Hi folks, anxiety is getting the best of me I think lol

[canuckdave]

The beginning of August I was sitting in my truck at work playing around with my laptop and out of nowhere a squeezing sensation developed right in the middle of my chest along with some accompanying nausea, almost like I was going to pass out. I honestly thought this was my time to go. Wasn't sure if I was having a heart attack and I don't know why I didn't call an ambulance. A heaviness stayed across my chest for the following days and finally went to the ER worried it was my heart. They kept me for 6 hours after going in with an elevated heart rate (probably cause i was scared and anxious just being there) and they found nothing indicating it was a heart attack. They sent me on my way saying it was maybe stress.

After that day things have never been the same. Heaviness across my chest that comes and goes with anxious scenarios. Various pains all over my body. I did a stress test that came back with no problems but that didn't put my mind at ease. The heaviness and pains I have mimics heart attack symptoms and I can not convince myself that anxiety could cause such physical symptoms. Once I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was being electrocuted thru my entire body. I have broke down crying on a few occasions thinking that I am going to drop dead. I am so convinced I have heart problems that I have eliminated all caffeine. Eliminated my diet coke addiction (aka aspartame known to cause anxiety). Gone Vegan to prevent heart disease advancement. I even still take a daily baby aspirin to help try and prevent a heart attack even thou the stress doctor told me its not necessary. lol I have shocked my body I am sure causing more anxiety with all the changes its going thru. I sprained my ankle at work and now I think I have DVT and I will die from a clot because of daily calf pain. I am also convinced I have an underlying chronic disease. To put it mildly whatever has happened, it has scared the living daylights out of me.

I have always been hard on myself. Suffer from depression. Have been worried I have a chronic illness. I also have alot of daily stress from work and financial situations. Worked some odd hours. Had very poor sleeping and nutritional habits. I never really had a problem with anxiety before but now all of these problems have built up and finally have reared their ugly head in the form of general anxiety, health anxiety and panic attacks. I am 36 btw. The physical symptoms are sometimes overwhelming. For 2 months I have been tortured with my thoughts and symptoms. Not as long as some of you but I now feel your pain. Not fun at all.

I have tried to make immediate changes by eating healthy, losing weight and staying on a consistent sleep pattern. I am planning to do daily exercise now and trying to get in with a family doctor to discuss my problems.

The thing that still scares me the most is the chest tightness, pain and heaviness that will make you thing like a heart attack is right around the corner. I have it right now :lac: I think if I can get reassurances from a doctor that its not heart or health related I can better tackle the mind game that is anxiety. I have a cold now to boot with a bad cough and its not helping things. I am a mess to say the least.

[nomorepanic]

Hi canuckdave

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.

[Tufty]

Hello,
It does sound like your symptoms are due to anxiety but it's great that your focused on getting enough rest, good diet and exercise - they will all help you recover.
I get chest pain when anxiety is building up, I think of it as something to warn me to slow down or else! and one day I will listen to this and actually do it, I'm 42 and hoping that its eventually sinking in :) I have had electric current sensations (scary) and over the years beleived I have many health complaints - yet last year in a fit of madness ran a marathon so deep down know there is nothing wrong with me.
You're doing loads of good things to eliminate the anxiety - cutting out caffiene and thats great. However you said that you are tortured by your thoughts, and that is something you need to work on. You can not always control your bodily sensations of anxiety but you can control how you view them. Have you read any Claire Weeks books, she's an austrailian dr and writes alot about panic and anxiety. Panic feels horrible and no one will deny that but if you can accept it for what it is, try not to analyse it, question it and stop playing this mind game with anxiety - treat as you would an annoying child - ignore it, you cannot change it but you can change how you feel about it and let it worry you less
Anyway lecture over :blush: Now to try to practice what I preach
Good luck and take care
Sam

[MRS STRESS ED]

HI IM SORRY TO HERE YOUR NOT SO GOOD ,LET ME REASSURE YOU I ALSO GET THAT HORRIBLE TIGHTNESS IN MY CHEST ,AND HEART PALPS DIZZINESS AND LIKE ELECTRIC THREW MY HANDS AND ARMS, AND YES ITS ALL TO DO WITH ANXIETY .THE MORE YOU FOCUS ON THESE SYMPTOMS THE LONGER THEY WILL CONTINUE ,SO FOCUS EVERYTHING ON BEING POSITIVE ,SOUNDS LIKE YOUR STARTING TO DO IT ALREADY BY DOING EXERCISE AND CHANGING YOUR DIET ,BUT DONT PUSH YOURSELF TO HARD GOOD LUCK XXXXXXXXX:hugs:

[paranoidtree]

i get a tight feeling in my chest that varies from crushing to feeling like there are lots of butterflies in there and it's the panic. it's hard to accept it, i know but if you can accept it that will help you in dealing with it. i've also had the DVT/blood clot scare too. I had an operation last year to remove my appendix and a couple of weeks afterwards i had calf pain in my right calf and i was scared, i went to out of hours GP who said it was nothing, my normal GP nothing. I then went to the osteopath i had been seeing for neck tension and she did lots of checking, said hmmm and then pressed my lower left back, i almost screamed out it hurt so much! She explained i was twisting to protect the side where my appendix was and it was therefore causing strain on muscles. A quick bit of massage and no more calf pain!

It sounds like you are making some really positive changes and you should be really pleased and proud of yourself! have you thought about seeing a counsellor? That could help with your thought patters. ALternatively, i'm currently re-reading Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan jeffers which may help too. Either way, good luck :hugs:

[canuckdave]

Thanks for the welcomes and show of support. Every little bit helps especially from people that have or are experiencing some sort of anxiety. :)

[Flossie11]

Cutting out the caffeine is a good plan.
I too ventured into serious anxiety in aug.
If you can get solid reassurance from your gp, then sometimes it is much easier to tackle the physical stuff when you embrace the fact that it is stemming from the anxiety.
Anxiety can cause a boat load of physical symptoms, I've been through a bunch, and you'll find lots of folks on here have struggled with a multitude of different symptoms.

For me my aug. event was vertigo and dizziness out of the blue. Same deal, scared me a lot. Then when it sort of kept happening, I became scared of it happening..always worried when it might happen again. It's been a tough 3 months, but things definitely started to improve when I embraced the fact that I was struggling with anxiety and stress.
Hope things start to turn around for you soon.