lil advise?...

[helloandgooday]

This question may sound a bit strange, but im sure you've probably heard worse from other people in the past.

I began having panic & anxiety at the beginning of this year and eventually was able to overcome the panic attacks at least. The first panic attack that i had back in feb of 06' forced me to drive myself to the emergency room and once they had told me it was anxiety, they gave me some xanax and sent me home. This wasnt enough for me and i was very worried that it could be some sort of heart problem because my heart was always racing. I decided to visit a cardiologist and that was a clean bill of health as well. Basically over the past few months i have become extremely paranoid about my health and it seems that no matter how many clean bills of health that i get,my mind races and races to find something to obsess over. My panic attacks are now over, however my obsession is another story. It seems as though my panic/anxiety has somehow manifested itself into "what if" thinking and obsessing all the time.

Just recently, i started thinking back to my trip to the cardiologist and suddenly realized that prior to my heart exams that they had performed on me, i took a xanax pill just so i wouldnt be as anxious before going to see him. Then i started to think "what if" you're not suppose to be on anti-anxiety medication(xanax) while having these heart tests performed, and "what if" the only reason that my tests came back normal was because i was on xanax?? For some reason i was too nervous to call the cardiologist and ask him, and ironically my dad bumped into another cardiologist a few weeks later and he got his card and gave it to me. I decided to email him and ask him if xanax would effect the results of my heart tests. He replied a few days later and he said that xanax would NOT have any effect on the results of my heart tests. This eased my mind a great deal but then i noticed in the email that i sent him, i spelled the word "received" incorrectly and accidently typed "recieved" instead. I put the "I" before the "E"....Now i know this may sound funny to most, but for some reason this really bothered me and i started thinking "what if" xanax really DOES have an effect on these heart tests and this doctor that i am emailing is lying to me because i spelled the word "received" incorrectly....

I know that this may sound rather silly, but believe it or not, it is giving me intense anxiety and i cant stop obsessing about that email i sent him. I wish that i could obsess over something positive and productive, but i need to know if this "what if" thought that i am obsessing over (THE EMAIL THAT I SENT TO THE CARDIOLOGIST) is rational or not....also, what are your thoughts about this obsessive thought? is it rational? does it make any sense? etc etc....

i apologize for the length of this email, but i felt i had to tell you in as much detail as possible....thank you for your time!

[MominCanada]

Interesting to read your post.  I have been having problems similar to yours since beginning of November.  Had a migraine that took me to ER and numbness crossed over my body unlike any migraine with aura that I ever had before.  I seriously thought it was a stroke.  I had NO anxiety prior to this event.  Was fatigued that following week but passed it off as exhaustion from what I went through.  Then took the Flu vaccine.  Two days later I could hardly get out of bed and felt as though I had run a marathon all night.  Scared the heck out of me.  Went to ER and they figured it was not Guillian Barre Syndrome.  I'm still not totally convinced but I only have 18 days until I get my MRI and 23 days until I see the neurologist.  My fears are MS too.  I have intermittent ache and lack of coordination on my left side with my hand and foot.  One part of the day I'm fine and the other part it is scaring me to death.  I do the same with my husband too, get him to check my muscle tone etc.  Anyhow, somehow it helps to get in here and read other people's stories and it seems to calm me down.  I am seeing a CBT Psychologist and am hoping that he is able to give me some coping techniques.  I tried Zoloft after birth of my baby in 2000 as they thought I had baby blues.  I will never touch anti-depressants ever again.  Coming off them was pretty agonizing and they didn't really even help me to begin with.  Good luck to you. I will check back.

[Tingler]

Hi

I posted a question on this site a while ago. I am a South African. I suddenly developed a tingling sensation all over my body after a polio vaccination. I went to see various doctors, had the MRI scan and blood tests blah blah which all came back normal. Six months later and I am still tingling but it is not as severe as it was initially. It seems to come and go and then either only on my trunk or legs, not all over like it was at the beginning. It shifts. The neurologists aren't sure if it is as a result of an allergic reaction to the vaccination or because of anxiety. My neurologist believes that my body will eventually (albeit slowly) heal itself. I am convinced that it is as a result of the vaccination but it is definitely exacerbated by stress/worry/anxiety. The tingling gets worse when I worry and I worry all the time about MS and other health related issues. Even though the MRI was normal I convince myself that the tingling is a symptom of MS which just hasn't shown up on the MRI yet. I constantly check my reflexes, muscle strength etc and seek reassurance from my husband that I am ok. This helps for about 5 minutes, then it's back to worrying. Sound familiar? It seems that millions of us, all over the world, suffer from the same fears and worries.

