Symptoms...is it anxiety?

[Davaadtron]

*this post will be edited*

I tried to post a topic about my symptoms a few minutes ago and I don't see it...so I'm going to try again. I'll edit this if it works.

Basically my most distressing symptoms have to do with vision. Here is what I am currently experiencing:

-When looking at the sky or monochrome surfaces I see tons of little "sparkles" or "dots." This happens all the time and has been REALLY freaking me out.
-When I'm outside everything looks...bizarre and just weird. This has also been really terrifying.
-Also when I am outside everything looks REALLY bright.
-My eyes seem to be sensitive to light; like when I look at a light or reflection even for a second I can see an afterimage of that light for a few seconds.
-My depth perception is also a bit...off.

(I have also had "classic" anxiety symptoms; worrying, heat flashes, shaking, twitching muscles, shaking, sexual dysfunction, among others, but none of these scare me as much as the vision problems. I probably don't notice these as much because I am so obsessed about the visual stuff.)

This vision stuff happens pretty much constantly, unless I am distracted.
I went to an opthamologist about this and he said my eyes are perfectly fine. I've also been to three seperate GPs both at college and home, and of course they all say I'm "fine." All blood tests come back normal.

[indigo]

Hi, I also suffer from all these symptoms with vision!!! I have worried about my eyes since I was a teenager and had my first migraine that effected my sight. Last year the worries about my eyes put me to bed for at least a week I counldn't open my curtains because I was scared of looking at the sky because of all the sparkles. The more I looked at the sky the bigger and brighter the sparkles!!! I also have the after image thing. I wouldn't go to the opticians because I was scared of what they might say!!!!!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I plucked up the courage to go to the opticians and guess what they said my eyes were healthy and vision was fine!!!! I have worried and worried going over and over what they were going to say to me and it was all fine. I was so happy!!!!

I still get all the symptoms but manage to ignore them now!!! I mention these sparkles to my children aged 9 and 7 and they said they get them too my son even says that his are green and he likes them lol!!!!!!

I put it all down to anxiety and the more you pay attention to it the worse the symptoms!!!!!

Take care, hope this helps x
Anyw

[CONS]

When not having a major panic attack its possible to have minor ones. So adrenaline is slowly leaking into your body which leads to dizziness and also eyesight sensitivity and can also affect the ears making things seem louder than they are. Both or 'normal' reactions and as you have had both blood and eye tests i think you will find its just slow anx.

Try walking it off to burn the not needed adrenaline.

What you described happens to me also.

Eating breakfast cereals and a piece of fruit can definately help also.

Cons

[Davaadtron]

Yeah, I had three panic attacks (my first ever) three months ago, but I haven't had one since.

But I do have lower levels of anxiety allllll day. :/

(Also, I woke up this morning feeling panicky and looked at my eyes in the mirror; my pupils were HUGE!!! Maybe it is adrenaline causing this...)

[Davaadtron]

Actually, now that I think about it, my pupils seem to be larger than "normal" almost all the time.

http://www.suncoastretina.com/LightBox/glossaryImages/dilation.jpg
If you look at this picture of undilated vs dilated pupils...mine look like the one on the bottom alllll the time.

Does this sound like anxiety/adrenaline?? (Considering the eye doc said my eyes were perfect :p)

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

Please try and read EVERYTHING you can get your hands on about panic, anxiety, it helps you sooo much to understand it more.

Hunny, when the flight, fight response kicks in a lot of things happen to our body's, our senses pick up, hearing, touch, smell, sight and touch, not all of these can be noticeable, but when I was acute, I myself noticed that my hearing picked up at one point, I swear I could hear a pin drop, my sense of smell picked up at another time and ohhhhhhh boy, my sight picked up, I could at times be very sensitive to bright lights, so much so, I wore sunglasses AND YES, my pupils were larger, this happens to let more light in when in anxiety/panic mode. Allthough harmless can be very stressfull and scary if you don't know whats happening to you and we all know fear and stress can kick of MORE anxiety, so the visouse circal goes on, and on.

Mingrains can happe too, BUT, WITHOUT the headach, I myself have had blast or lots of dots appear in my visison, for me, this was mingrain BUT without the pain.

