Anxiety symptoms

[day2day]

I am a 44 year old breast cancer survivor who has been in medical menopause for 3 years and is currently taking arimidex and receiving monthly lupron injections.  It seems like since I've gone through all this that I am much more anxious, in general.  The worse part is that I seem to have a low tolerance level for hearing something I don't want to hear, and I've become very impatient.  For example, if my husband asks me do something I don't want to do- even something as mundane as laundry, I feel like my whole body, and especially my chest, clenches up, or constricts, like a vice.  I don't feel pain, it's more like an extreme sensation of tightness in my upper abdomen.  Sometimes this sensation coincides with a hot flash.  After the issue is resolved or a few minutes of rest, the symptoms alleviate on their own.  Does this sound like a panic attack?  Why is it provoked so easily?  I am under somewhat regular care of my physician because of being a cancer survivor.  He's checked my thyroid, etc., and all is okay.  I have normal blood pressure, bloodwork, and have had a normal ekg in the past year.  Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.  Thank you for your time.

[wtc]

Hey I have taken lexapro and it helped with my dizziness, I have been off for about 3 years now and I am back to being soooo dizzy, foggy headed, every day but off and on in the day. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[giddychic]

back atcha----I have talked to the doc and mine is totally anxiety------not fun---they have helped me out some---but if I could just calm down and quit thinking I have to make everyone happy I think that would help----but I have such a hard time saying no and have been talking to friends of mine and they have tried to help me by talking to me......saying it is ok to say no you don't have to do everything for everybody---but my doc says that is just my personality......I don't know really how to handle it........any suggestions from someone who knows what I am talking about?????

[JOGIRL423]

I get the same thing as you described immediately above...Have been to all the docs and I think they think I am a hypochondriac...I have decided to go back on the WB...

It was better than what I am dealing with now.

And if someone does invent a pill like that I am buying stock in the company! LOL!!

Have a fabulous day!
Jo

[JOGIRL423]

Hi,

I have the same thing...fine during the day, most of the time, then bamm go to bed and I toss and turn.

And I think that I am going crazy...

I have the weird tingling too...I wish they could make a pill with no side effects and make me normal...LOL!

Jogirl

[giddychic]

Know whatcha mean-------stress and anxiety are amzing secretive little things that just sneak up on you----like right this minute I feel like falling over and going to sleep---but when I get in bed everything in the world seems like goes through my head---and alot of it is just stupid stuff.......I agree with the pill theory----that would be a wonderful invention------

Talk later!!!!

[DaZeD20]

This is a weird problem... but i have had a problem with the drug extacy for the last year. I have quit recently, and haven't done it for a couple of weeks. I have recently been dignosed with anxiety disorder/socialphobia. I was wondering if anyone with maybe something similar to this problem could reply. I secretly am wondering if the drug is what made me so unstable, and if it did what i can do to be normal again?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

My guess is that you are experiencing an acute episode of rage, that is only partially suppressed. That's what the sensations you describe add up too. The reason is also obvious.  There is a  part of you that feels you have suffered enough, and should be nurtured more, and any pressure for you to do any more is felt like an unfair and insensitive demand.  You should probably talk this through with your husband, and also with yourself, to determine what is fair and reasonable under the circumstances.

[giddychic]

I have gone through alot of medical issues in the last 4 years.....at times I feel ok...but then when bed time comes....I feel so sleepy until I lay down...at that point my eyes are wide awake...I am tossing and turning.....my breathing becomes harder....my chest seems to tighten....is this anxiety????????

[LavenderD]

Hi, I'm 30 years old and this past year I've been having alot of anxiety and health problems. The new scare is that I'm having  pin pricks. I get them in my feet and hands but only one at a time in a place.  I know tingling is normal for anxiety( I've had that before), but what about these pin pricks I'm having are they normal for anxiety or is it something else that I should mention to my neuro?

