Anxiety, Spaciness , panic attacks

[CaptainAtom]

Hello everyone, i have had general anxiety disorder for just over a year , accompanied with a constant spaced out , foggy/light headed type feeling 24/7 . I have had blood tests, ECG's, a few x rays and seen a few doctors all with no alternative diagnosis other than anxiety. My first major panic attack was around 15 months ago which triggered this spacey feeling that i have had non stop, 24-7 for around 9 months . Then it went away for a short period of time. It felt so amazing to be normal again, but about 2 months later i had another panic attack and was back with the same intense spaced out feeling. I then started some university courses and such , and it went away for around 3 months . I was almost 100% normal, and life was going amazing. But guess what ... 1 week ago , i was looking on the internet obituaries and other morbid articles and i got another panic attack. Now i once again have the same intense feeling. This time i know it's anxiety , so why will this feeling not go away? Why is it with me all day? I have studying to do , and it is soo hard to focus like this. I am pretty sure this most recent cause was due to hyperventilating throughout the preceeding days and looking at articles associated with fear and death. I am not freaking out too much about this feeling , because it is just annoying now. It must be some sort of comedown from a panic attack. Can someone help me as to how long again i am gonna have to wait until i can be normal again. I honestly don't know if i can go through life rotating between periods of sanity and insanity.

[Brunette]

Hi CaptainAtom,

To take your last point first - it might feel like you feel sane one minute and insane the next but you should not get into the habit of thinking that way about panic attacks and anxiety. You are not mentally ill.

What's happening is that stress, or overwork or other things happening in your life, have overstimulated your nervous system which is now behaving in exactly the way it is supposed to when faced with a life or death situaton - of course you are not actually in a life or death situation but your sympathetic nervous system, which acts on subconscious thoughts and other stimuli thinks you are.

Do you have to read articles associated with fear and death for your studies? If not, then just stop looking at them. Period. They are feeding your anxiety. Your nervous system is all geared up for danger - what do you think happens when you start looking at stuff like that? Exactly - you feel worse.

No-one can tell you how long it will take for your anxiety to subside because it is different for everyone. It isn't something you can "hurry up" either, you just have to be patient and accept you may feel this way for a while. It went away before so you know it will go away again, just give it time.

Be kind to yourself, make sure you get enough sleep and try to avoid caffeine, nicotine and other stimulants. Above all, stop looking at morbid websites.

In the meantime I would recommend you as much as you can about panic attacks and anxiety. Once you know more about what is happening to you and why, it will help you become less fearful of your symptoms.

Hope you feel better soon

B

[CaptainAtom]

Thank you very much , for the kindness and input Brunette. I know , i really should not look at such morbidity , but i am health obsessed. Not just a hypochondriac, but also very much into nutritional sciences, Biology and supplementation. Therefore it is hard for me not to overanalyze such a simple situation. I am just curious as to the Exact cause of the spacey feeling. The Sympathetic Autonomic nervous system does dominate in " fight or flight situations" ie, increasing heart rate , dilated pupils, faster breathing etc etc. I am not experiencing any of the typical over stressed sympathetic stimulation aside from the constant hyperventilation. I have mastered deep nasal breathing , so it has become an instinct. However for some reason i start thinking about my breathing .. then it gets interrupted. I would feel much better if i knew the exact cause of the spacey feeling, it is it the prolonged presence of a specific neurotransmitter which is triggering my fear? or does it have to do with the processing of the input in my hypothalamus or what? I am not too knowledgeble in physchology. Thanks again

[Slothette]

Hi Captain

Firstly if you know you have HA then dont look at anything to do with death etc. Why make yourself panic as this is obviously one of your triggers.

On a positive note you say that you're not freaked out by your spacey feelings. Like you say it is now an annoyance so see it as this and try not to think about it. You can't put a time limit on how long it will last but you know from experience that it will definately go.

If you look at what you have written you will see that this spacey feeling goes when you're occupied - so get busy and take your mind off it. I found this approach certainly worked for me.

You'll be fine hun. x

[CaptainAtom]

Thank you slothette for the additional reinforcement and personal experience. I cannot imagine for anyone to live with these feelings hundreds of years ago when such establishments like this site were not avaliable.
Bless you.

[Xamublack]

Hey Captain, I have the exact same problem you do.

I woke up after a stressful night with that spaced out, semi-drunk, foggy head feeling one day and it has never gone away. Its been 3 years now and its good to know that you've actually had instances where it has gone away ... it gives me hope, lol.

I've had tons of tests and even an MRI and they've all blamed it on my health anxiety. I'm finally getting to a point where I figure I will just roll with it and hopefully one day when my stress lvl drops a bit I may get a few days off.

As I mentioned in another post the feeling is worse when I walk outside or in more wide open places ... is it like that for anyone else too?

[sjuri23]

I have the same semi-drunk foggy head feeling. It feels as if Im hammered but i still have my motor skills and can talk and process information fine. It also feels like my legs are moving slow and they are weak. I think the best way to combat this is to work through it, know that you are normal, and to keep yourself occupied. I have had these symptoms for the past two weeks. Some days are good, some days are bad. Know that your aren't going crazy and don't allow the thoughts and worries dominate how you act or think. You'll be fine.