Question:
"The feeling of your just goign crazy is the one I really hate, or I really can’t handle this it’s just to much, it’s just weird." It’s sometimes helpful to just say outloud (or at least in your mind) "this is just a feeling, it does not really mean anything at all" It can also be helpful to know that the only thing you really CANT handle will be the very last thing that happens to you in your life, everything prior to that, you can. G
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Yep some days are good, other days are just damn right miserable and you kinda wish the day would hurry up and be over. I think my GP is a bit against Phsychologist / Physchiatrists, probably believes drugs are the best way or something, I was surprised to, even when I talked to him about the Psychologist he was sort of well whatever works, maybe he isn’t the best GP to be seeing about an Anxiety disorder and how serious or ill feeling it can make you. My phychologist seems to be ok so far and I have the ducene to jump onto if I relapse in a bad way but I am looking for a long term solution. Due to working for myself I can’t afford for this to continue, it’s twice now in 6 months it has rendered me not able to work properly. I just go to bed each night hoping for a good nights sleep and the next day to be a good one. I’ve also given up Pepsi Max (diet drinks) apparently the fake sugar in them type of drinks can also cause problems or increased symptoms, I would of been drinking about 1 litre a day of them, I don’t know if it is true or not however. It was also recommended to drink camamile tea, spose to calm you down make you feel better etc. Anyway I appreciate your help, and do apologise if anythign I say doesn’t make sence, I’m not the best at communicating at times, especially when I’m in a downer like when I wrote that first email. Today is a better day, tomorrow, well only tomorrow knows. I just want to be able to function normally like know that their is a wedding coming up, and be able to go to it without thinking 1000 bad possible thoughts of what might happen if I go, feel sick, just wanting to come home, and wreck the experience for my wife in the process which I have done so often in the past. I’ve basically become a hermit these days dreading going away from home for any length of time. I used to work 60 hours per week in my previous company which I sold 2 years ago, it was ahigh stressed environment, fixing servers, fixing poeple’s computer problems, large installations that sort of thign, always on call, and I was constantly busy, it’s only been the last couple of years since slowing down and just programming from home this has all become more of a problem. I think with what I mentioned earlier with deaths around, having a child (greater responsibility) it just all caught up. Anyway like most people here I just come for answers and look around for what others have tried and what worked for them so I can better make an informed decision on what might work for me. The feeling of your just goign crazy is the one I really hate, or I really can’t handle this it’s just to much, it’s just weird. I dread the nights as that is sometimes when I get hit the hardest with symptons, if i keep myself busy I tend to feel better but that makes it hard to relax with the family.
Response:
WOW !!!! it’s been a long time, i missed y’all, only a few faces i recognize, i see Gary responded to this post, so i’m lookin’ forward to a novel here d’rectly…. I LOVE YOU!!!! AND OUR LOVE CHILE IS DOIN WELL, HE’S POTTY TRAINED NOW !!!! (sorry, i had ta do that, and i done responded to this mail and erased it somehow and i gotta do it agin, and i’m NUTZ ! ) Ok sorry if I’m repeating on information that is already in this form, I’m new here and am trying to figure out whats up with me. Here is whats going on. I’m male 37 years of age and I’m a manager in the IT field. I worry about everything, even when I go out a good time, movie, concert what ever I only call it a good time when I get back home and all went well.
predicting fear is a symptom of ‘panic disorder’ as opposed ta good ole dyed-in-da-wool ‘panic attacks’, maybe a regimen as opposed to ‘as needed’ meds, benzos would be my choice.. (but then agin, i’m da poster chile fer a couplah bluez) Problems started about 6 months ago, for no real reason I can think of.
if we could think of tha reasons, we’d most likely eliminate em, ya reckon? Getting more sleep seemed to help, untill I went on a trip last week.
I have acid reflux
(remind me never ta take ya to an indian restaurant) Thinking I might be having a heart attack but no real pain, only pressure.
nah, yer havin’ a heart attack, ya just ferget ta die’n stuff. (thank tha LAWD ya don’t call ‘911′ every time, cuz they get all touchy, them boys,’n make fun of ya on tha way back to tha station ta eat beans’n pork) so LOSE THAT NUMBER ! Missed heart beats,or heart races out of control EKG was normal. Pressure under left arm pit, hurts more when breathing out. (whats with this?)
been there, done that, got tha 82,333,298 empty xanax bottles ta prove it, it’s yer mind playin’ tricks on yer body, there is no research ta back up tha cause of this physically symtomatic phenomenon, cuz you should ‘CONTROL IT, IT’S IN YER MIND, YER LETTING YER MIND RULE YOU AS OPPOSED TO YOU RULING YER MIND,’ ::vomit:: and it would take EFFORT to research sumthin’ so insignificant, as it is ‘foreign’ to tha purveyors of our quality of life deemed "professionals of psychology" or what tha fuck EVER and all tha while living with this inexplicible terror as we sit at the mercy of their subjective whims… and why make THAT effort when they got better things ta do, like mix a martini with grey goose vodka with extra large olives stuffed with pickled green beans … (but they can sure tell ya how much yer hair continues ta grow after yer dead… yanno.. IMPERTENT SHIT !!!) Sweet like crazy – afterwords feel shacky and light head
(now yer makin’ me a bit moist) ::gettin tha vapors:: and i’ll think about that tomorrow ! tomorrow’s another day… OH MY!!! well, fiddle-di-dee Light head many times with out any of the above, coffee makes it worse so I gave up coffee.
…and it’s SOOOOO easy ta get laid at Starbuck’s, that a true sacrifice, dude !!! numbness or tingling in left finger tips.
(are ya watchin’ an over-abundance of porn?) This can happen when I don’t feel I’m in a stress situation Has happened during sex (the racing out of control heart), and I’m sure I wasn’t stressed than!! Oh and I had been drinking as well,feeling really relaxed so I don"t know what gives.
wellllllllll, at LEAST YER HAVIN’ SEX, FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD, YER TALKIN TO THA DESPERADO OF SEXUAL LIASONS PAST AND PRESENT ! and drinkin’ makes ya feel good.. it’s tha quittin’ part that makes ya feel like crap… can we test THAT theory? (i’m good at beggin’) Have no symtoms when working out, or when distractedunless I think of it. (perhaps I’m screwed up in the head) So is this a panic attack?
no, yer screwed up in tha head. xoxoxoxo ~tanya (still demure’n subtle, i haven’t lost muh touch) hey Screwed? may i have yer picture cuz i predict myself movin’ in yer house real soon’n i wanna make sure i’m knockin on da right door.
Response:
I was wonderin’ where alla those luv chile support checks were goin’ to, although ya sure did cash em mighty fast….
