Hello everyone! Claustrophobic triggered anxiety here looking for help

[Austin44]

I'm a 41 year old male hoping to learn from the community and help me live with this condition.

It started 15 years ago during an MRI. I'm a big guy (weightlifter) and they jammed in into the MRI machine. I haven't been right since. I avoid all tight spaces. But the issues is just getting worse. I can't wear tight clothes or really a coat of any kind without freaking out. My kids say they've never seen me in long sleves. The main issue currently is that it is serverly effecting my sleep. I can't sleep with any clothes and at most a light sheet. I literally wake up with fears of tight fitting clothes. It seems to be getting worse and worse. Lately I can't sleep because I see my wife sound asleep under a heavy blanket. I look at her under there and my heart pounds. I can't ask her to not use a blanket but it keeps me up for hours. This past summer anxiety moved into the water. I am a lifelong swimmer and lifeguarded for years. I was in the pool playing with my daughters and one of them dropped a toy
In the deep end. I went to get it and couldn't get but a foot deep. It was like I couldn't breath. The water was closing in on me. I haven't left the shallow end since and am on edge the whole time.

I know everything I've said above is mental and I should be able to logically overcome it. But, I can't. It keeps getting worse. It is effecting my life and I really need help. I hope I can find some people with similar issues and learn from them. Thank you in advance for having me.

I've found very little online.


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[gypsylee]

Hi Austin and welcome

I've heard pretty bad stories about MRI machines. My Dad's partner has to be sedated to go in them and she's not the anxious type at all.

I hope you find some help here.

Gypsy x

[BlessedBackyard]

I agree, MRI machines are creepy, and I thought that before I had anxiety.

I know everything I've said above is mental and I should be able to logically overcome it. But, I can't. It keeps getting worse. It is effecting my life and I really need help. I hope I can find some people with similar issues and learn from them. Thank you in advance for having me.

Hi and welcome! My psychologist got on to me for talk like this. I consider myself a logical, intelligent woman, and the idea that I had lost control of my brain was absurd. I said often "I SHOULDN'T have anxiety." But the mind and body are so intricately connected that rarely is our anxiety "only mental." That's why supplements and healthy lifestyle changes help so often. Also, saying "I shouldn't" was denying the reality. It was me fighting against the anxiety, not wanting to accept it. But we can't overcome something that we deny is there. Should or shouldn't have isn't relevant, since the fact is I have anxiety. It's not logical (I sometimes get panic attacks over taking a shower or walking to the mailbox), and that's okay.

If you haven't already, I hope you see a good therapist, and try a different one if the first isn't a good fit. I hope you find what works for you!