The reason I am writing is to point out the following - YOU have to take control of this. No medication will help in the long-term. At some stage you have to stop medication. They put me on an anti-depressant. Even though the doctors recognised that I am not depressed, these drugs change your perception of things i.e. I am tingling but I think I am not. They also tried me on an anti-epileptic drug which is a membrane stabiliser (to help with the tingling sensation). I had allergic reactions to both drugs and so had to stop them - not that they were helping. Try and deal with this without medication. See a therapist if you have to.

I have just today finished reading an excellent book by an American doctor (so you guys in the States will be able to get hold of it easily)called "The Worry Cure" by Dr Robert L.Leahy. It explains exactly why we worry and how we can overcome it. He is a cognitive therapist. Even though I have not yet done the exercises, just reading it has helped me. It is almost as if he has written the book just for me. He has a whole chapter on health anxiety. Some stuff to do to help you with this anxiety -

(1) Stop seeking reassurance. It doesn't help. Stop checking your body for symptoms, stop reseaching things on the internet. Checking maintains your worry. If you find yourself wanting to do this, resist the urge for an hour. As with all compulsions, the urge will pass.
(2) If you find yourself thinking thoughts like "I am going to get cancer and die" - don't try to block that thought. Let it come. Then say "I am simply having the thought that I will get cancer." Thought does not equal reality. Just because you have a thought doesn't mean it will come true. When you have a thought, accept it for what it is (just a thought) and walk away.
(3) The most frightning advice for me was if you have a thought "I am going to get cancer" then repeat that thought at least 200 times "I am going to get cancer", I am going to get cancer". Say it over and over and over. Patients of his who practiced their fears like this everyday for 2 weeks noticed that their minds started drifting elsewhere when they would repeat their cancer thoughts. The thoughts had become boring!
(4) Accept your limitations about your health i.e. you are mortal, you will get sick, you cannot know everything, reassurance cannot change reality.
(5) I, as do you all, suffer from 'Health Perfectionism' - the belief that your body and sensations should be perfect all of the time. We think "if it's imperfect, then it's a symptom of a disease." Normal bodies have aches, pains, lumps, bumps, and irregularities. Normal sensations include feeling dizzy, being tired, having headaches, experiencing heartburn, having a rapid heartbeat, being short of breath and tingling in the fingertips. It is normal to have what we consider 'symptoms'.

Get this book. It is insightful. It is filled with various exercises you have to do like work out your worry profile, keep a worry log book etc. I haven't done anything yet since I just finished it today but it makes sense, makes me feel better and I am excited to find out if it will work. Good-Luck to all of you and God Bless!    

[gaaz]

is it real ?!!
i dont have to take anti anxiety medication for ever .. ?!!
is it just taking them for few months and thats it ?!!
i do have anxiety .. and all what iam complaining of is it's physical symptoms ..i told to be on SSRIs but i didnt take them .. coz i just was fighting the idea that i shouldbe on those med for the rest of my life.. (and iam only 20)

[Pum]

I think you will find if you do take a SSRI that you will not worry about side affects all the time, well once they start working that is (give them at least 4-6 weeks to work).  That is the whole point of them, they reduce your anxiety.  And it's not true you will have to stay on them for life.  They can almost retrain your brain into dealing with anxiety in a better way.  Cognative behaviour therapy is also very good for this.

Your worry about the spelling is irrational and you have some but not complete insight into that.  If you find this is affecting your quality of life significantly you should take the medication as prescribed.

Your heart is fine and so is your spelling.  Everyone, even the doctors on this board, make spelling mistakes.

I found a great website that might help Joepanic.com
Truthful thinking.

Good luck

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Anxiety can easily morph into obsession, because obsessions take the focus off the anxiety, and it becomes a vicious circle. No, your thoughts re cardiologist lying to you are not rational at all. The best thing you can do for yourself is to see a therapist so you can talk this through before your obsessions cause you more misery.

