Kaato
19-03-12, 20:17
I'm a 25 year old male, and I've been suffering from anxiety symptoms for around 6 years, it all eased in very slowly, becoming more and more intense as the years went on, until I suffered with a bad hit of glandular fever, from which I had post viral fatigue.
I used to take a fair amount of recreational drugs from a very young age (we're talking ecstacy at 14), the constant use of drugs and alcohol, along with a dysfunctional family, and the middle child syndrome, I eventually developed a large spectrum of anxiety issues.
The majority of my anxiety is health related, ever since glandular fever hit me (which is also when I quit smoking and doing drugs due to health concerns), I have had serious doubts about my physical health, especially my heart. I've had every heart symptom you could think of, I had some tests done, nothing major, and I never felt I was given anywhere near enough attention, I also had a doctor who was known for his medical malpractice, my anxiety was undiagnosed for years.
I continued to have to attempt to live a normal life, without the support of friends or family throughout the majority of it, the only person who ever supported me was my girlfriend, because she saw what it did to me.
I've gone through phases over the years, my last big relapse was last summer, I was pretty much dead inside, every single day was agony, I was seriously ill, my anxiety and depression levels couldn't have been any higher, and the frequency of my massive panic attacks were enough to send someone insane. I can safely say I believe in hell, because I was there.
I moved down to my university last september, and it wasn't easy, but the change of scenery helped I think. I was determined to not let it beat me, this was my last chance to live normally, I had lost a lot of weight due to not being able to eat and not sleeping, I had developed pretty bad insommnia.
I started getting light excercise with a mate, playing basketball and going on walks, I had so many attacks, where I felt I was having a heart attack, I just did my best to ignore it and carry on. I've been slowly building myself up, I now goto the gym with a mate and I was thrown in the deep end, which was extremely difficult, but I'm stronger for it.
All in all, anyone who suffered with symptoms similar to mine, extreme health related anxiety, no energy, agoraphobia, panic attacks, difficultly sleeping, no appetite e.t.c, just try what I've tried, it might help:
I've taken no end of remedies off the internet, supplements, tea e.t.c, nothing worked.
The only thing that worked, is to get out there and exercise, it's incredibly difficult, I know exactly how it feels, it doesn't feel like it's doing you any good, at first the anxiety gets worse, but you need to eat well too.
I had tried exercise in the past, but living with my mother, her awful dinners just weren't good enough, you need to get them calories in, give your body something to do other than be tense and stressed, really knacker yourself out, burn some calories, then put loads back in, I was drinking 2-3 protein and carb chocolate flavoured milk shakes a day, along with normal meals, and I swear 24/7 for 2 weeks I felt like I was going to explode, eventually I got used to it and now I can finally eat properly (it's costing me a lot more money but my health is worth it).
Just doing one wont be enough, you can't just eat loads of food and not exercise, or the other way round, you have to do both, use your body like a machine, burn it out, then refuel it, it helped me no end.
With my heart worries I really struggle with cardiovascular training, I don't do running too well, so I do anaerobic exercise, just lift weights, if you can't afford to goto the gym, buy a pull-up bar and put it in your doorframe, do as many as you can every day, buy some dumb-bells, you can do loads with them, google it.
I still get a bit of heart scare even to this day with my training, but I just ignore it, I can't stress it enough, you have to just say to yourself, "it's nothing, you're not dying", eventually you say it to yourself automatically when something happens, and it's gone before you even notice it.
I've been extremely resistant to treatment, I won't take tranqs or antidepressants, and i've had 2 lots of CBT with limited success, I've tried EFT, self-hynotherapy, lindon method, they're all the same thing, none of them did anything.
Along with exercising and eating well (don't ALWAYS eat what you think you should eat, eat what you CRAVE sometimes, even if it's a really fatty and salty bit of choritzo, or a burger, just eat it!), I try to relax, take time out to just REALLY chill out, with some nice music, nobuo uematsu is incredible.
I've read lots of peoples ways of recovering, nothing ever helped, I'm hoping this will inspire some people who are in a similar situation to me, it's extremely difficult.
My journey so far has been very distressing, some of the things I've had to go through have been torture, but I'm much stronger for it now, I can honestly say that feeling great almost ALL the time is amazing, I actually feel like I'm normal again, I still have problems, and I'm still not 100%, but I'm doing really well, and I hope all of you can achieve the same some day soon.
Kurt.
I used to take a fair amount of recreational drugs from a very young age (we're talking ecstacy at 14), the constant use of drugs and alcohol, along with a dysfunctional family, and the middle child syndrome, I eventually developed a large spectrum of anxiety issues.
The majority of my anxiety is health related, ever since glandular fever hit me (which is also when I quit smoking and doing drugs due to health concerns), I have had serious doubts about my physical health, especially my heart. I've had every heart symptom you could think of, I had some tests done, nothing major, and I never felt I was given anywhere near enough attention, I also had a doctor who was known for his medical malpractice, my anxiety was undiagnosed for years.
I continued to have to attempt to live a normal life, without the support of friends or family throughout the majority of it, the only person who ever supported me was my girlfriend, because she saw what it did to me.
I've gone through phases over the years, my last big relapse was last summer, I was pretty much dead inside, every single day was agony, I was seriously ill, my anxiety and depression levels couldn't have been any higher, and the frequency of my massive panic attacks were enough to send someone insane. I can safely say I believe in hell, because I was there.
I moved down to my university last september, and it wasn't easy, but the change of scenery helped I think. I was determined to not let it beat me, this was my last chance to live normally, I had lost a lot of weight due to not being able to eat and not sleeping, I had developed pretty bad insommnia.
I started getting light excercise with a mate, playing basketball and going on walks, I had so many attacks, where I felt I was having a heart attack, I just did my best to ignore it and carry on. I've been slowly building myself up, I now goto the gym with a mate and I was thrown in the deep end, which was extremely difficult, but I'm stronger for it.
All in all, anyone who suffered with symptoms similar to mine, extreme health related anxiety, no energy, agoraphobia, panic attacks, difficultly sleeping, no appetite e.t.c, just try what I've tried, it might help:
I've taken no end of remedies off the internet, supplements, tea e.t.c, nothing worked.
The only thing that worked, is to get out there and exercise, it's incredibly difficult, I know exactly how it feels, it doesn't feel like it's doing you any good, at first the anxiety gets worse, but you need to eat well too.
I had tried exercise in the past, but living with my mother, her awful dinners just weren't good enough, you need to get them calories in, give your body something to do other than be tense and stressed, really knacker yourself out, burn some calories, then put loads back in, I was drinking 2-3 protein and carb chocolate flavoured milk shakes a day, along with normal meals, and I swear 24/7 for 2 weeks I felt like I was going to explode, eventually I got used to it and now I can finally eat properly (it's costing me a lot more money but my health is worth it).
Just doing one wont be enough, you can't just eat loads of food and not exercise, or the other way round, you have to do both, use your body like a machine, burn it out, then refuel it, it helped me no end.
With my heart worries I really struggle with cardiovascular training, I don't do running too well, so I do anaerobic exercise, just lift weights, if you can't afford to goto the gym, buy a pull-up bar and put it in your doorframe, do as many as you can every day, buy some dumb-bells, you can do loads with them, google it.
I still get a bit of heart scare even to this day with my training, but I just ignore it, I can't stress it enough, you have to just say to yourself, "it's nothing, you're not dying", eventually you say it to yourself automatically when something happens, and it's gone before you even notice it.
I've been extremely resistant to treatment, I won't take tranqs or antidepressants, and i've had 2 lots of CBT with limited success, I've tried EFT, self-hynotherapy, lindon method, they're all the same thing, none of them did anything.
Along with exercising and eating well (don't ALWAYS eat what you think you should eat, eat what you CRAVE sometimes, even if it's a really fatty and salty bit of choritzo, or a burger, just eat it!), I try to relax, take time out to just REALLY chill out, with some nice music, nobuo uematsu is incredible.
I've read lots of peoples ways of recovering, nothing ever helped, I'm hoping this will inspire some people who are in a similar situation to me, it's extremely difficult.
My journey so far has been very distressing, some of the things I've had to go through have been torture, but I'm much stronger for it now, I can honestly say that feeling great almost ALL the time is amazing, I actually feel like I'm normal again, I still have problems, and I'm still not 100%, but I'm doing really well, and I hope all of you can achieve the same some day soon.
Kurt.