What EXACTLY is anxiety???

[tanns]

I know this HAS got to be the stupidiest question ever and I apologize.  The problem I am having is really, really confusing me.  I had a panic attack (first ever and big, big, BIG) and felt all the intense "heart attack" feelings.  I was sure I was dying.  After so many months of tests and doctors, my heart is fine.  (I'm still not really ready to admit it, though!!!)  I do not, however (believe it or not), worry excessively.  I mean, I don't think about it all day long.  It is only until the chest discomfort starts that I start to get weirded out.  The chest discomfort ALWAYS precedes the "anxiety".  Which kind of brings me to the question in the subject line.

In the middle of a Sorry game with my kids, no STRESS, I started to feel light headed.  I had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up.  My chest feels weird and I feel "crazy" inside my head.  Crazy is really not an exaggeration.  My pulse is NOT elevated, my bp is normal but I feel like it should be through the roof.  This is the hardest thing to describe.  I swear this is why I think I haven't been "diagnosed" properly because I can't explain it right.  

I know that saying too many symptoms is sometimes overwhelming.  But it seems to be something every day.  Sometimes it feels the same, sometimes not.  I just had two weeks of almost "carefree" days.  Nothing changed in my life but Saturday afternoon, I started feeling bad again.

Sometimes it's a buzzing in my chest.  
Sometimes it is severe heartburn (not in relation to food).
Sometimes it is nauseousness (where I swallow hard to keep from throwing up).
Sometimes it is a brief period of dizziness and I have to catch myself (like I've just come off a merry go round).
Sometimes it is this or that.

Overall I feel just out of sorts.  Some days a portion of it, I felt fully functional this morning.  Sometimes it is a brief period of seconds and it passes.  Sometimes it is all day "craziness" where I function but I wonder if I am going to make it through the day.

I know this is rambling on and on.  I'm trying to accurately describe my feelings although I'm not sure if I have done it clearly enough.

I have no known trigger for this to start.  Just a panic attack that came from nowhere.  I know I've said most of this before in here but I am truly confused.  I don't feel I have anxiety although my symptoms fit in with those symptoms.  I don't have health anxiety although I could have "heart" anxiety.  Is that possible?  It is always related to my heart and chest discomfort.  I think.

One last thing, I recently saw a psychiatrist because I have been told I have anxiety.  The visit was a flop, all 17 minutes of it.  He gave me Effexor and said he'd see me in a month.  None of my questions were really answered as his answers to most questions were that he was a "medicine guy".  He doesn't do therapy.  Waste of 140 bucks.   Do I need to go to someone else?  Probably, but right now I don't know who.

This goes on and on.  Sorry.  And thanks!

[Raine9]

tanns, I know that insurance is a problem for you.

i found out from wikipedia that there are current studies on anxiety disorders in New York and Boston looking for participants.  if you participate, you will either get therapy alone, therapy and medication (not experiemental medication) or therapy and a placebo.  in any event it's free and you will be compensated.  you can try searching the net and see if there are any in your area.  i started looking for studies in my area.  

[MOTAH]

First of all you mentioned that you get the heart palpitations then it brings on the anxiety, which is very normal.

From my understanding, the reason why anxiety turns into "physical" symptoms is when we over dose our bodies with stress & anxiety over the years without release it.

You said that you exercise, which is obviously a good way to release any tension in your life but do you "relax" a lot?

I exercise usually by playing a lot of sports with my friends whenever I have time but my issue was that I missed the "relaxing" part in my life, even when I schedule a time to play sport I treat it like a business appointment that I put on my diary.

A dr once described anxiety symptoms as the body experssing its anger for a bad habit of not relaxing....relaxing here is physically, emotionally & mentally.

Now, on a normal day, you may not be stressed or even had any particular issues in your mind but you could still be "over working" your brain & your body could still be complaining about not being relaxed from last few weeks or months.

When I sat down with my dr, he asked me what exactly that i'm worried about & I had no answer as there's nothing in particular that I was worried about at that moment BUT I had at least a dozen of issues running at the back of my head that i have to do & should do & will do & could've said & might've been bad, etc.....

The reason why a psychologist work best in our cases is because we get to sit down & explain all aspects of our lifes & we also tell them how we think. They get to understand the reason for our stress/anxiety that we may "consider to be a normal thing" !! I never knew before that thinking about million things at the one time & being constantly busy will get me stomach aches & heart palpitations! a sychologist will tell you that.

but then I tried to understand the different causes of anxiety & relate it to my life & the more I find about my life that was wrong the more I try to correct & the better that I feel.

