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itwillbeokay
28-03-11, 17:19
Hi all.

Wasn't quite sure where to post this.... anyway... :)

Where to start? :) From when I was younger (I'm 29 now) I have gone through phases of thinking I had various illnesses and that I was dying, breast cancer, colon cancer, brain tumors... Around 2004 my ex and I got broken in to, he was drugged up and at one point held us at knife point. I can't remember how long it was after this but I started getting anxiety. I remember also at this stage being obsessed that I had something wrong with my eyes and was going to go blind. I wasn't working at this point and so stayed home everyday just worrying. I suffered a migraine (although no pain at the time) one day and had a weird almost like a kaleidoscope affect. I totally freaked out and insisted I had to go to A&E. In 2005, I think, we were on holiday. We were having dinner in the hotel restaurant, I remember crunching down on something, next thing I know I have blood in mouth, I took out whatever was in my mouth and it was a piece of glass. Not being traumatic enough, my experience at the Spanish hotel was even more horrendous. After this I was convinced some glass was ingested and afterwards I kept getting sharp pains in my stomache. From here I suffered my next big round of anxiety which lasted for months and months, I have a habit of blocking out horrible things in the past so my timeline of things is a bit all over the place. After this I thought I was dying from some sort of brain tumor as I was getting really bad headaches, next it was cervical cancer. It was so tiring and depressing. I once woke up during the night and felt absolutely petrified of something... I felt like I couldn't breathe and was in complete fear, I was so afraid I even got my ex to call for an ambulance which I hated myself for, later I started to calm down when the paramedics arrived. I decided to get a job, and found this helped a lot with keeping anixety at bay, I suppose I didn't have time to dwell on the little things anymore.

During October last year my 10 year relationship ended, I later found out that they had also been cheating. I was devatstated and in shock. I moved back with my parents instantly. For the first month I didn't really eat, took 3 weeks off work and cried a lot. To peoples surprise I didn't lock myself away, under a duvet, festering away. I made sure I was dressed nicely and did my hair/make up everyday just to make myself feel a little better, I also wanted to be around people all of the time, I felt lonely and lost and just wanted to be outside surrounding myself with others. In December I decided to join the gym to keep myself occupied. I started to work my days off, as soon as I got home, I'd have a quick lunch and go to the gym for 3-4 hours, go home, eat dinner, watch tv and fall in to bed, repeating it every other day. The days I didn't go to the gym I made sure I went out, in to town shopping, for a walk, anything so I wasn't just sat at home having time to think. In February myself and a friend of mine went to Amsterdam for a couple of days. While there we decided to try some space cake. I don't smoke and rarely drink but everyone I talked to beforehand had said it'll just make you chilled and have a bit of a giggle. I could do with a bit of that after what I had been through! We had a piece, we didn't notice any difference, a couple of hours later we had 1 more piece each. What we stupidly didn't know then is that it takes a couple of hours for it to get in to the blood stream. On the coach back to the ferry I remember being extremely relaxed, got off the coach, giggled for a good few minutes then the paranoia/anxiety kicked in. I was terrified. I spent the entire ferry trip back home in my room freaking out. Thinking I wasn't real, that maybe we had been killed and this was the afterlife. I still didn't feel totally right when I got back home, felt spacey and just not with it. A couple of days later when I was at work I felt so trippy, everything felt wierd, people seemed different, I felt paranoid as hell like everyone was looking at me. I freaked out wondering if it was still the spacecake left in my body. I told my team leader I had to go home, on my way out I heard the manager talking to someone and heard him say the word "spacecake" in the conversation. Obviously he didn't say this so I panicked even more.... the people on the bus home weren't talking English, just gibberish. I was wanting to go home and be safe and for everything to start being normal. Another day at work I started to feel light headed, like I was walking on a boat, I thought maybe it was because I had been on a ferry for a couple of days, even though it wasn't even rocky! Pretty much everyday I started feeling lightheaded/dizzy at work. I got more depressed. Stopped going to the gym and didn't want to go out anymore. I took a week off work, went to the doctors, she offered me medication but I turned it down, she also sent me for a blood test which I'm still waiting for the resuts. During the end of this week my anxiety lessened, even though I still felt dizzy/lightheaded, I felt better and went back to work. From then until now I've had the lightheadedness most days, had anixety, one night I woke up in panic and comepletely terrfied, I asked my mum to give me a cuddle and eventually I was able to calm down. At the moment I go through periods where I'm finding it hard to concentrate on anything, getting confused, I can't think properly, I keep double checking on things as I'm thinking I'm going crazy and panicking when I don't understand something, I'm also finding it hard to fall asleep at times as I'm having random thoughts going through my mind, it just won't rest. Today at work, I didn't feel dizzy but felt like something was going to happen. I kept telling myself it's just anxiety, it won't hurt me, and to relax. On my break I got confused by something and panicked. When I went back on the shop floor (I work in a supermarket) everything felt weird, people seemed to act differently and I felt it too overwhelming, it felt simliar to the attack I had when I came back from my Amsterdam trip. I just wanted to run out. I didn't want to interact with people as I was scared what they would say or act in a odd way or that I wouldn't understand what they're were saying, making me panic more. I've started to obsess that the space cake has damaged me some how. Right now I feel so scared, I feel exhausted, my mind feels exhausted from worrying and double checking everything, I feel like I'm going crazy, that I have some sort of mental disorder. I miss the comfort I got from my ex, they would always make me fee safe and always promise me I was okay. I don't have that now, and the fact they lied to me in the end makes me feel like what they promised meant nothing. I almost miss having something physical to worry about too, the mind is a powerful thing and it's scary as hell. I feel like I should just go on medication as I don't know what else to do but I'm scared of the side affects and will it all return when I come off them? I'm also comtemplating going on long term sick as I just can't face going through what I went through today again, I almost think being at work triggers it sometimes. Sorry for the long ramble and thanks for reading if you got this far.