[rambios67]

Hi. I am 38 years old and I have suffered from Panic attacks for almost the past 3 years. They started 3 weeks after I got married to the love of my life.  Since then, my/our life has been one ER visit, Urgent Care vist, doctor visit, after another AND a complete cirlce with various meds. It has cost my family thousands of dolls, thousands of hours of lost sleep, and many many arguments. My wife and I feel that the first years of our marriage have been stolen from us.  

The docs keep pushing me to try more SSRIs. I have been on Paxil, Zoloft(Tremendous weight gain, lethargy, no sleep and nightmares), Cymbalta(horrible nausea), Effexor(disturbing hand tremors, Prozac and Imipramine(huge increase in attacks, and now my docs want me to try Lexapro and from what I have read on this forum, Lexapro is just as worse...even if the the docs say the side effects are less...they are not the ones taking it.

Anxiety and panic can ruin people's lives unless they get good support from a therapist who actually cares.  I am just coming off of 30 day STD from work because of the meds. I am now back on Klonopin (.25mg AM and .25 Noon, and .5 before bedtime) and it has stopped the attacks. I am still wound up and anxious a lot but that is my normal genetic makeup and I am learning to accept it.  I have been told and I have read that Benzos are terrible in the long term but you know, they work for me.  And with Congnitive Behavioral Therapy, I hope to slowly wean off Klonopin this summer and be psych drug free.  Therapy is the answer, not meds. They really only mask symptoms conduct no curing at all unless you have depression.

In addition, I suffer from PVCs that drive me crazy when they hit.
These palps have send me to ERs and home early from work. I have spent many, many hours worrying about my heart, even though my EKGs, sress tests (3 of them), Holter and Event (2), Stress echo (3), echo(1) blood work ( near infinite) have all come back normal

Then early this year. They stopped!  But in the last three weeks when I went on STD, they came back full force. One doc thinks it is my hay fever pill, Allegra, that started them. So I stopped taking it.  We shall see if they decline.  I have been told that my panic disorder is the main reason I have PVCs and chest wall pain, but a big part of me still thinks I have a heart problem.

Meditation, yoga, relaxation are the answers and cures. Remember, that you recover from panic and anxiety, but you may never be truly cured.  It is how you allow them to be a part of your life and let the dissipate on their own.  They do. Trust me.  I am now learning that panic is caused by my fears only...and when one comes on, I say "ok, hit me with everything" or I say "oh, a panic episode, no big deal" and they stop quickly.  You then gain confidence.
I hope this helps!

[ABCMomof3]

You are right, seeking counseling and therapy are definitely worth it. I was told that the people who need counseling the most are the ones that get it the least. And it really does help, I wish more people realized that. I'm glad you found help and have a good support system and that you didn't wait ten years to finally get help.

Take care, and stay well and happy and keep doing what you are doing.

[ABCMomof3]

First of all, I want to say I'm really glad that you feel a little better knowing that your not alone in those symptoms you are experiencing. I know how scared I was when I didn't know what was wrong with me.

And I have never been diagnosed with anything other then anxiety/depression/stress and high blood pressure. There is no family history of MS in my family, but there is a history of depression and anxiety. I have had extensive blood tests and the only thing that every showed up *out of the normal range* was potassium and one of my cholesterols.

I's aware that MS is something that won't show up in blood tests, but I'm completely confident that I don't have MS and I will tell you why; because when I went to the dr/hospital with all those yucky symptoms as soon at the dr sat on the edge of my bed and put his his arm around me and said I was going to be just fine and that he was going to do everything possible to make sure of that; all of my symptoms went away and I felt 100% better. I needed reassurance and for some reason I trusted him completely. He then gave me an ativan for anxiety and a perscription to take one twice a day until I could get to my dr.s office.

Some people need more reassurance then others. Some people don't trust dr.s and some people put their lives in their hands. I trust that you will be fine. I will pray that you find repose and a break from the burden of worrying when there is probably nothing to even worry about. I know that sounds awfully bold of me, but I am very confident that you need not worry, I feel that you are going to be okay.

