GrafGrau
24-10-07, 16:28
I was loosely diagnosed with anxiety with a potential to develop OCD early in June this year. There is lots of evidence and the blessed hindsight which show my susceptibility to Obssession over the last few years.
I just woke up one day having overwhelming thoughts that there was something wrong with my heart, at bad times that I was 2 breaths away from that heart attack which never comes. Being only 26 made it worse, "I am too young for heart problems" I would be oft heard saying.
I tried to struggle through the first week and eventually went to A&E to get checked out where anxiety/OCD was first raised. I struggled through a gruelling week of management training, which is bad enough when you are well! I was seen by Occ Health and was signed up to a see a psychologist. As time went by it stabilised a little, mainly due to my ingrained belief in the system.
I was seen by the therapist and all was well for a week to the point of trying to "force" symptoms to no avail so I gave up. However come the weekend after I was watching Frasier and it was an episode where his brother has to be rushed into surgery for heart problems after feeling a pain in his tooth. This seriously knocked me back to square one and I was in an unhappy medium between being able to function and yet still just trying to get through the day.
In early July I went to my GP and he prescribed that holiest of holy ambrosia Citalopram. At first it seemed like I was cursed. You read in the notes, 1/20 folk will get such and such side effect and 1/100 this and 1/1000 something worse, oh and if you experience something else go see a doctor now!! I am the one in several million who happened to have at least one side effect from each of them even to the point of having one of the "seek medical help now". Must admit I was feeling too crap to read it and did not know till I was better that I should have done. anyhoo, after about 4 weeks, no symptoms, even the myalgea went, which for someone with a heart related anxiety I can only say "Halleluiah" about:yesyes: .
With the therapy and drugs I was slowly heading towards a slightly better state, still uncomfortable but vaguely manageable. Then end of August at work a big crisis unrelated to me was discovered. I made it my purpose to be the solution. After a month of serious hard work, the problem was fixed, I was flavour of the month and my anxiety issues were pretty much gone.
I still have times when I get anxious, but I can move past them now. I have to go to bed with sound in my ear as this seems to cancel out any dodgy thoughts and thus I get some sleep. Occasionally I am waking up at 3 or 4am and then I am prone to the beginning of a panic attack, but I have learned strategies of dealing with those.
Actually my only big "concern" is that although I don't feel anxious all that often I still get the thoughts all the time. Given my check ups show my health is fine, I am beggining to google the word psychosis:wacko:
I just woke up one day having overwhelming thoughts that there was something wrong with my heart, at bad times that I was 2 breaths away from that heart attack which never comes. Being only 26 made it worse, "I am too young for heart problems" I would be oft heard saying.
I tried to struggle through the first week and eventually went to A&E to get checked out where anxiety/OCD was first raised. I struggled through a gruelling week of management training, which is bad enough when you are well! I was seen by Occ Health and was signed up to a see a psychologist. As time went by it stabilised a little, mainly due to my ingrained belief in the system.
I was seen by the therapist and all was well for a week to the point of trying to "force" symptoms to no avail so I gave up. However come the weekend after I was watching Frasier and it was an episode where his brother has to be rushed into surgery for heart problems after feeling a pain in his tooth. This seriously knocked me back to square one and I was in an unhappy medium between being able to function and yet still just trying to get through the day.
In early July I went to my GP and he prescribed that holiest of holy ambrosia Citalopram. At first it seemed like I was cursed. You read in the notes, 1/20 folk will get such and such side effect and 1/100 this and 1/1000 something worse, oh and if you experience something else go see a doctor now!! I am the one in several million who happened to have at least one side effect from each of them even to the point of having one of the "seek medical help now". Must admit I was feeling too crap to read it and did not know till I was better that I should have done. anyhoo, after about 4 weeks, no symptoms, even the myalgea went, which for someone with a heart related anxiety I can only say "Halleluiah" about:yesyes: .
With the therapy and drugs I was slowly heading towards a slightly better state, still uncomfortable but vaguely manageable. Then end of August at work a big crisis unrelated to me was discovered. I made it my purpose to be the solution. After a month of serious hard work, the problem was fixed, I was flavour of the month and my anxiety issues were pretty much gone.
I still have times when I get anxious, but I can move past them now. I have to go to bed with sound in my ear as this seems to cancel out any dodgy thoughts and thus I get some sleep. Occasionally I am waking up at 3 or 4am and then I am prone to the beginning of a panic attack, but I have learned strategies of dealing with those.
Actually my only big "concern" is that although I don't feel anxious all that often I still get the thoughts all the time. Given my check ups show my health is fine, I am beggining to google the word psychosis:wacko: