Have I exhausted my ability to feel stress?

[Freddyville]

Hi everyone, I'm constantly worrying all the time about physical sensations, heart rate etc. I've had several panic attacks and I'm just wondering is it possible to get to the point where your body almost literally STOPS you from feeling any stress or excitement. It just feels like I'm an empty shell that can't feel anything, it's not really relaxing, just empty. I'm wondering is there like a threshold for stress where the body just inhibits everything including stress itself. It feels horrible and I wanna feel things again. Is it possible for the body to just STOP feeling stress and other strong feelings? Any support would be appreciated. I'm also taking lorazepam (ativan), so maybe this could be causing this weirdly relaxed feeling? I don't know anymore

[jessed03]

Emotions can become numb when you're stressed. It's sort of a coping mechanism that kicks in to stop the problem getting progressively worse with no conclusion. It's temporary, and nothing more than an annoying phase.

You're going to go through many phases before your anxiety condition is resolved. To help you keep your sanity, your best bet is to look at them all as passing phases, and to not get too involved in them. Overthinking minor symptoms is only going to worsen your problem and slow down your recovery.

Life will be weird for a while. Make peace with that. Educate yourself on the fight/flight response, so you understand just how weird things can get, then get a feel for the process of getting better by reading some of the success stories on here.

The ativan may be making you feel weirder, it's hard to say. Your body reached crisis point though, emotionally, so things aren't going to make much sense at the moment. There is a pretty linear course you'll follow though, on your way to getting back to normal. And you will, indeed, get back to normal.

[Freddyville]

Thanks so much for the reply. Could I ask have you ever had any experience/got any advice on feeling like you're going to pass out? Recently I've stayed still for a while and notice my heart rate is very slow and doesn't seem to affected by anything, sometimes if I focus on it I feel like I'm going to pass out. Like if I don't do something I feel like I'm going to literally pass out. Do you know whether this could be caused by anxiety/stress? It just feels like I'm not getting enough oxygen and I feel ridiculously empty and weird accompanied with this slow heart rate. Is this a normal anxiety feeling?