its starting again!!

[Chris24]

:wacko: Hi everyone Anxiety is once again back! I know all about anxiety, its causes and treatments and am a medica professional. But none of that matters when your at level 10 out of 10. I hope to meet people suffering similar problems who has also largely suffered in silence.

[nomorepanic]

Hi Chris24

We just wanted to welcome you aboard to NMP. We hope you enjoy your stay here and get all the support and advice you need.

Please take some time to read the website articles on the left as well for loads of advice and tips.

[Chegsy]

Christ I am also a medical professional and have all the knowledge about EVERYTHING to do with anxiety I have also worked with in-patients on wards who are experiencing anxiety..........I think this makes it so much harder to deal with :weep:

[potato11]

Hey Chris, and Chegsy :)

do u mind me asking what medical professionals exactly?

I am a student midwife (for another 2 months.. then I qualify! wahoo)

and I am pleased to say I'm nearing full recovery :yesyes:

[Chris24]

Hi well my profession was was on the front line lets say dealing with a variety of patients in a multitude of situations. Knowing about anxiety and panic yet still suffering from it is hard but it has helped me to help others. people are often amazed at the fact i know what syptoms they have experienced and that by just guiding them as they breath slower they start to feel better. I am a born worrier and i need to start acting on the advice i give to others i think.

Well done on the Midwifery course, god now that can be a stressfull little job! Glad your coping well with it all.:)

[Chegsy]

My profession is also front line dealing with all ages and conditions. I find dealing with the cancer patients that hardest trying not to read into there symptoms and apply them to myself is particularly draining.

[Chris24]

Now i shouldnt laugh Chegsy but i came into contact with someone recently who had suffered CA of the tonsils! Now because of my sore throat......o yes......thats what i had!!!! Thats what actually gently pushed me over the edge at the begining of the week! Am laughing at myself now but at the time you are actually convinced your going to die!!!!!

[Chegsy]

Do you want my list??? Here it is in any case

Headaches that lasted for 7months........brain tumor, interesting that I had no other symptoms just headache.......after 7months I agreed with the GP that due to the lack of additnal symptoms it was tension headaches then quess what.....it disappeared!

Constipation........bowel ca, seeing bowel and bladder clinic nothing to report finally realised I have had constipation most of my life and it's part of my ibs......now settled

Sore stomach....stomach ca, after a few months of not vomiting and again no symptom progression I agreed with the GP that I had too much gas, watched my diet for a while and.....yes I'm cured!

Difficulty swallowing food/lump in my throat, oesophageal ca, again no symptom progression realised this only bothered me when alone and not in a social situation so realised ca doesnt behave like that so must be anxiety, started to ignor it and hey presto I'm cured

Swollen lymph glands.....ok so I pushed real hard with the GP for tests for this one, all Hogkins lymphoma tests returned negative, because the GP agreed to test for this I was a total mess for about 7 days thinking I KNEW it and finally I'm going to get a diagnosis! Turns out I had a virus......oops!

Back ache, bone ca, MRI came back negative.....turns out I slipped a facit joint and just needed to do some light streatches, probably because I have two young children and am always carrying them.

Herpes virus....mouth ca

Bruising on legs....lukemia

Change in mole....melanoma

Sore chest.....lung ca

I'm starting to run out of body parts to find cancer in..........what a dafty I am, reading this really makes me realise how stupid this all is!

Ps I'm dyslexic so ignore the spellings!

[Chris24]

And the thing is in our line of work you can spend all your life worrying about dying from cancer as i have seen people do, only to get run over or killed in a car accident. The only certainty in life is we are going to pass away sooner or later. This is all part of life so we should just live it to its fullest just like others do. I love the elderly patients who are still dancing, riding bikes or playing sport at 90+. Good god chances are there that they are going way before me yet they dont really care. They know that and just get on with life!

Happy go lucky is the best way you only leave memories when your gone so may as well leave happy ones.

[dally]

Hi,
I was a staff nurse in Orthopeadics. I had to give it up cos I was having constant panic attacks at work and I WAS scared that I wouldnt be able to help a patient in an emergency situation!!
Downward spiral of panic and worthlessness from then on!!

I wasnt offered med at the begining, just told to pull my self together. so the PAs got gradually worse. I was floundering.

But things have changed now. If you are able to, I think beta blockers could work without much side effects for people who have to remain alert.

Im too scare to take ADs for side effects

But most of all I believe in CBT and being taught breathing techniques

best wishes

[Chris24]

Hi Dally seems this affects a huge range of individuals from all backgrounds these days. I can sympathise with you and your situation, having to give up a profession you have trained for for years. Its not pleasent. Having to start again from scratch, explain to others why you gave it up plus deal with your anxiety issues.

I cant agree with you enough, breathing is the one most important technique to master when your having panic or anxiety. Hyperventilating is the main cause of many of the symptoms of panic. These days the first thing i do when i start to get anxious if focus on my breathing. This is something i have learned so we can re-learn behaviours and start to take control.

CBT is something i was never offered yet my partner was many years ago and she still uses the techniques today.

I like you was petrified of any meds, after a bad experience on Citalipram, yet i changed GP's to one that actually had time for me and now i take lustril (sertraline) and its fantastic for me. You get all the side effects for the first few days but they soon die down and within 2 weeks you should see a difference in your physical symptoms.

Thanks for posting and i hope your on the road to recovery.

[Seanydee]

This is my story I feel really I'll flutters in my chest foggy, confused feeling in my head neck ache so I book an appointment with my gp,when I get to the docs I feel fine he convinces me it's health anxiety AGAIN and I agree, I'm ok for afew days then I get the same feelings again so I start to think I'm dying I worry even more google after google so then I'm back on the phone getting another appointment it's driving me mad plz help me ?

[Chris24]

Hi Seany, Well your in the right place for help and advice so welcome on board! Yep you describe all the right symptoms of anxiety. Have a look at the link here this is a great site that helped me a great deal. This site talks about the derealisation aspect of anxiety or the foggyness you describe. Also the neck pain and headaches will more than likely be due to tension, i still get these now when i am stressed. Here is the link i hope you find it useful.

http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/

[Chegsy]

Hi dally and Seanydee

Sorry for late post but still finding my feet with sight. Dally I'm so sorry you had to leave your profession, I feel that it's really important that I continue going to work in order to face the panic but it is getting harder. I only work two and a half days a week so I'm lucky that I get the break at the back end of the week. One thing about my roll is I work to rehabilitate people and get success stories which really helps with perspective however we also see palliative which Is difficult.

I find my experience has made me a better practitioner as I now know what it means to be struggling internally and have your health worry you. I find I'm better when I'm exercising and eating well because im doing all I can to stay healthy, however when I'm anxious I struggle to go to the gym because let's face it being anxious is very tiring, when I'm tired I eat rubbish and drink more making me feel like shit and so on. Self for filling profercy really.

Hope you both are able to overcome your issues soon, I'm trying and getting there slowly....I think :wacko::wacko: