loldonkaments88
12-19-2008, 08:32 AM
Hi everyone,
I'm a new poster here - never really articulated stuff like this before but for some curious reason I can't describe I feel more comfortable doing so upon the ears of people I don't yet know than loved ones.
I'm an economics student at Durham in my final year of study. When I was at home over the summer one evening my older brother, who has quite a bad drug problem, came into the house demanding money from my parents. When they refused, he proceeded to take a knife from the kitchen, hold it to his throat and threaten to kill himself if they didn't do it, then he stormed out.
Since then, the world's been...different. I woke up the next morning and had my first panic attack, then I had them almost daily for a period of about two weeks. I questioned everything I did - even the most basic stuff like putting the kettle on to make a cup of tea made me worried in case I'd done it wrong and would break it, for example. I left the job I was at over the summer and felt terrible for doing that, but I don't think I was either physically or phycologically able to do it.
I went back up to uni earlier than planned following this and things seemed a lot better. I had maybe four or five panic attacks all term but generally felt more like myself and had a really good ten weeks - I managed to keep up with my work and also took a job on the student bar to prove to myself I could take the commitment.
I got back for Christmas on Sunday, and since then I just seem to have completely relapsed. I'm determined not to quit the job I've got over Christmas because I think I'll feel better for doing it in the long run. I went to the doctor's after waking very early today following getting in from work at 1:30am (not what I was hoping for given I'm on another nice long shift tonight!) and I got a propranolol prescription. The good news is that it does seem to help my nausea so I can get a good meal in now and then. The bad news is that the practising nurse told me to avoid the following:
Alcohol
Caffeine
Hot drinks
Hot food (not as in spicy, just as in anything that's hot!)
Obviously the alcohol and the caffeine I can understand, but the last two really worry me. How bad must my anxiety be if just eating a hot meal will make it flare up? Has anyone else been given this advice? I just feel that if this is the case, then it might be a more serious problem than I thought it was.
PS - sorry about the length of this post - having a bad day and wanted to get it all out!
I'm a new poster here - never really articulated stuff like this before but for some curious reason I can't describe I feel more comfortable doing so upon the ears of people I don't yet know than loved ones.
I'm an economics student at Durham in my final year of study. When I was at home over the summer one evening my older brother, who has quite a bad drug problem, came into the house demanding money from my parents. When they refused, he proceeded to take a knife from the kitchen, hold it to his throat and threaten to kill himself if they didn't do it, then he stormed out.
Since then, the world's been...different. I woke up the next morning and had my first panic attack, then I had them almost daily for a period of about two weeks. I questioned everything I did - even the most basic stuff like putting the kettle on to make a cup of tea made me worried in case I'd done it wrong and would break it, for example. I left the job I was at over the summer and felt terrible for doing that, but I don't think I was either physically or phycologically able to do it.
I went back up to uni earlier than planned following this and things seemed a lot better. I had maybe four or five panic attacks all term but generally felt more like myself and had a really good ten weeks - I managed to keep up with my work and also took a job on the student bar to prove to myself I could take the commitment.
I got back for Christmas on Sunday, and since then I just seem to have completely relapsed. I'm determined not to quit the job I've got over Christmas because I think I'll feel better for doing it in the long run. I went to the doctor's after waking very early today following getting in from work at 1:30am (not what I was hoping for given I'm on another nice long shift tonight!) and I got a propranolol prescription. The good news is that it does seem to help my nausea so I can get a good meal in now and then. The bad news is that the practising nurse told me to avoid the following:
Alcohol
Caffeine
Hot drinks
Hot food (not as in spicy, just as in anything that's hot!)
Obviously the alcohol and the caffeine I can understand, but the last two really worry me. How bad must my anxiety be if just eating a hot meal will make it flare up? Has anyone else been given this advice? I just feel that if this is the case, then it might be a more serious problem than I thought it was.
PS - sorry about the length of this post - having a bad day and wanted to get it all out!