Hello all.... Anxiety - Need it identify what is causing it.

[bmwman]

Hi All this is my first post. Im a healthy 26 yo male and for the past 2 1/2 years I have been having all sort of crazy sensations. For the first year and a half I was having full blown panic attacks (hyperventilation, racing heart beat, fear of heart attack etc.) to the extent that I was even having severe attacks during work, while eating and while tyring to sleep. I ended up several times at the ER only to be told that everything is fine. It took a while to be diagnosed as panic disorder by my doctor and he put me on deanxit. Deanxit seems to have helped me a bit however I do not know if it was the drug helping me or I of I have phases of attack. In total I spent around 8 months on/off during the past 2 1/2 years on deanxit. Recently I had a nice period of 4-5 months with no symptoms whatsoever apart from the occasional 'minor' attack that only lasts a few minutes. After this phase, the situation became different. I only get severe shortness of breath, a feeling like I can not take deep breath and this is really putting me off - seems to be anxiety. There is no pattern when it happens, but seems to be always in the afternoon/evenings and can last anywhere between an hour to a whole evening. Sometimes when I am trying to go to sleep, I also get up gasping for air. Doctor told me I have anxiety and he put me on lexotan for 30 days, 1/2 a pill/day. I did not like this drug as it was interfering with my sleep pattern so I stopped it, even though it seemed to help.

My biggest concern is that for the past 2 1/2 years I have been trying to identify what is causing these attacks/anxiety.

To put you in the picture, I see myself as a successful man, with a good job, married with a caring wife (but she does not understand how I feel when I have these phases :D) and a lovely 1 yo baby girl. While my job can be very stressing with a lot of responsibility (systems engineer) I simply love it and can't imagine myself doing anything else, however sometimes I have phases where I think about changing job.

I need your help in identifying where this anxiety is coming from? What techniques can I use to identify the cause of all this? Thanks! :unsure:

[dabrucru]

hello my my maltese friend, i m maltese too, its the first maltese to see here actually, i know how you feel, its been 3 years now that i suffer from anxiety i have ups and downs, i tried deanxit, they are good but to be honest , as friends over here will tell you there is no magic pill that 'cures' anxiety, but meds definetly help, i used to be on cipralex, i have taken them for 6 months and they helped me a lot, as to your wife mine is not that supportive either, you know here in malta mental health issues are considered as tabboo. i too have a steady job but very stressfull, i have very noisy neighbours too, so i know how you feel. minfullness and meditation helps a lot, and by learing to live in the present moment it really helps, do you exercise? i do a lot of cycling. its been a pleasure talking to you, if you need something just ask , and as we say in maltese
HALLIH IHABBAT HABIB

---------- Post added at 06:38 ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 ----------

also here you will find very helpfull people, this forum has helped me a lot, the thing that you know you are not alone really helps