not myself anymore,panic, anxiety, palpitations..need help

[kazak]

hello,

Im a 20 year old male, and haven't been right for the past while. I completed college exams six or seven weeks ago and a couple of days afterwards I began to feel a bit different particularly around my chest area even though I felt relieved that the exams had finished. I assumed this feeling would just disappear ,however, i woke up from my sleep the following morning at 6 a.m. with a rapid pounding in my chest and jumped out of my bed and began to walk around and it began to slow down shortly after but a couple of minutes later i went into a fit of shaking which also subsided. I'm not too sure whether this was a panic attack or not but I am not the same person since. I have been suffering fom palpitations(ectopic beats) and can have as many as a couple of hundred missed beats on a daily basis. I also have a constant ugly sort of feeling in my chest as if something bad is about to happen which has stays with me regardless of me being outside or at home...it's just always there. I am not myself anymore whereas before i used to perform better under pressure, now i am quite the opposite, i am also easily frightened(particularly by loudish noises which wouldn't have affected before), i find it very difficult to concentrate or focus while at college, i also get tired easier and haven't had a decent night sleep since(including strange dreams but not necessarily nightmares). The skipped beats also irritate me and mainly get them after i wake up in the morning and at night before I fall asleep, I am guaranteed them after sexual intercourse/masturbation and also when i'm just sitting down watching television or reading a book. They are quite strong and are felt with a rapid thud throughout my entire upper body and my side head temples and can wake me up out of my sleep at times. My left arm also feels very heavy and tight. I presented myself to my doctor asymptoms and he had me wear a heart monitor for a 24 hour period which showed many of these beats which he deemed not to be serious. He told me that I just need to reduce stress in my life and they should disappear after a while but they are still here. To be honest, I've had a lot of things happen in the past which may have contributed to a build up of stress such as family break-ups, and loss of two  close friends, one in a car crash and another to suicide. But despite this i never felt the way I do now(like ****). Over the past year I felt my mood improving and confidence growing each day especially after meeting a new girlfriend. But then this whole thing hit me and i can honestly say that I am not the same anymore even though my behaviour hasn't changed and I seem the same to friends and family I don't feel right on the inside and would do anything to be my old self again. I don't feel ambitious anymore and am generally out of place. My doctor put me on 2mg of valium for a week but this didn't help and is now suggesting therapy to improve my mental health, but for some reason I feel it wont help as all of problems feel physical. After doing research I am beginning to think it could be a prolapse of  the mitral valve in the heart, which can, apparently, be caused by stress and wouldn't show up on heart monitor, only a echocardiagram, which, for reasons, unknown to me he didnt refer me to get done. i feel lost and depersonalized and dont know what to do. Would like to know if this could indeed be mvp from the above symptoms and would also like to ask anybody who had these symptoms in the past and what they did, especially anyone who had this happen 1 year+ ago and how there life has been since because i can't imagine living like this for the rest of my life.

Would appreciate all feedback,
Thanks very much

[marymagdeline]

Hi, I'm so sorry that your suffering so much.  How scary for you.  I'm a nutritionist, not a nurse.  However, what I would do if I were you is this. First make CERTAIN that your problems are not physical.  If you have health insurance, go see a Cadiologist.  He (or she) would be the one who would rule out whether or not this is related to your heart and/or is serious.  If all tests prove that physically you are fine, then I would go see a phychiatrist.  Get put on an antidepressant ( I'm on one.  There is no shame in this.)  Yes, a regular dr can give you an antidepressant, but phychiatrists know more about these drugs.  They take about 6 weeks to work.  Valuim will relax you, but it will not help with anxiety.  It's a muscle relaxer.  Good Luck!  

[eronski]

Hey there - I can hear how you are at your wits end.  To me it sounds like anxiety and panic, crazy enough it almost always manifests itself phisically.  Go to the library and get some books on it, you will be amazed and how it effects people.

The main thing I wanted to say is you will feel yourself again.  That is the worst part about anxiety, it is hard to remember or imagin feeling "normal" when you are in the middle of it.  It is also nearly impossible to explain to others how you are feeling, at least it was for me.  I always felt I was on "Another Plain" - do you know what I mean?  They call it Derealization and it is very, very common during anxiety and panic and it is awful.

I sympathize with you because when I was a teen I had a terrible time with it, so bad I became suicidal.  I didn't know what was happening to me, I wish I would have had something like the Forum back then.  Even so I got better and am in my 40's now and am having a wonderful life.  The anxiety comes and goes, most of the time it only lasts moments and doesn't effect me much.  Infact it left me for nearly 20 years.  It has come back strong the last two winters and I have had to get treatment but I know it's only temporary and I will be back to myself again too.

You are still you, you are not crazy and it will pass.  There is a ton of help out there for it, you may have to take some meds but if you find relief it's worth it and it will mostlikely fade away.  I hope you feel better soon, take Care.