Has Anyone Else Ever Gone Through This?

[winnwinn]

For the past 2 weeks, the anxiety that I've spent my entire life running from caught up to me when I was bed-bound with the flu. For the past week after the fever had gone away, I felt as if I had a foggy-mind. I can't concentrate, and everything seems 'off'. It really bothers me to the point where my anxiety is amplified. Last night the fog got so bad that I had trouble falling asleep, but managed to around 3am. At 8 this morning I awoke with a horrible sinus headache so bad that it had me cringing in pain. I got hot all over and my heart was beating so fast that I couldn't even count the beats. (What I WAS able to count was around 150 BPM) On top of all of that, I tried to go back to sleep hoping to get that last hour in before the alarm went off but as I started to doze off, I had horror movie images flash through my head. It scared me pretty bad to the point where I gave up on resting. This used to happen to me a lot but it really hasn't in the last year and a half, so I believed that most of my worst anxiety days were behind me. I have no idea what could be stirring everything up, but I really want things to go back to 'normal', and fast. In the past I have tried different medications to help maintain anxiety such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc, but out of all of the ones I've tried, I've had some sort of reaction, and had to discontinue them. I have Klonopin to take if things get too bad, but It has never seemed to help before. I tried to make an appointment with my former Psychiatrist, but even after explaining the situation to them, I still couldn't get an appointment until a month from now. I feel so alone right now, like no one else in the world understands what I'm going through, and I feel silly writing this. I know anxiety is a common thing, but I don't want it. When I get like this, I feel like I can't be a good parent and spouse.

Has anyone else ever gone through this 'foggy-head' & did you ever figure out why?
Has anyone else had anxiety sneak up on them like this out of nowhere?
Is there anything besides medication that I can do?

[dazza]

Has anyone else ever gone through this 'foggy-head' & did you ever figure out why?
"Foggy head" is common amongst anxious folk. It is said that the brain is preoccupied with dealing with you fight or flight / fear, leaving peripheral functions such as sight, sound, touch & smell with less processing priority. In the case of vision & concentration - things seem a little off.
Tunnel & even blurry vision is not uncommon, either.

Has anyone else had anxiety sneak up on them like this out of nowhere?
Yep... probably ALL of us :-)

Is there anything besides medication that I can do?
From personal experience - I'm inclined to say NO.
For me, diazepam (valium) calmed my nerves as & when required, CBT helped me understand and accept the condition while time and determination provided the final piece of the recovery jigsaw.

There are belly-breathing exercises and a plethora of natural calming aids (such as rescue remedy) that help a little, but none hit the spot like Diazepam could.
Some may claim otherwise.