[englishlad]

thanks for advice headshrinker...(and everyone else too!)honestly, ive been rather obsessive all my life, but it never took away precious moments of my day the way it sometimes does now. i will be turning 26 in feb and the anxiety and panic started to kick in at the beginning of this year, but once i was able to end the panic attacks, then my ocd really kicked into a high gear for whatever reason...I DONT KNOW!....
are you really a doctor? sorry for being nosey, but i was just curious...

     its just that every now and then i get a worry or an obsession stuck into the back of my mind,and sometimes its a rational obsession and other times, it can be something irrational.Even when something sounds irrational to somebody else,my mind will tell me that it IS rational

just a simple chat with people like yourselves can get me off the worry treadmill...hope to hear back from you soon!

[englishlad]

oh...im sorry, but this is my other name "englishlad".....your still talking to "helloandgoodday"...just wanted to let you know! the post you see above this one is still me!!! didnt wanna confuse anyone!

[Need'N'GiveHelp]

Well, I will give my piece, though some may disagree.  I feel that you have OCD, as I had a very similar issue throughout my adolescence.  I would do crazy things like make equations out of license plates to where all the numbers in the plate equal another number in the plate.  I would basically obsess over trying to make these equations work, or even find patterns in random objects I see, though they would have none.  These "What-Ifs" were probably the most common of my issues, and I was so paranoid about everyone and everything that the only people I trusted and cared for were my wife and family, yet even then I wondered who was doing what behind my back.Once I saw the movie "A Beautiful Mind," I realized what I was doing, though I did not have the multiple-personality aspect.  Anyways, I never took a single pill, as I feel that pills are exactly what they are, drugs, and that was nearly as bad an option as my obsession with these miniscule little things.  To me, if you take a drug, you have to be on that drug forever, as you lose the power to control the issue yourself.  Now granted, the behaviors I exuded never threatened my, or anybody else's life, which then, drastic cases call for drastic measures.  The way I got over my issues was really a mixture of solutions.  First, I would keep my mind busy, maybe a word puzzle, or something else that would distract it, as it was constantly running.  Second, I analyzed my situation (I'm very good at analyzing), and judged what needed to be fixed, and what was no problem, and could be quite useful.  To solve my "what-ifs," and my paranoia, I would ask myself exactly that question, "What if?"  "What if my family had negative feelings about me behind my back?  How will that hurt me?  Nobody's perfect, so there's no need for me to get upset about it."  A lot of times, I would ask what if, and think of the WORST outcome possible.  I would play the cause-and-effect game, and come to an ending that was generally death, or paralysis in some way.  Now, everytime, those occurrences were nothing short of rediculous, and I REALIZED THAT.  A few years of those solutions and more, and I was a much more relaxed, UNDER-analyzer, and I've never felt better.  My mind isn't clouded with all that unwanted "chatter," and I'm nowhere near as stressed as I was.

[nervous_nikki]

i would advise against taking the Zoloft unless it was recently prescribed by a physician...if you're worried about your health dont start popping random pills.  A prescription is a prescription.  Either take it everyday like the label reads or toss em. Seriously.  That is worse than xanax.

[helloandgooday]

oh p.s....
the zoloft was in fact given to me by my doctor ...he gave me 50 mg tablets...

[nervous_nikki]

From a medical/scientific perspective there is ABSOLUTELY 100% NO WAY THAT XANAX EFFECTS A HEART TEST. The test that was done is called an EKG, electrocardiogram. It measures electricl impulses in the heart to see if everything is functioning properly.  Xanax cannot make your heart work improperly.  Medication does not effect this test and its results.  The only thing it might effect is your heart rate meaning making it slower than it might be w/o xanax.  Keep in mind, the heart is the most powerful muslce in the body and it will keep working hard for you unless you put your body in danger: lots of fat/cholesterol, drugs, excessive alcohol and cigarettes.

[helloandgooday]

thanks for the advice on the zoloft....i dont think i need them, however they are there if i DO decide to take them, but i wont take them without knowing full well that i am going to stick with them....
as far as the heart tests that i had, i didnt have a regular ekg......i had what they call an "echocardiogram" which is basically an ultra sound of the entire heart muscle and the other test i had was called a "stress test" which to my knowledge is basically a test to see how your heart functions under stress and exercise......u have any info about the echocardiogram & stress test?

[helloandgooday]

i am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to letters, and i actually have a full bottle of Zoloft sitting in my room  staring right at me as we speak. I guess u can say im a little worried about taking it because then i will start "what-if-ing" about side effects and all the other crapola that goes along with it. Deep down inside i still would like to have the strength within my own brain to try and overcome this without drugs. ALso, i am a light social drinker and part of my job sometimes consists of wining and dining, and im also aware of the fact that its dangerous to drink and be on this medication. SO i am still a little hesitant about that.

i even noticed that the title of my first posting was "lil advise" and that even started to bother me because i know that it's an incorrect spelling. It should be "a little advice?"...sorry, just had to let you all know that.... especially you Dr. Gould...Merry Christmas to all!! ooops im sorry "happy holidays"...dont wanna offend anybody!!! =)

[sparkeler]

Your are classical for OCD.  Or OCT as I call it.  (Obsessive compulsive thinking.)  I do the same things.  Are you on an SSRI, like lexapro or paxil?  If not, you should ask your doctor to try you on some meds.  Take that along with the xanax (xanax when needed.)  Also try meditating and exercising.  This should take some of the pressure off your thougths.  It won't eliminate it.  Trust me.  I still battle everyday.  But you have to just tell yourself it's your mind.  It's apart of who you are. How do you cope?  Well you can let the thoughts control you or you can control your thoughts.  It's being able to decipher what's really worth worrying about and what's ridiculous.  You know deep down that spelling the word receive wrong wouldn't affect the doctors opinion about the xanax and your heart tests.  It's the little devil in your mind that's not letting you let the thought go.  You have to tell him to shut up once in awhile, (for your own sanity.) We all have our crosses to bear.  Having the necessary skills to cope is the challenging part.  That is where a little therapy may come in to play.  Life isn't easy, trust me, but it can be beautiful!  Happy Holidays!

[marlowgs]

I'm sure there are many reasons for anxiety and panic attacks. I can tell you what I did to eliminate mine - maybe it can help you. First, when I had a panic attack and my heart was racing, I said to myself this is just another panic attack and I did some slow deep breathing - within a couple of minutes my heart started to slow. Second, I started light therapy. I use a GE Full Spectrum (F15T8-SR) fluorescent lamp which I set up to shine in my face in front of my computer about 12" from my face. For about 3 hours in the morning. Then for another 3 hours in the evening I set the lamp on my chest to shine in my face while I'm watching TV in a reclined position. Third, I discovered that I wasn't getting enough salt in my diet. So I take an extra half-teaspoon each day.

[headshrinker]

It sounds like you have OCD.  OCD is when you have either Obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behaviors that interfere with normal functionality in your life.  Some people have Obsessive Compulsive traits but have learned to use them to their advantage as in organizing and being very efficient and detail oriented.  When they become a hinderance is when they rise to the level of disorder.

First of all, how old are you?  Are these symptioms new?  Did you have other symtoms previously in your life?  Washing hands, paranoia, counting things, checking and rechecking the locks, the on/off controls, other odd behaviors?

Sometimes we have these behaviors as youngsters but they get worse as we age and when they begin to interfere we begin to fear them, then worry more about it = thinking more about it = worrying about thinking more about it = fearing thinking & worrying about it = more anxiety = panic === and it becomes a vicious cycle.

SSRI's like Zoloft are the first line treatment for anxiety disorders and panic as well as OCD.  No doctor would give you bad info because you misspelled something.  As smart doctors we deal with people less adept than we are at spelling, speaking, thinking, taking tests, whatever EVERYDAY.  If we tried to give them all bad info or bad medicine we soon wouldn't have any patients left to treat.  Besides, maybe you KNOW how to spell it but it was a typo - why on earth would someone be a jackass to you because you type fast and don't bother to proofread?  It's absurd.  WORRYING ABOUT IT IS A SYMPTOM OF YOUR OCD!!!

Drinking one or two drinks occasionally won't hurt you.  Drinking is NEVER recommended with any medication.  Alcohol is a depressant so it is especially not recommended with antidepressant medication - it's counter-productive - what' the point?  The cognitive methods mentioned earlier of recognizing it as a panic attack, deep slow breathing, and rationally thinking through the thoughts of doom can help, BUT TAKE YOUR MEDS.  It's no different than someone with diabetes - that is - it's a chemical imbalance that can be corrected in this wonderful day of technology by a simple pill-a-day.  JUST DO IT.  

One last thing.  You cannot take Zoloft just as needed.  It takes about one month to reach the effective steady-state dose in your bloodstream.  You must take it everyday for 4-6 weeks before you will know if it is really starting to work.  JUST DO IT.  You will likely feel much better soon and you can get off this website and live your life.
-headshrinker, MD-