Anxiety symptoms and experiences

[anxious_dave]

Howdy all, was wondering if anyone else has similar issues with anxiety that I do.

I have been on anti anxiety tablets for around 10 months now and they seem to
take the edge off of it. At the beginning of the year I had a panic attack where
my face went numb on and off with my arms and legs then I lost the ability to
speak and write English and could not stop vomiting.

Ended up at the hospital, blood work MRI etc all clean.
The neurologist said it was a panic attack, tho at the time I want panicking
(that I know of). He then put me on anti anxiety tablets.

Since then I have a variety of symptoms that are related to anxiety, my body
twitches every now a then, not in a pattern just now and then my hand will
flinch, or my foot. It some times wakes me up if it's a full body twitch.

For the last 10 years I have been worried that there was something wrong with
my heart as it flutters and skips beats most days. This has gotten a lot better
once I was told that my heart was fine and it was all in my head. It now only
happens now and then and mostly I can just ignore it.

Also, my legs feel wobbly some times, I never fall over I just don't feel solid.
My hands shake more than they used to.

My breathing is pretty bad I breath in hand hold my breath for a split second
and I don't think im breathing correctly unless im concentrating on breathing.

I have held my stomach tense for around 10 years which is now making me feel
strange when I don't hold it tenses and unless im concentrating on it I revert
back to the tense pose.

One thing I have found is that when I am talking to someone for example in a
meeting I feel perfectly fine which leads me to believe that it is all in my
head, but its hard to tell your brain to shut up when its telling you that
something is wrong all the time.

I guess im not really asking any questions, but hopefully (for me) someone else
has the same symptoms and can relate.

If so how do you manage the anxiety? I tell myself to shut up and try to get
on with it but I still grid my teeth a little when im not concentrating on not
doing so.

I was thinking of attending some form of anxiety clinic as over the last 10 months
even though I have not had another panic attack this is still negatively affecting my life.

Has anyone gone to any “Anxiety Center” and did it work or is it a load of rubbish?

Cheers

[NoraB]

Since then I have a variety of symptoms that are related to anxiety, my body
twitches every now a then, not in a pattern just now and then my hand will
flinch, or my foot. It some times wakes me up if it's a full body twitch.

Body jolts, tremors, zaps etc can be down to anti-anxiety medication or in my case, persistently elevated stress. It's a common side-effect with medication so maybe talk to your GP about it if it's too problematic?

For the last 10 years I have been worried that there was something wrong with
my heart as it flutters and skips beats most days. This has gotten a lot better
once I was told that my heart was fine and it was all in my head. It now only
happens now and then and mostly I can just ignore it.

Result!

I've been in A&E twice this year with my heart going nuts all to be told I'm absolutely fine bar tachycardia because I'm panicking that I'm a gonna. I find that a Magnesium supplement helps with the flutters as does drinking more water but most of all I don't let it panic me now.

Also, my legs feel wobbly some times, I never fall over I just don't feel solid.
My hands shake more than they used to.

My breathing is pretty bad I breath in hand hold my breath for a split second
and I don't think im breathing correctly unless im concentrating on breathing.

I have held my stomach tense for around 10 years which is now making me feel
strange when I don't hold it tenses and unless im concentrating on it I revert
back to the tense pose.

Keep practicing abdominal breathing. The more you do it, the better you will feel. I often feel shaky, especially in my legs but it's down to adrenalin and wotnot racing round my body. I also get LOTS of muscular aches and pains, especially in my back and neck where I keep all me tension, innit.

If so how do you manage the anxiety? I tell myself to shut up and try to get
on with it but I still grid my teeth a little when im not concentrating on not
doing so.

I was thinking of attending some form of anxiety clinic as over the last 10 months
even though I have not had another panic attack this is still negatively affecting my life.

I've done a course of CBT recently and found it helpful because, for me, the root cause of my anxiety is negative thinking (on top of some hefty life crap) so I reckoned that I needed to address the way I think and recovery should follow - eventually. I also accept that my body has been stressed for that long that recovery won't happen overnight and there WILL be relapses but when I do relapse (like now) to remind myself that I've been here before and I got through it.


All the best.

[Colicab85]

I can relate to some of, if not all of these.

The main thing that I find im doing is breathing terribly all the time.

I take in a big breath and then hold it in for ages and then take tiny little breaths out my nose and then realise that im not actually using my diaphragm to breath properly.

When i catch myself doing this I can't understand why I have and stop and instantly feel more relaxed.

[anxious_dave]

After doing some more research around the centres they are basically a bunch of doctors and a marketing agency :(

Yeah I thought the jolts were more a symptom of the meds as I have not had them before I started taking them.

Thanks for the advice around breathing. Guess its just time and patience for something like this.

Took around 10 years to get into this situation so it will take a long time to get back to normal