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2102085 tn?1350866645

Is anyone else's anxiety/panic feeling constant???

I am almost always experiencing some kind of odd feeling in my head... or some other symptom. My brain seems to be always wired and it is impossible to concentrate, let alone all the other symptoms of anxiety (nausea, derealization, blurred vision). This happens all day and night..sometimes only a little sometimes a lot, but it never goes away completely. My doctor suggests that this constant feeling isn't normal for anxiety, as anxiety comes in waves. Does anyone else experience a constant wired, anxious feeling? He suggests that I see a neurologist... or some doctor specializing in internal medicine. Thoughts?
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Avatar universal
I have fibromyalgia along with other medical problems and I'm multiple meds but for the last few months I am having constant stomach pain and fibromyalgia pain and now I just feel a constant state of panic like I want to jump out of my skin. I feel like between that and the pain I am going crazy. Anyone else going through anything like this?
Helpful - 1
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I've been in a high state of anxiety fior days--can't sleep, can barely sit still, and want to crawl out of my skin, like,  you, Barbie.  I just want a moment of levity or ease and none seems forthcoming.  It makes me feel like i'm losing my mind, so it helps to know I'm not the only one.
Avatar universal
I have constant anxiety all day,every day. The only time I get relief is when I;m sleeping. Even sex does not help me. I;ve taken so many different anxiety meds its not funny. I sometimes have panic attacks in the shower before work and Im also epileptic. I have a constant tightness and throbbing in my face and forehead and therefore suffer from constant headaches and migranes. I am currently trying to meditate everyday and do yoga. I hope that with everyday practice I will eventually find peace. Im so happy to know that there are other people out there who can relate.
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Avatar universal
I live in constant fear.
I get stomach pains,like a choking lump feeling in throat/chest ..thirsty /skipped/extra beats /feeling like something bad is about to happen,feeling like I need to run away.
Sorry your feeling like this,it's awful
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Avatar universal
Hey I am having this same problem... Also not able to talk to people.... And feel dizziness,also some constant conversation is going on in my mind.... And I started hating lights in the room and voice of television... Also I am fully aware of what's going on... While sleeping.. And unusual dreams of people smiling... And I get woke up... And start meditation to overcome... As I don't have much friends to talk to... Even I feel alone in my college... I am taking medication but it's not working... So I try to listen to songs.... Thank you
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Avatar universal
I am living in constant panic terror. it comes through my stomach. I cant stay in my own skin. It is not once in awhile it is all the time.. I cant function. I hyperventilate.. No meds touch it.. I have seen many doctors.. been to hospital.. I fear I will end my life..
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Avatar universal
I don't have an answer hon but I can empathize with you. One day around 2 years ago I had a really bad panic attack then 3 days later I was having another one and tried to go to work. Half way there i was freaking out turned around called my husband on Bluetooth and headed home where I wrecked just down the road from hyperventilating and losing consciousness. It wasn't bad but I made home once I came to my husband ripped my shirt off because I was sweating so bad I could hardly walk. Now I panic every day all day and I don't know why most of the time. Everything sets it off. It gets so bad I just want to end it but I don't want to leave my family. I'm seeing a new psychiatrist Thursday and have an appointment with obgyn to see if it could be hormone imbalance. I'm trying everything. If I get some answers I'll let you know . Just know you are not alone with this. I felt like I was.
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1 Comments
Currently going through a phase of what feels like living in constant panic attack mode and I'm so thankful I found this thread (even though it was started 4 years ago), growing up I always is anxiety but it manifested itself as nausea and such, not so much panic attacks. As I'm getting older it's terrifying. I often get the "head buzzing", floaty feeling, chest tightness, spaciness, hard time breathing, etc. which only makes my anxiety worse, all I can think is "why does my brain feel funny is this normal? Am I about to have a seizure is this what it feels like? (I've never had one but for some reason worry about that when my head feels funny) is something about to happen to me am I going to faint or am I suddenly going to stop being able to breathe?" I worry constantly that something is wrong with me, that I need a brain and full body scan to put myself at ease that I don't have something wrong with my heart or in my brain but I'm too afraid of needles and hospitals and doctors to consider mentioning anything and have them running precautionary tests just for panic attack symptoms. The physical side of anxiety is so scary and so very real, I'm so sick of living in a constant state of a panic attack and only being made more anxious because of the symptoms and the cycle of those two feeding off of each other never ever stops.
Avatar universal
Read some books by Peter Levin about PTSD and trauma.  You will probably see yourself there.  I have PTSD.  I have had multiple recognizable traumas so that has helped with diagnosis.  But, there really is no cure and I am finding that the medications help for a time and then your fears begin to include being about the medication side effects, tolerance, etc.  For people with GAD and PTSD who know they have had specific traumas, it helps to have a starting place to point to.  However, many people can have PTSD and trauma feelings and thoughts like the ones above even from pre-natal or birth trauma that they don't about.  Or something that may have happened to you when you were too young to remember or your brain may have blocked it from your memory.  As an adult, after going through a lengthy life-threatening trauma, I had "forgotten" very threatening parts of it until later.  I have had flashbacks about particular events during that situation as late as 10 years afterwards.  It is shocking.  The brain initially does this to keep us capable of responding in emergencies.  However, the brain hides a lot from us.  We may not even know why we are having panic attacks, crying, and reliving the trauma on certain dates or by being triggered by things we see or hear.  I nearly died at birth.  My mother and I were both about to die.  My father was signing the paperwork to allow the doctor to take my life and save my mothers.  I was born a few minutes later.  However, I have been traumatized all of my life just from this birth experience.  I was a stoic, anxious toddler.  My entire life, I mainly remember ALWAYS waiting for something bad to happen and always predicting how I would survive it.  Because I was already at a high level of anxiety from birth, any time I feel traumatized by anything (whether a real trauma or my brain being triggered), my anxiety is higher since birth than the average person.  All of our brains are just as different as they are similar and even scientists know very little about our brains and their triggers.  Anxiety causes many different brain and body chemical reactions every single time.  Trauma shrinks our hippocampus, messes with our vagus nerve which is probably causing the fainting of one poster, and millions of other symptoms.  As someone else stated, it is a lifelong battle once it starts.  I am on medications, but I don't like them and I'm not sure they haven't made things worse over time.  They are also designed to make you need them.  IE:  Research shows that if you have ever taken any antidepressant, you are much more likely to have thoughts of suicide forever after....especially if you get yourself off it.  Check out Peter Levine's work.  Also, the work of Jon Kabat Zinn.  New research is showing that changing your own brain (and these two have CDs to help) and exercise works very well.  For me, this is so hard.  I have their CDs.  I've read some of their books.  But, I have trouble making myself do it as much as I need to.  I also have difficulty exercising any more.  I don't know why.  It feels like every minute is an hour and I am exhausted.  But, I have to say that the more I have studied PTSD, the more I know our doctors don't understand it at all.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
After reading all these comments I can exactly relate to yours. Had a panic attack about a week ago after eating some food at a restaurant... Thought I was on drugs or something but after visiting the ER I learned I had only had a panic attack considering nothing was physically wrong with me. I've had a few other panic attacks since then but I have also had that constant feeling of anxiety. Haven't really felt normal since. My head seems light I feel somewhat dizzy and like I am floating sometimes. Also finding it hard to put things into realization and always feel like im in a dream. The more I think about it the worse it gets. And when it gets bad I panic and it sometimes leads to a panic attack. Waiting for the day all of this just goes away but knowing that it probably won't is just depressing me.
Helpful - 0
2102085 tn?1350866645
Thanks everyone for the support! It is comforting to know I am not alone in these symptoms, it helps the logical part of me realize that it is just anxiety and not anything else. My mind does wander to worst case scenario often. Well I have been off of any meds for almost two months now. Once I got through the withdrawal symptoms if lexapro the dizziness, nausea and derealization went from about a 9 to a 2 on a scale of 1-10! However now that it has been a while I am back with the same anxiety that made me want to start meds in the first place! It is a vicious cycle! I saw my p-doc today and she prescribed Buspar... Which I am hesitant to take! :) Hope all is well with all of you, I read each and every one of these posts and have you all in my prayers!
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Avatar universal
I feel the same way.  And I have never been on any meds.  I am about to try Lexapro.  I have heard good things about it and GAD.

