love exercising but scared of it

[jordan89]

I have been body building and fitness training for 6 years now. I'm 25.

Over the summer I took a preworkout drink that caused me to have a full blown panic attack at the gym. They called an ambulance and everything.
Ever since I haven't been the same.

The doctor and cardiologist said I was fine.

I think i'm now afraid i'm going to collapse when excercising but I still go because i'm addicted

Every day at the gym I palps and mini attacks.
the nice thing is that I go at my own pace and take breaks as needed.

Last night I played my first hockey game back from my last panic attack and had a panic attack in the 3rd period so I sat out.
this is my 2nd panic attack and I was terrified I was dying.

The thing is I walked into the rink thinking "i hope i don't have an attack"
and my heart raced as soon as I got on the ice.

Does anyone take meds before excercise? I'm thinking i'm going to need meds before playing intense high adrenaline sports like hockey.i love the game just not the attacks. I couldn't sleep all night cause of all the adrenaline in my body.

[Serenity1990]

I'm actually in the same boat. I think the only way to get through it is to face your fears. :)

[moonspinner]

The thing about exercise is that it causes sweating, faster breathing, heightened senses, increased heart-rate, muscle fatigue etc which are exactly the symptoms I get when I have a panic attack. This makes me fear exercise as I can't tell the difference between a normal reaction to physical activity and a panic attack...which makes me panic. Ugh.

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you read about Panic Disorder it tells us that if you experience a panic attack in a certain scenario, the mind can recall it when you enter it again.

It sounds like you drank a supplement that was a bit too strong for you and because of the traumatic event, you are now recalling it each time.

Exposure doesn't seem possible for this as its still happening even though you do longer activities which should provide a level of habituation.

So, maybe its more a matter of changing your thinking as you now have anticipatory anxiety? Have you seen the free CBT course on here? CBT is aimed at things like this so its worth a try.

I would be careful with supplements as well because now you have become sensitised you could start linking sensations from them to panic & anxiety symptoms. So, be careful with that.

I can understand it because when I was working out 6 months into when my GAD had started due to my work, I took a combination of supplements pre-workout and it gave me a big adrenaline rush and I panicked. Then the GAD kicked in and linked it up and now I'm in the same boat as you & Serenity, exercise is an anxiety event. I've found exposure helps a fair it in my case and I'm not getting the panicking thesedays, its more the after effects that I struggle with as my anxiety has latched onto the acheing and muscle soreness.