I'll give you an example: I used to work from home AFTER normal working hours & I used to be on call 24 hours & never used to care of what I eat & never dedicated time to socialise with my friends. my life was all about work & family commitments.

I realised that my life, which seemed very normal to me & never hurt me before, is actually not healthy to my mental state & now to my physical state as well. so I changed some things & tried to dedicate more time for fun, etc....

you need to look into your life, find out what is it that you may consider normal that could be unhealthy.......may be that is the reason for your anxiety.

Simple 2 question I was asked & i then realised that may be there's something wrong were: when did I last do something FOR ME that I enjoy (not work related) & how many things do I have on my mind at any point of time. if answer for first is long time ago & second question's answer is more than 1 then you know where to start.

there's no knowledge whatsoever about anxiety in normal population, I carry few degrees & work all over the world & still didn't know of anxiety or its dangers until I was diagnosed with it.

I hope this may help a bit in trying to get you & others to look for sources of their anxiety. But if you were diagnosed with anxiety & you don't know of a certain phobia or an issue then you have even a lifestyle issue which is over stressed or you have an unhealthy thinking ways that is over stressing you.

cheers,

[tanns]

Thanks for answering.

I walk regularly, always have.  I walk anywhere from 3-6 miles a day, most days.  Yesterday I walked 2 miles but with my four year old (walking too) so it was a shorter distance than usual.  I take a great liquid multivitamin and extra magnesium and vit. c (with the kids!)  I don't get excited easily.  Stress has never been an issue for me.  I have felt anxiety in the past.  Like when you have to confront someone, say because the radio is too loud and you live in an apartment.  That goes away.  Whatever is happening to me now does not feel like that.

It is a horrible feeling and while I know my heart checks out okay, the discomfort is located ONLY in my left chest-at this still scares me at times.  I don't get this crazy feeling when I should.  For instance, when arguing over medical bills with insurance or finding the right surgeon for my son.  When my kids are at each other like a bunch of wild animals--I am fine.  It is times like, in the middle of a game or reading a book or even a sneeze has made it start.  It is totally inappropriate.  The chest discomfort always brings on this "anxiety" it is never the other way around.  I don't feel anxiety and then feel chest pains.  

I know I sound like I am disputing your help.  I certainly don't want to come across that way.  But this is something that has been going on for 18 months now and I am no closer to figuring it out now than I was back when it started.  It is scary, the chest pains and the sinking feelings that accompany them.  I truly feel somedays that I won't make it through the day.  I don't stop living though.  I take my kids to the park, I walk, we bake bread and cookies and spend a lot of time being "us".  It is a blessing and they don't know the extent of the internal suffering.  I am happy, at least I feel happy.  Just scared.  Not depressed, worried that I am missing something.

Thank you again for resopnding.  I really helps to release this where people understand.  My family is supportive, they just don't get it.

[MOTAH]

if you've done your medical checks, then it's easier....what exactly are you scared of then??!!! all these symptoms cannot harm you in any way.

if your attacks come in a middle of a game with kids then probably your heart pounds hard & you get too excited or you physically do much work playing with kids while probably you didn't have much physical exercise lately as well (which happens to me all the time :) )

There's also a rule with anxiety that you need to get your body to react "normally" & get used to "normal" reactions from many things around you for a period of time so you can get better. They say that for anxious people, exercise is good BUT NOT TOO MUCH in intensity as too much exercise increases your anxiety.

I was recommended a half hour "walk" 3-4 times/week as an exercise program & it did have a great impact on my way of thinking & my symptoms. after around 1 month, I can play intense sports like soccer for 1-1.5 hour with no problem while if I did before I would be moaning in bed all night.

In my opinion & I'm not a doctor & from personal experience, you need to have regular soft exercise schedule for few weeks & you could feel the difference after only few days. I was also given vitamin B complex to help with increase body energy & adjust stress levels & that helped me a lot in getting lots of energy that I didn't have.

cheers,

[mikej1736]

After having my first panic attack, I freaked out and was scared of having more, I didnt know what it was at the time.  I still get them from time to time for no apparent reason.  They literally just pop out of nowhere.  But I'm not afraid of them at all anymore.  Try to see them as a challenge to either let them pass or fight them and breathe normally and make them go away.  I take a deep breath and try to shake it off.  I no longer fear them, and it helps.  