You say yourself that the vision stuff is with you most of the time, but not when you are distarcted, this sujest to me, its all anxiety related. It IS possible for an anxiety symptom when acute to be with you all the time, when you fear this symptom

You have had your eyes checked and all is fine, please understand that this is Mrs anxiety playing with you

You take care and be kind to yourself

LOVE JILL XXX

[Davaadtron]

Thanks everyone, your information is comforting. :)

Also, when I decrease my anxiety/adrenaline levels, do you think the derealization will start to go away?

Before I started having really bad anxiety and my first panic attacks three months ago I had never had these problems...seeing as they arose at the same time probably shows that anxiety is what caused them. Hopefully if I can get myself back to where I was psychologically, the physical symptoms should back off as well??

At least I hope so... :(

[CONS]

Derealization is as far as it goes with anx, the end of the line if you will. Yes it will pass and as for your eye's maybe a GP could shine a light into them and test them that way.

Have a little read of what i wrote here:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42149

Take care :)

[Davaadtron]

Derealization is as far as it goes with anx, the end of the line if you will. Yes it will pass and as for your eye's maybe a GP could shine a light into them and test them that way.

Have a little read of what i wrote here:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42149

Take care :)

My GP did shine a light in them and he said they looked great :p
So it's definitely not my eyes.

And it's good to know if derealization is as far as it goes...that means I've already survived the worst! :)

[Davaadtron]

Oh, this may also be related to adrenaline; my hands always seem to be shaking. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but there's always at least a small amount of shaking. Even my mom noticed and commented on this a few weeks ago.

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

Here is what is written on the site about DP/DR

Depersonalization, Derealization, Feeling of unreality

What you feel:

Now for the Brain – the limbic system in the brain instigates this whole response and is responsible too for our emotions and behaviour One of the body symptoms that people hate most is the one when you feel all foggy, surreal, woozy or spacey. You may either feel that you are not real or that the earth is not real and you’re a time warp away. These are often the hardest symptoms to understand and its very common to deduce that you must be going mad which makes you panic even more. This is completely untrue and you are very safe. You feel like you are not a part of what is going on, or that you feel like you are in a dream state or ‘out of touch with things’. Also, things around you may seem like they are shimmering, foggy, hazy or too bright.
What causes this:

As we learned in Understanding, the body and mind are tightly integrated. What affects one affects the other. This symptom is another example of how an over stimulated nervous system can cause us to experience odd and impaired feelings, emotions and perceptions. Much like how a psychoactive or recreational drug can alter one’s mental state, an over active nervous system can affect certain body chemistries thereby producing mind altering effects. The feeling of unreality or disassociation is one type of altered mental state that high levels of stress biology can produce. It is not completely understood what goes here but it is generally thought that the limbic system in the brain decides there is too much going on and goes into a self protection mode and shuts out excess stimuli. As the adrenaline levels decrease and you calm down it clears. This can be several hours days or weeks.

You are right hun, the shaking is related to anxiety, either due to an over active nervous system or adrenalin, you can choose to try and get rid of the adrenalin yourself, eg, excersis, when I was acute, I run up and down the stair, the body tries to get rid of the adrenline itself, my shaking.

This too will go in time hun

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXX

[Davaadtron]

I also found this on Wikipedia:

" The world as perceived by the individual may feel like it is going through a dolly zoom effect."

That sounds just like what my "depth perception" problem looks like! Especially when I'm driving the car...ugh it's so weird :(

And thanks for the info on derealization Jill! :)

[Davaadtron]

Also, is it possible to feel "spaced out" most of the time with anxiety??

[CONS]

"spaced out" is pretty much derealisation, the body shuts down to protect itself. usually passes after a nap or at the very latest, the next day. This shouldnt be happening too much without the other anxy days anyway, if it is go see your GP.

Be easy :)

[Davaadtron]

It happens pretty much all the time, except for when I am distracted.

Then again, I still have anxiety every day too. For example, before I went to bed last night I stayed up worrying for about 2 hours. Then I woke up at 3:00AM and worried about stupid stuff until 5:00AM. Now today I've been worrying that I have "depersonalization/derealization disorder" but the fact that I'm still worrying every day, most of the day, shows that.... I still have anxiety! *rolls eyes*

So since I have anxiety every day, most of the day, is it possible that that's why the derealization isn't going away? For the past three or so months I don't think I've been able to go a whole day without obsessively worrying about something... :(

[jill]

Hi hun :D :hugs:

**So since I have anxiety every day, most of the day, is it possible that that's why the derealization isn't going away? **

Yes hun, remember what its there for, this is your self protection mode.

