Aa
Low blood pressure and anxiety?
Hi Everyone, I had a problem with my older account (Vince34), so I choose to create a new one...
I didn't post since a long time. In May and June my PDoc sent me to a group therapy, a kind of CBT therapy where you learn to cope with the anxiety, the symptoms, learn how to relax, breath, learn to change your negatives thoughts into positives ones, learn to communicate with the others, do teamwork, things like that. I was suppose to complete an intensive 8 weeks (monday to friday - 2 hours a day + 2 appointments every week, one with a Psychologist and another one with a PDoc), but after 4 weeks I had to stop the Therapy, it's seem that I was not improving at all, in fact my anxiety symptoms was 10 times bigger than before the therapy, I was so tired and anxious that I had to take more Inderal (for the tachycardia), more Xanax and more Rivotril to be able to go there each day. The PDoc there wasn't very nice with me, she was kinda bored by my complaints about my symptoms, she told me that I have a personality disorder, who is not true, told me that I was resistant to change... I was very dissapointed by her and call my PDoc to sold him that it was not the good thing for me... The goal was to face my fears like being in a car and go out of the house progressively, not to face my fears everyday for 8 weeks, it was too much for me and I wasn't able to cope with all of this, so my PDoc said that maybe he wasn't a good idea that I go there and sais it was ok that I stop... He talk to me about the mindfulness based stress reduction technic, saying that I don't answer to normal CBT therapy, but the first book I read about it said it was not good for the peoples who have a panic disorder... so i'm confuse...
Since then, my anxiety don't return to the point where it was before that group therapy. I was thinking that my anxiety will return to the point it was before, but I was wrong, it's like I stressed too much my body and now it's seem that I get new symptoms every week and my heart act really strangely again...
My main concern for now is the very low blood pressure, that I never had in the past, since 3 weeks my blood pressure is all the time under 100/50 especially at home even if i'm very anxious, who is really not normal for me since I always had a bordeline blood pressure of 140/90... I still have increase blood pressure when i'm in a situation who trigger a lot of anxiety like being in a car (tachycardia 130 and more of pulse rate), going out of the house, taking my shower (tachycardia 140 and more all the time), having a bowel movement (tachycardia), BUT since I don't get out of the house often, it's most of the time low, too low for me... it's so low that when I get up from a siting position I have orthostatic hypotension and everything spin around me for 30 seconds...also the more lower will be my blood pressure and the more strong and painful will be my chest pain on the left side of my chest, the pain tend to go in my neck, jaw, left arm (tingling sensation) and under my left armpit... I also get very tired when I stay sit for a long time, same if I stand up for too long, also have now throbing veins on the left and right temples of my head and it's painful all the time, it's like a migraine 24 hours a day, I have that pain since 4 weeks now...it's really annoying... I also have nausea when my blood pressure is too low and my ears rings all the time...
I call my Cardiologist again, complaint about my blood pressure, he said to stop the Inderal cause he said my blood pressure was too low for me, so for now I have nothing to stop the Tachycardia I still have very often especially in the morning... He look in my medical folder at all the heart tests I done in 2011 and in 2010 and look at the results, especially the stress test with the ecography of my heart and the 2 treadmill tests I done and he said that it's impossible that I have angina or unstable angina. He also say that it's impossible that I have a problem with a coronary arteries like atherosclerosis cause my cholesterol is perfect, homeocysteine is also good, so I canno't have a blood clot who stop the blood flow to my heart... I'm a lot confuse about what he said... I think that since he know that i'm having some anxiety disorder and fear a lot a heart attack, he think it's all related to the anxiety... So I call him and didn't had a real answer to my problems...
I try to talk to him about POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and ask for a tilt table test and he say no we don't do that kind of test here... I said ok... and talk about maybe an autonomic nervous system disorder and he say that he don't know what it is... and how to diagnostic it!!! I also speak about the possibility that I have a chronic fatigue syndrome and again he said it was not his speciality, that I had to ask to another Doc?!?...
Well, with the summer, the humidity and the hot wheater, I feel very bad.. I'm really tired... I have so many symptoms and i'm so tired (I feel physically tired, can't do normal things like taking a shower and clean the house), but when it's time to sleep I can't fall asleep... My insomnia wasn't that bad before the group therapy but since than it's worse than ever... can't take anything to make me sleep like the Seroquel cause my heart race all the time on that kind of med...
I see my Family Doc in 2 days, will have to ask for more tests... neck X-ray for the headache and jaw pain... maybe a new RX paper for another Cardiologist + a Neurologist... My Family Doc talk to me about some Botox injections for my headache, I wonder if it will help? I had in the past cortisol injections in my neck but it didn't help...
Also i'm a lot worried about my heart cause one friend of my sister just had a heart attack at 36 yo... she was doing some exercise at home on a treadmill and she had a heart attack... apparently, she had a lot of atherosclerosis in her veins... her Cardiologist told her that her anxiety was so bad that it's why she had a heart attack!!! She also have a panic disorder problem and had a lot of anxiety in the last year... she survive but it's seem that it's possible to have a heart problem even at only 36 yo, even if my PDoc say it's impossible and all the Therapist I had told me it was impossible also!!! I really need to know if I have some atherosclerosis since I smoke a lot and don't exercise since 4 years... but can't have a coronary angiogram cause my Cardiologist say it's expensive and at 35 yo it's impossible to have a problem with my heart!!!
The adrenal glands problem have been rull out, no problem just a low cortisol level, low adrenaline and low noradrenaline, who is normal when someone is under a lot of stress for a log time...
Well, i'm the only one who have a low blood pressure with anxiety??? That's seem so weird to me...
