Feekings of dread daily

[Meewah]

Hello

Is there no end to thee feelings of dread? In between these feelings are little aches and pains in my chest,back,head etc...which bring them back again. Last night I had a pain in my chest which I knew was muscular and was on top of my rib cage i.e. not around my heart.. Even though i knew this my mind, in the darkness of night, dwelled with re-enacting a heart attack scenario. I found myself drifting in and out of sleep and dreaming about feeling this pain and ringing 999 and talking to the ambulance service who put the phone down on me when i told them i suffer from PA's. Now that I am awake earlier than usual I cant get the fact that I may have a Heart attack any moment now. I can feel myself scanning my chest for any aches and pains and to make things worse it effects my breathing which is shallow and in my chest unless i catch it.

Does anyone else get dailiy feeling of dread and how do you cope?

Mee

[helen_1]

yes i am going through it now i just came out of hospital because of a headache and the dread i am going through now is awful i fear i am going to have a stroke or bleed in my head it doesnt help that i have to wait till the new year for a mri scan but i know what your going through the dread i am having is soo intense i actually feel it is going to happen i hope you feel better soon xx

[playman44]

i know exactly what you mean pains here and there that keep your anxiety high i am like this all the time i dread that i am going to have a heart attack at any moment the anxiety affects your breathing and that will make you more anxiouse dont worry to much it will pass

[Phil H]

Meewah...your simple cure is a blood pressure moniter..THAT will tell you wether you are having or about to have a heart attack :) when you see its normal or even raised it will put your mind at ease...if you see 200 over 130 you are having a heart attack except you wont be checking blood pressure if it was genuine...hence why it will make your life far easier.

[Meewah]

Meewah...your simple cure is a blood pressure moniter..THAT will tell you wether you are having or about to have a heart attack :) when you see its normal or even raised it will put your mind at ease...if you see 200 over 130 you are having a heart attack except you wont be checking blood pressure if it was genuine...hence why it will make your life far easier.

Wow Phil

The idea of taking my own BP is scary. I hate having my BP taken at the docs so to obsess at home would lead me to Hell. I feel I am trying to forget about anxiety not remind myself each day.

Too much information. If my BP was high then I would panic and make my BP worse.

Sorry not for me.

I know this sounds wierd but if I am going to have a heart attack then I will. It is the fear that is worse than the actual. I feel post heart attack I would fear the next or other things going wrong. Soes that make sense? I think I raised it in a previous post, anxiety is not what has happened but what might happen, the unknown.

Mee

Mee

[bel25]

I know exactly how you feel and i firstly want to reassure you that even though it may feel like it, you are not having a heart attack. When mine first started i didn't eat or sleep because my heart was pounding so bad but of course with lack of sleep and energy you feel weaker and more light headed and makes you more convinced something is wrong with you when it's anxiety. I pulled myself out of it, forced myself to eat which (over a week or so) makes you feel better. I guess the turning point for me was when i went to see a therapist (took a few months to get seen) and the people i live with were on holiday so stayed with family friends but when i saw the therapist she said i needed to break the cycle (she also gave me some information on panic attacks and breathing techniques) so i just went home and stayed on my own and i was fine. So if you think this may help, try therapy.
The thing i really recommend is going to the gym- it really helped me. It releases endorphins which give off positive energy. Don't become too obsessed with this but just going once a week may help, try it if you have time to go and think it may work. Also, there's a breathing technique that worked for me:
1) lie down and place both hands on your stomach
2) feel your stomach rise up and down, keep concentrating on this and think really hard about something positive/happy
3) by this time you should have transfered your breathing to the lower part of your lungs (where we should be breathing from when our heart beats very fast) and you should feel calmer.
4) usually takes me 10-15 mins for this to work but can take longer.
Hope this helps! :)
xxx

[BNCfan]

Meewah, wish I could offer some helpful advice. All I can do is assure you that I know exactly what it's like to live with constant dread, terror and fear of dying. It's nausea and stomach problems (eg IBS) which cause my acute anxiety attacks, as I said in another post. After 55 years I could write a book about anxiety symptoms - I've experienced them all at one time or another and I've challenged them until I'm exhausted. I know a lot of sufferers find these breathing exercises helpful, but the more aware I become of my breathing the worse it gets and I challenge anyone to 'relax' when they are in a constant state of believing they are about to die. I can't even sit down, eat or sleep for 48 hours or more at a time and when I do eventually sleep it's only for a couple of hours, then I'm woken up by the physical symptoms of chronic anxiety and I'm back on Planet Panic - as I call it - again. How long have you been suffering from anxiety? Do you know what triggered it in the first place? I think that makes a lot of difference when it comes to our coping mechanisms. All I can do is offer a virtual hug and hope you get some relief over Christmas. :bighug1:

[Phil H]

Meewah you really cant tell me anything about real panic been there still am......beleive me when you feel you are about to die a bp machine really puts the mind at rest...if it doesnt then there is no help for you IMHO..the BP machine is reality.