(tha crack dealer don’t wait fer nooooooooo-buddy !!!!! nobody wait fo no fool up in da projeks… gotta get dem dead prezidents, my choices could be runnin thin !!!!) g’on and slip me two xanax bars – I’m ready to git fool 5th to Crown to wash it down, I’m downtown snapping rolls take a chill pill to slow me down and git back in this game gotta be up on ya p’s and q’s to even feel it mane oxycontin, xanax bars, percocet’n lortab valiums, morphine patches, exstacy and it’s all up for grab what’cha want – what’cha need – hit me up I got you mane scarecrow, scarecrow whats that you popping? a powerful pill they call oxycontin see I’ma pill popper – so i’m'ah keep poppin’ em gimme 20 xanax and I’ma start droppin’ em they ain’t no stoppin’ me when they in my system….. (oh god, i just clicked muh heels’n b’came a rappin’ thug wanabe) Been kinda nutty here too, lotta major crapola happened in the past few months, kinda messed up my brain a little… So don’t worry child, ya cain’t hep it, about bein’ nutz, and neether can i ! G $
if ya email me yer # i can call ya fer free cuz i got sum kinda free phone crap, i’d love ta know sumbody’s more screwed up’n me, i’d feel SOOOOOO superior ! (so fake it if ya gotta) people at muh shop tell me "GURLLLL, YOU SHOULD GET’AH CHECK ! MAYBE THRAY’AH FO CHECKS"… i could make a career out’ah this bein nutz crap. marry me, we’ll get free housin’ and a eldorado caddy wif da ‘bruthah package’…. (and rims… rims is impertent now) ~tanya (meeeeeeeeeeet me at tha ned’dest disssssss- coooooooo- teque
Response:
I have a couple of panic attacks now, one last christmas and one about 8 weeks ago when I woke up in the middle of the night with my left arm in pain, I thought it might of been a heart attack (at 34) so I started to panic, then felt sick, then stomach started churning (still does today, not quite over that yet), and still get random pains throughout my body, only last for around 10 seconds here and their sometimes longer, doc says their muscles spasms caused by the anxiety and are normal, along with the churning / wind and occasional "runny poos".
(runny poos?) that was so cute i’m gonna adopt ya An episode of fraiser came on TV and the dude had a saw tooth and kept having strange occurances happen and was wondering about it being a possible heart attack and that freaked me out more beceause he ended up needing bypass surgery, the timing of the episode for me was all wrong.
do NOT watch Dave Letterman, you may find yerself over tha top. Then an episode of Law & Order came on straight after it and the guy jogging through the park died of a heart attack…hehe I was surrounded by the concept. Which just drove me further into panic mode and depression, fatigure and so on. It’s like living your own nightmare that you can’t wake up from;.
have you considered a decision to sans TV fer awhile? or just watch tha weather channel? well, maybe not… too many natural disasters… or tha COOKIN’ CHANNEL ! there ya go, yer cured (thank me later) I went to the doc like 5 times in 2 weeks, he eventually diagnosed it as Anxiety and prescribed me ducene (a bene)
at least he waited ta diagnose ya til his july payment on his ivory tower was donated by ya !!!! (THAT, folks, is professional integrity)uhhhh, KUDOS, DOC-a-ROONIE ! which worked pritty immeditately although it didn’t get rid of all my symptons it settled me down a heap. Then I started reasearching panic attacks / anxiety on the internet and started to find a lot of information and realise I wasn’t alone.
you probly WERE alone, just ’seein’ voices. I was so scared during the time of my panic attack, thinking about if I had a heart attack could my wife do proper CPR, discussed funeral stuff with her, didn’t want to be left alone for any length of time, went with her if she went out to avoid being left alone but everywhere I went I was thinking ok this is not a bad spot to have a heart attack, but we went to a park at one stage with our 2 year old daughter and I was kinda freaking thinking about how the ambulance could get down here. It was all so freaky but seemed so real at the time.
GOOD GOD, YER GIVIN ‘ME’ A PANIC ATTACK !!!!!! ::breathin’n prayin’ to tha benzo gods’n poppinahcouplah bluez:: When I was diagnosed with the with the anxiety problem and put on ducene I also had a suspect mole removed which turned out to be a melanoma stage 2, it had to be cut out a second time by a plastic surgeon (glad I was on the ducene for this). Doc gives me a 99% ten year survial chance having caught it early enough it all adds to the anxiety. Havign my brother in-law die recently from a frekish accident where he fell of his bicycle, a close friend dying from a heart attack at work and a friend online dying from a brain anyurism all around my age adds to "how fragile we are" which made it that much worse to me anyway. I’m sure everyones experiences with anxiety / panic are just as bad.
DUDE !!!! yer past anxiety, yer in obsession mode, and yer takin’ me with ya ! (let’s drink tequila in jamaica’n get’ah cabana boy, we now BOTH need a vacation) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I stopped taking the ducene about 5 days ago now, after being on them for around 5 weeks, a little withdrawl not much, stomach churning / wind is still their and the random pains, hopefully they will settle. I did find a site on the internet which offers a different approach for dealing with these pains at www.selftherapy.org which do seem to work. A different approach but really does seem to work. Looking back over my life not wanting to goto parties / engagement parties / out on fishing trips all because of Social Anxiety, the sick feelign, thinking bad thoughts of what might happen if I did go, etc shows I’ve had anxiety problems for years, althoguh I never knew what it was, I just thought it was me. I guess a lot of people feel this way as you don’t here much about it. I’m still living the nightmare from day to day hoping tomorrow will be a better day and don’t have any anxiety type symptons. The problem with anxiety is now I don’t feel anxious but still ahve all the pains and stomach acid /wind issues, more so at night when I relax.
i suggest relaxin’ more. "DOCTOR, IT FEELS BETTER WHEN I DO THIS"… ("WELL KEEP DOIN’ THAT") Just sitting at nights hoping the minutes would tick over a bit quicker so tomorrow would be a better day, it is certainly scary, but anxiety plays on fear, thats how it all works, fight or flight, you’ll here that a lot when you start any sort of treatment. I see a psychologist and it helps, taught me some breathing exercises, I also read a book called "Living With It", which is about panic attacks and has some real good things in it which make you feel better about yourself. Anyway feel free to email me any of your own personal experiences I’m interested in sharing, getting to understand it more, so I can overcome it totally. I hate it and I bet everyone who has it does.
nah, we thrive on it, we wanna marry it. I don’t think people really realise how bad it is.
WILL YOU COME VISIT ME? cuz i now love you. (i panic when i get my mail, and it’s 3 feet from the front door of muh shop, we should be quite happy with each other, me thinkin’ yer worse’n me’n vice versa) ~tanya (yer future) DON’T PANIC !!!!!!! i’m jokin.
Response:
Hey man, whats up? You are not having nor will you ever have a heart attack from panic. What you are experiencing are panic attacks. also you will not go crazy nor will you lose control.
he’s correct, that only happens ta goofy chicks in alabama that spend too much time in tha sinkhole of humanity with thugs, druggies, inbreds,5 checks apiece gettin’ mo fo luzers that’ll invest in a woodchipper ta lop off a limb fer a SIXTH check, havin’ fist fights with tha chief of police in her tat shop in alabama’n screamin’ like a banshee on main street: "I AM NOT PSYCHOTIC, I SWEAR TO GOD IT’S Y’ALL, NOT MEEEEEEEEEEE… DO YOU HEAR MEEEEEEEEE". (tho ineffective, at least, it confirms i do NOT lose control and i ain’t crazy)thank you for that confirmation, i feel better, i hope he does. it is just panic. it comes and it will go.
exactly. and ya get 3 hots’n a cot in tha meantime (well, it’s POSSIBLE!) What you ahve to do now is realize that you are not messed up in the head.
"YOU ARE NOT MESSED UP IN THA HEAD, IT’S THEMMMMMMMMM" (gotta stay in practice, yanno) we are all normal people with over active fight or flight activity. I suggest you go and see a theraspist to find out why you are having panic.
now THAT’s a tried’n true theory. as IF ! could be stress, could be memories from a long time ago creeping in. could be a lot of things. what i do know is that you are a normal guy having anxiety attacks. we all have anxiety on this board and NOT ONE OF US HAVE GONE CRAZY AND NOT ONE OF US HAVE HAD A HEART ATTACK FROM THE PANIC.
