my anxiety is ruining my life and causing me severe depression what can i do to stop this?

[theguardian513]

I have had anxiety for about a year now, I have short breath, a constant rapid heart rate, really bad sharp pains in my chest and left arm, dizziness numbness in both my hands and mouth, and fatigue.  I can't run for a short distance without feeling an attack coming on.  I used to play soccer and basketball and as many of you know, soccer and basketball is constant running.  Now I can't do any of that stuff anymore, I was playing football with friends on the college field and after my first few plays, I collapsed and had what I think was my first panic attack, I couldn't breathe I was very close to throwing up, I got up and had to have people help me walk, I kept telling everyone I needed the hospital.  No one called them eventually I got out of the attack and stood up, and felt a little better but I was too terrified to get back on the field, weeks later I had one that made me go to the ER, my heart rate was in the 160-170, ever since then I've been too afraid to go out in remotely warm weather, I still feel it in the fall and winter but not quite as bad, it just worsens in the spring and summer.  I just feel so trapped depressed, I never had thoughts of suicide but I think it may be getting to the point. I don't know what to do.

[theguardian513]

I have a therapist myself who really doesn't do much to be quite honest with you.  I have taken no medication or anything.  I'm trying to accept that I have anxiety and I'm trying to see if a pill could work for me if that's the case.  Some people continue to fight it for the rest of there lives, but a lot of people conquer it.  And with some people the meds helped them to stop worrying, so when they slowly got off there doses, they were almost rid of anxiety disorder.  Anxiety will always be there, even with people without the disorder this is what I have come to realize.

[babyshay7]

I did go to a psychologist for a little while.  It did help to talk about it out loud to someone.  The lady I saw specialized in people with extreme anxiety and OCD.  I agree with you that accepting the fact that it is anxiety does make it better.  I can now do what I call "talking myself down".  That's where I recognize that it is anxiety, that I'm going to be ok, and then I do some deep breathing and go to my relaxation place (in my mind) which for me is the beach at sunset.  Sometimes that doesn't work though and here is why: My heart doc told me that there are two types of anxiety attacks you can develop.  One is where you obsess over something and "send" yourself into an attack.  The other is where you were perfectly fine but something like stress, too much caffeine, being dehydrated, waking from a terrible nightmare, or a number of different things can send you into an attack.  The attacks where it is an outside source, and not you obsessing over something, are the ones that can get really bad and hard to manage.  That's why I have to take the clonazepam and the high doses of B vitamins.

The thing is we really do feel every pain and skipped heart beat because it is happening!  Our brain tricks our body and we actually have every symptom that we describe EXCEPT that it's not from some terrible life threatening disease.  However, i would rather (like everyone else) be told that it's something that can be fixed because the worst part is we will have anxiety disorder to combat for the rest of our lives, so in a way, it almost is worse to hear the doc say it's anxiety.  

[cj29]

You did the right thing by going to get checked out by your doctor.  My original experience from anxiety came with concerns about my heart health.  I went from being very active and social (I ran about 6 miles a day) to being afraid to really do anything overnight after my first panic attack.  I went to the ER and they said it was anxiety.  I saw a cardiologist and he said the same thing.  I refused to believe it because I felt every pain, skipped beat, etc and just 'knew' something had to be wrong when in fact there was not.  In my opinion, we can become 'supersensitized' to any symptom that relates to our area of concern.  We can also tend to misinterpret normal everyday feelings as something that is detrimental to our health.  

For me, accepting and confronting the anxiety helped tremendously.  Getting counseling and learning about it was the most important step I took in dealing with this.  Over time I returned to enjoying what I had before the first panic attack.  Have you gone to talk therapy at all?

[babyshay7]

I know what you are going through.  I have suffered with panic disorder now for 7 years.  I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse (very common heart murmur disorder mostly in women) when I was 17.  It causes my autonomic nervous system to be out of whack so I have a lot of panic attacks.  The first one I had I was making a 2 hour drive down to my mother's home.  I got light headed and dizzy and my heart was racing out of my chest.  I got the tingles in my hands and feet and was freezing despite the hot weather.  I had to pull over when my vision tried to give out on me and call an ambulance.  My normally low blood pressure had sky rocketed and I was starting to hyperventilate.  Turns out it was ALL anxiety, but I couldn't drive long distances by myself anymore after that.  I have all sorts of fears that came from anxiety attacks and it's hard to get over.  Just try your best to overcome those fears little by little.  It's been a few years but I finally drove to my mother's house by myself 6 months ago.  I just finally told myself that this anxiety wasn't going to ruin my life where I can't live it to it's fullest.  I take .5mg of Clonazepam a day and it helps enough to get me by too.  If you don't want to take a medicine like that I recommend high doses of B vitamins they naturally combat anxiety and have been very helpful for me.

I hope that you can feel better soon!  Don't get discouraged it's going to take some time!

[theguardian513]

well i didn't exactly collapse I fell on the ground myself cause I felt shortness of breath and it terrified me, I always had a phobia of health issues, in the ER they ran an e.k.g on my heart and i was found normal, they also did x rays on my lungs which turned out normal, my blood pressure is normal, they checked my breathing and it seemed fine, but they did say something about white blood cells or red bloods cells being lower than the other I can't remember which one, but they said it was a panic attack, I haven't taken any meds at all

[Paxiled]

Can't say for sure, but this doesn't sound like anxiety.  I'd see a doctor for a full workup.  Collapsing and throwing up during a workout, again, doesn't sound like anxiety.  Anxiety might make you nervous about doing that, but it would just do that with you feeling anxious beforehand.  Most anxiety sufferers do better with exercise; the ones who don't already have anxiety and feel like the extra heavy breathing of exertion matches what one feels when having an anxiety attack.  So as I say, sounds different than what happened to you.  It isn't always in your head.

[mammo]

Have you had all other health issues ruled out?  If this is a new symptom see your doctor to make sure it is anxiety. Areyou on any medications for anxiety or in therapy?  Give us a little more detail so we can help you.