Hunny, try and challege those negative thoughts, I know its dame hard for you :hugs: but please try, there are threads on here about how to do this, if you can't find them let me know and I will go and find them and put a link in. It is not easy to do and takes alot of work, but in time, if you learn how to challege those worrying thoughts, it helps hunny :hugs:

YOU TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXX

[Davaadtron]

Thanks CONS and thanks Jill :)
Your posts are very reassuring :D

I'm actually moving to Germany for a year to study abroad in...4 days :x
So hopefully I'll be so busy that I won't have time to worry, haha
At least I know I have my Lorazepam if I get too freaked out.

[jill]

Ohhh your moving to Germany :yesyes: I wish you WELL with this hun and GOOD LUCK with your studies.

**At least I know I have my Lorazepam if I get too freaked out**

You will be just fine hun and remember, they do have internet over there too LOL :roflmao: you can come on here and tell us aalllll about how well you are doing :yesyes:

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXXX

[Davaadtron]

Could you post a link to the threads about challenging negative thoughts? I think that would be a big help :)

[jill]

Hi hun :D :hugs:

I don't know how to put 2 links in at once :shrug: :doh: LOL, so here is the first one, it is about SA, BUT, you can adapt this to any type of anxiety. Most thought pattens changes are about our cb, cognetive behavour, so you can also Look on the net about this, I read lots of books on cbt, they are a good read, but can be hard to learn when you have alot of issues to address.

Recovery does not come on its own, it does take alot of hard work, time and the right support,

Here is the link..

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55333

There is alot to read in this thread, but what you are after is near the botton, but its worth reading all that Mmm, I think its Sam, has written.

LOVE JILL XXX

[jill]

Hi hun, me again, Mmm, must learn how to put 2 links in LOL

Here is the link, hope it helps...When your read the first page, click next page for more info..

http://www.paniccure.com/Approaches/...ic/Pizza-3.htm (http://www.paniccure.com/Approaches/CBT/Mastering_Panic/Pizza-3.htm)

You will have to adapt this one too hunny, all peoples thoughts are different, but it shows you how its done.

Hun, if you can learn to do this, in time, your anxiety levels will drop, this takes time hunny, it does NOT happen over night, but with alot of hard work, IT does HELP with recovery.

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXX

[Davaadtron]

Today has been going good so far!
I feel a little bit spacey but I haven't felt worried at all today yet because I'm forcing myself to think positive. :)
Hopefully I can go the whole day without worrying; we'll see!

[Davaadtron]

I just read about derealization on this site...

"As the adrenaline levels decrease and you calm down it clears. This can be several hours days or weeks."

No wonder it's not going away since I have high levels of adrenaline every day :p

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

You going in the right direction, WELL DONE, please be proud of yourself.

Hunny, remember you have to try and learn to accept your anxiety, at THIS present moment in time in your life, this is what you have, anxiety, BUT, at the same time talk, think, positive thoughts about the anxiety, its OK, to have it, BUT, this is NOT going to last forever, tell yourself, YOU WILL work on thought patten AND in time, YOU WILL get better.

When recovering from anxiety we try to give ourselves a good foundation to work from positive statements, "I can get better, I will get better" "this is just a blip, its part of recovery" any statement, that is positive. Read the success stories on this great site, go in search on the net for success stories, prove to yourself that IT IS possible to get better, (because it IS possible, ) this helps you move on a little.

Remember hun the mind needs a break from time to time from trying to recover, I used to pull out in my mind all the good memoires, eg, past holidays, times when I had fun, remembering happy times and thinking about them and going over them can give you that break from working on your anxiety, BUT at the same time it helps promote calming agents in our bodys the ones that a needed to get better, so do this hun, this helps a little too.

When acute, I and panic and anxiety 24/7, so I know how dame hard it is working on this hunny, BUT, over time AND it does take time, doing these types of things does help towards recovery.


Also remember, learning how to talk to yourself helps lots, if a friend or family memember was not well, you would NOT talk negativly to them would you????? NO, you would reasure them, be conforting to them, help them understand that they can get better, so hun, talk to yourself like you would a family memember or friend, BE KIND to yourself.

