Is this anxiety or not?

[andrewjdavid2005]

How convinced are people that i suffer from anxiety? because the fact is 2 years ago before i started getting symptoms etc i never used to worry about my health or worry about anything really i just used to get one with my life like nothing else mattered.
Let's start from the beginning and how everything started off, i had a row with my dad and within 30 minutes after that i started to feel very strange i felt really lightheaded and dizzy and i suddenly felt really weak and like i was going to collapse, also this sense of fear just came overme and it felt like i was dying.
Ever since that day i have not felt the same, i had quite afew more of those episodes where i felt really strange.
But since then i have had daily symptoms which have got worse in the last year or so.

I suffer from constant tiredness even though i sleep well, no matter how much sleep i have i never wake up feeling refreshed, i feel lightheaded everyday, sometimes feel shaky, feel abit unreal, feel short of breath sometimes, tight chest, chest pains, feel like i am suffocating/choking/being smothered.

When i first went to the doctors about this all they said was that i had the flu, 2 weeks later i still felt the same so i went back to the doctor's and said i was still feeling terrible and yet again they blamed flu, i felt i was not getting anywhere so i went to a different surgery, this was may 2004.

After speaking to the doctor at the new surgery they said they would do some blood tests, i got the results back and they were all clear, the only thing that showed up was very high cholestrol levels.
A few weeks later i had urine and stool samples taken but they came back ok, then i had an ECG but that was normal as well.

2 months later i had some more blood tests done but they came back normal as well.

They kept sort of diagnosing me with different things, they said they think i was suffering from post viral fatigue then they said chronic fatigue then they said we think you are depressed and that was it they never told me what was actually going on with me or why i was getting all these symptoms.

They said take these pills and they should calm your body down abit, i did not know what they were, when i got home i looked up on the internet and found out that they were anti-depressants and i would not take them.

When i did eventually take them they made me feel angry and agitated so they put me on cipralex and i have been on them ever since.

I still think alot that they missed something and i have something bad wrong with me or that i am dying, i feel so awful everyday and have never been given an explanation as to why i am feeling this way or what is causing all this, i seem to have countless terrible doctors that is why my faith in them has totally disappeared.

Thing is anxiety is all about constantly worrying and feeling fear and avoiding situations etc, but before all these symptoms started i never felt like that and i still dont feel fear or avoid situations?

I was very healthy and felt brilliant before all this started but even know i have all these symptoms day in and day out i do not avoid places or anything.

My partner has had anxiety in the past and even she thinks that i do not suffer from it.

Are you still convinced 100% that i have anxiety?

Thanks for reading and i really hope to get a reply from you asap.

[ItWillPass]

I have really come to realize that the worst thing that anxiety does to us is that it tricks us. I cannot say for sure you have anxiety... But I can say that often anxiety pops out of no where... I think you used a term that is not used here in the states... what does it mean to have a row with someone? Anyway... back to your question... Could it really be anxiety? I think that it could be just because doctors have done a ton of tests on you, and everything was normal. I think that all it takes is one panic attack... then anxiety feeds off of that, and all the sudden one becomes an anxious person. I am in the same boat as you actually. During my last pregnancy I had some medical issues... and after they were cleared up I suddenly had panic attacks. Here I am now, almost two years later. Now, I have never been the calmest person... But I certainly was not like this. I am struggling a great deal here... But something that I do know, we will not get better until we let go of the idea that we are dying. I know it is easier said than done... But we have to. Anxiety is the master of disguises. It comes in so many different forms. All we can is go to a doctor ( or 2 or 3 or 10 of them) And then move on and get ready for recovery. Have you read clair weekes yet? her books have been an enormous help to me. Wow this is a long reply to a short question...

__________________________________________________ __________________________________
"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance, never settle for the path of least resistance... When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance"

"This too shall pass..."

[heavymind]

andrewjdavid2005,
Its really hard to say, whether it is anxiety. But I agree with ItWillPass, in saying that anxiety may not always feel like fear. Also the reason for anxiety may not be obvious. It might appear as if there is no reason to be anxious about.

However in your case, you are the best judge to decide what it is. It is defenitely possible to find out for ourself, what we are going through, if we take up the task of exploring and trying to find out what it is. But if you want to find out if it is anxiety, try the following suggestions to find out and take them if any of them sounds any apealing.

When you feel normal, if at all you do, try and hold on to it. But keep track of your concentration levels and figure how active you feel. Think for yourself, if you feel loosing activeness and going into a state of low mental activity and low outward focus. For example, try to focus on outside world for the moment, are you able to calmly think about the sounds and images around you and think about them calmly, patiently and with full attention. If you attempt that, for example you hear some honks, see some package infront of you. If you are not anxious at the moment, it is possible to think about those sounds and images for atleast a few seconds and it should be possible to easily start thinking in lines of what you see and hear, and start a chain of thoughts related to them. But when anxious, it can become extremely hard to focus on outside and even before just a few seconds on hearing or seeing the outside world, we may once again slip into inward thinking. It can be extremely hard to think about those thoughts and continue a chain of thoughts relating to them. This is an easy measure of how anxious atleast I am at at some point in time. When I am not totally anxious, I can peacefuly think about what I hear and see and start thinking about them in a calm way persistently for a few seconds. That is possible but very diffcult, when I am anxious.

When you feel the "tiredness" is your breat and heart rate faster than usual?

I am not sure, if I am helping in anyway, but if you read more about depression and anxiety and also regularly monitor your emotional level and activity level, it will eventually be possible to figure out for ourself what the problem is.

How about some exercise?? Have you tried some aerobic exercises, for me some exercises help me a great deal...

Let me know if those thoughts help....

Itwillpass,
row when used as a noun can mean confrontation



Ram

[Tomimo]

The thing with anxiety is that you can have all the symptoms and not know that you are anxious.

I was exactly the same as you. I remember the doctor telling my it was panic/anxiety and I replied saying "but I don't feel anxious, I'm not worried about anything, I love my life"!

Anxiety is a clever illness, it can causes these terrifying symptoms and convince us that we are dying yet often we have no real reason why. You really aren't alone. I was totally convinved that my doctor had missed something awful or that I had something really serious that would show up on a simple test. I didn't - five years later I'm still alive and kicking.

Whay don't you ask your doctor to refer you for CBT or some sort of therapy to see if it helps - you may understand it better and that may help the way you feel. Otherwise there are many good books about anxiety and you may find something that yu can really relate to.

Annie x

[kate]

If you get 100 people in the room, all suffering with anxiety, no one person there would be experiencing exactly the same symptoms/fears.

You are suffering from health anxiety, which means that you are constantly worried about either having an illness or getting an illness.

You do not avoid situations because you are not suffering from that "type" of anxiety. I avoid situations that make me panic BUT I don't look up health worries on the internet because I don't have health anxiety.

Your wife obviously suffered differently to yourself but it certainly doesn't mean that she had anxiety but you haven't!

Before anxiety struck any of us, we all used to get on with life without a care in the world. Anxiety strikes and our lives are turned upside down. Your fear manifests itself in the way you are contantly analizing how you are feeling physically, imagining that you have some physical illness. My own anxiety means that I'm constantly fearful of "bad" things happening. We are all individuals and all different.

In answer to your final question, yes I'm 100% sure that your symptoms are being caused by anxiety. Constantly asking for reassurance is also a symptom of anxiety.

I've got no advice for you in how to overcome this as I've been struggling for the past 25 years. I just try to get through each day as best I can. Maybe some CBT would be beneficial to you?

Kate