here to help, but also seek advice

[liveitup898]

hey everyone,

its always great to know that we have an outlet such as the internet to express our feelings and thoughts in dealing with our conditions....

anyway i've been dealing with anxiety and panic attacks for the past 8 years...8 years too long, but regardless of that - i will get better. we will get better.

its how badly you want it sometimes....yes its very unsettling and uncomfortable the type of feelings we go through when dealing with this disorder/illness/blessing in disguise or whatever you want to call it, but we have to push through it.

whether from assitance of medication or no medication we can do it.

i believe i have experienced quite a broad spectrum of what anxiety/panic brings to the table - so its not like i am new to this at all, but i still need help at times (we all do).

ive been taking effexor xr for roughly 6 years, tried to ween off of it about 2 or 3 times with no success. i probably stayed off the meds for about 2 weeks before i got back on them again due to anxiety.

fast forward to more recently, i weened off the meds in october and november and finally stopped completely in december 2011 and forward. i felt a lot better actually, as my anxiousness was less involved in my life and i felt like my mind was more clear.

well i've been having a few dull chest pains near the heart area and it somewhat triggered my anxiety to come back........

this past weekend i had PVC (according to the doctor i saw)....heart palpitations, an extra heart beat etc. and the reason i went to the hospital that day was because the PVC would not go away.....its like i had it for over 24 hours straight.

we all get PVC once in a while, and when i did get it in the past it would only last for about a minute or so - which is why it was never that concerning.

honestly it scared the heck out of me. the hospital had me take blood work and a chest xray and according to the results everything seemed fine -no heart attack. my concern was how my arteries were, heart disease etc. and in order to find out, i'd have to see a cardiologist (which i am waiting on seeing sometime soon).

as of Monday my PVC was gone - but it came back last night for a 20 minutes or so. still unsettling but im starting to think all of these feelings are coming from me being off my meds.

is it normal for a body to react this way after being off meds?? (mind you, i have been off them for over a month now after weening off them properly)

do you guys also get bouts of anxiety/panic after an initial attack? i had a panic attack on december 25th 2011 and since then my mind and body has been a bit out of sync...feeling anxious and having a few small attacks here and there (i had 2 more this week, but learned to brush it off successfully after 15 minutes or so)
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im in my early 30s, quite fit, have a full time job and am "normal" in all aspects. i am here today because i need some advice/support and would like to give it back as well.

oh yeah - i notice the left side of my body i.e arm and leg gets tense due to anxiety. the right side of my body never really gets that kind of tension when anxious. scary stuff somtimes.

[Sunny Days]

liveitup898- I am a 30 year old female and I've had general anxiety my whole life with small panic attacks here and there. In August 2010 I experienced my first full-blown panic attack. I went through them for a few months sporadically and finally managed to stop fearing them and then they subsided. I still have a nervous-type personality though and do feel "panicked" at times so I can relate. All of my phobias are based around health- if I get a weird symptom I over-analyze it and then think worst-case scenarios. Even though I am a thin, fit person and I have had 2 ekgs and wore a 24 hour heart monitor my main area of focus is my heart- SO common for people like us.

Anyways, I really think what your feeling could be from coming off the medicine. Your body has to re-adjust and it takes time. Remember- bodies are really strong and heal themselves! I want to let you know you are not alone! I've felt the weird/numb sensations in my left arm and hand before too...honestly looking back I think alot of it was in my head!! I think my mind created my symptoms. It's amazing how powerful the mind is! I've been re-training myself to think positive thoughts and to stay in the present moment. How about trying to think yourself healthy? I think so much of our anxiety is future-based, or guilt from things in the past. Neither of which we have ANY control over. I turn my struggles over to God now (and I know not everyone is religious) but he has helped me so much! If you can tell yourself to live in the moment, and enjoy your life...I think it will help. It has been helping me! :)

[liveitup898]

Hey Sunny Days,

Thanks for the prompt reply, its much appreciated.

