readytoleaveitbehind
12-27-2008, 03:51 PM
I am a 27 yr old female and I've been suffering from anxiety off and on for a few years now...I think it was 04 when it started. I went to the ER twice, and ran the gamut like everyone else - went through a battery of tests upon my first attack, to determine that I was, in fact, NOT having a heart attack or any major lung problem as I thought (asthma test, EKG, echocardiogram, heart monitor, VCU, etc. etc.). Everything came back beautiful and healthy.
After a couple more attacks, mostly because I didn't believe that it was "just anxiety" as with most other sufferers, my doctor gave me the option of going on an anti depressant. I chose not to, because I didn't want to become dependent on pills and I hate taking medication as it is. He gave me a non-refillable prescription for 10 ativan and said I could take it if I needed to. After that, it seemed to leave me alone for a while. I took the ativan when I needed to sleep because it did a good job. My biggest problem at the time was the heaviness in the chest/short of breath/heart pounding chest symptoms. Thankfully, once I was able to realize that it was anxiety, most of the time I was able to talk myself out of it.
In the last year or two, the anxiety has begun to manifest itself with physical symptoms. I've found this to be incredibly annoying - once I felt as though I had a "ball" in my lower side...not pain, just uncomfortable. I went for an ultrasound and there was absolutely nothing there - no syst, nothing abnormal whatsoever. Once I found this out, the symptom disappeared within 2 days. Again, last year I began having pain and discomfort in my upper chest, yet it felt different than before. I was also having soreness in my back, mostly between my shoulder blades. I saw a physical therapist, who said it was possible I was experiencing a pinched nerve. After visiting the therapist for a month or so, the pain went away only to return a couple of months later. At this point I went for an X-Ray which revealed...you guessed it...nothing. No vertebrae pushing on anything. Upon hearing this, the pain and discomfort disappeared...AGAIN. Lately I feel as though I have a swollen throat or something is in my throat, and then also a bit of heaviness in my chest again. I suspected maybe I was coming down with something (cold, flu), but I am now almost certain it is anxiety. When I am distracted, it goes away, and as we all know, when you are sick a sore throat does not just go away because you are shopping or hanging out with your friends. There is nothing visible in my throat. It's not waking me up at night, and I've tried a couple things like Halls and Benedryl to see if either of them helped, and they don't..but I have to keep telling myself to relax because it's just anxiety and that it will go away, and reminding myself of all the reason why it's anxiety.. it really does annoy me.
Does anyone else have a similar problem? Every time I think I have kicked the thing, it comes back a few months later masquerading as another physical problem. I'm just worried that I will ignore a serious problem thinking it is anxiety and then it will turn out to be something. On the other hand, I don't want to keep going to see my doctor for things that are anxiety. It is a waste of both of our time.
I saw a post about food allergies & anxiety here today - I also have a peanut & nut allergy and I worry about it probably far more than I should, ever since I started having anxiety problems. I psyche myself out and I even worry about eating things that I've been eating for years, or even stupid things like a banana. I worry that there is a mistake in the ingredients or (in a restaurant) someone accidentally got peanut on my plate. It really does ruin my eating life not to mention social dining, because I'm too worried to go out to eat especially somewhere I've never been before. I worry about nut residue left on surfaces that I might not see, or not completely cleaned off of dishes. What's worse is I tell myself how unlikely these scenarios are, but for some reason my brain doesn't believe it, and I start to worry that I am having/will have a reaction.
I don't want to go on medication, but I am so tired of having to deal with these things, and so very frustrated...I used to not have any of these problems. I don't understand where they are coming from, my life is not overly stressful..
After a couple more attacks, mostly because I didn't believe that it was "just anxiety" as with most other sufferers, my doctor gave me the option of going on an anti depressant. I chose not to, because I didn't want to become dependent on pills and I hate taking medication as it is. He gave me a non-refillable prescription for 10 ativan and said I could take it if I needed to. After that, it seemed to leave me alone for a while. I took the ativan when I needed to sleep because it did a good job. My biggest problem at the time was the heaviness in the chest/short of breath/heart pounding chest symptoms. Thankfully, once I was able to realize that it was anxiety, most of the time I was able to talk myself out of it.
In the last year or two, the anxiety has begun to manifest itself with physical symptoms. I've found this to be incredibly annoying - once I felt as though I had a "ball" in my lower side...not pain, just uncomfortable. I went for an ultrasound and there was absolutely nothing there - no syst, nothing abnormal whatsoever. Once I found this out, the symptom disappeared within 2 days. Again, last year I began having pain and discomfort in my upper chest, yet it felt different than before. I was also having soreness in my back, mostly between my shoulder blades. I saw a physical therapist, who said it was possible I was experiencing a pinched nerve. After visiting the therapist for a month or so, the pain went away only to return a couple of months later. At this point I went for an X-Ray which revealed...you guessed it...nothing. No vertebrae pushing on anything. Upon hearing this, the pain and discomfort disappeared...AGAIN. Lately I feel as though I have a swollen throat or something is in my throat, and then also a bit of heaviness in my chest again. I suspected maybe I was coming down with something (cold, flu), but I am now almost certain it is anxiety. When I am distracted, it goes away, and as we all know, when you are sick a sore throat does not just go away because you are shopping or hanging out with your friends. There is nothing visible in my throat. It's not waking me up at night, and I've tried a couple things like Halls and Benedryl to see if either of them helped, and they don't..but I have to keep telling myself to relax because it's just anxiety and that it will go away, and reminding myself of all the reason why it's anxiety.. it really does annoy me.
Does anyone else have a similar problem? Every time I think I have kicked the thing, it comes back a few months later masquerading as another physical problem. I'm just worried that I will ignore a serious problem thinking it is anxiety and then it will turn out to be something. On the other hand, I don't want to keep going to see my doctor for things that are anxiety. It is a waste of both of our time.
I saw a post about food allergies & anxiety here today - I also have a peanut & nut allergy and I worry about it probably far more than I should, ever since I started having anxiety problems. I psyche myself out and I even worry about eating things that I've been eating for years, or even stupid things like a banana. I worry that there is a mistake in the ingredients or (in a restaurant) someone accidentally got peanut on my plate. It really does ruin my eating life not to mention social dining, because I'm too worried to go out to eat especially somewhere I've never been before. I worry about nut residue left on surfaces that I might not see, or not completely cleaned off of dishes. What's worse is I tell myself how unlikely these scenarios are, but for some reason my brain doesn't believe it, and I start to worry that I am having/will have a reaction.
I don't want to go on medication, but I am so tired of having to deal with these things, and so very frustrated...I used to not have any of these problems. I don't understand where they are coming from, my life is not overly stressful..