I Need Some Help

[MZ3Alex]

Hi,
I am an 18 year old male and I have suffering with anxiety related problems for about a month now. It started off as the usual with constantly being afraid of everything (death in particular), chest pains(which was the start to all this that was really a chest cold), and feeling very uneasy all the time that something serious and terrible could happen. I have only ever had 2 anxiety attacks (the second the night right after the night of the first one.) I didn't go to the ER during any of those attacks since I knew I wasn't having a heart attack and I had gone to the doctor the day after the first attack and nothing could be found wrong with me. That night I had a second even stronger panic attack and decided I had to go back to the doctor the next day because it was just getting to be ridiculous. I saw a different doctor this time and that's when he diagnosed a possible anxiety problem that was the cause of all this. He issued a chest x-ray, EKG, and blood work to be done just in case there may something else. (All the results then came back normal and completely fine.) He said anxiety can cause a lot of these things and I will admit I had been very stressed over the two months before then. (I guess I hadn't realized what could eventually happen because of it.) I do admit I have been under a lot of stress, especially through last October and November. (dealing with college apps, SAT's, my graduation project, and problems with getting my now previous job to cooperate with me. Not to mentions school tests, grades, and homework since I'm trying for the best possible Senior year as far as grades go.)(I am also not usually not stressed very often either.) But anyways, during the two weeks after my doctors visits and three days of missed school, I started to feel much better and I was learning to relax more. My chest pains for the most part subsided and I felt very good. I always had this very very small uneasiness feeling but it kept getting better day after day and I though I was finally getting over all this ****.

When the week of Christmas began I started to have problems again. I was getting the chest pain and uneasiness feeling back along with fear that something could seriously be wrong with me. (no anxiety attacks though) Christmas eve while I was laying in bed I had a terrible shaking fit that lasted about a half hour. It was almost to the point of exhaustion. During Christmas day I felt very uneasy the whole day and I was also suffering from a lot of fatigue since I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before due to the shaking fit. I had taken a nap in the afternoon Christmas day and it seemed to help a lot. That night I had also had a terrible sneezing fit which I get sometimes (more rarely during the winter months but does happen once or twice) due to my allergies. During the entire day Friday and Saturday my entire face hurt terribly along with my head. It has gotten better since then but now it feels like my forehead is going to explode and I feel pressure in the top of my head along with some very dull pains down the sides of my face. My nose isn't very stuffed up now but it was. Could this possibly be a sinus infection and I should see a doctor about it? (my anxiety with this is almost driving me crazy too, it is causing me to fear a doctor visit this since somewhere subconsciously I feel its something else more serious but consciously I know I'm fine.) My forehead also feels very warm from time to time but not always. When I wake up I feel fine. It seems throughout the day the pressure in my head gets worse and it feels even worse while I'm typing this up looking at a computer screen. So to relieve my anxiety with this, could this be a sinus infection of some kind? I have had sinus infections before but I have never felt anything like this.

I also have one more problem that I really do not understand at all. Just this week, maybe last Sunday too I'm not totally sure, I started having random pains all around the left side of my chest. (I think I have had 2 in the right side though.) They would come and go at random times and would last maybe 20 or 30 minutes. Other times they could just be a dull pain in one particular area lasting maybe an hour or two. These REALLY leave me with a very uneasy feeling that I think is provoking more stress and causing even more chest pain and overall uneasiness. (And probably more head pain.) Along with these pains I have also been feeling a lot of fatigue all week long. That may be due to my trouble sleeping at night which is also another problem I am having. Sometimes I find myself not falling asleep until 3, 4 or even 5 in the morning and sleeping until noon the next day. This isn't what I experienced when all this anxiety stuff began.

So does anyone have any thoughts or ideas that could help me out? I really hate this uneasy feeling and it makes me feel like my heart could stop or something any minute and that I am going to pass out or something. (Stupid I know but I guess this is anxiety and I hate that I cannot control this feeling.) I am almost to the point where I fear I have developed an anxiety disorder and that I am very scared of stressing my self doing anything physical for fear of something bad happening to me. I want to get up and do something but I can't.

