Health Anxiety

[Moo_82]

Hello,

I have suffered from anxiety since I was about 19, on and off and from what I can tell the bad anxiety comes typically when I am dealing with a lot of stress.

The first anxiety attack I had was when I was stuck on a subway. Underground for about 40 min,started thinking the worst;fires, crashes, not being able to get out. After that I did not use the subway for 8 years. Back to using the subway again now. At the start it was hard but I got over it.

In the mean time I had a few experience with anxiety, breathing problems especially in traffic (in a car), or when I got worked up thinking about stresful situations.

More recently the anxiety has retuned. But this time its health related. I had been jogging for some time and once it got too cold I started using the treadmill. I was running and pushed myself hard, then felt off so I put my hands on the heart rate monitor. I forgot the exact number, but it was around 180 maybe 190. That set off a huge anxiety attack. Since then I have been freaked out about using cardio equipment. I tried taking classes but then I get worried about my hr and passing out in front of a class. This also trigers more anxiety. Has anyone experienced this?

Now, I have been going thought a very stresful time. The past two weeks when at work I get anxiety about brain hemorages, strokes...each time I have a headache I think I am having symptoms of one or the other and it scrares me. I worry about passing out, being disabled, blind, paralized and all the rest. I look at symptoms on the internet and each time I find something that I have it give me more anxiety. This has been going on for the past couple of weeks. Now I over analyze everything; what I see, how I feel, how I type, how I hear, how I walk, I think about every pain every muscle twich everything. Its really anoying...does anyone else suffer from these symptoms.

On a side note, the worst attack I had was last week, I had 5 hours of sleep, worked all day (started at 6am) and had 2 coffees.

[RubyWitch]

What you said..........that "it's crazy how physically we can feel when it's all mental," is so true. It shows us, without a doubt, just how incredibly powerful our minds are. It's also why it's so difficult, if not impossible, to explain anxiety and panic attacks to the "uninitiated."


Something else you said about when you first began having attacks. You said you didn't even know they were panic attacks because they just happened "out of the blue."
I totally believe that is why panic attacks are far more terrifying than anxiety attacks. With anxiety, you can feel it building, getting stronger and stronger, so when the attack comes, it's bad, no doubt about it, but it's not a total surprise. A panic attack, on the other hand, can hit you while you're having a great time at a party, opening Christmas presents with your family, taking your kids to the beach...........you can feel perfectly calm and relaxed and from one heart beat to the next, you've fallen into the snake pit. That unexpectedness, the speed with which it happens, the sheer force of it. The anticipatory anxiety that is part and parcel of panic disorder is far more wearing than the actual attack.
Somebody should write a book about this stuff, eh?
LOL
Peace
Greenlydia    

[batmanjoey]

yeah- pretty much word for word. i was having panic attacks when i didnt even know they were panic attacks because they were happening out of the blue. it landed me in the hospital for 4 days while the docs tried to find out something physiological wrong with me. needless to say, they didnt. since then i was super sensitive to anything i was doing- to what i was eating, if i got caught in traffic in my car i started to BUG out. if i had a weird burning in my chest, i thought for sure a heart attack. i definitely suffer from health anxiety as well and im telling you now, the WORST is to be online looking up your symptoms. go to a doctor, get a physical, it will rule out anything sinister immediately. you should definitely think about seeing a therapist, im trying to find one myself. its crazy how physically we can feel all this when its something so mental… oh and a good nights sleep can prevent the attacks and STAY AWAY from caffeine

[RubyWitch]

Please understand that I am not a doctor, so what I say here is my opinion and NOT a diagnosis. I believe you have a pretty hefty dose of health anxiety, which may very well have originated from that stuck subway. That happened to me once when I lived in NYC......early morning rush hour, so you know what I mean by crowded, then a horrid screeching of brakes and total darkness. We were not stuck for as long as you, maybe 15 minutes, but I had a MAJOR panic attack. I took the bus for the next year.
You have all the classic symptoms for anxiety/panic. The anxiety you feel while in a car is so directly related to the subway incident........trapped, out of control, fearful thoughts, hyperventalating.
I would recommend you first see your doctor for a complete physical to rule out an organic cause for your anxiety. That will helpfully relieve your current worries about tumors and cancer and legs falling off for no reason. And for heaven's sake...........stay off the Internet health sites! That is the very last place any of us with health anxiety should go.
Once your get a clean bill of health from your doctor, ask for a referral to a good mental health professional for a correct dx of what you're dealing with and a treatment plan that may include medication along with therapy. Medication will block the attacks, but therapy can lead you to recovery.
Don't waste any more of your life cowering from anxiety!
Show it exactly who is driving your bus!
Peace
Greenlydia