ChildOfTheKing
09-05-17, 18:44
Hey all,
Having a setback! For months I've been dealing with general anxiety that has a health anxiety lean. My symptoms are breathlessness, light-headed/dizziness, racing heart, nausea, headaches, random pains & twitching, etc and they can last throughout the day mostly breathless and lightheaded. I've had so many tests earlier this year like ECG, echocardiogram, chest xrays, blood tests, head MRI/CT, spirometry, etc. In the end it's all been put down to anxiety.
After months of distress I was finally getting the breathless anxiety under control and not thinking about my breathing all day (would come on and off) and was mostly dealing with lightheaded feeling throughout the day. However about two weeks ago I was at the doctor's to follow up on blood tests (I was slightly anemic a few months ago but now no longer anemic, as shown by recent results) and when the nurse was taking vitals and put on the pulse oximeter on my (freezing) hand, it initially showed 86% and I got worried right away but the nurse said "don't worry, it's because I just put it on and your hands is cold, wait and it'll get it right." Sure enough it did climb up to a normal 96 and at that point she took it off.
Logically she's right and those readings can be erratic depend on a lot of things like movement and how cold the hand is, and my hands were freezing and I just happened to move my hand to get it comfortable when she put it on. And if my oxygen was truly low I'd have probably been gasping before or something. But for my anxious mind that sent me into a panic about my breathing.
I've also been having a stressful couple of weeks between job interviews and working interviews and other personal things. I did notice that during my working interview I wouldn't really think about anything when I was so focused on a task, and that's why I want to get busy again so badly. So I'm waiting on the call to see if I got the job or not and am anxious on that front.
My anxiety is hitting pretty badly and the most distressing part is the breathlessness I feel, lightheadedness is second I would say. It stays with me throughout the day and my chest/stomach will feel tight. Earlier this morning I walked up the stairs and plopped onto my bed and moments later I began to breathe heavily and fast like hyperventilating almost, and that almost sent me into a panic attack I do exercise still and usually exercise about an hour, but even the last couple of times I'll feel tight and anxious while exercising about halfway through and my mind races. I'm back to trying to rationalize that nothing is wrong with my heart and lungs if I can exercise without barreling over, and I've had the tests done. I'm at the gym on the treadmill right now trying to stay calm and ignore this.
I'm very mad at myself for getting this way and frustrated that I've set back after making some progress. And I've started my period on top of that so feel extra crummy.
Having a setback! For months I've been dealing with general anxiety that has a health anxiety lean. My symptoms are breathlessness, light-headed/dizziness, racing heart, nausea, headaches, random pains & twitching, etc and they can last throughout the day mostly breathless and lightheaded. I've had so many tests earlier this year like ECG, echocardiogram, chest xrays, blood tests, head MRI/CT, spirometry, etc. In the end it's all been put down to anxiety.
After months of distress I was finally getting the breathless anxiety under control and not thinking about my breathing all day (would come on and off) and was mostly dealing with lightheaded feeling throughout the day. However about two weeks ago I was at the doctor's to follow up on blood tests (I was slightly anemic a few months ago but now no longer anemic, as shown by recent results) and when the nurse was taking vitals and put on the pulse oximeter on my (freezing) hand, it initially showed 86% and I got worried right away but the nurse said "don't worry, it's because I just put it on and your hands is cold, wait and it'll get it right." Sure enough it did climb up to a normal 96 and at that point she took it off.
Logically she's right and those readings can be erratic depend on a lot of things like movement and how cold the hand is, and my hands were freezing and I just happened to move my hand to get it comfortable when she put it on. And if my oxygen was truly low I'd have probably been gasping before or something. But for my anxious mind that sent me into a panic about my breathing.
I've also been having a stressful couple of weeks between job interviews and working interviews and other personal things. I did notice that during my working interview I wouldn't really think about anything when I was so focused on a task, and that's why I want to get busy again so badly. So I'm waiting on the call to see if I got the job or not and am anxious on that front.
My anxiety is hitting pretty badly and the most distressing part is the breathlessness I feel, lightheadedness is second I would say. It stays with me throughout the day and my chest/stomach will feel tight. Earlier this morning I walked up the stairs and plopped onto my bed and moments later I began to breathe heavily and fast like hyperventilating almost, and that almost sent me into a panic attack I do exercise still and usually exercise about an hour, but even the last couple of times I'll feel tight and anxious while exercising about halfway through and my mind races. I'm back to trying to rationalize that nothing is wrong with my heart and lungs if I can exercise without barreling over, and I've had the tests done. I'm at the gym on the treadmill right now trying to stay calm and ignore this.
I'm very mad at myself for getting this way and frustrated that I've set back after making some progress. And I've started my period on top of that so feel extra crummy.