sick of feeling so ill

[molly36]

Hi there i have not writen a post for some time,i have been a member for quite a while .I do pop in to read some posts.Anyway i felt i had made some progress with my anxiety and panic attacks .I went back to work for 2 years and really did improve a lot.But i had a lot of stress last year and it really has set me back something awfull .My panic attacks are so awfull i cant leave the house again and i mean full blown panic ,my heart gets up to around 200 bpm its terrifying .What im finding is if im out and have to climb stairs this sets it off as i get out of breath so easily as i also chronicly hyperventilate .So now i wont walk up stairs which i know sounds totally crazy.My legs feel so heavy and tired my heart races i get so breathless i have to sit down when i get to the top.Even though a few months ago i could walk 5 miles a day.I also feel ill all the time like i have some sort of virus ,i have to lie down a lot as im so chronic with tiredness.Like many on here my anxiety started with missed beats wich made my life a misery ,although not just missed evey sort of palpitation you can get i had .Tottally wrecked my life until i stopped being scared of them.Even now i still get them but im not as afraid of them unless i have a bad bout.I have had all the usual heart tests many times and they say all is clear. but lately i really have managed to convince myself that anytime soon i am going to have a heart attack because of the breathlesness and feeling ill i am 35.My doc says its all tension and nerves making me feel so ill and unfit but i just find that hard to believe.I never seem to be able to take a deep breath i feel i am always struggiling to breath.Does anyone else find it hard to walk upstairs and does anxiety make you feel ill and unfit.Would be very greatfull for any advice thank you molly

[valleybear]

Hi Molly... believe me anxiety can cause all these symptoms and at one time I had every one and know how difficult it is to blieve Drs when they say it is not an underlying condition. Anxiety and panic feed on each other and perpretrate all the symptoms over and over again. You do not say if you are on any medication at present? Breathlessness and nervous exhaustion causing constant tiredness are quite common Ithink in anxiety related episodes...I have experienced both. From my own experience, you will get over this, but if you are in a really bad downward spiral at the moment maybe a trip to the DR would help...may give you some meds to get you over the worst. Does not mean you have to be on them forever. I only resort to mine when I get really down (at present I have had to up my anti depressants) but can usually manage without now. Hope you are feeling a bit better and please read some other supportive posts on here related to breathlessness and tiredness...they will reassure you. Sorry.. not much help but reading that others have had this and recovered may give you a glimmer of hope. XX :hugs:

[molly36]

Hi thank you for your reply .I am not on any meds as i have always had a phopia about taking them.M doc is very supporative though .I just feel totally unwell and unfit.Thank you again molly x

[molly36]

54 read this post and only 1 reply ,does this mean no one else feels this way mollyx

[cthechick84]

molly hun im here if u wanna talk the breathlessness bothers me an so does the heart racing im going through a bad time but wud like to try and help u hunni have a hug pm me or do u ave msn ? xxx love chantel

[ann01]

hi molly I am exactly the same actually I'm in bed now feel so Ill and tired my heart is racing and the breathing thing I have had slot recently it's very scary. Yes anxiety can make us feel Ill, I feel physically Ill with it. My heart rate is fast at the moment scares me to death. Anxiety is good at playing tricks on us, I've spent most of the weekend in bed.
Take care
Ann c

[gypsywomen]

molly all the syptoms you feel i have had ,, your not alone love ,,i know its hard but you will be ok love believe me

[Cat80]

Hi Molly, I am exactly the same as you. I just feel so chronically tired, sick, achy, breathless etc. I feel like I permanantly have flu, it's been going on daily for over 3 years now and still no let up. My Dr tells me it's the anxiety and there isn't much she can do as I've tried 6 or 7 different SSRI's and they've all made me worse, beta blockers, councelling, CBT etc and nothing has helped. I just can't cope with the thought this is my life now. I'm only 29 (30 next month) and feel my life is at a standstill

[Seffie]

Hi Molly,
just saw your post & felt I had to reply-I have been exactly where you are & I totally understand what you're going through.
Briefly - years of chronic anxiety/worry/poor stress management contributed to me suffering from nervous exhaustion, some doctors called it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome others just exhaustion from stress but basically my symptoms were just like yours:
* heavy, achy, painful arms & legs (sometimes felt like lead)
* panic attacks
* chronic & acute hyperventilation
* breathlessness
* all kinds of palpitations
* feeling emotionally overwhelmed
* couldn't handle demands / pressures of normal life
* felt really ill-worst I have ever felt in my life

Like you I found it really hard to believe that this was all down to anxiety & stress, but it was.
I started feeling ill in 2006 & was probably like that for about 18 months but with varying degrees of intensity. Then because of the CFS diagnosis I saw a therapist for Reverse Therapy mixed with NLP which got me 80% better but as I was kind of stuck I then did the Lightning Process which has also really helped.
I am so much better now, I do occasionally have low energy but I know how to get myself back on track.
Too much to go in to here but basically I have been taught to change how I think-stop filtering for negatives, stop catastrophizing, I have learnt that I can choose to do 'overwhelmed' or I can choose to do 'easy'.