[tanns]

Thanks you guys for responding.

Motah:  I have had the workup.  I've seen 4 cardiologist, a gastro doc, ENT, internal med, endocrinologist, pulmonary doc and probably a couple more I've forgotten.  I guess I don't understand WHY the anxiety happens when it seems so misplaced.  I mean, in the middle of a SORRY game???  I felt okay before that and it has been horrible ever since.  That makes no sense to me.  It seems to be so misplaced and inappropriate.  I don't seem to have it happen when it should.  

I can't find a reason and I can't get past that.  I know that is something I need to work through.  I am looking for someone else to help me make sense of it all.   Sometimes I can breathe myself out of it, sometimes not.  Sometimes I can let the intense heartburn goes as no big deal, other times not.  It makes no sense, has no pattern and confuses the heck out of me.

I guess I should have asked what does anxiety feel like?  Is it different for everyone?  Do the symptoms vary?  Do you have to have a high heart rate and bp?

Raine9:  I will do that, I've checked it out briefly!

Northcoast:  Thanks for the site!  

[MOTAH]

the golden rule with anxiety is to get your medical checks FIRST to see if you have any medical illness that is causing you the symptoms. if you haven't done it yet & gone straight to Psych. then it's not the right approach. you may have any little illness that is triggering your issue.

Secondly, what is anxiety? from my research, its an overdose of stress & worry that you had that turned into physical symptoms.

When we worry, specially during anxiety/panic attacks, our body gives adrenaline to boost our ability to fight the danger  that we're worrying about(fight/flight response). a normal self defense technique from your body to a danger that you imagined to have to get your body to be alert & fight the danger.

Once your worry becomes a permenant state or more or less you keep worrying all the time & about everything, your brain keeps pushing adrenaline into your blood on a constant bases & that what mostly causes all the chemical imbalances in your brain & make you feel all the symptoms you're feeling now.

Why will you feel better when you relax? if you don't worry about anything or decrease your worrying pattern or degree, your body pushes LESS adrenaline to your body & your symptoms turn to be less in amount of pain or times of appearance.

when we're constantly worried, we're are hyper sensitive to everything around us, we become noise sensitive, light sensitive & even touch sensitive, that is because adrenaline is getting our bodies in a stand by mode ready to fight the danger which in physical fact in our minds only & not real.

So expect yourself to feel EVERY little pain or issue with your body as a major problem, in real fact, if your an anxious person, your pain is not that much if you get it in say a normal sunny tuesday with no issues, but because of your worry, you've actually became too sensitive to feeling the pain which makes it feels bigger & more influencing.

what will trigger your panic/anxiety attack is something that you're scared of, if psych. couldn't tell you what it is then most likely you know it. everyone has things that they're scared of which is ILLOGICAL or somehow fear is not sensible & we all know it. e.g. being scared of rats, clowns, etc...its called a phobia.

For instance, if you're scared of being late to work because you'll get in trouble from your boss then its normal but if your fear got you to not sleep at night or wake up 5 hours before work time to ensure that you're on time then may be this is something that you need to look at as illogical fear. this is only an example.

Change your Pshych. if you think they're useless, or see a Psychologist, Pshychologists don't prescribe drugs & all what they do is listen to you & try to find your problems & solve them.

Also, check with your Dr if you have any allergies through an allergy test, your symptoms could possibly be from an allergy as well.

Hope it helps, let us know how you go.

cheers,

[Raine9]

Why don't you try posting your comment on Healingwell.com too.  There's forum moderators there that seem to have a lot of experience.  

[Northcoast]

Hi there.  I suffer from anxiety too.  No panic attacks though.  I found this neat website that lists a lot of the symptoms of anxiety.  Here's the link if you want to check it out.  

http://www.thelindenmethod.co.uk/anxiety/symptoms/

It sounds like a lot of your symptoms could be anxiety.  My advice is to find a psychologist that deals with cognitive therapy or anxiety related issues.   Perhaps your MD or shrink can recommend someone.  He or she can help teach you the tools you need to deal with your anxiety issues.  And the psychiatrist can be there to prescribe medication if need be.   Sometimes people need it for a short period of time to get thru rough patches.  And I would recommend getting some daily exercise.  Go for a walk, alone or with a friend.  And cut out caffeine and sugar from your diet.  They contribute to anxious feelings.  Good luck to you.  You're going to be just fine!  Take Care!