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morf
07-07-2010, 04:40 AM
Since coming down with what I consider anxiety 4 months ago, these are my personal symptoms: (feel free to share your own in a new post below)

Constant symptoms:
Vision; slightly blurry with depth perception issues
Hearing; not as good as it used to be
Depression
Forgetting that it's necessary to eat/drink
Fear of self-expression or self-presentation
Feeling of urgency
Loss of usual time perception
Forgetfulness and carelessness, which lead to what appears as laziness
Metallic taste in mouth
Off-balance, dizzy
Decrease in sex-drive
Not as socially active, on or offline
Increased fear of large, unidentified flying insects, or those which sting
Over-analytic; cautious
Decrease in care for personal hygiene or life in general
Feeling as if I appear to be a 'tweaker' (alone or not)
Fear of becoming a vegetable
Fear of becoming dependent on current medication

On occasion, usually 1 or more occurrences per day (unknown triggers):
Rapid Heart Rate
Overwhelming feeling that I am going to black out
Feeling of excessive blood flow/pressure to the brain; warm head/ears
Tingly feeling throughout the body, followed by absolute fear, causing usual symptoms to be overwhelming
Trouble recalling basic information about my identity, when asked
Often hoping to vanish into thin air
Thoughts of the afterlife, if there is one
Feeling as if in a dream-like state

In specific situations (possible/known triggers):
Around people: Talkative, trouble getting to a point. Noticeably uncomfortable.
When speaking: Occasional feeling of lockjaw or something to that effect.
When eating: Food is not as enjoyable as it used to be. Decreased appetite.
When doing a task: Easily distracted, trouble focusing, memory issues, overly detail-oriented, trouble multitasking.
In a large, enclosed area: (E.g. Large store) Excessive panic
In my bedroom: Fear of leaving it. It's my only comfort-zone.
When alone: Fear of darkness; audible/visual hallucinations, sleep paralysis
When exercising: Vision issues increase. Dizziness.
Around large crowds: Same as in large, enclosed areas.
Driving: Issues with perception of velocity.

Sleep:
Before sleep: Depression, thoughts of not wanting to wake up again.
During sleep: Very memorable dreams, unlike normal. Mostly bad.
When waking up: Low energy, wanting to stay asleep and never wake up.
Sleep in general: Oversleep and Undersleep. Schedule fluctuates. Insomnia.

Medication: 1mg Alprazolam (xanax) daily - 3 months and counting
*Medication is likely cause for certain symptoms.
Does it help to alleviate symptoms? For the most part, but not all of the time. On rare occasion I feel 100% normal, but that is of course until something triggers a known symptom, then all hell breaks loose.
If I don't take it for a day or miss a dose: Symptoms increase
...as of 3 days ago, I've begun splitting my dose in half from 1mg to 1/2mg - hard to say how it'll progress, but I feel I may be becoming dependent and not realizing it, so I'm hoping it works out.
Other treatment: None currently, but considering various options.

Male / 24 Years Old - Besides anxiety, very healthy according to tests.

forwells
07-07-2010, 05:12 AM
Howdy

All sounds pretty normal for anxiety . I had many on this list and many others .

Just wanted to point something out .

1mg Alprazolam (xanax) daily - 3 months and counting

I take it you saw a doctor for these drugs , If he told you to take them 3 times a day everyday and for three months then you need to see another doctor. This class of drugs is meant for short term treatment and the longer you take them the more you need them to get the same effect.

I would say some of your symptoms are caused by these drugs .

If I don't take it for a day or miss a dose: Symptoms increase THis tells me that you are getting withdrawals from them by missing them .

How do i know ?
Now i dont want you to take this and panic but i was addicted to them and the one i was on i had a bad reaction to and it took me months to work out that the drugs were the problem and not helping but doing more harm .
I change to a different one and withdraw in two weeks with no side effects and have not taking another.

The only way to recovery is to face your anxiety and learn about it and by doing this it will fade overtime .

Ask your doctor about some CBT as it would help you .

What caused your anxiety to begin with ??

cheers kev

morf
07-07-2010, 06:53 AM
No, no. 1mg, once per day.

Cause is unknown but likely to have been related to dealing with my mom's meth/alcohol abuse. I had put up with it for over 4 years and randomly at work one evening I noticed my world just turn upside down -- it then happened again a few days later and I went into the ER -- and released with a clinical impression of anxiety. Another few days passed and again, even more serious this time, I went back, and they were pretty sure this is what I was experiencing. I had every test done in the book by now and nothing physical is showing up, so it's pretty obvious what I'm going through.

Why it took so long to show up? I don't know.
Why it showed up at work, at a completely stress-free time? I don't know.

The CBT seems like a good option. I don't have insurance now though and no income due to leaving my job, since my sales performance dropped immensely, and it was all due to the anxiety. I'm checking out some online stuff, but if no progress is made shortly, I'll get more professional guidance.

forwells
07-07-2010, 07:13 AM
try anxietycenter google and see if you can leanr about anxiety from there

There is no reason to try and work out why it happen . I guess some of us are just lucky :shock: You need to focus on the recovery instead

Sound like you had a bit to deal with and just reached your limit and now need to reteach your body to be calm

Why it took so long to show up? I don't know. This is a myth
It just took a long time to reach the level its at , if you stop and think about thinks you will most likely see that your stress was rasing over time .


Look at those drugs as i was on 1.5 mg a day Sorry my mix up with the 3 but still once a day is enough . Benzos should only be used when needed and only ever for no more than a few weeks . Many doctors will not even give them out now . They are good drugs and help heaps but dont abuse them as i said they build and you need more and more to get the same effect .


cheers kev :)