I hate to ask this...but?

[dave64]

Has anyone, who was in generally good health before ever having the first anxiety and/or panic attacks, had their real physical health suffer as a result of these anxiety/panic/depression problems?

[DiamondSea]

Has anyone, who was in generally good health before ever having the first anxiety and/or panic attacks, had their real physical health suffer as a result of these anxiety/panic/depression problems?

This week i stopped eating a drinking as a cause of severe anxiety. The other day at work i looked terribly pale with dark shadows under my eyes and my lips were very chapped. Everyone at work was asking if i was alright. I'm eating again though.

I'd have to say no. I cant imagine any situation where an anxiety attack would effect someone's PHYSICAL health. We tend to think that because it is such an immense and seemingly threatening feeling that it is, in reality, immense and threatening. Which it isn't.

[dave64]

It just seems that having anxiety/panic/depression problems would, over an extended period of time, cause real physical problems. Something like the old phrase...."Don't worry yourself to death."

[broadwaymaven]

I think the closest thing is the anxiety causing problems with sleeping, eating, and raising my blood pressure. However, if you mean having heart attack or stroke or something like that, no. I think that years of not treating our bodies with the love and care it deserves causes those things. Since trying to lower my anxiety, i've lost weight, lowered my cholesterol, reduced blood sugar swings, etc. When your body is healthier, you feel better.

[dave64]

I thought that changing some habits woud help too but so far I generally feel like crap most of the time.

I've lost weight, I gave up caffeine, changed my diet, gave up my Copenhagan(nicotine) and so far I've had good health reports.

Everything that I have done is what "they" say will make you feel better.

[Giz]

Ok, so youve changed your diet..
The whole healthy diet thing is a little more difficult to master than were always led to believe..
Big companies make lots of money of branding their items "healthy", when in a lot of cases theyre full of sugar, or synthetic chemicals that affect our health.
The whole Low fat trend foods is usually just a pile of sugar laden nutrient sparse tripe..Its not going to make you feel good..
Perhaps invest in a good quality multivitamin, just make sure that its worth the money youre paying for it. Lots of multivitamins are made from synthetic chemicals that are similar to vitamins-but the body doesnt recognise them-and therefore cant absorb them. How you tell is check the Vitamin E, if it is not D-alpha-tocopherol dont buy it. Its the most expensive vitamin to manufacture-so if theyve skimped on that its probably safe to assume theyve skimped elsewhere.
Be warned, it could be alpha-tocepherol, or dl-alpha-tocepherol.. And if it just says Vitamin E and no details in the ingredients-then leave it in the shop.

So if you havent got a good guide to proper nutrition, I would suggest investing in the New Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford. Its well written and covers all the bases for achieving optimum health. He has several other books covering individual health issues such as cancer, heart disease and mental health.

We live in a world where one of the biggest industries is pharmaceutical. They make billions off our "ill-health" every year, off "managing" our illnesses, while making light of the fact that many of their products carry with them alarming side effects which can often damage our health in very profound ways.
Are you taking any medication? It may be worth looking at the list of possible side effects included with your medication if you are to see if what you are experiencing is a listed side effect.

Are you getting counseling? Im sorry, perhaps I missed it in your mail, but if youre trying to do this all alone its not going to be easy-you need support until youre back up on your feet.. If youre not in therapy-go get some!!

Hope you find a way up outta the hole you seem to have found yourself in. If you have any questions about nutrition, feel free to ask.

[ric556]

Has anyone, who was in generally good health before ever having the first anxiety and/or panic attacks, had their real physical health suffer as a result of these anxiety/panic/depression problems?

Hi ,

The main issue of my GAD , is due to i vomit everyday, i need to eat every 2 hours , because i feel very hungry , it's really mean 2 hours. I vomit whatever i eaten ... but i hungry and i vomit , until i felt giddiness , ear liquid imbalance , gastric , fever , and also go through appendix operation. My psychiatrist did told me before , YES , ANXIETY /DEPRESSION / PANIC WILL CAUSE US Physically Ill... why not u check out on the web ? maybe that will help u ?

upset stomach , chest pain , can't breath smoothly , are all symtomps...

good luck

richard chan

[Robbed]

Has anyone, who was in generally good health before ever having the first anxiety and/or panic attacks, had their real physical health suffer as a result of these anxiety/panic/depression problems?

Here's something I noticed. I just don't quite seem to have the stamina that I had before my anxiety problem. Interestingly, it seems like this has been somewhat of a slow decline over the course of my anxiety disorder. Consider the following here. Back in August of 2006 (about two months before my anxiety disorder started), I climbed Lassen Peak in about 2.5 hours. This climb is 2.5 miles long, and with almost 2000ft of climbing. In August of 2008, this same climb took me 3 hours and 50 minutes! Not only that, but I generally felt ALOT more beat up during and after the hike. I also felt like I just wasn't going to make it. Similarly, I did a climb of White Mountain Peak in August 2007 and August 2008. In 2007, it took me 4.5 hours to make this 5.5 mile hike with a gain of around 2000ft (with drops along the way to make the actual gain larger). At over 14000ft on the top, I felt pretty good, and was shooting off ALOT of pictures. But in 2008, I just didn't think I was going to make it. It took over six hours to make the climb (I can't tell exactly, since I don't have summit pictures to reference), and I felt SO beat up at the summit that I had to lay down on the front porch of the summit lab. Not altitude sickness. Just plain exhaustion. What's interesting to note here is that the first climb took place well into my anxiety disorder. So it looks like at least for me, it takes some time before the anxiety REALLY started to affect my health - about 1.5 years. This is all the more interesting when you consider that recovery was well under way by this time: I was feelng MUCH better emotionally. Another thing I have noticed is a decrease in resistance to infection. I just seem to get more skin infections that I did before. And colds seem to last longer. Again, this is a more recent thing which seemed to start after suffering from anxiety disorder for some time, and recovery was well under way.

I should note that this is all at least somewhat familiar to me. About 12-15 years ago, I suffered from a bout of anxiety that was the result of drug use (particuarly a bad acid trip). Like my current problems, it seemed like I experienced the same increased susceptibility to infection. And although I didn't climb mountains at the time, I DID notice that I could not walk as far or as fast as is the norm for me. And much like today, these problems seemed to start around 1.5-2 years after the disorder set in. Furthermore, just like today, recovery was well under way when these problems started. But when full recovery actually ocurred, these problems generally went away.

So the bottom line is that anxiety disorder DOES seem to have negative effects on physical health. This should not come as too much of a surprise. But at the same time, dealing with and overcoming anxiety allows your body to heal long with your mind.

[elgrande]

The biggest fear we have is fear itself. In other words feeling anxious won't harm us but we fear it will. This feeds the anxiety. Sure we may have a few physical symptoms like shallow breathing, increased heart rate, higher BP, tense muscles, headache etc but these are all a product of our anxiety and WILL go away once the anxiety has been reduced. No one has ever died as a direct result of anxiety. You are not going to lose control or go mad either, its all in our heads because we are anxious. Think about the worst panic attack you've ever had. Did it actually do your body any damage? No, in fact your pounding heart actually had a bit of a workout and will have benefited from the experience. We need to stop our irrational minds telling us that we are doing ourselves some kind of harm and its simply not true.

[james007]

The biggest fear we have is fear itself. In other words feeling anxious won't harm us but we fear it will. This feeds the anxiety. Sure we may have a few physical symptoms like shallow breathing, increased heart rate, higher BP, tense muscles, headache etc but these are all a product of our anxiety and WILL go away once the anxiety has been reduced. No one has ever died as a direct result of anxiety. You are not going to lose control or go mad either, its all in our heads because we are anxious. Think about the worst panic attack you've ever had. Did it actually do your body any damage? No, in fact your pounding heart actually had a bit of a workout and will have benefited from the experience. We need to stop our irrational minds telling us that we are doing ourselves some kind of harm and its simply not true.

Elgrande is right however for most telling ourselves that we are being irrational simply has little effect. If there were only more research and better methods for dealing with the varying degrees of anxiety then we all would be in good shape.

[will]

hey Dave
I think that being very depressed for a long period of time can negatively effect your immune system. that is why it is important to understand what you are going through and try to "cure" it.

[willowoman]

Yes..I have lost 12 pounds, (I have always wanted to lose some weight anyway just not this way), I am constipated, my skin feels like it is drying out and and my lips are getting chapped along with some circles under my eyes. Don't have any desire to eat as nothing gives me pleasure.