I can totally see where my anxiety has stemmed from, as since i was a kid i was always a worrier. I currently have, and have had so much going for me, but i was always able to find the negative in a positive situation (it was like an addiction since i was a kid.

When i have kids someday i know the approach to take with them growing up (although my plan may not be fool-proof, i have still learned a lot from my past).

I make choices in my life, then the next day think "why did i do that?"..........so you are right about the "guilt from things in the past".......i believe that affects me too. Common sense tells me that we will always make mistakes so stop living in the past.

Anyway I was raised a catholic but somewhat gave up on believing when my struggles became overwhelming. I have started to pray again and be thankful for all that i have...

For the most part i am able to shrug off my anxiety attacks because there is so much proof from past experiences that the symptoms are not real and that they always pass.......but the whole PVC heart palpitation episode freaked me out.

For the past year or so i've had on and off episodes of left arm and left leg numbness and pains and it was always quite unsettling...left side automatically makes me think of my heart.

Life works in weird ways sometimes, and i am starting to believe this recent situation is meant for me to learn and adapt and apply...like becoming a new person. If its taken me 8 years to get a grasp of my anxiety, i better get myself in gear and really devote myself to kicking it out completely.

[hestes]

I'm no doctor, but the PVCs could possibly be related to Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). It's a minor heart condition where the Mitral Valve does not seal properly. Most people that have it never know they have it, some of us feel more symptoms. It's is usually nothing to worry about. Here's the interesting part. Panic attacks are one of the things that are associated with MVP. Whatever the genetic thing is that causes the MVP seems to be associated with panic attacks as well. MVP isn't always easy to diagnose through echos, etc according to my Cardiologist, but if that's what is causing your chest discomfort then I would say it would be something you shouldn't worry about (although that is always easier said than done, I know).

[liveitup898]

hestes - thanks for the input.

i remember going for an echo cardio test and they mentioned something about an overlapping heart valve or something along those lines...said it was normal.

the last thing you said "shouldn't worry about" is relieving.......i assume i should NOT worry about it because its a common thing that cardiologists say is nothing to worry about???

i have a stress test and echo cardio tests tomorrow but would appreciate some further input from you guys....

in a weird way, anxiety although torture has made my life much more interesting.......i try to treat it that way. its made me look at life differently, and take different approaches to scenarios that come my way.

[hestes]

Most MVP cases result in more annoyance than anything. I have never read (and I did a ton of research after I was diagnosed) of anyone dying from it. I just feel the symptoms of it, such as tightness in the chest, fatigue from time to time, heart palpitations. In my reading, it was classified as a mild condition. Unless your dr gives you a reason to worry about it, IF it is MVP, I would do my best not to worry about it. I found the connection between it and panic attacks interesting. I wish someone would have told me that earlier.

But, like I said, I'm not a dr. I'll be interested to see what you find out.

[liveitup898]

so i'm back from the hospital cardiologist appointment where i an echo cardio exam and a stress test.

echo cardio involved the nurse placing electrodes on my body and looking at my heart with a machine (similar if not exact to the ones they use on pregnant mothers when they are checking on the baby).

i also did a stress test that involved getting my heart rate up to 190 by running on a tread mill. they measured my heart rate and blood pressure before, during and after this exam.

everything came back fine - and i am forever thankful for that.

they did not mention anything about MVP. said that the leg pains are leg pains and not related to the heart. the arm pains could be tension but overall nothing to worry about.

he said that i definitly have nothing serious wrong with me and if there is something wrong, that it is nothing to worry about and that it can be corrected (once found). with that said, they want me to wear a 48 hour heart monitor to see if it can pick up anything.

when wearing this hear monitor for 2 days they want me to live normally and even go to the gym or whatever it is i normally do.

only issue was that i cant shower for 2 days with it on, so i post poned it until next week as i have a few work functions to attend this weekend and it would suck to not shower before them LOL.

[hestes]

I'm glad everything went well!! That's got to be a relief!!