Do I have Anxiety?

[lcann25]

Hello Everyone,

I am brand new to the forum, and I must say this forum alone has a calming effect just being able to read about issues similar to my own. Makes me feel like I am not alone.

That being said, I have no idea what I am feeling. I will try to describe it to you all in hopes that someone can nail it down for me.

I am 33 years old, Male, For as long as I can remember I have always had a tendency to over think things and get worried fairly easily, but it never caused me to have any concern. Until about a week ago. I had to clean up a very small area of black mold in my place, so I put a mask on and got rid of it, but then that night I developed a very small rash on my arm which only lasted about an hour. but I started to worry myself that the mold was toxic and that I was going to get very sick. I continued to worry, and of course read more into the "symptoms" than I should have. I developed a sore throat and stuffy nose. After about a week of worrying all of a sudden I started to feel weird, my face got hot, I felt butterflies in my stomach, and started feeling strange... I still can't explain what I feel exactly. But I know it is worse when I am home alone, I have to be talking to someone on the phone, or occupying my time somehow to not think about it or it just gets worse. Now I am at the point where these feelings just come on in quick bursts. I never feel lout of control, but it is very uncomfortable. I typical "episode" for me is about a 1 second hot face and butterflies in the stomach at the same time, then the strange feelings that can last 5 minutes to a half hour.

I did finally go to the Doctor about this, and he gave me some anti-fungal medicine just incase the mold was toxic, and 20 - 0.5mg Lorazepam tabs.
He said I over stressed about being in contact with the mold, causing anxiety.

So once he mentioned anxiety, I started doing research and finally ended up here at the forum. I have learned that anxiety may have been a part of my life for a long time, just without coming out as an actual attack. I have suffered headaches, nausea, joint aches, dizziness for quite a few years now, despite getting a clean bill of health from more than one Doctor.

I have not taken the Lorazepam yet as I am scared of how it will make me feel. I don't know if my recent "attacks" are bad enough to warrant this kind of drug. Will I get over this on my own? or should I take the 10 day supply of Lorazepam and then see what happens? Is there something I can do to calm my day to day worrying down so it never gets this bad again?
Sorry for such a long post and so many questions, but I am scared and don't know where else to turn!

thank you very much for any advice/info you may have.

[square]

I had this black mold in an apartment. It sucked. Sneezing. Sniffling. Flu. Sucked.

Knowing what it was decreased the amount of anxiety it was causing (I couldn't make up a bunch of wild scenarios).

The benzo will put you in a fluff state. Nothing will bother you. Like being cotton-balled, to me anyway - everyone's different.

However, if the grief gets to be too much, I'd follow the dr's prescription and experience what if any relief it provides. Then discuss it again with your dr.

[louisrapisarda]

Hello. In such a small time it is hard to tell if you are experincing anxiety.. give it a few more weeks if u feel sick pm me back and ill see if you have.. until then take care.. dw about it man think postive think that it is just a small mozie bite or somthing

[northstar]

it is quite hard to tell, and probably not a good idea to give yourself the lable of having a panic or anxiety disorder just yet. lots and lots of people go through life having stressfull and panicked periods without it ever developing into a major problem, you may just be one of those people. it sounds like you're a bit stressed out and worn out from being stressed out, it's a vicious circle. what i would suggest is that you look at relaxation techniques to help deal with the stress and begin taking care of yourself very well for a couple of days in order to feel better :)

i'm quite surprised that your doctor gave you meds so readily, but the choice is yours to take them or not, they may help calm you down and get you back to a place where you feel more stable again. my own personal choice was to fight anxiety with taking drugs, but everyone is different and will have different reasons and ideas of how to get healthy so really the choice is yours :)

if you're struggling with irrational and worrying thoughts that feel like they're out of control then a good idea is to look into counselling or therapy like cognitive behaviour therapy. i went to see a psychotherapist and it helped me majorly with irrational and catastropic thoughts, so i highly recommend it!

my feeling also is if you've been suffering with nausea, joint pain and headaches that you should look into diet as a possible cause of these probelms if you haven't already? perhaps a visit to a nutritionist could really help? i discovered that the root of my anxiety was how and what i was eating, and since that discovery my life has turned around and anxiety is not an issue anymore - so you can see why i recommend it to so many people :D

[lcann25]

Thanks so much to everyone who read/replied to my post. I have not taken any of the Lorazepam yet. I am trying to see if I can come to terms with what is happening and find a way to deal with it on my own first. I do however want to mention a couple of things I forgot to mention in my first post. Ever since these strange feelings have been happening, I have had tingling in my upper right thigh that has now worked it's way all the way down to my toes. This is not a constant tingle, but when it happens, I definitely know it is there. And within the last few days, my face is doing the same thing. The best way I can describe it is, it feels like I have a long hair on my face tickling me.. but there is no hair. Is this a symptom of anxiety? I have read that tingling sensations can be part of anxiety.
And lastly, the worst thing I am experiencing is depression.. I am feeling like there is no point living to be an old age if this is how I will feel, and like I have no self worth. I feel like I serve no purpose on this planet and that being here is only torturing myself. I am not suicidal, but I have been thinking why bother. I think these feelings are what scare me the most. I know depression can be brought on by anxiety, but between this and the anxiety feelings, I don't know what to do. I also have the feeling in the back of my mind that these feelings are going to escalate into a full blown panic attack, and I am scared of that happening. How do I get myself on the right track to stop these feelings?

thanks again!

[lcann25]

Hello again!

I just wanted to update my posts by saying I have been doing some research into herbal remedies to see if I can avoid taking the drugs the doc gave me, and I read that St. Johns Wart is supposedly good for mild anxiety and depression, so I bought and am trying a bottle of that. I am taking it with my multi vitamin which also contains niacinamide. I will report back after a few days with how I am feeling. Anyone else used St. Johns effectively? I have also been reading about 5-HTP. May try that if The wart isn't doing the trick.

[danstelter]

Sounds like you might have OCD or some form of hypochondria. If not, any mental condition can somaticize itself, meaning any anxiety troubles can turn into physical symptoms, which would explain why doctors give you a clean bill of health despite your experience. Medication is helpful, and there is no shame in taking it. However, you may want to work on your thinking. It is possible to change your belief systems so that you believe that something little like that will not blow up into something so big. This could take some practice and guidance from a counselor, and again there is no shame in seeking counseling. Eventually, you can get over this difficulty.