But my symptoms were the same as you.  I am 30 year old male now, but all my life I would have bouts of panic attacks now and again.  But fairly manageable (of course they did not seem manageable when having them, but you know what I mean)

Of late it is not so much panic attacks, it is just a constant state of worry, and anxiety, tough to sleep, tough to work, tough to eat or do anything but see if anyone else feels this way.  

It has been awhile since your post, how are you doing?
Helpful - 0
480448 tn?1426948538
I agree with you...if you're 4 months into the Lexapro, it wouldn't be the initial start up side effects causing your symptoms.  What other meds have you tried?  Have you ever tried Zoloft?  Zoloft and Lexapro are the easiest to tolerate for the majority of people, and they both have high success rates.

As for your test...keep this in mind...Klonopin has a VERY long half life, so even though you may feel a LITTLE more anxious than normal with not taking it for two days, it will still be in your system.  Just remember, it will only be until the test is done, then you can take it again.  Doing the test is important, to rule out any medical problem.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!  I'll be thinking of you!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Kelly, can really relate to the tests being done and how you are anxious about even going to them!  I was so anxious about having the "tilt table" test and the month-long holter monitor that I cancelled those tests and then unfortunately the panic attack let to the seizure I described earlier on the city bus.  So with my tail between my legs I described to the doctor the reason that I cancelled was because I was too scared to go!  Because I do not drive; one of the tests involved fasting for 48 hours, no clonazepam and then taking a 5 a.m. city bus to get to the hospital for a 7 a.m. appointment where I would be velcroed to a table and be not only monitored for 90 minutes but they would actually try to induce fainting/seizuring under a doctor's supervision!  CAN YOU IMAGINE?  I am the kind of person who jokes constantly (a nervous thing) and so I told them that that was insane to expect anyone, let alone a person with panic disorder to show up for such a test!.  I am the single mom of 3 kids, with nobody that would drive me at that hour.  
So now, they have a social worker who will be accompanying me to any or all of these appointments, and if I make it out of there with any sanity in tact, I swear, i will write a book!  Glad you are feeling less alone...me too since I discovered this site.  You sound like a wonderful lady.
Helpful - 0
2102085 tn?1350866645
I am actually on Lexapro but I think it is making me very sick. I am posting a new question to see if anyone has had problems with this medicine. Note that I have been on Lexapro for about 4 months, so it wouldn't be initial side effects that dissipate after a while. Have you had any experience with Lexapro? My doctor wants to switch SSRis. Quite frankly I have had enough with the drugs. I start clinicals in 5 days and need to be on my game.
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2102085 tn?1350866645
Thank you everyone for the amazing support! It feels good to know that I am not alone in this difficult time. I actually went to an ENT and he suggested that I have a VNG done, which tests your inner ear. This test requires you to have no sleep aid in your system so I cannot take clonazepam for 48 hours prior. This makes me nervous! After trial and error I feel as though an inner ear problem may be the culprit of this constant nausea and dizziness, or a side effect of my medication Lexapro. Or anxiety obviously! Hopefully time will tell!
Helpful - 0
757137 tn?1347196453
Have your cortisol levels checked (using saliva testing). An overproduction of cortisol by the adrenal glands can result in persistent anxiety. Anxiety often has a physical cause. It did with me.
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Avatar universal
Starfish,