Please help me!
Thanks a bunch!
-Alex

[mel16747]

lol that's okay =)
Yeah exacty like the last few days I've been great hanged out with a friend and had sleepovers and as soon as

my friend left I fell back to thinking about this again which sucked 'cos I was happy and yeah ...

Yeah 3 weeks till my blood test. I hate waiting =P lol.Also i went to the doctors again just to get my moles

checked (I was anxious I had skin cancer ..) but luckily I am 100% cancer free but my doctor will keep an eye

out about it though, which is good. OMG I do exactly what you do and I thought I was the only one ... like me

aswell I would watch the news or even a tv show or a cartoon {lol} and someone may mention dying or getting sick and I start thinking Oh My God what if this happens to me ... yeah same everytime I try and reassure myself that I am fine and everything is okay I might feel a second of happiness but it's like every time I try tothink happy I just can't ... it's like it ain't allowing me .. don't know does that make sense =S
is it cold there ?
It's summer here in Australia very hot lol
I feel like that too, sometimes even I say you can't help what happens as my friend said to me ages ago "You

may go on the train home tommorow and it may crash and you might die, you just can't help it" I know that and I know I shoud't worry but like you said our minds just can't take it that way ...
I wish too but wishes hardly come true ay

By the way did this just happen to you out of nowehere or it is tied to anything else ?
I'm kind of stressing about grade 12 cos I start school in a week I hope I am able to do my study and things ..

Hope you well
xo
Melly <3

[MZ3Alex]

Sorry Mel I forgot to get back on here. =P Being with your friends really does help, it takes your mind off of you and focuses it on other people and other things. Then you forget you have any problems and all you anxiety goes away. Then you feel great, but the second you remember how you feel it unfortunately all comes back. At least that is how it is for me. =( I am glad to hear though that you doctors appointment went well. I hope those blood tests come back well too! I personally have had a blood test done but I don't know the extent of what was tested.

As for me though, I'm not sure where I am at with this. Some nights I feel great while others I feel like a heart attack at any second. Anxiety is tough. I do need to admit though that I am slowly feeling better and better each day. The anxiety keeps lessening and lessening but I would still like to schedule a follow-up appointment at the doctors sometime to make sure everything is still alright. I try to keep myself doing positive things but I am so anxious to get back to my normal self I sometimes do or watch negative things just to see the effect on me. Sometimes it just happens around me and there is nothing I can do about it. (Like the news etc....) Other times I'll watch a movie that has death in it and sometimes I'll almost feel like I'll die as well. I know it's stupid and I keep trying to tell myself that but it just sometimes doesn't fix the psychology. I know this really all doesn't sound good but trust me, it's better than it really is. =) As for any chest pain it, it seems to come and go. When it comes I feel uneasy and terrible, and when it goes I feel better. I'm not sure if I want medication or not. I know I would like to see a doctor again for a follow-up but it seems there are some pretty adverse side-effects to the medication here that I'm not so sure I want to deal with. Tonight was the first night in about 4 days I really haven't felt so good. My chest has felt uneasy the whole night and I have had some minor on and off shaking. I'm not sure if it's cause I'm cold since it's ridiculously cold here in Pennsylvania, or not. I just get that feeling back that something could happen any minute when I know it won't; when I know there is absolutely nothing wrong with me but I just can't force my mind to comprehend it. I almost wonder sometimes, if I could make myself forget about all these anxiety problems, would I feel fine? Or would the feelings still be there? What if I could just tell myself none of this ever happened? Oh I wish. But anyways, it's good to hear you are doing well, I am still slowly creeping along though, but in a good direction. =)

Well now that I have sounded weird enough and strayed far from my normal personality and how I usually am I'm going to skedaddle now. =P

Take care,
Alex

P.S. ThePilot, I really wish you would post back and let us know how you are doing.

[mel16747]

ThePilot -Alex

Hey
Well the doctor checked my heart beat, breathing and blood pressure and stomach
and she said everything was alright. 100% healthy. I wrote down all the symptoms I had and told her I might have magnesium deficiency which can cause ALL the symptoms of anxiety I have a whole page written down ... and I have to have another special blood test but in a month due to having one few weeks ago. That's a really long time .