(i think he meant "NOT ‘TWO’ OF US") there are 20 million people in america with anxiety problems and not one has lost control
(ya think that judge’ll buy that?) or dies from it. well, sumbody ELSE may die from it … ::reloadin:: neither will you. Just get to see someone and learn relaxation tecniques. You will be fine brother you really will.
is "fine" subjective? now if only i could take my own damn advise!
you just need a bubble bath. (in alabama, of course) G
~tanya, aka sybil …. lalalalalallalaaaaaaa (and rational people lemme stick needles thru em, ain’t life grand)
Response:
I was wonderin’ where alla those luv chile support checks were goin’ to, although ya sure did cash em mighty fast…. Been kinda nutty here too, lotta major crapola happened in the past few months, kinda messed up my brain a little… So don’t worry child, ya cain’t hep it, about bein’ nutz, and neether can i ! G $
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – WOW !!!! it’s been a long time, i missed y’all, only a few faces i recognize, i see Gary responded to this post, so i’m lookin’ forward to a novel here d’rectly…. I LOVE YOU!!!! AND OUR LOVE CHILE IS DOIN WELL, HE’S POTTY TRAINED NOW !!!! (sorry, i had ta do that, and i done responded to this mail and erased it somehow and i gotta do it agin, and i’m NUTZ ! ) Ok sorry if I’m repeating on information that is already in this form, I’m new here and am trying to figure out whats up with me. Here is whats going on. I’m male 37 years of age and I’m a manager in the IT field. I worry about everything, even when I go out a good time, movie, concert what ever I only call it a good time when I get back home and all went well. predicting fear is a symptom of ‘panic disorder’ as opposed ta good ole dyed-in-da-wool ‘panic attacks’, maybe a regimen as opposed to ‘as needed’ meds, benzos would be my choice.. (but then agin, i’m da poster chile fer a couplah bluez) Problems started about 6 months ago, for no real reason I can think of. if we could think of tha reasons, we’d most likely eliminate em, ya reckon? Getting more sleep seemed to help, untill I went on a trip last week. I have acid reflux (remind me never ta take ya to an indian restaurant) Thinking I might be having a heart attack but no real pain, only pressure. nah, yer havin’ a heart attack, ya just ferget ta die’n stuff. (thank tha LAWD ya don’t call ‘911′ every time, cuz they get all touchy, them boys,’n make fun of ya on tha way back to tha station ta eat beans’n pork) so LOSE THAT NUMBER ! Missed heart beats,or heart races out of control EKG was normal. Pressure under left arm pit, hurts more when breathing out. (whats with this?) been there, done that, got tha 82,333,298 empty xanax bottles ta prove it, it’s yer mind playin’ tricks on yer body, there is no research ta back up tha cause of this physically symtomatic phenomenon, cuz you should ‘CONTROL IT, IT’S IN YER MIND, YER LETTING YER MIND RULE YOU AS OPPOSED TO YOU RULING YER MIND,’ ::vomit:: and it would take EFFORT to research sumthin’ so insignificant, as it is ‘foreign’ to tha purveyors of our quality of life deemed "professionals of psychology" or what tha fuck EVER and all tha while living with this inexplicible terror as we sit at the mercy of their subjective whims… and why make THAT effort when they got better things ta do, like mix a martini with grey goose vodka with extra large olives stuffed with pickled green beans … (but they can sure tell ya how much yer hair continues ta grow after yer dead… yanno.. IMPERTENT SHIT !!!) Sweet like crazy – afterwords feel shacky and light head (now yer makin’ me a bit moist) ::gettin tha vapors:: and i’ll think about that tomorrow ! tomorrow’s another day… OH MY!!! well, fiddle-di-dee Light head many times with out any of the above, coffee makes it worse so I gave up coffee. …and it’s SOOOOO easy ta get laid at Starbuck’s, that a true sacrifice, dude !!! numbness or tingling in left finger tips. (are ya watchin’ an over-abundance of porn?) This can happen when I don’t feel I’m in a stress situation Has happened during sex (the racing out of control heart), and I’m sure I wasn’t stressed than!! Oh and I had been drinking as well,feeling really relaxed so I don"t know what gives. wellllllllll, at LEAST YER HAVIN’ SEX, FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD, YER TALKIN TO THA DESPERADO OF SEXUAL LIASONS PAST AND PRESENT ! and drinkin’ makes ya feel good.. it’s tha quittin’ part that makes ya feel like crap… can we test THAT theory? (i’m good at beggin’) Have no symtoms when working out, or when distractedunless I think of it. (perhaps I’m screwed up in the head) So is this a panic attack? no, yer screwed up in tha head. xoxoxoxo ~tanya (still demure’n subtle, i haven’t lost muh touch) hey Screwed? may i have yer picture cuz i predict myself movin’ in yer house real soon’n i wanna make sure i’m knockin on da right door.
Response:
I think that you are, at the minimum, experiencing anxiety symptoms.
translation: (it could be much much worse, cuz if anxiety is tha ‘minimum’… i ain’t even gonna comment on tha ‘maximum’) I can sniff out some kind of "control issue" here,
translation: (i’m an elvis fan’n ain’t nuthin’ but’ah houndddddddd dawggggggg") ::thankyaverymuchpriscilla:: although vaguely, it seems to be there.
translation: (i’m bein’ diplomatic, it SCREAMS "i’m a control freak"… but i didn’t wanna sound controllin’ or even…. judgmental, by god, cuz ta tell ya tha truth, ya really need’ah ass whuppin’… *how big’ah boy are ya?* My vote: call EAP, make a (confidential – they always are) convenient appointment (I can hear you now – "but it WONT be convenient!")
translation: (it’s confidential, but he can hear you, soooooooo… ya GOTTA wonder !!!) and be extremely honest and forthcoming if you feel the mental health practitioner is a "psychologically safe" person to talk with.
translation ::spew, vomit, heave, puke:: (as IF) They are bound by law not to disclose anything you talk about, and can lose their license if they do, so do not leave anything out
translation: (they don’t disclose nothin’ cuz they don’t listen ta nothin’) - the thing you most fear telling them is probably the thing that is bugging you.
translation: (hopefully he’ll tell me sum dirt without me appearin’ ta be nosey) Let’s start there.
translation: (if ya don’t, tanya’ll bug tha hell out’ah ya fer info til SHE’s yer anxietal trigger… GOD, i’m glad she’s back) Gary ps: do you like your job?
translation: (or does it ‘blow’?) ::gulp:: xoxoxoxo ~tanya (his baby mama) WELLLLLL !!!!!! i had ta, i missed muh Gary !!!! so shush.
Response:
Thanks for the reply; it helped to know I’m not alone. I find when this happens in public and I sweet, I than freak about sweating and of course I sweet more and I mean dripping right off of me sweet. I need to learn to get control of this.
(is it just me, or are y’all just full’ah inuendoes taday?) I started eating much better, green tea extract,
they DO make gatorade’n crap, yanno… it’s america, ya ain’t gotta resort ta THAT ! lots of salmon and long walks, (awwwww, do y’all hold hands? he feel like’ah cold fish?) hahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahahaha (i crack me up) go to bed earlier and heavy yard work and have started to loss weight, I’m about 20 -30lbs over. I would think if I had a heart problem it would show under heavy workout when I strain to lift heavy objects.