You take care

LOVE JILL XXXX

[jill]

Hi hun, :D:hugs:

I forgot to mention what I call the Locking in proses. You will already know by now, that the mind is powerful thing, it has already LOCKED IN, your anxiety and feeling of anxiety, NOW, you have to learn how to LOCK IN, those normal feelings, when the anxiety IS NOT there, NOTICE it, LOCK IT IN, praise yourself LOTS at these times, even if it only last a short time, eg, when your remembering past times, NOTICE, the in this mindset, remembering past times, the anxiety IS NOT present, LOCK IT IN, say positive statements, eg, "ohh I can do this, I felt normal and it felt GREAT"

You say, *** Today has been going good so far!***

Hun, please take a look at this statement, I know this is a small thing, BUT, its the small changes that help us sooooo much.

More positive statement, "Today has been good" then go on to LOCK IT in, prase yourself on how well you have done.

The ***so far ** bit on the end, Mmm, can mean to anxiety suffer that things may change for the worse, thinking little changes on your statements, (self talk ) helps us a little.

also...

**I feel a little bit spacey but I haven't felt worried at all today yet **

"I feel a little spacey, BUT, that's OK, after all its early days yet, I am learning and its going to take time"

**NOW hun, I haven't felt worried at all today yet**

" I haven't felt worried at all, ohhhh boy, I am doing GREAT, yeee go meee"

Hunny, the YET, is again a negative, which can have you thinking that as the day progress anxiety may come.

**I'm forcing myself to think positive**

your are thinking positively because you want to, because in time, it WILL help with your recovery, you are not forcing yourself to do anything,

" I an choosing to think positive, I know, it time, it will help with my recovery"

**Hopefully I can go the whole day without worrying; we'll see!**

In this hunny, praise yourself on how much you have done, NO matter how long your worries have not been there, ALLOW some symptoms to be there, tell yourself its ok, LOCK IN, how well you have done.

In recovery it NOT the amount of recovery we make, its the FACT that we have made some, not matter how small, LOCK IT in, praise yourself.

I do hope you don't mind me picking away at your reply, I am just trying to show you how to change thought pattens, I know how DAME hard it can be, when anxiety is 24/7.

You have done sooooo well today, YOU HAVE hun, :yesyes: BUT PLEASE, shoe yourself how well you have done, praise yourself, be proud of what you have done. LOCK IT IN.


YOU TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XX

[Davaadtron]

So I just found out that caffeine causes the body to release adrenaline...
And I've been drinking coffee every morning. :p

A boost of adrenaline to begin the day probably wasn't helping my derealization go away...haha
So I stopped drinking caffeine as of two days ago. Hopefully that helps a little :)

[jill]

Hi hun, :D:hugs:

When I was acute, I stopped drinking, tea, coffee, alcohol and fizzy drinks. I do believe that all little changes help towards recovery.

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXX

[Davaadtron]

When I landed at London Heathrow yesterday I didn't have ANY symptoms for a good couple of hours because I was distracted! (Awesome airport, by the way)

So I showed myself that it is possible to not see this visual stuff, if you aren't worrying/focusing on it 24/7.

Just have to remember that...

[Davaadtron]

Also, is it possible to feel just kind of... "blah" with anxiety?
I don't really feel sad, but I don't really feel happy either. It's like I have no emotion.

I feel like I should be really excited to be in Berlin but I just don't feel it....
I hope it isn't the Prozac that's doing this, but I was on it before and didn't have this problem :/

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:


****When I landed at London Heathrow yesterday I didn't have ANY symptoms for a good couple of hours because I was distracted! (Awesome airport, by the way)

So I showed myself that it is possible to not see this visual stuff, if you aren't worrying/focusing on it 24/7.

Just have to remember that...*****

HAY, WELL DONE YOU :yesyes: be proud of yourself, it can be hard to remember but over time, the MORE you do it and LOCK it in, using self praise reassuring self thoughts, you start noticing it MORE and it gets easier over time . Your anxiety, over time has become what we call an automatic response, it just seems to happen, if you work in LOCKING IN GOOD feeling and good thoughts in, in time this WILL become an automatic GOOD response, but this takes time.


***Also, is it possible to feel just kind of... "blah" with anxiety?***

This can be hard to define, of course anxiety can do this to you, but some meds can to hun, take it in your stride, this will pass hun :hugs:

Hope this has been of some help

YOU TAKE CARE

GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING

LOVE JILL XXXX