Been doing ok, all the sudden have weird thought. Help

[CallMeCrazy]

I've been doing better but last night out of the blue I started thinking about this person I read about that would pass out when they tried to leave the house. I started thinking "what if I do that?!?" I can usually blow stupid thoughts like this off but not last night. I started trembling and upset my stomach. I even went outside in the cold rain to make sure I could leave the house! That's how ridiculous it got. I've never passed out no matter how nervous or bad I've felt my whole life so that makes it even stranger to feel this way. I went out and did some Christmas shopping for a few hours today and made it through that ok but I can't shake the feeling. Some advice please! :(

[RabidBadger]

Hi

It is extremely rare for anyone to pass out because of anxiety (even though you very often feel like you're going to). I'll tell you why...

The vast majority of people who pass out do so because the brain senses that it is not getting enough oxygen. It has a safety mechanism to remove the most probable obstruction to bloodflow, which is gravity, and it attempts to put your body in a horizontal position so that your head is level with your heart. This is most evident in cases where people have been standing for a long time or they have suffered serious blood loss - anything that causes the blood-pressure to drop to a level that the brain senses as dangerously low.

When you are anxious or panicking, the blood pressure rises rather than falling and therefore more than enough oxygen reaches the brain. This is possibly why you experience a sort of spaced-out feeling when anxious but it does safeguard against passing out.

There is one exception to this rule and that is in people who have a phobia of blood. When they see blood, the brain subconsciously lowers the blood-pressure (in an attempt to safeguard against any blood loss) and so it is quite common for blood-phobics to faint when they see blood.

Hope this helps

Chris

[CallMeCrazy]

Thanks Chris. That does help a lot. I've also heard that it's impossible to pass out from panic because your heart is pumping so much blood to your brain. I keep telling myself that person could have had a neurological problem that caused them to pass out when they tried to leave the house.

[RabidBadger]

Hi

Well it's possible. It's also possible that they had a circulatory problem that was aggravated by the exercise.

In any case, I have had anxiety problems for years and I have lost count of the thousands of times (and that's not an exaggeration) that I fel tlike I was going to faint but it has NEVER happened. I've never even lost my footing.

Good luck

Chris

[CallMeCrazy]

I'm the same way. I've felt dizzy, lightheaded, you name it and I've just delt with it. I don't understand why last night I freaked out about it so bad. My mind will just get stuck on something and won't let go. Back in less anxious times I would obsess about stuff I like, like cars, trucks, pumping iron. Now it's like I can't stop the negative thoughts. :(

[Alexcambridge]

I know how you feel. Once I managed to convince myself that I had low blood sodium and my brain was swelling (some ridiculous fear of mine). I worked up such a sweat worrying about it and wondering all over the house panicking that I felt like I was going to pass out (I attributed this to my brain dying). Of course the fact that it takes hours and hours to die from water intoxication, that symptoms include severe headaches and you need to drink litres of water in minutes didn't occur to me...I was deranged for about 5 minutes, and then I had a bath and relaxed and then felt kinda foolish.