Minkar
17-02-14, 22:27
Hi all. I've visited this site and gained support and reassurance from it for many years but this is the first time I've posted.
I wondered if anyone has had any luck with either breathing pattern retraining or trigger point therapy (or both). I'd be really interested to hear what has worked.
If it helps, some context:
I am 28. I've been overly anxious about my health since my late teens and became obsessively worried about illnesses when I was about 21. Since then, I've had peaks and troughs and tend to focus more on health concerns when other stressors are present in my life. When I started work - a very stressful graduate scheme in the City - I began to get dizzy. Obviously I completely freaked out! It has come and gone since but, at the moment, I get dizzy after computer work every day. Over the years the worrying and anxiety escalated and I started having horrible episodes where I felt like I was having some kind of stroke or brain haemorrhage or fit or just like I was going crazy. I would even wake up in the night with no idea who I was and my heart racing.
I went to many doctors. All of them were reluctant to tell me explicitly that I had anxiety issues (a different topic but I am astonished at how much medical professionals have contributed to my perception that anxiety is something to be ashamed of!!). Bizarrely I didn't realise myself so I went on wild goose chase after wild goose chase for answers about what was wrong with me. I genuinely thought I was dying every day! I had scans and needles and sticky pads and any other medical test you can think of. I spent so much money trying to find something to make me feel better but none of it worked. I put my girlfriend through hell and made her take me to A&E more times than it bears thinking about!
Eventually, I asked my GP if I could be referred for CBT. I think I thought it would help me come to terms with living with whatever unnamed physical illness I had but I wasn't ready to work on the assumption that it was anxiety driving my body mad. I just couldn't believe I was not physically ill. After a really bad year I finally "gave in" (something I now see is ridiculous) and started taking Citalopram. This helped a lot. My panic attacks practically disappeared and it gave me enough head space to make some changes. I started a new job, which I love and I cut down on unhealthy stuff like binge drinking (well... Mostly!). Mny of my symptoms went completely and I felt like I was me again. Everything was going well until October 2013 when the anxiety attacks came back with a vengeance. They were whose than before: hot and cold feeling, a sudden flushing sensation through my body as though I was having some kind of aneurysm, a weird taste of metal in my mouth that doesn't help the aneurysm thoughts! Now I get them most days at work... In meetings, when I am presenting, lunch and it's really unbearable. The dizziness is awful and I spend most of my time obsession about various health conditions. I don't think my colleagues know but they definitely notice I come over all weird and distant and it's really making me feel so isolated.
I know I hyperventilate chronically (and think I have done this since I was a kid as I was once taken to A&E with "air hunger" as child). I also have a lot of muscle tension in my neck and upper back and it makes my face ache.
Can anyone relate and does anyone have some advice on how I can get back on track? As I mentioned earlier, I am specifically investigating trigger point therapy (myofascial release?) and breathing pattern retraining but neither areas showing quick results. I am happy to work hard and go for long term gain but I don't want to chuck more money at another dead end.
Thanks so much. Not just now but for all the support you've given this silent observer over the years.
I wondered if anyone has had any luck with either breathing pattern retraining or trigger point therapy (or both). I'd be really interested to hear what has worked.
If it helps, some context:
I am 28. I've been overly anxious about my health since my late teens and became obsessively worried about illnesses when I was about 21. Since then, I've had peaks and troughs and tend to focus more on health concerns when other stressors are present in my life. When I started work - a very stressful graduate scheme in the City - I began to get dizzy. Obviously I completely freaked out! It has come and gone since but, at the moment, I get dizzy after computer work every day. Over the years the worrying and anxiety escalated and I started having horrible episodes where I felt like I was having some kind of stroke or brain haemorrhage or fit or just like I was going crazy. I would even wake up in the night with no idea who I was and my heart racing.
I went to many doctors. All of them were reluctant to tell me explicitly that I had anxiety issues (a different topic but I am astonished at how much medical professionals have contributed to my perception that anxiety is something to be ashamed of!!). Bizarrely I didn't realise myself so I went on wild goose chase after wild goose chase for answers about what was wrong with me. I genuinely thought I was dying every day! I had scans and needles and sticky pads and any other medical test you can think of. I spent so much money trying to find something to make me feel better but none of it worked. I put my girlfriend through hell and made her take me to A&E more times than it bears thinking about!
Eventually, I asked my GP if I could be referred for CBT. I think I thought it would help me come to terms with living with whatever unnamed physical illness I had but I wasn't ready to work on the assumption that it was anxiety driving my body mad. I just couldn't believe I was not physically ill. After a really bad year I finally "gave in" (something I now see is ridiculous) and started taking Citalopram. This helped a lot. My panic attacks practically disappeared and it gave me enough head space to make some changes. I started a new job, which I love and I cut down on unhealthy stuff like binge drinking (well... Mostly!). Mny of my symptoms went completely and I felt like I was me again. Everything was going well until October 2013 when the anxiety attacks came back with a vengeance. They were whose than before: hot and cold feeling, a sudden flushing sensation through my body as though I was having some kind of aneurysm, a weird taste of metal in my mouth that doesn't help the aneurysm thoughts! Now I get them most days at work... In meetings, when I am presenting, lunch and it's really unbearable. The dizziness is awful and I spend most of my time obsession about various health conditions. I don't think my colleagues know but they definitely notice I come over all weird and distant and it's really making me feel so isolated.
I know I hyperventilate chronically (and think I have done this since I was a kid as I was once taken to A&E with "air hunger" as child). I also have a lot of muscle tension in my neck and upper back and it makes my face ache.
Can anyone relate and does anyone have some advice on how I can get back on track? As I mentioned earlier, I am specifically investigating trigger point therapy (myofascial release?) and breathing pattern retraining but neither areas showing quick results. I am happy to work hard and go for long term gain but I don't want to chuck more money at another dead end.
Thanks so much. Not just now but for all the support you've given this silent observer over the years.