Back again.........

[Douglas]

My wife died from cancer back in the summer of 2010 at a young age (46). The following winter was horrible. I started getting light headed, and had dizzy spells. I even had a vertigo attack too. This lasted months. At night I was fighting to try to stay awake because I thought I was going to die if I went to sleep. I would jolt myself awake if I started dozing off. My wife died at home in front of family, and I think it traumatized me watching this happen.

Anyway, when summer 2011 finally arrived, I started feeling normal again. Matter of fact, I felt great, and enjoyed my time in the sun working and playing. I thought the worse was behind me.

Once fall arrived, I noticed I was starting to get a few dizzy spells again, but I ignored them. Now here it is the end of February, and I'm not sleeping well at all. Last night I felt like my mind wouldn't shut down, and my heart was beating funny. Plus I'm dizzy on and off, and fighting to stay awake because of my death fears. This morning my chest felt weak, and everything seemed like it was a dream. I went to work, where I do construction. Within an hour or so I felt totally fine. This has happened many times. It's like once I get to work and start getting my heart rate up, and breathing deep fresh air, it fixes me right up. As bad as I felt this morning, I thought doing physical work would just kill me. But instead, it made me feel great.

Anyway, I am at a loss as to why this is happening again. And why does physical work make me feel so good? Once I get back home and showered, I can start to feel the symptoms coming back. Then by bed time, I'm worried about sleeping. I just wish I could get a full nights sleep. This can't be good on my heart. Sometimes I wake up with an adrenaline rush, and my heart beating fast.

Any advice? Should I talk to my doctor about anxiety meds? The symptoms seem physical, and not mental, but I have no idea. I need some sleep really bad. I'm wearing myself out.

[Amy2Crazy]

I am so sorry about your wife :( I completely understand about the fear of falling asleep, and I am having similar symptoms right now. First, you should see a doctor to rule out everything else. That helped me a lot, though I stilll have a lot of health anxiety when the anxiety kicks it. The thing about my anxiety is that it IS physical, regardless of where it stems, and while the meds help tremendously, it is still terrifying when I start having physical symptoms. I find that reading the "Symptoms" article on here helps a lot. I hope this at least helps you to know you aren't alone xoxox

[Joelle]

Yes sorry to hear about you wife passing. I lost my mother just over a year ago and I started to have a lot of anxiety at end of December and my heart rate went way to fast and ended up in the hospital. I was treated and released and now am back home alone again and like you scared to fall asleep at night for fear of not waking up again. I do seem to wake up again though so far and that is good.

I do take some meds to calm me down if I am really anxious and it does help, but at the same time don't want to be reliant on them. Some nights are better than others.

Great that you have a job outdoors and it makes you feel better and less symptoms. Are you in a warmer climate now or just in summer? People do tend to feel better in the warmer seasons. We have snow here now and I take vit D and it helps me to have more energy in less daylight hours of winter. So glad spring is on its way soon.

Hope it gets better for you soon

[miss polly]

Very sorry about your wife's passing. I think it's completely understandable that you're experiencing anxiety symptoms after going through such a traumatic event. It may be an idea to visit your doctor just to rule out a physical reason for your symptoms and then speak to him/her about your anxiety. Sometimes it helps to share worries and get a different perspective on things.
Take care xx

[Douglas]

I had gone to my doctor several times after my wife passed. I didn't talk about my symptoms though. I did have a physical with blood work and that was all normal. He said I have a really strong heart. I need to go back though now that I'm more aware of what's going on, and talk to him specifically about my symptoms.

I live in Wa state, where the winters are dark, rainy, and gloomy......and this is the weather I work in. I take Vitamin D, but it doesn't seem to do much.

[miss polly]

It's pretty gloomy here in Scotland too and it can really affect mood and spirit. Hopefully once the better weather arrives you'll start to feel a little better. In the meantime maybe your doc will think it's a good idea to give you something to calm you and lift your mood. xx

[Joelle]

Would be good for you to talk to your doctor about the symptoms you are having now for sure. Even just talking about things helps me I find.

Yes the Pacific Northwest can be gloomy..I used to live in Vancouver, but now live Northern BC where we get more sun, but shorter days in winter really bother me. Glad its swinging the other way now to longer days...