AmyB
22-05-08, 13:54
Hi, I'm a 29 year old mother of 3 who has been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks on and off for the past 12 years.
The anxiety started when i was 17 when i was experiancing dizzy spells and a strange pressure behind my eyes. My GP diagnosed Labarynthitis and that it would eventually clear up. Things got worse and i was sure i was either suffering from a brain tumour or that the esctasy tablet i had taken in the past was had caused brain damage. I felt like i was in a dream and the world seemed strange like i was on drugs. I was prescribed Seroxat and eventually the anxiety passed.
Since then i have suffered two more bouts of anxiety in 1998 and 2001 with the same symptoms, pressure behind eyes, fear of brain tumours and that i was going mad along with the common symptoms of anxiety tingling hands,pounding heart, yawning, nausea etc and again luckely i came through it.
This time the anxiety is worse than ever, it started in November last year with dizziness and face pressure again. I was refered to an ENT consultant to cheak my sinuses but he could find nothing wrong so he thought it best to do a routine MRI to make sure it was nothing sinister. This is when the panic attacks started. The day the appointment letter arrived i experianced the worse panic attack of my life!! I was shaking like a leaf and was absoluely petrified that my life was ending and that the MRI scan would show a tumour. The night of this huge panic attack was the same night i was started on Citalopram so i'm not sure if this was related.
I didn't come out of the panic attack for over a week and was diagnosed as being in a 'constant anxious state'. I lost half a stone as i just kept vomiting and could barely get out of bed, i just felt safer under the quilt breathing into a paper bag to try and stop the panicy feelings.
I only had to wait a fortnight for the MRI scan which was good as i'd made two trips to A&E in that time!
The result was all clear no tumours or anything life threatening. Just a small white area called 'unidentified bright area' which i was told not to worry about as it was nothing but typical me i searched the internet and found all sorts of illnesses that this 'UBA' could be a sign of!!
I've managed to lead a fairly normal life since January with the help of Dosulepin but unfortunatly the anxiety symptoms keep reappearing. I'm now suffering from strange flashing lights in the corner of my vision, depersonalisation and derealisation(which is really scarey) shaking etc etc.
I think i've always been a anxious person ever since i was a child. I remember reading my mums medical books and thinking i had every disease in them!!
But i also wonder if it's my body's way of coping with stress.
Three years ago in April 2005 i lost my first born daughter and my only child at the time to Meningitis, she was only 19 months old.:weep:
I now have two more children a very busy life as they are only 3 and 18 months!!
I can't pinpoint what is causing this anxiety but i'm sure it's a combination of being a born worryer and the stress that the last three years have brought.
I'm so glad i've found this site as every story and every symptom i have read about i can really relate too and it makes me realise i'm not alone. x
The anxiety started when i was 17 when i was experiancing dizzy spells and a strange pressure behind my eyes. My GP diagnosed Labarynthitis and that it would eventually clear up. Things got worse and i was sure i was either suffering from a brain tumour or that the esctasy tablet i had taken in the past was had caused brain damage. I felt like i was in a dream and the world seemed strange like i was on drugs. I was prescribed Seroxat and eventually the anxiety passed.
Since then i have suffered two more bouts of anxiety in 1998 and 2001 with the same symptoms, pressure behind eyes, fear of brain tumours and that i was going mad along with the common symptoms of anxiety tingling hands,pounding heart, yawning, nausea etc and again luckely i came through it.
This time the anxiety is worse than ever, it started in November last year with dizziness and face pressure again. I was refered to an ENT consultant to cheak my sinuses but he could find nothing wrong so he thought it best to do a routine MRI to make sure it was nothing sinister. This is when the panic attacks started. The day the appointment letter arrived i experianced the worse panic attack of my life!! I was shaking like a leaf and was absoluely petrified that my life was ending and that the MRI scan would show a tumour. The night of this huge panic attack was the same night i was started on Citalopram so i'm not sure if this was related.
I didn't come out of the panic attack for over a week and was diagnosed as being in a 'constant anxious state'. I lost half a stone as i just kept vomiting and could barely get out of bed, i just felt safer under the quilt breathing into a paper bag to try and stop the panicy feelings.
I only had to wait a fortnight for the MRI scan which was good as i'd made two trips to A&E in that time!
The result was all clear no tumours or anything life threatening. Just a small white area called 'unidentified bright area' which i was told not to worry about as it was nothing but typical me i searched the internet and found all sorts of illnesses that this 'UBA' could be a sign of!!
I've managed to lead a fairly normal life since January with the help of Dosulepin but unfortunatly the anxiety symptoms keep reappearing. I'm now suffering from strange flashing lights in the corner of my vision, depersonalisation and derealisation(which is really scarey) shaking etc etc.
I think i've always been a anxious person ever since i was a child. I remember reading my mums medical books and thinking i had every disease in them!!
But i also wonder if it's my body's way of coping with stress.
Three years ago in April 2005 i lost my first born daughter and my only child at the time to Meningitis, she was only 19 months old.:weep:
I now have two more children a very busy life as they are only 3 and 18 months!!
I can't pinpoint what is causing this anxiety but i'm sure it's a combination of being a born worryer and the stress that the last three years have brought.
I'm so glad i've found this site as every story and every symptom i have read about i can really relate too and it makes me realise i'm not alone. x