Please help......

[Mandyblur]

Hi there, I've suffered with depression the majority of my life of which i have learned to cope with it myself as counselling and medication didn't work or made things worse.

Now i have come across a new mental illness - Health anxiety - I've been suffering with this for a few months now - at first i could cope and it was only mild however my doctor thought CBT would help which i agreed to despite it not working in the past.

Now my anxiety has gotten worse - much worse. I'm having panic attacks on a daily basis as i'm conviced that i can't breathe or that i'm going to pass out any moment - i also have the worse vertigo ever and can't walk straight - i stagger everywhere i go.

The only problem is - my counselling doesn't start until 17th august and my doctor refuses to give me anything that will help in the meantime.

My panic attacks are killing me, i had one last night - i went to bed at 11pm laid down and the room just started spinning, i ended up getting up again as i couldn't cope, by half 11 i was having a severe panic attack that lasted until 1am!!! I'm exhausted and haven't slept properly for around 4 weeks because as soon as i lay down i can't breathe and get vertigo - i'm now at the point where i'm sleeping sat up and its hurting my neck.

I honestly don't know how to cope with anxiety and because of that alone it makes it worse. Is there anything i can do that will relieve this? Will it ever stop? Is it normal to feel anxious continuously? Shouldn't my doctor be providing more help as its interferring with my life?

Sorry for all the questions i just don't want this to take over my life, i've only just stopped depression doing that.

[panicsucks]

hi there, first thing i think i will say is that all the things you are experiencing are completely normal! i've had health anxiety since the age of 9, thee is nothing psyically wrong with you

[RabidBadger]

The only thing wrong with you is the way you are thinking. I know this is hard to believe because of all the physical symptoms you feel - but trust me.

This is very telling in your sentence "My panic attacks are killing me". From a purely logical viepoint, you would not have been able to write your post if the panic attacks had killed you. All the panic attacks are doing is scaring you - this is what they do. They wouldn't be called panic attacks if they didn't.

If you were being chased by a bear, your heart would speed up, your muscles would tighten, your breathing would become shallow, you would feel nauseas, your skin would go pale, you would feel dizzy, your peripheral vision would seem diminished, your legs would feel like jelly, etc etc. The difference with imagined danger is that you ask yourself so many questions about why it is happening and there is no clear indication of when the danger has passed.

[Going Home]

I am going through the exact same thing right now. Its exhausting!!! I tried to laugh about it and told my husband that this method of weight loss is killing me. Same thing, I can't sleep, eat, dizziness, blurred vision and yet I am trying to get through the day = just as you are.
I don't have any advice other to let you know that you are not alone right now. It seems many of us are going through this and I just wish that somehow collectively we could make it all go away. I'm just thankful for the few minutes a day I get when things seem normal. In my case its all building up towards an event next week. I still don't know how I will get through it but meds will certainly be part of it. I guess I just figure its more important to move forward than worry about being on meds (I would not have said this at 3am when the world was crashing in). I just hope that these are just part of a phase that will eventually come to pass.
Hang in there and I wish you all the best!!!!!!!!!!!

[penguino84]

Ever since I started having anxiety issues I have had Health Anxiety. Being that I'm 25 and have felt reasonably healthy my whole life it just doesn't make sense to me that I would just have "anxiety". My mind just told me there has got to be more wrong with me. So the things I can tell you to help are focus on the good in your life(I got a puppy and he keeps me so busy I don't have time for anxiety) If you are worried about a symptom talk to your doctor don't EVER look things up online,its horrible, always worst case scenario for each symptom. Remember to that people who have diseases have their symptoms all day everyday, if you can talk yourself down or ignore a symptom and it goes away then everything is in your head.