I wish it is a magnesium deficiency because that is easily fixed and I won't have anxiety. But I'm hoping .... even though it may not be. I was just so over it as soon as I got out to the bus stop I broke down luckily my friend was there was support. :)

Also my doctor said to go out with friends and stay out of the house as much as possible and to get a job and try not to think about the unhealthy thins surrounding me.

Otherwise I still have headaches and I'm not sleeping but find myself a bit happier these days and seeming like my old self at times so that's one good thing I guess.

Anyway I'll have to wait 4 more weeks like this hoping they will pass and I'll get the results I want.

Did you guys have yourselves tested for this ? (Magnesium deficiency ... )

Hope all is good. Keep writing makes me feel better :)

xoxo
Melly <3

[MZ3Alex]

Mel?

How did your doctors appointment go? It hopefully went well right?

ThePilot,

How are things going with you? You havent posted back in awhile. How is the therapy going?

-Alex

[mel16747]

Thank you
I'm seeing my doctor On Saturday hopes all goes well.

:)
x

[MZ3Alex]

ThePilot,

I glad to hear that you do not have a disorder. I would only think that er are so close on the same page that I do not have one either. That really makes me feel better too! I would hope you could share some of the infi your psychologist tells you because I think it could really help some people even more and add this huge thread of information. As for me I continue to feel a little better and better each passing day. I still do get chest pain sometimes and uneasiness sometimes still does exist. Today was a really good day because I almost feel like I got a glimpse of my normal self back. I don't know why or from where but for about a few minutes today I really felt increadible. If I didn't know any better it was how I used to feel before all this. The main problems that still exist over all this are the phobias that were developed becase of the anxiety. I really need to get over them and get back to my life. Today I also came to a realization. While I was sitting in a chair watching TV I started to feel really bad out of nowhere. I got the uneasiness and dull chest pain pretty much out of nowhere. But something else happened too, I got this really sinking feeling inside as well that made my come to more of a realization of what was going on. I realized my anxiety had no orgin and there was absolutely nothing that should be causing it. I sort'a told myself the whole thing was stupid and I had had enough of it. After that I repositioned myself and sat more straight up and it was like all my pain went away. I believe more of this now has to do with realization. If you just realize how dumb everything is that you are experiencing you seem to loose that afarid mindset. Now granted I'm not back to normal just nor do I believe I will be tomarrow or the day after; the damage has already been done and it's now the process of recovering from it. Untill all those little phobias are gone and I have nothing to worry about anymore then I'll be fully recovered. Taking your mind and focusing it on something else really ia the key. You must make yourself forget how you felt before because it was only your mind making you feel that way. Whenever I do something that really takes my mind off my anxiety related thoughts, I really do feel great. Then when you get dobe with whatever it was you were doing, you feel normal, but then that little remider of how you felt before and what kind of situation you were in just comes back and ruibs the moment. That kind of thing is what needs to be worked on. But anyways, I need to stop with thisd because it is getting too long. I wish you the best of luck as always and I hope your psychologist sessions continue to go well. I will anways continue posting here and following up to make sure your doing alright. :)

Mel,
I'm not sure what to tell you but to really get into a comfortable position and read through this thread. I hope your doctor can help you out with the problems you have been having. Just remember it's going to be okay and to think positive. I'm not sure what your difficulty swallowing issue could be about. I have never heard of a problem like that as being a side effect of anxiety. I have personally never experienced anything like that myself except when I have been sick with strep or something. I wish you the best of luck as well! :)

RichReligion,
You make some exellent points there that i do agree with. I do have an unresolved issue and thats called a college acceptance letter. I can't really do much about that though as I'll have to wait for spring. I know I'll get into college it's just my fear of not getting into one that is always bugging me. It's only been in the recent few days I have come to realize how stupid that fear is and its that realization that is helping me. Trust me, I am trying to reward myself, and I am getting srtonger by the day. It's just amazing how much anxiety knocks someone out. And you can bet I'll be rewarding myself in the next few days to try and get rid of this once and for all. It's just about doing what makes you happy and creates positive thoughts.

Alright well I'm going to bed now. If you can believe it I typed all this up on an iphone. My thumbs are really hurting and my right arm is asleep. Lol. But anyways best wishes to everyone.

-Alex