Somebody recently told me about Bach's Rescue Remedy.  Have you ever taken Xanax or Ativan, or something similar?  Is Bach's comparable to the calming feeling you get with those?
Helpful - 0
1981214 tn?1327949140
When I experience anxiety it is exactly as you have described, but I have found the bachs herbal remedy spray completely helps me an makes me feel so much better within minutes, hope you feel better soon x
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i feel like that all the time like im constantly dizzy or floating i always get this weird twitchy feeling in my head or buzzing feeling also a weird pressure in my head witch makes me panick even more i saw a few people have a seizure in the past few months and they said it kinda feels like that so it freaks me out i constantly worry about having one if i think that i will , will it actually happen or is it just anxiety ? help!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Kelly,  You are seeing that you are not alone and i hope that makes you feel better already, because this is such a horrible problem isn't it?  I have PTSD, amplified now by anxiety and panic attacks, so bad now that I am fainting in public and afraid of making a spectacle of myself in public.  I landed by ambulance at the hospital after being pulled from a city bus!  Anyway, now on top of it all, I have the same feeling like I don't feel safe with people, and even though I am trying to tell my friends about my problem, they don't get it and think I should just snap out of it!   So now, I am on 0.5mg. of clonanzepam and beginning on 25mg Zoloft and praying that soon my mornings will not be full of fear.  I have noticed that if I can really cry or laugh, I get relief.  Took my kids to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid last night and laughed a lot, and felt so much better; until this morning again.  Having gone through a divorce, and many other sad life experiences, I was hoping that I would be able to get my act together by now, but it takes time.  Hang in there Kelly.  You are not alone!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Ugh!!  Yes!!!  I can relate exactly right now.  Constant depression and anxiety.  I increased my Celexa last week because of it, but it's not working yet, when usually I can feel the effects withing a few days.  I'm going to give it a little while longer and then try a different one because I can't live like this!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I took Paxil withdrawal to put me in this state, but yeah, I'm now basically on the couch fetal position depressed and anxious all the time.  But a couple of your symptoms, the nausea and blurred vision, while they may be caused by anxiety, sound like a migraine-like condition.  Migraines often go along with stress because of the constriction of the blood vessels.  This can be helped, through exercise and meditation and perhaps the herb feverfew and other natural products.  Just because anxiety is difficult to deal with doesn't mean there aren't tools out there besides drugs, with their own problems, that you can utilize to feel somewhat better.  I'd at least look into this.  Before Paxil destroyed my life, I had panic attacks, not constant anxiety, but I did have migraines, and meditation pretty much got rid of them, and as I say, some of your symptoms sound like blood circulation problems similar to what occurs with migraines.  Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Kelly, I am in the exact same boat as you right now.  All I think about is the way that I feel; it's like I can't turn my brain off to the anxiety.  I've had bouts of depersonalization in the past, but they've usually only lasted a couple of minutes.  Now, though, I feel like I'm more constantly self-aware.  I'm like nursegirl, where I've had the panic attacks and now the constant anxiety, and this constant anxiety, in my opinion, is worse than panic attacks.  It's frustrating because at first the anxiety came out of nowhere, and I was not worried about anything, but now it seems like I worry about worry!  I wish I had some advice, but I've yet to find anything to get this under control.  
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480448 tn?1426948538
I forget is you're on meds Kelly, but you may need an adjustment.  Anxiey and panic is frustrating....because almost always it is a life long battle...with periods of exacerbation and then periods where it will be more manageable.

I feel for you!
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480448 tn?1426948538
I have had anxiety and panic present both ways....almost constant, and coming and going.  Especially when you start to exhibit signs like derealization...that's usually a big indicator that the anxiety is pretty severe and/or chronic.

You can certainly go and see the neurologist, it's not going to hurt anything, but I'm willing to bet he isn't going to find anything wrong.

Have you talked to your p-doc lately, about your anxiety being pretty out  of hand?  You might need to tweek your regimen a bit.

Let us know!
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