::raisin hand:: I’M A HEAVY OBJECT !!!!! let’s make’ah bet. I’m amazingly strong and can do these things with out problem.
::fannin:: I can shovel dirt all day (doing some landscaping at home) and never get winded, but when I experience these symptoms I get winded very easily.(is this part of a panic attack?)
yes, anything that feels like crap that ya can’t explain that makes ya feel like yer dyin’ and like yer heart is beatin’ too loud for ya ta go to a golf tournament fer fear you’ll get kicked out fer disturbin’ them lil ball chasers is a panic attack. (either that or ya got struck by lightnin’… but whaddah tha chances?) The other thing that bothers me about this is – its all I think about!!
ALL ya think about???? (now that could give a gal a duplex, yanno)…. or a complex… whichever… agin, ‘panic disorder’ as opposed to panic attacks, and i’m with ya, dude… it’s the one thing, even if yer life is perfection that can annihilate yer very existence, and it ain’t a matter of ‘if ya let it’… i wanna beat tha shit outta people that say that very thing with a friggin mop’n tell em ta shaddup and go check out tha dark side of tha golden gate bridge’n jump or marry me, whichever causes tha most misery, and that’s why i’m tha xanax queen of america and i’d like ta thank all tha little people involved… ::donnin’ my tiara:: AND BLOWIN’ KISSES, OF COURSE ! ~tanya <smile
Response:
Go see a holistic doctor he can help you get to the root of the problem I know I see one. I had the same symptems you had but not any more Email me out there and its not Meds ok. its life style changes and vitamins and detoxifying the body and juiceing and casting all those worrys you have and thank good thoughts speak life not death over your self God Bless you
now why didn’t *i* think’ah that, treatin’ tha mind’n body as a whole, not dissectin’ tha two, and BAM ! (yer cured) only ONE lil problem i see with that theory, there, Harley… do ya REALLY think we all just sat/sit around’n say "oh well, i’ll just put this feelin’ off’n deal with it tomorrow, it’s mind ovah mattah" or ya think we might’ah just said 80 million times "I’LL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY RESOURCE AVAILABLE, I’LL BECOME A PROFESSIONAL BREATHER, LEARN TA MEDITATE, DO PILATES ON A PURPLE MAT, EAT RAW RATS DOUSED IN GASOLINE, GO TA MECCA’N STARE AT THA SUN’N SAY AHHHHMMMMMMM, LISTEN TA IDIOTS THAT HAVE NO CLUE WHAT WE’RE FEELIN’ AND TOOK EVEN ‘THEIR’ ADVICE TA JUST ‘STOP THINKIN ABOUT IT, GET SUM CONTROL’ EVEN THO THEM PEOPLE SHOULD BE STRANGLED WITH THE HAIR OF AN AFRICAN BEAST OR SAID THA PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE IN FRONT A GROUP OF FANS AT’AH MIDGET BOWLIN’ CONTEST OR MOVED TO A TREEHOUSE IN WYOMING TO COMMUNE WITH NATURE WHILE ROASTIN’ WEENIES’N SINGIN’ KUM BAH friggin YAH AND EVEN PRAY TA THE FRIGGIN GOD OF GODS’N MEMORIZE THA BOOK OF ‘PSALMS’, FIND RELIGION AND THA IMAGE OF THA VIRGIN MARY IN A COFFEE CUP AND BECOME SPIRITUAL AND EVERY OTHER PIECE’AH SHIT CRAP YA CAN THINK OF OR HEARD INCLUDIN’ ORDERIN SUM LAME FRIGGIN’ VIDEO OFF SUM INFOMERCIAL OUTTA DESPERATION ?????" how tha HELL did we ferget ta go to a holistic dude that sits around’n burns incense’n wear clothes from "Pier 1" that ain’t got no shoes… i bet he even would call me "MY CHILD"… ::smackin forehead:: WOW ! and i could’ah avoided all this angst !!!!! now Bruthah Harley, i’m thinkin’ that i can personally cure ya of yer addiction to a bike most never see but from tha bottom up, as they’re always under it…. ummmmmm……GAS’N A MATCH ! see? i’m a genius as well, we should write’ah book. ~tanya (i know, i know… you know ‘JUST how we feel’… tell it to tha pope… only tha good die young)
Response:
Yep some days are good, other days are just damn right miserable and you kinda wish the day would hurry up and be over. I think my GP is a bit against Phsychologist / Physchiatrists, probably believes drugs are the best way or something, I was surprised to, even when I talked to him about the Psychologist he was sort of well whatever works, maybe he isn’t the best GP to be seeing about an Anxiety disorder and how serious or ill feeling it can make you. My phychologist seems to be ok so far and I have the ducene to jump onto if I relapse in a bad way but I am looking for a long term solution. Due to working for myself I can’t afford for this to continue, it’s twice now in 6 months it has rendered me not able to work properly. I just go to bed each night hoping for a good nights sleep and the next day to be a good one. I’ve also given up Pepsi Max (diet drinks) apparently the fake sugar in them type of drinks can also cause problems or increased symptoms, I would of been drinking about 1 litre a day of them, I don’t know if it is true or not however. It was also recommended to drink camamile tea, spose to calm you down make you feel better etc. Anyway I appreciate your help, and do apologise if anythign I say doesn’t make sence, I’m not the best at communicating at times, especially when I’m in a downer like when I wrote that first email. Today is a better day, tomorrow, well only tomorrow knows. I just want to be able to function normally like know that their is a wedding coming up, and be able to go to it without thinking 1000 bad possible thoughts of what might happen if I go, feel sick, just wanting to come home, and wreck the experience for my wife in the process which I have done so often in the past. I’ve basically become a hermit these days dreading going away from home for any length of time. I used to work 60 hours per week in my previous company which I sold 2 years ago, it was ahigh stressed environment, fixing servers, fixing poeple’s computer problems, large installations that sort of thign, always on call, and I was constantly busy, it’s only been the last couple of years since slowing down and just programming from home this has all become more of a problem. I think with what I mentioned earlier with deaths around, having a child (greater responsibility) it just all caught up. Anyway like most people here I just come for answers and look around for what others have tried and what worked for them so I can better make an informed decision on what might work for me. The feeling of your just goign crazy is the one I really hate, or I really can’t handle this it’s just to much, it’s just weird. I dread the nights as that is sometimes when I get hit the hardest with symptons, if i keep myself busy I tend to feel better but that makes it hard to relax with the family.
