Not sure if i have anxiety please help

[andrewjdavid2005]

Thing is and this is the problem i have i am not 100% sure if i even have anxiety or not.

I have not felt right for around 18 months, it all started out of the blue, all of a sudden i felt dizzy, faint, felt fear for some reason, felt like iw as watching everything, my breathing was ok but i felt awful, to this day i have never felt the same, i have never had what you call a normal day where i feel really good like i did before all this started.

I had blood tests and ECG done last year and all was fine they just put me on pills and said this should calm your body down i was never given an explanation of what i had wrong with me.

The reason i feel like i don't know if i have anxiety, panic etc or not is because i feel crap 24/7 every day i never get a break from it.

Every day i have symptoms of feeling tired and weak with not much energy, feeling faint and light-headed, feeling abit shaky sometimes, bloated stomach, shaky hands, feeling like i don't want to do anything i struggle to do anything round the house and when i go out or even when i'm at home all i can think about is feeling like this as i have never had a good day.

The pills haven't done much, maybe they have helped alittle but i still have not had a good day in the last 18 months.

And no matter what i have tried, exercise, relaxation, changing diet habits etc nothing has worked for me and the fact that i never overreact to situations or anything convinces me that i have not got anxiety.

I just feel so bad 24/7 and i worry about my health because i don;t really know if i have anxiety or not if i knew 100% certain i had it maybe it would help me in my recovery.

But sometimes i think if i have not got anxiety then what is wrong with me.

Obviously i have sort of been diagnosed with anxiety by being put on anti-depressants but no doctor has ever turned round to me and said you are suffering from anxiety, and when i went to a support group for a few weeks last year even they said they didn't think i had anxiety.

I eat ok, i don't avoid places, i still go out anywhere.

I got so many symptoms non-stop daily and i do really need to know if i have anxiety and if anxiety is causing all these symptoms so i can try and fight it.

[mum2four]

I still go every where I need to go dont alway's go where I want to go thou.
I have have been wondering if I have anxiety for 4 year's now and finaly came to agreement with my self that anxiety or not I need to talk to the dr about how i felt. I have been treatyed for depression 2 time's and each time i convinced my self i was fine i didn't need med's. After taking med's I felt better and i stayed felling better for many months to year'. Then one day i woke up and felt life was not ok at all i had just convinced my self that I was satisfied with my life as it was when i really wasn't happy at all.

The only advice I can offer is that everypone feel's anxiety in different way's. Some people can have healthy looking out side life but as soon as thay walk threw the door it's like the energy is gone because thay tryed so hard to act the right way in the real world and there's nothing left to give when thay get home. Other's will hide at home fear the out side world heap's and deal with house hold thing's prety good. Some people might get so bad that cant deal with the out side world or the inside world at all.

For me it seem like my anxiety is controlable as long as I dont add new thing's to my life. I have day's where I HAVE to get out the house and I'm prety good out side as long as i dont have to deal with too much all at once. Then I have day's where I cant handle going out the thought of leaving the house to deal with the real world is just too unbareable. When i add new thing to my life I fall apart fo day's week's month's depending on how BIG it is.

When you have anxiety/depression anything like that everyone is going to deal everything differnt we are just all different that's a fact. What I can say is that is you feel like i you only so much mental energy to give and once that energy is gone your day is over no matter what the time is then you need some sort of help med/therpy what eva you choose. If you feel like your head can no longer cope but your body has energy to burn then anxiety is highly likly or depression. The 2 can go hand in hand. If you feel the med's arn't working have you talk to the dr that gave them to you. have you asked them why thay gave you the med's. If you feel you cant ask thoes question then anxiety is peoberly even more likly. I alway say it's better to be safe than sorry in the end anyway.

If your brain is working over time tyo get you do the same task that you use to be easy you may not realise that it is but if your body is having symptom's then it's trying to tell you to pay attenstion and calm down.

