MattJ85
11-14-2008, 03:36 PM
I joined this forum only a couple of days ago with the intention of learning more about anxiety. I subsequently started a blog to try and talk about the experiences I have had with anxiety, how it's affected my life and strategies i’ve learnt to cope with the problem.
I'm not getting into great detail about how or when my anxiety started/developed, most the information is on my blog. The problem is since I thought I’d conquered anxiety, it's come back around and bit me in the arse when I least expected it.
I had been fine and free of any anxious worries for a long time, and then all of a sudden, it strikes back out the blue. My mother had gone away on a long holiday and I had to look after her house; which involved cleaning everyday because her animals made a mess. I felt myself become very anxious, which led to chronic fatigue, dizziness, no appetite, depression, impending doom, fear of death, over awareness of my hear, fear of heart attack and a constant obsession with my pulse. This lasted for months despite frequent visits to the doctor. One of the first things they did was to check my blood pressure, which came out at about 180/113; yes very high. I wish I had never seen the blood pressure results because now I worry about it every day. A few weeks after that I was feeling very unwell and taken to hospital where my blood pressure was 210/120.. Ridiculous for a 23 year old. Blood tests revealed I have abnormal levels of kidney by-products in my blood, which could be been caused very easily by the high blood pressure; seeing as kidneys are sensitive to increased bp. I was released a few hours later as my bp had dropped to 160/100, still high but not in the stroke/heart attack red zone.
Since then I've visited my doctor, in fact 5 different docs at my local surgery who have put me on a poor 10mg of beta-blockers a day. Which to be fair have made me even more tired, and having affected my blood pressure in the slightest.
Over the last month or so I've forced myself to do more in the way of eating more healthy, involving myself in more social activities and working more; to be honest I’ve started to feel a lot better. The worry about the bp is still there, but while I was under investigation by the docs they put me on 24 hour bp monitoring. During the evening my bp was down to 100/70, a little low but acceptable seeing as I was asleep. Shows how my anxiety contributes to my blood pressure.
Do you think my anxiety is causing my bp to go so high, or should I consider something more sinister?
I'm at my wits end trying to think what it is. I've been let down by the docs, they don't seem to care. I'm worried that I’m destroying my body by 'worrying.'
Matt
I'm not getting into great detail about how or when my anxiety started/developed, most the information is on my blog. The problem is since I thought I’d conquered anxiety, it's come back around and bit me in the arse when I least expected it.
I had been fine and free of any anxious worries for a long time, and then all of a sudden, it strikes back out the blue. My mother had gone away on a long holiday and I had to look after her house; which involved cleaning everyday because her animals made a mess. I felt myself become very anxious, which led to chronic fatigue, dizziness, no appetite, depression, impending doom, fear of death, over awareness of my hear, fear of heart attack and a constant obsession with my pulse. This lasted for months despite frequent visits to the doctor. One of the first things they did was to check my blood pressure, which came out at about 180/113; yes very high. I wish I had never seen the blood pressure results because now I worry about it every day. A few weeks after that I was feeling very unwell and taken to hospital where my blood pressure was 210/120.. Ridiculous for a 23 year old. Blood tests revealed I have abnormal levels of kidney by-products in my blood, which could be been caused very easily by the high blood pressure; seeing as kidneys are sensitive to increased bp. I was released a few hours later as my bp had dropped to 160/100, still high but not in the stroke/heart attack red zone.
Since then I've visited my doctor, in fact 5 different docs at my local surgery who have put me on a poor 10mg of beta-blockers a day. Which to be fair have made me even more tired, and having affected my blood pressure in the slightest.
Over the last month or so I've forced myself to do more in the way of eating more healthy, involving myself in more social activities and working more; to be honest I’ve started to feel a lot better. The worry about the bp is still there, but while I was under investigation by the docs they put me on 24 hour bp monitoring. During the evening my bp was down to 100/70, a little low but acceptable seeing as I was asleep. Shows how my anxiety contributes to my blood pressure.
Do you think my anxiety is causing my bp to go so high, or should I consider something more sinister?
I'm at my wits end trying to think what it is. I've been let down by the docs, they don't seem to care. I'm worried that I’m destroying my body by 'worrying.'
Matt