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Mr. Goodwin: I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in Australia, and am not especially familiar with how they run medical practices etc. (however I’m sure they do all the things I spoke of, someplace) Having read everything very carefully, it does very much sound like you would benefit from consultation with a psychiatrist. There is some discussion of social anxiety problems, you have cited work as a possible source of anxiety (which you are obviously exposed to often, and can’t avoid, unlike parties). You have anticipatory anxiety, as evidenced by the discussion of the power outage. Anxiety problems do not really have an intellectual dimension (in the context of being "stupid" I mean) – they just "happen", as you say. I also read something that sounded like de-personalization (a common, yet fairly scary anxiety disorder symptom) and you were unable to work as a result of this. It is hard to imagine that a physician, knowing all those things would not feel that you deserved a psych consult. From reading your posts again, it also appears that you have a number of assets in your life which will very likely help you work your way through this problem, and you may only need some Cognitive/Behavioral therapy – I tend to want to send everyone to a shrink, but I do find that they are often excellent at diagnosing and also are often very good with the more subtle aspects of choosing treatment options, simply because they study the esoterica of this field and attend symposiums, conferences, etc. – generally having a higher level of acumen in dealing with a wide variety of scenarios having to do with mental health issues. In fairness, some therapists and psychologists are also excellent, and can be enormously helpful – as Philip likes to say "if it works, it works" – which is quite true. By the way, thank you for your book recommendation, I plan to take a look at it when I have time. You can absolutely get full control of these symptoms and problems, it just takes a little while – so keep going. Actually, you sound a little bit better in this more recent post than you did in the first one I read. Gary
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Do you have any diagnosed medical problems? (Chronic ones, that you may even take medicines every day for)… Nope My Typical work rotuine involves getting up around 7/8am and then going to my officer, I work at home as a Software Developer creating various software application for clients. I do go see them onsite occasionally etc. I tend to work in the office most of the day, taking 1 hour out to do some piano practice (sometimes) however this has been difficult since the last panic attack. I cease work around 5pm and then have dinner usually and watch television, and maybe play a game or two after that. It’s usually later in the day when I have more physical symptons liek the stomach churning / wind and muscle spams when I start watching Television. I feel fairly fullfilled in my life, achieved a lot of the goals I always wanted to, ie becominga programmer, learning the piano. My wife is a stay at home mum at the moment but she will eventually move into child care which she is studying currently. Somtimes I wonder about the purpose of life and dwell on the meaning of life. I don’t follow any religions as I find them hard to believe, I do believe their is a GOD as such, but do wonder a lot if their is anything else once you die. I took 5mg of Ducene per day, 1/2 a tablet in the morning, 1/2 a tablet a night. It never stopped all my symptons like the stomch churning / wind or the muscle spasms but it took away the thoughts of having a heart attack etc and made me able to function more rationally etc. Finances are good, not in debt, do quite well in that department so don’t feel as I would get any stress from that. My childhood was a little rough my father basically left me when I was 15, it’s a long story, used to get bullied at school etc, I don’t know wehther this contributes to my current condition or not, but you hear a lot of people say that the first x years of your life tend to make you what you are later on in life. I tend to avoid parties currently and if I go don’t typically stay long, wife goes along with it, altough not happy, I tend to feel sick just going to them and usually try to make up reasons why I can’t go, or shouldn’t go. I refer to fear as when something bad happens like the other night (yesterday the power went out in the middle of the house) to half of the house, It stressed me as no power to the fridge and I feared it would increase my anxiety and cause more symptons and maybe lead to a panic attack. It ended up getting fixed but I was pacing a lot during the time, couldn’t work, felt out of it (distant), its hard to explain. I fear bad situations now may increase my anxiety….I think little problems tend to become big because I dwell on them in a circle, it’s stupid I know but it happens. I stopped taking the drug becuase I believed it was having an affect on my creativity side and piano practice / playing, by taking the feeling out of it. And also believed it was harder to remember stuff (shot term), ie practice wasn’t as easy as normal and wasn’t progressing the same as it did before I was on the drug. I’ll see if I can get them tests done, but teh Australian medical system is a bit weird in that typically a doctor has to recommend it, you can’t just ask for them "even on private medical insurance", anyway I’ll check. I had a EKG a few years back due to having high blood pressure when I went for my pilots medical. They said the high blood pressure was caused by white syndrome or something like that, goes up while their taking it but otherwise normal. They made me wear a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. Like with a phychiatrist here in Australia you acn’t just go see one you need a doctors referal and he hasn’t deemed it necessary just recommends the ducene tablets. However I am seeing a phychologist that has taught me the breathing excersises so far and is now starting my on CBT. I did go directly once to a phychiatrist but he was so concearned about me not having a doctors referal more than anything else. He said he could put me on anti-depresents but they would take 2 months to click in, i never went back. This was after my first panic-attack or high anxiety situation at Christmas time where it lasted a few months but I got over it and life went back to normal. Thanks for all your advice and I’ll keep you up to date.
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Do you have any diagnosed medical problems? (Chronic ones, that you may even take medicines every day for)… Nope My Typical work rotuine involves getting up around 7/8am and then going to my officer, I work at home as a Software Developer creating various software application for clients. I do go see them onsite occasionally etc. I tend to work in the office most of the day, taking 1 hour out to do some piano practice (sometimes) however this has been difficult since the last panic attack. I cease work around 5pm and then have dinner usually and watch television, and maybe play a game or two after that. It’s usually later in the day when I have more physical symptons liek the stomach churning / wind and muscle spams when I start watching Television. I feel fairly fullfilled in my life, achieved a lot of the goals I always wanted to, ie becominga programmer, learning the piano. My wife is a stay at home mum at the moment but she will eventually move into child care which she is studying currently. Somtimes I wonder about the purpose of life and dwell on the meaning of life. I don’t follow any religions as I find them hard to believe, I do believe their is a GOD as such, but do wonder a lot if their is anything else once you die. I took 5mg of Ducene per day, 1/2 a tablet in the morning, 1/2 a tablet a night. It never stopped all my symptons like the stomch churning / wind or the muscle spasms but it took away the thoughts of having a heart attack etc and made me able to function more rationally etc. Finances are good, not in debt, do quite well in that department so don’t feel as I would get any stress from that. My childhood was a little rough my father basically left me when I was 15, it’s a long story, used to get bullied at school etc, I don’t know wehther this contributes to my current condition or not, but you hear a lot of people say that the first x years of your life tend to make you what you are later on in life. I tend to avoid parties currently and if I go don’t typically stay long, wife goes along with it, altough not happy, I tend to feel sick just going to them and usually try to make up reasons why I can’t go, or shouldn’t go. I refer to fear as when something bad happens like the other night (yesterday the power went out in the middle of the house) to half of the house, It stressed me as no power to the fridge and I feared it would increase my anxiety and cause more symptons and maybe lead to a panic attack. It ended up getting fixed but I was pacing a lot during the time, couldn’t work, felt out of it (distant), its hard to explain. I fear bad situations now may increase my anxiety….I think little problems tend to become big because I dwell on them in a circle, it’s stupid I know but it happens. I stopped taking the drug becuase I believed it was having an affect on my creativity side and piano practice / playing, by taking the feeling out of it. And also believed it was harder to remember stuff (shot term), ie practice wasn’t as easy as normal and wasn’t progressing the same as it did before I was on the drug. I’ll see if I can get them tests done, but teh Australian medical system is a bit weird in that typically a doctor has to recommend it, you can’t just ask for them "even on private medical insurance", anyway I’ll check. I had a EKG a few years back due to having high blood pressure when I went for my pilots medical. They said the high blood pressure was caused by white syndrome or something like that, goes up while their taking it but otherwise normal. They made me wear a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. Like with a phychiatrist here in Australia you acn’t just go see one you need a doctors referal and he hasn’t deemed it necessary just recommends the ducene tablets. However I am seeing a phychologist that has taught me the breathing excersises so far and is now starting my on CBT. I did go directly once to a phychiatrist but he was so concearned about me not having a doctors referal more than anything else. He said he could put me on anti-depresents but they would take 2 months to click in, i never went back. This was after my first panic-attack or high anxiety situation at Christmas time where it lasted a few months but I got over it and life went back to normal. Thanks for all your advice and I’ll keep you up to date.
