Health anxiety the cause of sedentary lifestyle

[ankietyjoe]

Hi there

I was just wondering if any of you have got into the same rut as I have.

After a huge bout of GAD and HA in 2011, I finally found a way to cope with it through meditation and just getting on with things.

The problem seems to be that the biggest PA of my entire life was caused by over exercising in June 2011, leading to an Ambulance being called with all sorts of dizziness, palpitations, pain and confusion. I subsequently learned that this can be caused by lactic acid being released into the bloodstream, so on one hand I can quantify the feeling.

Roll on a couple of years and I've got into a habit of basically doing nothing strenuous whatsoever, just in case I start to shake, my heart rate increases or any other of the normal side effects of exercise. The PA I had back then was so bad, and in fact lasted for about a week after that.

If I push too much even now I still get the same shaking and dizziness, and although I know I have to spend a protracted period of time building my tolerance up to exercise again, there's still that fear that I'll go that little bit too far again and hit 'the wall'.

I spoke to the GP about this reaction to exercise and he said it was very rare. Actually I was in there for something else at the time so I didn't pursue it any further but I think I will.

Does this cycle ring any bells with any of you?

[Stormsky]

Exercise ups your heart rate anyway , which can mimic panic..
But exercise is good adrenaline, and I find its a great feel good factor

[joelhall]

It's very rare to have acidosis reactions from exercise, so it may be a simply case of exercise-induced anxiety. I've had this myself before and it felt horrific (and embarrassing as I stumbled out of the lifting hall into the snow with no shoes on). A far more common cause of those same symptoms during exercise is transient hypoglycaemia, which is common in those during endurance-style exercise. Some people are just more prone to this.

If I were you I would start exercising as soon as you can, but build up the intensity and duration and don't go nuts - especially if you do endurance-style exercise. If so, remember to have a glucose drink and water with you to sip while training.

[mummyanxious]

I did so exercise at the beginning of the year which was a but like circuit training. I was completely unfit but quickly built up my stamina by doing it every day. I started to think my heart couldn't take it though for some stupid reason.
Anyway when I was doing the floor work I noticed some palpitations but ignored them
One day I was ill and couldn't do it. I never got back into it as the bug lasted a while and I started to feel anxious and panicky about not exercising??? I think my body expected the adrenalin so was releasing it and it wasn't being burnt off so I was actually panicking.
Anyway I've never got back into fitness since as I started worrying about my heart again and am scared to even do any slight exercise in case I stress my heart out too much :(

[ankietyjoe]

Thanks dudes.

At the moment it doesn't actually require much in the way of resistance training to induce some fairly unpleasant effects (usually a couple of hours after the exercise).

I can usually meditate away and fast reactions like palpitations or dizziness and they don't tend to bother me that much. It's just this really weird feeling of 'something' in my muscles a couple of hours later. Like an anxiety in the fibres I need to stretch out, but that also causes trembling and just a general feeling of crapness.

Anyway, I had to see the GP this morning about reflux meds and he's going to do some bloods for cholesterol, ESR, blood count, renal and electrolytes, liver and thyroid. Oh and check for diabetes too.

I can't wait :whistles:

[mummyanxious]

That feeling you're describing there is underlying anxiety. I feel like constantly. Like something is going to happen. Like I'm on the verge of a panic attack all the time.

[joelhall]

Weights are bound to cause some shakiness, tightness etc in the muscles, as strength isn't a muscular function but neurological. Sometimes I have this after a hectic training session. All I can suggest is never, and I mean NEVER go to failure or use slow grinding reps. These are what lead to overreaching and overtraining (although the latter is still not a very well-defined phenomenon, and may not actually exist).

[ankietyjoe]

Oh sure, I've had that for several years now so I know what you mean.

This particular feeling only happens after exercise though, and is considerably more intense than at any other time.

[mummyanxious]

But is it because this is the time you're most anxious about it? Like a vicious circle?

[joelhall]

Oh sure, I've had that for several years now so I know what you mean.

This particular feeling only happens after exercise though, and is considerably more intense than at any other time.
It would be. If you imagine how many muscle fibres have to be recruited standing about and how many need to be recruited to bust out a set of squats, then you can see why the nerves get fried. Like I said stay away from failure. I've never been into the bodybuilding thing or stuff like that, only Olympic weightlifting, and we never train to failure - for tht reason we get away with doing heavy singles for squats 7 days a week.

[kittikat]

I also found that I avoided any physical or mental exertion of any form as it always gave me the symptoms preceding panic...I suppose in a way I was trying to protect myself from the fear.

Fast forward a year or so and I have recently started a daily exercise programme, starting off literally with 5 minutes of gentle warm ups for a few days just to see how it went and I seemed to manage ok so I very slowly increased a little each day. If I started to feel it was too much I stopped and rested checking myself and tuning in to the physical effects on my body so that I could recognise the difference between real anxiety and just physical exertion.

I am now up to 20 minutes a day and hoping to increase to 30 mins over the next week or so. I have to say, doing it like that, baby steps, was a really good way to start and build up my confidence.

Good luck with the tests, I am sure you will be fine ;)

Kitti :)

[ankietyjoe]

I don't think this is a viscous circle thing because the first time it ever happened I had no idea what was about to occur. It happened after a moderate workout, 3-4 hours later as I was on the sofa watching TV which eventually caused an ambulance to be called out (something I've only ever done twice in 6-7 years of anxiety.

Even then I didn't realise it was the exercise that caused it until I did another workout a week or two later, then bam. Same thing.

I have no idea what the connection is, but I do know it's not a psychosomatic reaction as I can all but control my anxiety these days.

Fried nerve endings does make sense though. The question is how do I get over that phenomenon as just not doing exercise is out of the question for obvious health related reasons.

I guess I need to rule out stuff like thyroid and diabetes etc.

If I know that it's just fried nerve endings it'll probably help push through the crap reactions until my body gets used to it again.

[joelhall]

That's exactly what it sounds like to be honest. There's various other things of course - weightlifter's cephalgia, drops in blood sugar, over-reaching, adrenal response, etc - all common maladies. I once had the WL cephalgia and WOW! Did that hurt! Thought I had a burst aneurysm is was so painful.

But yeah, it doesn't really sound like anything worrying. Just train smart and don't be a hero.

[xvolatileheart]

I used to work out regularly but since I started having health anxiety/panic attacks, I've basically stopped exercising. I hate when my heart rate goes up and I hate the "high" you get afterwards. It makes me feel dizzy and not all there which I hate. It makes me feel like I'm going to pass out and that is one of my biggest fears.

I would definitely ask your doctor about it, but it could be anxiety related. Your body could be overcompensating from the release of adrenaline and endorphins. I agree with others that you should do light exercise, drink plenty of water, eat a light snack an hour before and another snack/meal after working out. Also be sure to warm up and cool down after exercise.