anxiety and exercise

[kazak]

hello, i dont know if im the only one here but since my panic attack and anxiety which followed, i have noticed that my aerobic exercise capacity has decreased, i go to the gym about 3 tiimes a week and have no problem doing strength training, which has actually improved, however when it comes to running on the treadmill, i used to run about 5km over 20 minutes, but am now struggling and stop after 3.5 - 4km, with my chest and upper back becoming very tight and my breathing going a lot quicker than compared to before, i also feel more panicky and turn the machine off around this distance, as already mentioned this wont happen with weightlifting, is it possible that my anxiety is really impacting on my aerobic exercise capacity?

[birdie0907]

And I didn't miss any of those crazy chest pains when they stopped either. They would hit anytime, including the middle of the night. They got me into such panics at first that I had to go into my doc's office until she reassured me it was not a heart problem.

[birdie0907]

The physical symptoms are brought on by the mental, but there is no reason to stop exercising. My doc said vigorous exercise will provide calming relief equal to 2 Ativans, but I never experienced that. I sometimes had to take an Ativan to calm down while doing my cardio workout.

So if you are all tensed up, it is natural that your ability to function at a peak level will drop off. Your Mar 9 post said you were going to start meds, so did you and if so, did you get any effect? I got minor relief in 1 week on Celexa which built up until after a month I never had to take another Ativan.
It was the weirdest feeling, after all the pain of anxiety that never gave me more than 10 seconds break in a minute, to be able to just kind of watch it melt away slowly until I did not even think about anxiety anymore.