Julie

suzyehayes
28-03-11, 18:58
Hi Julie,
so sorry to hear about all your troubles, I have suffered from panic attacks for over 30 years so i can totally understand how you are feeling, please don't be afraid to use medication as it can give you some respite from frightening feelings, if you think your work is makeing things worse and you can afford to give yourself a break i think this might help. Please don't think you are going crazy, you would not believe some of the thoughts and feelings i have, have you tried relaxation tapes? i find that they help. Hope you will be feeling better soon. Very best wishes.
Suzanne xx

stonecutter76
28-03-11, 19:07
I did read it all, and I can certainly understand some of what you are going through.

I was obsessed for awhile that I had jaw cancer, but in fact it was that my wisdom teeth needed removal. I often think I'm having a heart attack but it's just panic. I've learned to not create worries and instead just work through the sensations my mind is creating - lightheadedness, dizziness, fear or avoidance of places. This is not always easy, nor was it easy to start doing it, but it has been very effective.

I think it very likely that whatever you consumed in the spacecake may have triggered extreme anxiety, and this is not unusual in my opinion. Sometimes the caffeine in coffee can trigger my anxiety. Sometimes a heavily salted meal can do the same. It seems tied to my heart rate - when elevated, it can instigate anxiety. However, I doubt that the spacecake damaged you - your doctor's tests will help determine if all is well.

I have avoided medications because I was scared about side effects, as well. I guess we all have to weigh the positives vs. negatives with our doctor. I found that just having some medication around to help calm me down, if I needed it, has helped dramatically. Sometimes just knowing that I have it (not actually taking it) helped me calm down my anxiety. Please don't be afraid to try some medications, as suzyehanes said.

I hope you get to feeling better very soon. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the spacecake (I know, easily said, right?) - just don't eat anymore anytime soon.

itwillbeokay
28-03-11, 20:01
Thanks for your replies. :) My head is hurting so much right now, it feels so tense and heavy, I also just generally feel exhausted, the fact I find it hard to get to sleep, then awake several times in the night, then have to be up for 4.30AM for work really doesn't help. I don't feel so panicky right now but still getting paranoid/confused about things. I'm also finding I feel better on my own or not having to interact with anyone, like I said before that way I can avoid interaction which means less chance of getting confused/panicked when talking to someone. This in itself also makes me worry though as I can imagine myself becoming jobless, living on my own and never going out. Oh the joys! ;)

Suzanne - I've read that supermarkets tend to be a trigger for some people. I don't know if it's the fluorescent lighting? I worry that if I take time off work, I'll end up staying in the whole time just to avoid the outside world/people and my anixety will just get even worse. At the same time the thought of going back to work right now makes me feel sick. My day off is tomorrow but I'm already dreading going back on Wednesday. I've thought about something like a relaxation CD... I even bought some Camomile tea although not sure if it helped much. Its just times like today at work, when it just hits me, the intense crazy/scared feeling where nothing feels real. I was lucky that I only had 20 minutes left of my shift otherwise I don't know what I would have done. :(

stonecutter76 - I also believe the space cake triggered my anxiety as I read it somewhere. I keep feeling angry at myself for not bothering to google space cake before we went. I wouldn't have touched it if I knew and I certainly will never try it again! When I went to the doctor the second time I had really bad anxiety a few years ago he give me some medication, I have no idea what it was now but I never took it, I just kept it in my medicine draw. But like you said knowing that it was there if I needed it actually did help. Apart from thinking my brain is damaged from 2 pieces of spacecake I'm also worried I may have MS as I heard my Mum talking about someone she knew who has it. I'm thinking, crap, I have those symptoms... I used to google things in the past but I stop myself now, it's just not worth it!