The vicious circle

[izzybizzy]

So today I woke up feeling ok and I don't know what brought it on, it could be because I've got pmt but I started getting my light headed spells again, I tried to to just ignore it, and get on with getting my daughter to school, I went to the school and was okish, then I met up with a friend in the shops and was fine, until we I left my friend to walk home, I felt a mild headache ever so mild though and started thinking of all the things it could be, I rushed to get home as I felt scared of fainting in the street, I got home and tried to calm down had one of my Bach Remedy pastilles but still had a full blown panic attack, I'm out of the worst of it but my chest feels a bit like it's having palpitations and feels a bit weird, I know it's probably from the PA but I can't help worrying that the anxiety attack is doing damage to my heart, a week ago I read an article linking anxiety heart problems so this had made me worse.

Feeling a bit better just typing this out, but so upset too as I haven't had a full blown PA for a bit, I think the trigger may have been noticing that my blood shot eye was better, I seem to replace one worry with another just automatically, it's like my subconscious is saying "Well that's all better now, here's the next thing you need to think is killing you"

Feeling very lonely today.

---------- Post added at 10:40 ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 ----------

I've calmed down a lot now, and thinking over it, I'm ok and I will be ok, the peak of the PA seems to have made the dizziness go away, however that works, or it could be because I ate a banana who knows, just glad it's calmed down

[MyNameIsTerry]

I don't have HA but I know what you mean about the constant need for an anxiety symptom. I've heard others say (and I have had this) that when they feel a brief period of feeling ok, they start questioning it wondering whats wrong. I think after a certain amount of time suffering from an anxiety disorder your belief changes so that it becomes the new normal. A good day can feel weird, abnormal, you start questioning it and why you feel like that and invite the anxiety back again.

You get more of those periods as you recovery and you learn to accept them as better days but at first it is a bit alien. Its known as Schema Bias. Our Schemas (beliefs) change to incorporate the anxiety disorder eg wake up and feel anxious because you always seem to and it becomes a pattern that becomes a belief eventually. Its not easy to change but as you recover and become more positive & confident, it becomes easier to see outside of the tunnel vision.

Your chest can feel weird and you have to remember that a PA is very short but the fight or flight response creates a surge of adrenaline. The amount created is higher than the PA uses and this causes all the residual anxiety we experience afterwards. Adrenaline is not only produced in the one place we think of, small quantities are in other organs too so there is just too much of the stuff and until the body metabolises it, it will make you feel anxious. Exercise and deep breathing is the way to reduce it because it causes the body to metabolise it for other needs.

Bananas are pretty high in tryptophan which can help.

The article you mentioned, there are lots of these. I saw one online when I was reading some research and it was an article discussing research about high levels of depression in the homeless. Its pretty obvious really isn't it? We don't really need to spend millions to confirm that people living on the streets have a crappy life that makes them depressed. At most, it only confirms the numbers.

Then there was another one about the homeless being more likely to get X condition. I won't mention it but it was basically what anyone with a poor lifestyle is also more likely to get. I wonder if the researchers uncovered things like excessive alcohol, substance misuse, physically stresses due to sleeping rough and poor diet? Again, I think we all know its very likely to get certain things if you have a poor lifestyle, we've been hearing it for many years off the mainstream research.

Can anxiety lead to heart problems? Well haven't they been saying we need to cut down on stress for the same reasons? Its not that anxiety leads to it, its that it is a possibility only in the same way that eating too much sugar can lead to diabetes. You cut down, you decrease any risk so by recovering you remove the stress elements.

PA's are not going to damage your heart, they are normal bodily function so if they could damage your heart it would mean we have a massive flaw in our evolution that no one knows about.

I hope that doesn't cause you anxiety, if it does please tell me and I will delete it out of my post, but I want you to understand that many of the studies are not based on direct links but %'s in a demographic and only the detail is worth reading because it often then comes up with various factors that make sense like X% of people were also obese, were alcoholics or substance misusers or had additional physical problems that were already putting strain on their heart, etc.

These sorts of articles are a massive problem from reading the threads on here and its only common sense that you need to get to a point where you can read them but it may depend on what stage you are in your recovery.

If you come across them, try to rationalise it by discrediting it. In the article, how many of those anxiety sufferers had additional physical issues, how many were smokers & how heavy, what about the alcohol & substance misuse factors, the list goes on.

Not even all research is accepted. Many times they are discredited in peer reviews.

[Mindknot]

What he said ^

I really appreciate your posts MNIT, they appeal to my need for a big ol' blanket of logic to smother my anxiety dragon :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thanks Mindknot, I'm a bit wary of posting on here to be honest as I don't always know whether giving examples like this is going to appeal to people or make them then start worrying about the example itself.