ANXIETY QUESTION

[jrlexusman]

I am 31 year old male… I have been reading your responses to questions some people had.. I have a question for you. I know that you just deal with STD’s etc… but I have question about Anxiety…. Back on November 3rd, 2007, I had a severe anxiety attack. Since then I have not been the same. It all started a couple of weeks prior to November 3rd, all of a sudden I had a stiff neck, out of nowhere, after a week, went to chiropractor and was okay. Then on 11/3 I got a back spasm and then I went into a major panic attack. The back spasm I have never had before so it hurt breathing in, so then I was getting panicky confused etc.. so my mom gave me a xanax 0.25 mg which I have taken before, I had my own but not home. So I took it and it made the attack worse, my mind went blank I could not remember who my dad was I was numb and tingly. Shortness of breath.. I SCREAMED and jumped up in the air..  I felt like I was going to die, I felt out of my body.. we were in the car to ER, adrenalin was flowing and we got into parking lot and it subsided, then I woke up in the middle of the night shaking and trembling. Next day okay, 4 days later I had another panic attack at a restaurant with my family same I had to go out for air  and the same attack as mentioned above happened. But did not take a xanax, since then I have not been the same upstairs. Since then I have had brain fog. I get confused, trouble with short and long term memory.. just not myself and I am really worried after my first attack, I had a complete physical doc said my blood work come back fine and urine too. I had developed a skin infection and was on levaquin for a week a few weeks back.. my question is, can Anxiety cause memory problems?? Also, I have muscle twitches from time to time and they make me feel different..  And I cannot concentrate..  I am really scared it has been since then and I am not the same… any suggestions on why the xanax didn’t work and make me worse?? I also have a white tongue…….
Thanks
Jim

[RubyWitch]

First off........this IS the "anxiety forum," not the "STD" one. That said, wow! You've got a real stew of **** going on, don't you? Have you suffered with neck and back problems before? Are you in a business that could cause you to injure yourself in some way, or did you overplay Thanksgiving football in the backyard? Anything to explain these apparently sudden and unexplained problems with your neck and back? If these problems keep up, you need to get to a good ortho doc and maybe have a CAT scan done to see if you've done some damage that is possibly pinching a nerve or something else relatively benign. Get that part taken care of. I think chiros can do some temporary good, but in the long run, they can't really FIX anything, which is why I think you need to see an ortho. You said your mom gave you a Xanax because you did not have yours handy. This tells me you are already taking Xanax for anxiety.............so you have had that problem BEFORE the sore neck and back appeared. Why are you on Xanax? You didn't explain that in your post. You also talk about an infection on your skin. Has that been cleared up with the Leviquin? What did they give you for a DX about that? You also said you had a complete physical, but if you talked to your doc about all these other sypmtoms, then in my humble opinion, you did NOT have a COMPLETE physical which should have included tests for to make sure your infection was clear, it should have addressed your tongue and the brain fog your roaming around in and it sounds like any number of other complaints you are dealing with. The anxiety being at the top of my list as anxiety can and will manifest itself into many different forms if it is out of control. It's very early in the morning, I am racing to get to work on time, but I just had to respond to this. Sorry for jumping all over the map of your post, I wish I had the time right now to take each of your symptoms one by one...............basically it sounds to me like you need to get your rear back to your doctor with your list of symptoms and worries and have a good long talk with him/her. I think they sort of left you floating in the wind! I also think you may, indeed, have some other things going on in your body besides the anxiety, which need to be addressed, but the anxiety is the biggie. Until you get that under control, all these other things are only going to seem much larger and scarier and you will be in a vicious cycle, one that can be very tough to break. I probably haven't been much help........I just know a great deal about anxiety and how it can affect your mind and therefore, your body. You have to break the cycle. My best advice, as I already said was to get back to your doctor and have them address each and every one of your symptoms, take them one at a time and I think that very soon you will find yourself gaining control over your emotions and your life and all the confusion that seems to be clouding your otherwise intelligent mind. You asked if anxiety can cause memory problems...........since I've had severe panic disorder since I was 13 and I'm now 56, I can say with some authority that it can if you let it spiral out of control. You asked why the Xanax didn't work. Once you are in a panic attack, taking a Xanax will do virtually nothing since it takes up to 20 minutes to get into your system, at which point the attack is more or less over. It can help you calm down AFTER the attack, but that is why I must take Xanax daily to keep my panic at bay (which is known as the dreaded "anticipatory anxiety") And the dose you took, 0.25 may not be enough for a 31 year old man, who one assumes weighs in more than your mom. You have many questions to ask your doc and I think making a list and taking that with you so that you get ALL of your questions and fears answered is a good idea. Don't wait as it sounds like your on the edge now. Make an appointment and GO. NOW! Good luck and keep us posted. We do care.
Greenlydia