[Quirky]

Hi Andrew,
I would say you have anxiety. I'm not saying all your problems are anxiety as that would be for a doctor to say but it is so clear from reading your posts that you are anxious, particularly about your health. You may have health anxiety. You say you don't over react to situations but I think you do regarding your health e.g a tight chest is a blood clot etc. This is not a criticism just an observation and I know it's hard as I do the same. You may not react badly to other things in life though. You may well just have GAD which is an everyday thing. It is hard to tell with anxiety and depression. If you are still suffering after so long and nothing is helping you should go back and tell the gp everything that is bothering you and try and get it sorted. Have you ever been referred for CBT for instance or for an assessment from a phychiatrist? They would be able to assess what it is you are actually suffering from if it's anxiety/depression related.
Take care,
Lisa

[3faces]

Hey there:D

I would also say you are suffering from health anxiety and you do need proper support for that. I think I have social anxiety but I have to say the message from Mum2four could have been written by me. Especialy the first line because I quite often doubt my anxiety because I go out. But I go where I need to go not where I want to go....that causes the problems and unhappiness in my life so I cannot move forward and be the person I want to be.
I hope knowing that you are not alone with your worries and fears will help a little.:) Take care

Jem xxx

[trac67]

Hi Andrew,
You do have anxiety, you describe all the right symptoms. The reason you feel like it 24/7 is because you sit and think about it all day. This may sound harsh but it is true, unless you get off the PC and find another interest, your gonna be thinking about it all the time, your posts are always about the same things, which proves you think about the same things 24/7.
What about a part time job, or an outside interest, it will really help.

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwitten'

[andrewjdavid2005]

Well the thing is only over the last few months have i started worrying about my health and that is probably because i have all these symptoms 24/7 and have had them for so many months now, and the fact that doctors have never actually diagnosed me with anything and just put me on pills doesn't convince me at all.

I wish i knew if i actually had anxiety or not.

Last year ok the doctors did some tests and put me on pills but never did they once say what they thought was wrong with me or anything.

[trac67]

Andrew,
It is a viscious circle, you think about the anxiety, so the anxiety gets worse, so you think about it more, etc etc.
That is why doing something which will take your mind off of it will help.

If you have had all the tests and they all came back clear, then you know there is nothing seriously wrong with you, start to put your trust in the doctors, that helps too.

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwitten'

[mum2four]

I think that thinking about if you have a anxiety is a sign of anxiety in self sometime's I have thinking about anxiety on and off for the last 7 year's but I never let self beleave it was anxiety because getting the attenstion for the anxiety wolud cause the anxiety to get worse so i convinced my self that I was only stressing cause i was thinking that i might have anxiety and the cycle went on and on I was thinking that anxiety was not probelem and while i was thinking i was thinking for so long about and it went round and round in my head and while i was thinking about it my heart was racing and my mind was racing that i started to tell me that if it wasn;t anxiety why then i was reacting and thinking the way I was This would go on for a long time and untill i finaly got to the point of being able to stop it. Over thinking about anxiety is either a sign of anxiety it self or and sign that you need to stop before you cause anxiety to kick in and gain control over your mind and body.

Ifr there are no other reason for your symptom'a then anxiety is the diagnoises that dr tend to give. If he gave you med's he would not have given them he thought that there was very high change that it was anxiety.

[pips]

Hi Andrew,

Trac & Mum2Four are so right.

Sometimes I find my anxiety a lot higher if i have been reading and talking about it a lot i find that if i focus to much on it it definately heightens the feelings.

Perhaps try doing something totally different and distract yourself as best you can.

I find sometimes at work i am so busy that i have gone a couple of hours with out even thinking about anxiety! then i think about it and it can come flooding back. So then I try to dismiss it and carry on as usual.

I find the more you question it and fight it the worse it can become. Try to accept it's just the anxiety and carry on. i know it's difficult but keep trying.

Take Care,

Love PIP'S X

[alexis]

Hi All, Pips that is so true, sometimes I even come on here and if Im feeling slightly anxious I dont even read the health ones becuase I could so easily start getting more anxious over throat, heart etc whereas health has never been a major worry to me.I can believe I have all sorts wrongI try to keep busy and not dwell on the fact I have anxiety/depression, sometimes this is almost impossible.
Why dont you ask the dr outright if he thinks you have anxiety, I think you do.
You may feel better if you do this.

love from Alexisxxxx

[justamess]

Sounds like panic and anxiety to me too!! Everything you stated I go through on a dailey basis...some days better then others..

My anxiety didnt start until after I found out I had to have brain surgery (march 2005) and hasnt went away since.. Even though Ive been throught it, 6 months late ive been reassured that I'm fine.I cant help it to worry and go in full blown panic.

I agree with mumtofour... Fearing that your gunna have an anxiety attack will put ya in one. I dont avoid places. But if ive had an attack at a restaurant, then everytime I go out to eat...I fear I will have one!!

Hang in there, your not alone :)