Response:
Mr. Goodwin: You cite a panic attack, with subsequent and recurrent physical symptoms 8 weeks ago. You then said later that you stopped taking ducene (valium) only 5 days ago, after having taken it for over a month. I will try to help you in any way possible, but I do have a few questions if you wouldn’t mind answering them; it would help me know you better. How much valium/ducene were you taking every day? If the amount varied from day to day, what was the highest amount you needed? Do you have any diagnosed medical problems? (Chronic ones, that you may even take medicines every day for)… Please detail a typical day of yours – from wake-up to bed-time. Your job, your spouse/child (what’s that like, the relationships, the nature of the interactions, how you feel during them, anything you care to say here…) Do you rent/buy? What are your finances like? Any credit cards? Spouse working or stay home mom? On a scale of one to ten (one is "ready to go postal any day now" and ten is "would work there for free if they stopped paying me") how much do you like your job? What are your thoughts on fulfillment and how that is best achieved by people, in their lives? How do you feel, in terms of being fulfilled? There are some inconsistent statements in your post (not uncommon for anxious people stopping valium) so let me just try to get the answers cleared up for myself: "I’m still living the nightmare from day to day hoping tomorrow will be a better day… and don’t have any anxiety type symptoms." Then you go on to say: "The problem with anxiety is now I don’t feel anxious but still have all the pains and stomach issues, more so at night when I relax" What pains are you speaking of? If it’s a nightmare, how do you relax? You "don’t feel anxious", but it is "certainly scary" and makes you hope "the minutes would tick over a bit quicker". As you can imagine, it’s hard to know what you are really trying to say. Are you still anxious? (it sounds for all the world like you are, but you get most of the votes on that). Fear and anxiety must be differentiated with great accuracy (in your mind, my mind, everyone’s). Fear of having your house foreclosed is what keeps you from saying "fuck it" and going to the beach without calling your job first… Anxiety is what keeps you from going to parties because of imagined bad things that "might" happen. One is known, the other is imagined. There is fear of the known (getting fired) and fear of the unknown (what will happen, if I actually DO get fired?). Anxiety has a slightly less rational component to it, in my opinion. It is the job of the anxiety sufferer to challenge the rationality of the thoughts you have, when experiencing anxiety. Example: "I don’t really WANT to go to this party, but it’s important to my wife. What if I have stomach gas while I’m there, and I get embarrassed?" This type of thought, unexamined, can paralyze an anxious person. Examined though, it can be taken apart. I really don’t WANT to go – well, I have done lots of things I didn’t WANT to do this week, so this will just be one more, and I might even have a decent conversation with someone…. What if I have stomach gas? Is there anyone at this party who has never had stomach gas? What is the worst thing that could happen if they knew (which they might very well not) that I was having it? They might even give me some Pepto Bismol, and because people bond via "crisis", I might make a new friend… Are there any legitimate reasons why I should actually be afraid to invest a couple of hours in this party? Can I contract with my wife, that if I just cannot stand it after an hour, that we can politely leave? These are the kind of thoughts you must practice – rather than the very well-practiced ones that involve doom, lack and losing – how’s that skill been working for you? What was the reason you stopped taking Valium only a few weeks after a panic attack that left you with a (still unstable) stomach problem ? Steve: this is what I would do, if I were in your situation (which I’m not, so please don’t construe it as "advice", but just my own take on it, based on limited data – well, actually it is advice but given with the knowledge that I have less than a ton of knowledge about you.) a) I’d make an appointment to see a psychiatrist (call the local hospital, in the evening, and ask one of the nurses which of the shrinks is good at dealing with anxious people – they will know; if they say they don’t know, ask for someone who does) b) Bring the post (print it) that you sent here, and highlight all of the symptoms that you pointed out here, it will save time, and time in those offices is pricey, so get the most bang for your buck. c) Realize that today’s medicine practitioners "like" to put people on anti-depressants (usually SSRI type, like Paxil, Celexa, etc.) to get these types of syndromes under control. If your anxiety is so bad that you are being impaired or crippled by it, the "waiting period" of several weeks for the anti-depressant to kick in will possibly need to be supported by a benzo, however Valium is not always the best choice due to its very long elimination time from your liver. A physician can best decide this, based on things unique to you; I cannot. Medication may not be what the psych doc even wants to do, but the more info you give him/her, the better guess they can make as to what will help you the most. d) Make a list of Plus and Minus columns, about your life (anything that comes to mind – a plus could be "I went to a great highschool, I have a great job, My wife is sexy as hell, I love my neighborhood, My car started today….I am so glad we have the church we do in this town, I’m so glad I don’t go to church, (whatever the answers are is what they are)" and so on. Minus items could be anything (don’t know your life history, but I bet you know most of it…) "I had a really bad week every month this past month at work, I have less friends than I’d like, I wish I looked better, I had a really bad set of parents because they____, My wife is really a pain in my ass and if she would just ____ I think I’d like her more, The following three things happened to me growing up that I just can’t stand thinking about or I feel a little sick, and they are ____, _____, _____. My finances need the following improvements: (list them).. I wish I was sexier to my wife, I want a bigger penis, whatever…" This will save enormous amounts of time, if you are honest – no one has to see this list but you, you can burn it if you want after the appointment – and the shrink CANNOT discuss the case with anyone in your life – it’s illegal and they can lose their practice license if they do that, and they know it very well, so be HONEST The less you want to disclose a particular thing, the more likely it is that the "thing" has something to do with why you are having anxiety – the safe place to talk about it is in the shrink office. e) Ask your family doctor to do a complete thyroid panel (he’ll know what that is, and why you want it) and bring those results to the shrink office. Tell him you will also need a complete chemistry panel, often called a Chem 26, or "complete chemistry panel" (which includes basic electrolytes, liver functions, some kidney function tests). Also ask for a CBC and and ESR (lab tests). Have copies of ALL the results with you when you go to the shrink – this accomplishes several things, most notably it lets the shrink know a number of things that you don’t have wrong with you, and also lets him/her know that you are quite serious about getting better. Get an EKG done, your family doctor should be able to do that, and if not, get another doctor – immediately. Bring the EKG to the shrink’s office as well (a copy of it). Make a list of ANY medicines that you EVER take, and how often you take them. Write down what type of alcohol you drink, how often you use it, and for how long you’ve been using it and how much (on average) each time