Is it all anxiety?

[kate4708]

I feel like I am going crazy! And I just want answers. Long story short: I was on Effexor XR 150mg for 4 years, came off of it about 6 months ago. Went through the withdrawals, and was living a normal life. I just recently switched jobs (went from part-time nights and weekends to full-time Monday thru Friday), and ever since, I have been feeling awful. I had a really bad panic attack in my car one day on my way to work, and it triggered a (fairly mild) migraine that lasted about a week. After that, I felt "okay". Then about a week and a half ago, I was up all night having panic attacks. I went to the doctor, he gave me Xanax to "break the cycle" and also sent me for bloodwork. I went back yesterday, the bloodwork was perfect. I am healthy. However, I am still experiencing some headaches almost every day and eye strain, so he sent me for an MRI of the brain.

Now, I am worried. Waiting for the results. This is not helping the anxiety issue! Has this happened to anyone else? Could I really have something wrong?

My typical symptoms are: fear of passing out, lightheadedness, racing heart, headache, tension, shakiness, constant worry that I have some horrible disease, feeling like I am losing my mind, worry that the doctors are overlooking something...etc.

I will note that when I do follow my dr's orders on taking the Xanax, it helps a little bit. But now with the whole MRI situation and waiting to find out what they find, I am back to freaking out. Any help or input on this is appreciated greatly!

[kate4708]

First off, thank you for your input! Made me feel definitely not so alone. I came off of the meds because at the time, 4 years ago, my depression was more situational. I lost my brother in an accident, and I was never able to actually express my emotions, becauce I was more concerned about getting my parents through the event. I had never really had any depressive symptoms before all of this.

My boyfriend, who was with my family and I through all of those events, finally towards the end of last year said he felt the Effexor was hurting me more than helping. And he was right. It made me a zombie. I felt I didn't need it anymore, and I was missing out on so much more to life.

I am thankful that I found this site and also a few others. Talking with other people about their experiences with this definitely helps me to feel like I'm not the only one and I'm not going crazy! Your situation of thinking about it and then making it worse is exactly how I get. Once I start feeling lightheaded, it makes it 10X worse and just throws me into a panic.

[turkee23]

i have been through ALL of this ...CONSTANTLY lightheaded, sweaty palms, loss of appetite and a CONSTANT worry about my health and thinking something really wrong with me, have MRI,2 catscans, EKG, blood work NUMEROUS time,allergry,hearing,and balance tests, all of which were normal.

so now here i am 5 months of no answers and now dr's are saying is anxiety, and it does get worse when i think about it. my therapist want me to try some meds so im going for rx next week.

im sure your MRI will be normal and hopefully that will help you calm down.

why did you stop taking the meds?

[kate4708]

Thank you! I am guessing the results will come back on Monday. In the meantime I'm trying not to think about it. And I did hear that exercise helps. I will definitely give it a shot!

[mjohnston]

I also get the same way! I had a CT scan done in Jan because of my migraines, I was so worried about the results, but they came back normal! In the meantime try and excerscie, it helps alot! And be around people who can relate to your problems! Take care.

[kate4708]

Thank you for your response. I feel like I am just in a frenzy! I also can't help but think that maybe a lot of this may still be residual from the Effexor? Maybe I had anxiety problems before, but the meds covered it up?

[pozz149]

Hi - the symptoms you describe sounds very much like Anxiety. there are lots of anxiety symptoms but commonly the ones you describe. I haven't ever had an MRI scan however from reading other forums, it will come back normal so not to worry...i would congratulate yourself you came off the Effexor and perhaps just use the Xanax as and when needed. Exercise is good and drink lots of water. it will subside, but try to get counselling or therapy to work alongside using the Xanax. best wishes.

[kate4708]

Also, my 'anxiety' is at it's worst when I am by driving by myself, and also when I am at work (it's about 45 min away from home).