Let me take a moment to tell you something about my 15 and 17 year old sons ( I have 3 boys and only one of them hasn't had symptoms yet) but they suffer from a weird kind of migraine headache. Both have had MRI's and CAT scans and their insides are very healthy and the dr said there was nothing showing up that shouldn't have showed up; their tests were normal.

But both of them have auaras (not sure of the spelling) and both tend to lose the vision in one eye. They get sick and they get scared. They have seen speicalist and they are both very healthy young men, but they have cluster headaches and they get anxiety associated with the headaches. The worst part about the headaches, they said, is the vision loss and the feeling of instablility. With my boys, the headaches can last for days and then disappear for months at a time. I don't know if you have headaches like these or not, but if its any consolation, my children are very fearful of getting them and worry about getting the next one. So they live in fear of these headaches and I'm sure they can relate to your worries and fears.

I really hope that you guys feel better real soon. I know what its like to have fears and depression. I am better now. And I'm so grateful to the Drs and God for getting me through the tough times. I will be praying for you.

xx

[day2day]

Wow- thank you!  That was very inspirational and i do feel better after reading your message...

[Jenny Wren]

Did you ever fear that there was something wrong with you, besides anxiety?  I have feared that I have MS because I started having anxiety attacks that left me with severe nausea, when I started searching on the internet nausea, it came back as a symptom of MS, I just went today for an MRIof brain w/contrast, I've been worried so long that this is what is wrong with me, I have to put this to ease.  My symptoms are after reading this stuff about nausea/MS:  creeepy crawling feelings everywhere, the worst is on my face and nose, sometimes I do get the burning skin sensations, upset stomach, but no vision problems, well can't say that sometimes, with migraines, I have had in the last 8 years twice that I had the aura beforehand, so as you can see I'm scared not only do I have a family of migraines, Ms, and anxiety disorders, but now I think sometimes I'm a hypochondriac!  My mother went through the same thing as me when she was younger, she thought she had a brain tumor, guess what, never did, just migraines.

[ABCMomof3]

It could be stress with anxiety. Stress can do some pretty incredible things to our bodies and our emotions. And a lot of times we can feel yucky and not even know its stress and related to something going on in our lives. When I was very stressed ( a really traumatic event was happening in my life and I tried to minimize it and so the stress was building up because I wasn't dealing with it) I got really sick with stress and anxiety and then depression followed.

I've had different symptoms with my anxiety (when I used to have it) and so some of the things you described do sound like anxiety; sometimes I couldn't even swallow, everything felt locked up and clenched (like you mentioned)

You said in your message that you have a difficult time hearing bad news; well bad news can be inturpeted as *negative news* and sometimes when your husband asks you to do something and it upsets you, it could be that you hear it as *bad news* and so you are reacting to it that way. It upsets you. And when we get upset we react. It seems like your emotions are heightened from having been through so much in your life; so things you took in stride in the past are overwhelming to you now. I think you are going to be fine....I think you might need some guidance from your dr as to how you can get through the anxiety, but you can definitely be helped and you can definitely live a perfectly normal, healthy, loving life with your husband again.

And to set your mind at ease, my anxiety symptoms were; difficulty swallowing, upset tummy, burning sensations in my face and numbness and tingling pretty much all over, blurry vision, dizziness, lump in my throat, tightness in my chest, thought I couldn't breathe, crying, scared, ect. I had lots of different symptoms.

take care

[enaj]

It doesn't sound like any panic attack I've had, and I've had plenty. When I stopped taking hormone replacement supplements (about a year ago when the info came out that it was dangerous), the only symptom I had was these weird flashes of rage! I don't act on them and they aren't frequent, but every once in awhile, some random event will trigger this blazing anger! I have decided just to not pay attention to it; it doesn't last very long, and I think it's just hormonal junk. Sometimes a hot flash will come at the same time; sometimes not.