you drink. I don’t care if you drink once a year, write that down too. If you use any other substances, such as marijuana, cocaine, etc.. write that down too – I don’t know you, so I am just covering it all, and believe me, the shrink has heard ALL of it before, a million times, so do NOT conceal any of this type information. If anyone in your family has history of mental health problems, write that down – e.g. father died of alcoholism, mother was hospitalized several times for depression, or perhaps "no known history at all"… Incidentally, you may have had some of the labwork I discussed earlier done recently, in which case it would not necessarily be required to get it again (but bring copies of all of it, regardless, to the psychiatrist). Same with the EKG – it should be less than a year old though, and recent if you’ve been having any kind of palpitations or anything like that. Ask your family doctor point blank if there are ANY ABNORMALITIES in your physical exam, in his opinion. Ask him to please write them down for your shrink, if the answer is "yes". Of particular interest to the shrink will be the ducene, the dosage, tablet size (mgs), how often used, results, how long you’ve been off it now, etc.. so have that ready too. Writing all this down will save a TON of time, and you will get a lot more accomplished much faster. Obviously, if YOU have any history of mental health treatment, write that down in detail too. Do not (DO NOT) over, or under emphasize anything, be very factual about all information. If emotion comes with it, it is ok, and useful actually, to show that. If you cry, you cry – they buy Kleenex by the case (seriously, they do). f) You don’t have to get a
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I have a couple of panic attacks now, one last christmas and one about 8 weeks ago when I woke up in the middle of the night with my left arm in pain, I thought it might of been a heart attack (at 34) so I started to panic, then felt sick, then stomach started churning (still does today, not quite over that yet), and still get random pains throughout my body, only last for around 10 seconds here and their sometimes longer, doc says their muscles spasms caused by the anxiety and are normal, along with the churning / wind and occasional "runny poos". Anyway I was in panic mode after the arm problem and then indegistion started, so I looked it up on the internet and quite often indegistion is mistaken for a possible heart attack so I was in more of a panic mode hot flushes, had an underlying flu at the time and my immune system was shutting down, so started to get real sick. An episode of fraiser came on TV and the dude had a saw tooth and kept having strange occurances happen and was wondering about it being a possible heart attack and that freaked me out more beceause he ended up needing bypass surgery, the timing of the episode for me was all wrong. Then an episode of Law & Order came on straight after it and the guy jogging through the park died of a heart attack…hehe I was surrounded by the concept. Which just drove me further into panic mode and depression, fatigure and so on. It’s like living your own nightmare that you can’t wake up from;. I went to the doc like 5 times in 2 weeks, he eventually diagnosed it as Anxiety and prescribed me ducene (a bene) which worked pritty immeditately although it didn’t get rid of all my symptons it settled me down a heap. Then I started reasearching panic attacks / anxiety on the internet and started to find a lot of information and realise I wasn’t alone. I was so scared during the time of my panic attack, thinking about if I had a heart attack could my wife do proper CPR, discussed funeral stuff with her, didn’t want to be left alone for any length of time, went with her if she went out to avoid being left alone but everywhere I went I was thinking ok this is not a bad spot to have a heart attack, but we went to a park at one stage with our 2 year old daughter and I was kinda freaking thinking about how the ambulance could get down here. It was all so freaky but seemed so real at the time. When I was diagnosed with the with the anxiety problem and put on ducene I also had a suspect mole removed which turned out to be a melanoma stage 2, it had to be cut out a second time by a plastic surgeon (glad I was on the ducene for this). Doc gives me a 99% ten year survial chance having caught it early enough it all adds to the anxiety. Havign my brother in-law die recently from a frekish accident where he fell of his bicycle, a close friend dying from a heart attack at work and a friend online dying from a brain anyurism all around my age adds to "how fragile we are" which made it that much worse to me anyway. I’m sure everyones experiences with anxiety / panic are just as bad. I stopped taking the ducene about 5 days ago now, after being on them for around 5 weeks, a little withdrawl not much, stomach churning / wind is still their and the random pains, hopefully they will settle. I did find a site on the internet which offers a different approach for dealing with these pains at www.selftherapy.org which do seem to work. A different approach but really does seem to work. Looking back over my life not wanting to goto parties / engagement parties / out on fishing trips all because of Social Anxiety, the sick feelign, thinking bad thoughts of what might happen if I did go, etc shows I’ve had anxiety problems for years, althoguh I never knew what it was, I just thought it was me. I guess a lot of people feel this way as you don’t here much about it. I’m still living the nightmare from day to day hoping tomorrow will be a better day and don’t have any anxiety type symptons. The problem with anxiety is now I don’t feel anxious but still ahve all the pains and stomach acid /wind issues, more so at night when I relax. Just sitting at nights hoping the minutes would tick over a bit quicker so tomorrow would be a better day, it is certainly scary, but anxiety plays on fear, thats how it all works, fight or flight, you’ll here that a lot when you start any sort of treatment. I see a psychologist and it helps, taught me some breathing exercises, I also read a book called "Living With It", which is about panic attacks and has some real good things in it which make you feel better about yourself. Anyway feel free to email me any of your own personal experiences I’m interested in sharing, getting to understand it more, so I can overcome it totally. I hate it and I bet everyone who has it does. I don’t think people really realise how bad it is. Thanks – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok sorry if I’m repeating on information that is already in this form, I’m new here and am trying to figure out whats up with me. Here is whats going on. I’m male 37 years of age and I’m a manager in the IT field. I worry about everything, even when I go out a good time, movie, concert what ever I only call it a good time when I get back home and all went well. Problems started about 6 months ago, for no real reason I can think of. Getting more sleep seemed to help, untill I went on a trip last week. I have acid reflux Thinking I might be having a heart attack but no real pain, only pressure. Missed heart beats,or heart races out of control EKG was normal. Pressure under left arm pit, hurts more when breathing out. (whats with this?) Sweet like crazy – afterwords feel shacky and light head Light head many times with out any of the above, coffee makes it worse so I gave up coffee. numbness or tingling in left finger tips. This can happen when I don’t feel I’m in a stress situation Has happened during sex (the racing out of control heart), and I’m sure I wasn’t stressed than!! Oh and I had been drinking as well,feeling really relaxed so I don"t know what gives. Have no symtoms when working out, or when distractedunless I think of it. (perhaps I’m screwed up in the head) So is this a panic attack?
