just raised my stress levels (even though I felt like I was happy), leading to a cycle of anxiety, depleted magnesium levels, more anxiety, even lower magnesium levels, and finally, weird chest pains due to magnesium deficiency. That’s my theory so far, anyway. I’m sure there will be plenty more bad days before I’m completely out of the woods, but I wanted to share my story here because a couple weeks ago I honestly could not imagine feeling better, and today I do. Personally, I feel 100% certain that magnesium supplements helped me feel physically and mentally better – more calm, more physically relaxed, way less prone to panic.
I’m definitely not saying it’s a cure-all. Obviously some people have issues that require more than just taking a supplement with meals. It would be totally ignorant of me to suggest otherwise. I’m just sharing this in hopes that my particular experience can lend some insight or hope to other people suffering with no end in sight.
Ok, that was my disclaimer. Don’t skewer me. Thanks!
A little background – I’m a healthy female in my mid-20s, in good shape, with a very low-stress lifestyle, and I’ve been dealing with anxiety ever since making some drastic life changes almost two years ago (got married, moved far away, etc. – happy changes, but changes nonetheless). When it first started, I’d wake up and have adrenaline rushes at night for no reason and would be in a constant state of fear during the day – often about really weird, irrational things that never crossed my mind before. That was over a year ago.
Over time, it got better on its own. I probably never would’ve looked into it if it weren’t for some scary chest pains that started back in August. My husband suggested they were anxiety related, but I was convinced I had a heart problem – even after a doctor took an ECG and told me it couldn’t be my heart. I tried to tell myself it was just a weird muscle thing, but whenever I felt it again I’d get frantic and have to talk myself out of going to the ER. Making things worse, I was now anxious about my health: Constantly aware of how hard or fast my heart was beating, wondering if I was short of breath (making myself short of breath in the process), and never sleeping through a night without waking up panicked and feeling totally drained in the morning.
Then, out of the blue, I had a panic attack.
The fact that it happened when I was totally relaxed (I thought) and that it was completely distinct from anything I had previously felt was what finally convinced me that it was officially some kind of physiological anxiety making my body do these weird things.
I spent the next day reading everything I could on anxiety. I cut back on caffeine, started jogging, started meditating, getting more vitamin D, and eating healthier. I felt more hopeful, but the chest feelings persisted, and I still couldn’t sleep through the night.
Then three weeks ago, I heard about magnesium. I’m very skeptical of most things (my husband is a pharmacologist, so I have a pretty good BS meter) and am wary of medications of any kind. But after making sure I couldn’t overdose / get addicted / mess anything up in my body, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try magnesium supplements, if only for the placebo effect (most people don’t get enough magnesium anyway, and I learned that if you have any kind of anxiety issues, you almost certainly don’t).
The first two weeks I had good days and bad days, BUT I slept through the night occasionally, which was new. Then this past week, I switched to magnesium citrate (easier to absorb)… And it is blowing my mind.
I have slept through every night this week with no chest pains whatsoever.
The first time I woke up feeling rested (like a normal person), I cleaned our whole apartment and made my husband’s lunch and then just sat down and cried. I was just so grateful to feel normal (chipper, even!). My body had been so stressed for so long that I forgot what it was like to watch TV and not have to pretend to be relaxed while silently doing breathing exercises to stave off anxious feelings. I went from having once-a-week episodes of pacing around saying I needed to go to the ER and not believing the doctor to feeling like that was just a terrible dream.
I think all the big life changes just raised my stress levels (even though I felt like I was happy), leading to a cycle of anxiety, depleted magnesium levels, more anxiety, even lower magnesium levels, and finally, weird chest pains due to magnesium deficiency. That’s my theory so far, anyway. I’m sure there will be plenty more bad days before I’m completely out of the woods, but I wanted to share my story here because a couple weeks ago I honestly could not imagine feeling better, and today I do. Personally, I feel 100% certain that magnesium supplements helped me feel physically and mentally better – more calm, more physically relaxed, way less prone to panic.
I’m definitely not saying it’s a cure-all. Obviously some people have issues that require more than just taking a supplement with meals. It would be totally ignorant of me to suggest otherwise. I’m just sharing this in hopes that my particular experience can lend some insight or hope to other people suffering with no end in sight.
Ok, that was my disclaimer. Don’t skewer me. Thanks!