Damage?

[hunny]

Hi all

I have gone through months now of struggling to get through a day.Ive been determined not to take time off work(i was off for about 6 weeks while having heart tests earlier in the year)and to try my hardest to get on with things.
Up until about a month ago i thought i was making progress,i was starting to go out with friends again and started laughing again which was a huge relief to me.
I have had this awful chest/under arm pain for a while nw and its really getting me down,ive also had pains in my back and my right leg,it can feel like that "dead leg" way.
Anyway,i feel like ive gone way downhill,i get very breathless,my blood pressure has gone up a bit and i feel very very out of sorts and "not with it".My memory has gone to pot and sometimes i feel almost delirious and on the verge of collapse.I live in fear every day.
Im worried all this struggling to get through each day is doing me damage and my heart or such will just pack in?
My Dr thinks im over anxious,which obviously i am,but im sure i am ill and am terrified its going to get worse,sometimes im in so much pain.
Sorry for the long post.Please gve me your opinions.

Hunny xx

[Sheik N Shimmy]

Hi Hunny,

It all sounds like pure anxiety and will vanish given. At some stage you've got to accept that your GP knows what he is talking about when he says you are healthy.

E

Keep On Keepin On

[existential crisis]

Hunny,

I can totally empathise with what you are going through at the moment as I myself have just been through a great couple of weeks where I thought I was over it only to have it creep back in and upset me all over again. You should try and take reassurance from what the doctor says because he is the expert and if he had any reason to think that there was anything seriously wrong he would make sure you got the relevant tests to pinpoint the problem. The thing is with anxiety is that we are totally hyper-aware (to a fault) of whats going on with our own bodies so when we are presented with a harmless ache or pain, we focus on it - that makes us anxious and then before you know it you feel dreadful and your SURE it must be something more serious...But be totally assured, your heart will NOT pack in because you are anxious and you won't collapse because you are anxious. As dreadful as it might be now, just focus on the fact that last month you managed to break the cycle and get some normality back into your life. You did it then and you will do it again. xx

*I think, therefore I am.*

[nomorepanic]

Hunny

Read this previous post I did - in particular the bit about the heart ...

Notes from No Panic Conference on Panic Disorder (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4190)

Hope it reassures you somewhat.

Nicola

[Ma Larkin]

Hi Hunny,

I agree with the previous post which Nicola mentions. I have suffered all those symptoms you have experienced and took the mind over matter option. It took me months to get a grip of it, especially the breathing part. Every time I went to the hospital gasping for breath so much that I could hardly speak, my blood pressure was high, my temperature was high, pains in my side and my back and such a general feeling of lethargy in my legs that I could hardly walk. The anxiety was unbearable and bringing on panic attacks for fun, but my sats were 100% every time and my ECG's fine (I've had loads). Its got to the stage now where I think to myself "Les, you've been tested for everything, its just panic and anxiety mainly caused by stress and worrying too much about things". I have my good days and bad days, but I seem to have overcome the full blown panic attack days, which is such a milestone for me. Keep thinking positive and remembering that no matter how hellish it can be at times, you can learn to control it. CBT is good therapy. Hope everything goes OK for you, Les. x

[existential crisis]

I think thats whats proves it's anxiety - when you go to the GP or the hospital or wherever and have a load of tests which all come back fine! Thing is though there is always a little part of you which thinks they might have missed something, or there is something they havent tested for! Well thats what I'm like anyway! I think its because the physical symptoms of anxiety are so powerful - they make you think that there has to be a physical problem because surely something 'psychological' couldnt make you so bad! Well done Les on getting over the panic attacks!!!

*I think, therefore I am.*

[feege]

Hi - I too have been through all of the above symptoms many many times. I think I forget what I learn about anxiety and how to manage it and have to relearn it over and over again... Some people think that we live our lives in order to learn one particular lesson and if it's true mine is definitely not to worry about things that haven't actually already happened - in particular illnesses.

As you get older you do get ill and of course we are all going to die one day but today I'm going to do as much with my life as I am capable of doing - often that's not a lot - today it's housework and getting dressed. If I can manage to visit a friend I will be grateful!

It can be so hard some days when the panic rises but it's a challenge you can take pride in surviving!! People who don't experience it have no idea that some days just getting out of bed takes the equivalent adrenolin for someone else to jump out of a plane! Feel happy that you have had some really good times this year and know that you definitely will again and don't give yourself a hard time for having a bad patch - it often happens if you have a little virus - you're not quite up to scratch and start questioning it, and the dark days and cold make it harder to just turn it around.

I am so glad for these boards and to know I am not alone! I'm grateful to all the people brave enough to share their feelings here!

I sometimes think that we panic/anxiety sufferers probably have the hearts and lungs of athletes!

Fee x

fee

[Meg]

Hunny

*I have had this awful chest/under arm pain for a while nw and its really getting me down,ive also had pains in my back and my right leg,it can feel like that "dead leg" way.*

*is doing me damage and my heart or such will just pack in?*

It doesn't work like that.

What are you doing day in day out to help yourself with this in terms of lifestyle ie exercise/ relaxation.

If you have been medically investigated thoroughly at some point, you will either let it rule your life or decide put it all in the hands of fate and get on with your days and often micraculously with this choice it disappears or lessens enormously.





Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[Quirky]

Hi Hunny,
I can't add much to all the good advice you've been given but you haven't damaged your heart, as Meg says it doesn't work that way.
In fact I asked my cardiologist if being anxious can damage the heart about a month ago and he said no it won't hurt you at all. That's true and from a very honest expert. I was more worried that my lack of exercise will damage my heart than my anxiety (I have ME and can't exercise much). He said even that won't hurt at my age as long as I'm not a complete cough potato all day every day. The heart is much more resilient than we imagine.
Take care,
Lisa x

[hunny]

Hi

Thank you all very much for taking the time to answer me.
Sometimes i may wallow in self pity and need a bit of a boost.
I do not do enough to help myself,yet am always defensive when my wonderful husband says so.
I am struggling at the moment.I used to have panic attacks and agorophobia,and i know this will sound mad,but i found them so much easier to cope with.
This is like living in fear of the unknown,i no longer have panic attacks or feel anxious except about my health.Does that make sense?Is that common among any of you?
Thanks so much again
Hunny xx

[feege]

Hi hunny

Yes me too.... only sometimes i have panic attacks as well! It always passes after a while but do try all the things that are suggested - you know relaxation, talk to doc, exercise and practice feeling better and thinking 'better' it's the only way forward....

You have all my sympathy and support - I honestly have been as bad and come out to somewhere else - and it's better - at the moment!

Good luck and keep talking...

Fee
xx

fee

[wobily_lin]

hi hunny,

not alot i can say that hasnt already been said. i too have been there and am still there to a point but i now know its the anxiety. you know there is nothing wrong and yes it still comes into your head that there is still something wrong, but you have to tell yourself thats its the anxiety. it has so many symtoms.

take care,

ptsd sufferer

lin x