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Hey man, whats up? You are not having nor will you ever have a heart attack from panic. What you are experiencing are panic attacks. also you will not go crazy nor will you lose control. it is just panic. it comes and it will go. What you ahve to do now is realize that you are not messed up in the head. we are all normal people with over active fight or flight activity. I suggest you go and see a theraspist to find out why you are having panic. could be stress, could be memories from a long time ago creeping in. could be a lot of things. what i do know is that you are a normal guy having anxiety attacks. we all have anxiety on this board and NOT ONE OF US HAVE GONE CRAZY AND NOT ONE OF US HAVE HAD A HEART ATTACK FROM THE PANIC. there are 20 million people in america with anxiety problems and not one has lost control or dies from it. neither will you. Just get to see someone and learn relaxation tecniques. You will be fine brother you really will. now if only i could take my own damn advise! G
Response:
My interpretation of this, so far, is that food was used to relieve stress for a length of time, worked reasonably well (except perhaps for the waistline), and has suddenly been removed as a coping mechanism, by your own volition. Suddenly, the stressors exceed the coping mechanisms available, and voila – we see symptoms. Solution: increase coping mechanisms (CBT, meds, meditation, biofeedback, other stress reduction methods which may be infinite) or reduce stress (harder to do, as it’s already in place which you’ve outlined fairly clearly. By the way, there is a thing called a "silent MI" (myocardial infarction) – where no symptoms present themselves, making it even more pointless to worry about this, in my opinion. By eating better, you will be less likely to develop high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity (three controllable risk factors for MI) so you are taking control, which is a great anxiolytic in my book. G
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I do like my job, though it has its stress. I have some 396 educators to support and service and some 10000 students along with 2000 computers all of which are spread out in some 20 different locations. And I have a large staff of 5 to maintain and do all of this, we are very good at what we do and are the best in the industry, that’s not cheap talk either. We’ve been doing this for some 10 years now, so I can conclud this is were my stress is coming from. My problems began about 6 months ago when I started to eat healthy and now that I think back I think I may have used food as a stress relieve, so now (just 2 weeks ago) I’ve been taking up walking and doing more active things so perhaps in time this will help. Knowing that it’s not my heart is the biggest relief and my irregular heartbeats are much less, and I don’t panic when that happens anymore. It’s the pressure on the left side and the sweating and tingling in the fingertips that had me freaked out, but I think I can ride those out now knowing what I know now. As for my symptoms they are not always the same or all at once. Sometimes I have irregular heartbeats, sometimes I’m light headed, something I have both. And a few times I have the heavy sweating possible a heat attack feeling. Never had a heart attack so I don’t know what that feels like and if I ever do I hope I know it is a heart attack, there’s a question, how will I know a panic attack from a heart attack? What is EAP? Employee Assistance Program? Might be through your employer or medical insurer I’ve cared for many panic attack victims and a few heart attack cases. You’d KNOW the difference right away. The pain and pressure described by people who’ve had them is a real attention getter. Much more intense than the feelings we get in the course of a panic attack.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I do like my job, though it has its stress. I have some 396 educators to support and service and some 10000 students along with 2000 computers all of which are spread out in some 20 different locations. And I have a large staff of 5 to maintain and do all of this, we are very good at what we do and are the best in the industry, that’s not cheap talk either. We’ve been doing this for some 10 years now, so I can conclud this is were my stress is coming from. My problems began about 6 months ago when I started to eat healthy and now that I think back I think I may have used food as a stress relieve, so now (just 2 weeks ago) I’ve been taking up walking and doing more active things so perhaps in time this will help. Knowing that it’s not my heart is the biggest relief and my irregular heartbeats are much less, and I don’t panic when that happens anymore. It’s the pressure on the left side and the sweating and tingling in the fingertips that had me freaked out, but I think I can ride those out now knowing what I know now. As for my symptoms they are not always the same or all at once. Sometimes I have irregular heartbeats, sometimes I’m light headed, something I have both. And a few times I have the heavy sweating possible a heat attack feeling. Never had a heart attack so I don’t know what that feels like and if I ever do I hope I know it is a heart attack, there’s a question, how will I know a panic attack from a heart attack? What is EAP?
Employee Assistance Program? Might be through your employer or medical insurer I’ve cared for many panic attack victims and a few heart attack cases. You’d KNOW the difference right away. The pain and pressure described by people who’ve had them is a real attention getter. Much more intense than the feelings we get in the course of a panic attack.
Response:
I do like my job, though it has its stress. I have some 396 educators to support and service and some 10000 students along with 2000 computers all of which are spread out in some 20 different locations. And I have a large staff of 5 to maintain and do all of this, we are very good at what we do and are the best in the industry, that’s not cheap talk either. We’ve been doing this for some 10 years now, so I can conclud this is were my stress is coming from. My problems began about 6 months ago when I started to eat healthy and now that I think back I think I may have used food as a stress relieve, so now (just 2 weeks ago) I’ve been taking up walking and doing more active things so perhaps in time this will help. Knowing that it’s not my heart is the biggest relief and my irregular heartbeats are much less, and I don’t panic when that happens anymore. It’s the pressure on the left side and the sweating and tingling in the fingertips that had me freaked out, but I think I can ride those out now knowing what I know now. As for my symptoms they are not always the same or all at once. Sometimes I have irregular heartbeats, sometimes I’m light headed, something I have both. And a few times I have the heavy sweating possible a heat attack feeling. Never had a heart attack so I don’t know what that feels like and if I ever do I hope I know it is a heart attack, there’s a question, how will I know a panic attack from a heart attack? What is EAP? Thanks for the help. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think that you are, at the minimum, experiencing anxiety symptoms. I can sniff out some kind of "control issue" here, although vaguely, it seems to be there. My vote: call EAP, make a (confidential – they always are) convenient appointment (I can hear you now – "but it WONT be convenient!") and be extremely honest and forthcoming if you feel the mental health practitioner is a "psychologically safe" person to talk with. They are bound by law not to disclose anything you talk about, and can lose their license if they do, so do not leave anything out – the thing you most fear telling them is probably the thing that is bugging you. Let’s start there. Gary ps: do you like your job? Ok sorry if I’m repeating on information that is already in this form, I’m new here and am trying to figure out whats up with me. Here is whats going on. I’m male 37 years of age and I’m a manager in the IT field. I worry about everything, even when I go out a good time, movie, concert what ever I only call it a good time when I get back home and all went well. Problems started about 6 months ago, for no real reason I can think of. Getting more sleep seemed to help, untill I went on a trip last week. I have acid reflux Thinking I might be having a heart attack but no real pain, only pressure. Missed heart beats,or heart races out of control EKG was normal. Pressure under left arm pit, hurts more when breathing out. (whats with this?) Sweet like crazy – afterwords feel shacky and light head Light head many times with out any of the above, coffee makes it worse so I gave up coffee. numbness or tingling in left finger tips. This can happen when I don’t feel I’m in a stress situation Has happened during sex (the racing out of control heart), and I’m sure I wasn’t stressed than!! Oh and I had been drinking as well,feeling really relaxed so I don"t know what gives. Have no symtoms when working out, or when distractedunless I think of it. (perhaps I’m screwed up in the head) So is this a panic attack?
Response:
I think that you are, at the minimum, experiencing anxiety symptoms. I can sniff out some kind of "control issue" here, although vaguely, it seems to be there. My vote: call EAP, make a (confidential – they always are) convenient appointment (I can hear you now – "but it WONT be convenient!") and be extremely honest and forthcoming if you feel the mental health practitioner is a "psychologically safe" person to talk with. They are bound by law not to disclose anything you talk about, and can lose their license if they do, so do not leave anything out – the thing you most fear telling them is probably the thing that is bugging you. Let’s start there. Gary ps: do you like your job?
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok sorry if I’m repeating on information that is already in this form, I’m new here and am trying to figure out whats up with me. Here is whats going on. I’m male 37 years of age and I’m a manager in the IT field. I worry about everything, even when I go out a good time, movie, concert what ever I only call it a good time when I get back home and all went well. Problems started about 6 months ago, for no real reason I can think of. Getting more sleep seemed to help, untill I went on a trip last week. I have acid reflux Thinking I might be having a heart attack but no real pain, only pressure. Missed heart beats,or heart races out of control EKG was normal. Pressure under left arm pit, hurts more when breathing out. (whats with this?) Sweet like crazy – afterwords feel shacky and light head Light head many times with out any of the above, coffee makes it worse so I gave up coffee. numbness or tingling in left finger tips. This can happen when I don’t feel I’m in a stress situation Has happened during sex (the racing out of control heart), and I’m sure I wasn’t stressed than!! Oh and I had been drinking as well,feeling really relaxed so I don"t know what gives. Have no symtoms when working out, or when distractedunless I think of it. (perhaps I’m screwed up in the head) So is this a panic attack?
Response:
Thanks I will take you up on that, what prompted me to start this post was this attack happen to me at the movies last night, all was well and a bunch of kids behind us wouldn"t stop talking through the movie, asked to keep it down but no they were really out of hand and I was getting really mad, and than bang. Pressure on my left side and sweating like crazy. Though I wonder if the sweating is caused by my freaking about the pressure on my left side. This lasted for the remainder of the movie as did the kids acting up. 10mins after I got home it felt like a big release and dam I felt really, really good – sort of a natural high.