Your perception of a situation is your reality & your body is a physical manifestation of what's going on in your mind.

I can't really advise you what's best for you but I thought that telling you what worked for me might help you to see that stress & anxiety can absolutely make you feel this ill.

The bottom line is that you need to look at your life & see where you need to change in order to allow your thoughts to be calmer which will then allow your body to relax & recover. I know this is easier said than done but I know that with the right help you can do it - because I have. I'm still learning all the time & am currently reading 2 great books by David Hamilton called 'It's the thought that counts' & 'How to use your mind to heal your body'.
Sorry this is such a long post, if you want to ask me any more questions then please feel free.
Take care & be assured there are many of us here who totally understand what you're going through, you can get better but only you can make those changes.
Seffie x

[molly36]

Thank you for all your replies i am so gratefull..Sometimes its just a feeling of waiting for something bad to happen thats the only way i can describe it.Its not a nice way to live .I have ordered a clare weeks book and dinah bradly book ,i had them years ago and they really helped ,i gave them to someone so i need to buy them again.They just seemed to give me reasurance .Thank you all again mollyxx

[Jannie2948]

What a good post Seffie, and I am sure it will help Molly because I certainly found it helpful. I too have had most of the symptoms you describe. I didn't realise what it was that was wrong with me until I had a full blown panic/anxiety attack round about late September last year and realised that I had been feeling unwell for a long time. Dr first diagnosed that it was high blood pressure but the meds for that just made me feel 10 times worse. I am now on Citalopram and I feel much better, but still have days where I feel unwell and anxious. I started hypnosis/relaxation last week and I'm hoping that this will help me get over that final hurdle. I too have suffered with the breathing difficulties and I find that yoga breathing techniques really help me, found them on youtube. It is just a different way of breathing and you have to just practice it.

It is so reassuring to read posts like yours, that you can get better from this awful illness but you have to realise that it is not going to happen overnight and you have to work at it. I work full time and I'm not that young (61) so I find this awful to have struck me at my age!! I am usually a very happy positive person, never sad and have never suffered with depression so I found it even harder to cope with. But hopefully I am on the mend with the help of meds and therapy. I definitely feel much better but I just want to rid my mind of these negative thoughts and, as you say, replace them with positive more calmer thoughts. I've ready lots of books, think I will try those ones that you have recommended.

Thanks very much for this and I wish you and Molly all the best.

Regards

Jannie x x

[Seffie]

Hi Jannie,
thanks for your lovely post! I'm glad I was able to help you even though it was intended for Molly-bonus!!!
I don't come on here as often as I used to because I haven't needed to as much but I find it a great source of reassurance every now & again.
I can remember coming on here desperately trawling through old posts for some reassurance so when I saw Molly's post I felt I had to offer her the same!
My mum was called Molly so it kind of caught my eye!

I think there are so many different situations that can cause an anxiety disorder to develop, but any negative/ unhelpful ways of thinking have usually been learned & so when you realise that they can be unlearned it makes you feel like you have some sort of control again.

I have suffered from anxiety on & off since I was 7-maybe even before that, & I'm 47 now but after working REALLY hard to change how I think & live my life I can see that I'm changing these negative patterns & in a relatively short time as well. I know it sounds abit like CBT but funnily enough that didn't work for me!

If you want to see abit of David Hamilton talking go to Youtube & search under his name & 'mind over matter' & you should get his lecture at the Mind, Body, Spirit festival in Cardiff. It's an hour long lecture broken up in to 10 min slots. Very interesting if you're interested in how the mind affects the body & then you'll know if you'll be interested in his books.

Other things that I have found really helpful are mindful meditation & learning to live in the present & Claire Weekes' books-brilliant & very comforting!
Hope you continue to feel better Jannie & don't worry about any little setbacks just pick yourself up & carry on, going forward is the only option-I think Claire Weekes says 'keep on truckin!!'
Take care,
Seffie xx

[molly36]

Hi thanks again for your posts ,its reassuring to know that there is people who are going through the same.sometimes i think my panic disorder is so bad that people close to me really think im a bit mad lol .especially when i sit with my coat on for 2 hours trying to go out to the shops,yet if someone was to chap my door they wouldnt guess ther was one thing wrong with me.i just wish this fear of having a heart attack would lessen and then at least i would be able to go out as thats the one fear that always has caused my agraphobia to start back up.also one day when walking o the school to pick my kids up i had a chronic panic attack which started cause i was rushing to get to the school as the bell was about to go ,so i was obviosly overbreathing but i ran up this small hill and i just couldnt get my breath back and had to sit on the ground,i really felt i was suffocating.my doc says it was because i was overbreathing then ran up the hill thats why i got so out of breath.i really have gone over that in my head so many times like we tend to do an ive managed to come to the conclusion i have bad heart or lungs.im 35 and feel really unfit but i get so out of breath walking upstairs its awful .can this really be due to hyperventilating all the time.molyxx