Need help!

[IckleLottie123]

Hi guys, I need help or advise, does anyone else feel like I do? I'm convinced I have a brain tumor or aneurysm, and if it's not that I feel like I'm just going to drop dead from a heart attack! Despite the doctors telling me I'm fine, I don't feel it! I'm tired all the time, I feel spaced out like I'm just going to fade out or my hearts going to stop, even though I have no family history of heart problems, brain tumours etc I'm convinced it's going to happen to me! I've had 3 ECG's that were all fine, blood sugar levels are fine so is my blood pressure, but I feel far from fine! It's really getting me down, I'm on Citalopram, half a tablet in the mornings but don't really feel they are helping! I've had locked jaw since last year and have been told I have tension headaches, but I always think it's worse than that! I have trouble sleeping because I wake up after just falling asleep feeling like I can't breathe, I jump out of bed so fast and feel like this is it! And whenever my dog barks I think it's going to shock me into a heart attack, stupid I know! I'm stressed because of it and I read that stress can cause heart attacks which makes me worry more! I just want to enjoy my life, I constantly get sharp pains in my neck, arms, ribs, breasts you name it and I think OMG this is it! I can't go on like this, I don't know what to do anymore, help?! Someone, anyone, please! Does anyone else feel like this? Or is it just me? Am I dying?! I can't cope it's too much.. :weep:

[Maple]

As cliché as it might sound, I know what you're going through.

I'm going through an especially intense and long lasting bout of heart attack worries, accompanied by chest pains and tightness, arm pain, sudden spells of insane dizziness, you name it. If for a minute I can convince myself that my heart is in fact fine, I immediately get some other symptom. My moles start itching, my head hurts and I get trouble swallowing. No rest, no matter what.

I've been through similar periods before, several times over the past 15 years. This time seems worse than the previous ones to me, but that judgement call is dificult to make when you're in the middle of the anxiety storm.

I know how insanely frightening, exhausting, and stressful it is to be stuck in this awful, afwul spiral of alarming physical symptoms, sensations, utter panic and fear for one's life. I know how endlessly overwhelming it feels to be all alone in your painstricken, panicking body, when it feels like something awful is lurking around inside, just waiting for the perfect oppurtunity to kill you. How it can make you feel like your mind and body has turned on you and betrayed you to make your life so miserable for no apparent reason.

I know what you're going through, because I've been there myself. I'm there still on a daily basis, even though the most intense panic and anxiety attacks seem to have calmed down a bit lately.

What I've finally come to realize is how crucial it is to actually take the step and seek help for the anxiety itself. I know how health anxiety makes you refuse to accept that your body isn't dying and what a waste it feels like to spend time and money examining your mind instead. But after many years with frequent panic and anxiety and only seeking help for my physical symptoms, I started seeing a CBT therapist anyway. I've only been there a couple of times and I can't tell how much good it's going to do, but it has given me a lot to think about already. And it has made me realize that even though I've been living with this afwul anxiety for many years, I still don't actually know all the inner mechanics of how it really works.

It's easy to convince oneself that you know the difference between physical and psychological sensations, between anxiety and pain, but the relationship between these things is way more complex and harder to really understand than most people realize. Especially when you're exhausted from anxiety.

You may have to accept the fact that you will need professional help from a psychotherapist in order to get better. There are things you can not resolve on your own. There are actual limits to how well you can observe the relationship between your feelings, thoughts and physical sensations from within yourself.

What I'm trying to say is this:

You're not alone. Far from it.

You're not crazy.

You're not dying.

Seek help from a psychotherapist. It may not feel like it, but it has the best chances of anything to help you get better with time.

[IckleLottie123]

Ahh this is so reassuring to know I'm not the only one, I think I will seek some professional help because it's just taking over my life now, I'm only 18 might I add, 19 this year. I want to enjoy my life and banish this awful time of anxiety, panic attacks, stress! Thank you so much for the reply! Just what I needed xx :hugs:

[mnaha]

If you don't trust the doctors why go to them.. yes professional help is on the horizon if you want to relax and have help fixing yourself.

[Beckie4567]

Hope ha ok ickle ignore some people on here x