PDA

View Full Version : Anxiety? Weird Situation



Heyitsalainarae
01-27-2009, 05:28 PM
Hi Everyone,

So to make a long story short I have been on Claritin-D 12 hour tablets (one pill a day) for about 2 years now. I have become quite dependent on them to help me breathe...they also sped my heart rate up and gave me a boost of energy. I decided last Thursday (and after a trip to the doctor where my heart rate was crazy high) to get off of the pills. So come Friday morning I was anxious about getting off of them and took a decongestant (Robitussin CF) just to alleviate some nasal symptoms and mimic claritin a little.

Friday afternoon I started noticing my breathing becoming more labored and chest pains along with tightness/fullness/pressure/shortness of breath (basically out of no where). I had been feeling tired off of the clartin and weird because my breathing was so much slower and irratic (it felt normal to try and speed up my breathing since this 2 year stint on claritin had my heart going so fast) and I started to freak out (never had anything like this happen before) and become obsessed with the pains in my chest....thinking something was more severly wrong. Saturday I had the same symptoms (the pains went all over my chest) and a constant worry about them.

Sunday I woke up and burst into tears and decided to take my first trip to the hospital/ER just to give me a peace of mind. They an ran ECG, came back normal, just an elevated heart rate from nerves, they took chest x-rays that came back normal, ran a D-Dimor blood test to check for blood clots (since I am on birth control) and that came back extremely low and unlikely that I would clot. They ran thyroid and blood tests that all came back normal. They hooked me up to a heart monitor for a little while and I was able to calm myself down to 95 beats per minute...but I really had to concentrate on my breathing and staying calm. So I left the emergency room with no answers and just that they thought it was anxiety.

I followed up with an allergist on Monday who perscribed Nasonex (took my first dose today and it hasnt done anything to help... i can barely breathe out of my nose) and I tested negative for asthma and very normal on a breathing test. I also followed up with a Regular Doctor who did another ECG (normal) and breathing tests..... my lungs are 100% healthy, even though my chest feels otherwise. The Doctor also suggested I had anxiety and didn't have any other answers for me.

I am uneasy about not having a medical reason as to why this has all happened to me.... I was fine on Thursday...on Claritin for the last time... a fast heartbeat, but fine otherwise. I wish I could just rewind time... I keep obsessing about what could be wrong and constantly my mind races when im not distracting myself.. causing me to worry and chest pains to come and go in waves.

I am not having attacks, just pain in waves.....throughout the day... almost like a constant state of worry... I have been a lifelong worrier, but nothing like this.....


Any words of advice or wisdom would be great.... I'm seriously considering taking Vitamin B as I read on here Birth Control and nerves deplete your body of this.

Heyitsalainarae
01-28-2009, 08:48 AM
I believe the more I experience this chest pain, the more it has to do with this funky breathing pattern I keep doing. My body feels more normal when I mimic the fast breathing/heart rate that it was used too on Claritin.... and when i slow down my breathing I feel like I'm not getting enough air in there sometimes.

Either way thinking about my breathing is not something I can constantly do or live with.... please HELP! :( :(

Evilbob333
01-28-2009, 02:10 PM
Hi, sounds like you're in full anxiety mode here.

What occurs to me is that you say that you feel uneasy not having a medical reason for your laboured breathing...when in fact you say yourself that a doctor and the guys at ER all said it was anxiety...is that not medical reasoning enough? If there was anything wrong with your respiratory system you would've found out. Finding it difficult to breathe is an all too common symptom of stress and anxiety, as is not allowing yourself to believe that what you're experiencing is anxiety...your acceptance of the disorder is the your first step towards curing yourself of it.

Hope this helps....

northstar
01-29-2009, 12:54 AM
sounds like evilbob333 is onto something by saying that you may just be in full anxiety mode. i've felt unable to breathe fully too at times, although never as badly as this, but it is quite a common symptom. i'm so sorry you're finding it so tough right now :(

to start dealing with the stress & anxiety you might like to have a look at this post: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087 it's an explination of all the things that helped me get through my own anxiety problems, and i hope that you will find something helpful in it too :)