Any kind of advise please! Thanks ;-)
I didn't post since a long time. In May and June my PDoc sent me to a group therapy, a kind of CBT therapy where you learn to cope with the anxiety, the symptoms, learn how to relax, breath, learn to change your negatives thoughts into positives ones, learn to communicate with the others, do teamwork, things like that. I was suppose to complete an intensive 8 weeks (monday to friday - 2 hours a day + 2 appointments every week, one with a Psychologist and another one with a PDoc), but after 4 weeks I had to stop the Therapy, it's seem that I was not improving at all, in fact my anxiety symptoms was 10 times bigger than before the therapy, I was so tired and anxious that I had to take more Inderal (for the tachycardia), more Xanax and more Rivotril to be able to go there each day. The PDoc there wasn't very nice with me, she was kinda bored by my complaints about my symptoms, she told me that I have a personality disorder, who is not true, told me that I was resistant to change... I was very dissapointed by her and call my PDoc to sold him that it was not the good thing for me... The goal was to face my fears like being in a car and go out of the house progressively, not to face my fears everyday for 8 weeks, it was too much for me and I wasn't able to cope with all of this, so my PDoc said that maybe he wasn't a good idea that I go there and sais it was ok that I stop... He talk to me about the mindfulness based stress reduction technic, saying that I don't answer to normal CBT therapy, but the first book I read about it said it was not good for the peoples who have a panic disorder... so i'm confuse...
Since then, my anxiety don't return to the point where it was before that group therapy. I was thinking that my anxiety will return to the point it was before, but I was wrong, it's like I stressed too much my body and now it's seem that I get new symptoms every week and my heart act really strangely again...
My main concern for now is the very low blood pressure, that I never had in the past, since 3 weeks my blood pressure is all the time under 100/50 especially at home even if i'm very anxious, who is really not normal for me since I always had a bordeline blood pressure of 140/90... I still have increase blood pressure when i'm in a situation who trigger a lot of anxiety like being in a car (tachycardia 130 and more of pulse rate), going out of the house, taking my shower (tachycardia 140 and more all the time), having a bowel movement (tachycardia), BUT since I don't get out of the house often, it's most of the time low, too low for me... it's so low that when I get up from a siting position I have orthostatic hypotension and everything spin around me for 30 seconds...also the more lower will be my blood pressure and the more strong and painful will be my chest pain on the left side of my chest, the pain tend to go in my neck, jaw, left arm (tingling sensation) and under my left armpit... I also get very tired when I stay sit for a long time, same if I stand up for too long, also have now throbing veins on the left and right temples of my head and it's painful all the time, it's like a migraine 24 hours a day, I have that pain since 4 weeks now...it's really annoying... I also have nausea when my blood pressure is too low and my ears rings all the time...
I call my Cardiologist again, complaint about my blood pressure, he said to stop the Inderal cause he said my blood pressure was too low for me, so for now I have nothing to stop the Tachycardia I still have very often especially in the morning... He look in my medical folder at all the heart tests I done in 2011 and in 2010 and look at the results, especially the stress test with the ecography of my heart and the 2 treadmill tests I done and he said that it's impossible that I have angina or unstable angina. He also say that it's impossible that I have a problem with a coronary arteries like atherosclerosis cause my cholesterol is perfect, homeocysteine is also good, so I canno't have a blood clot who stop the blood flow to my heart... I'm a lot confuse about what he said... I think that since he know that i'm having some anxiety disorder and fear a lot a heart attack, he think it's all related to the anxiety... So I call him and didn't had a real answer to my problems...
I try to talk to him about POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and ask for a tilt table test and he say no we don't do that kind of test here... I said ok... and talk about maybe an autonomic nervous system disorder and he say that he don't know what it is... and how to diagnostic it!!! I also speak about the possibility that I have a chronic fatigue syndrome and again he said it was not his speciality, that I had to ask to another Doc?!?...
Well, with the summer, the humidity and the hot wheater, I feel very bad.. I'm really tired... I have so many symptoms and i'm so tired (I feel physically tired, can't do normal things like taking a shower and clean the house), but when it's time to sleep I can't fall asleep... My insomnia wasn't that bad before the group therapy but since than it's worse than ever... can't take anything to make me sleep like the Seroquel cause my heart race all the time on that kind of med...
I see my Family Doc in 2 days, will have to ask for more tests... neck X-ray for the headache and jaw pain... maybe a new RX paper for another Cardiologist + a Neurologist... My Family Doc talk to me about some Botox injections for my headache, I wonder if it will help? I had in the past cortisol injections in my neck but it didn't help...
Also i'm a lot worried about my heart cause one friend of my sister just had a heart attack at 36 yo... she was doing some exercise at home on a treadmill and she had a heart attack... apparently, she had a lot of atherosclerosis in her veins... her Cardiologist told her that her anxiety was so bad that it's why she had a heart attack!!! She also have a panic disorder problem and had a lot of anxiety in the last year... she survive but it's seem that it's possible to have a heart problem even at only 36 yo, even if my PDoc say it's impossible and all the Therapist I had told me it was impossible also!!! I really need to know if I have some atherosclerosis since I smoke a lot and don't exercise since 4 years... but can't have a coronary angiogram cause my Cardiologist say it's expensive and at 35 yo it's impossible to have a problem with my heart!!!
The adrenal glands problem have been rull out, no problem just a low cortisol level, low adrenaline and low noradrenaline, who is normal when someone is under a lot of stress for a log time...
Well, i'm the only one who have a low blood pressure with anxiety??? That's seem so weird to me...
Any kind of advise please! Thanks ;-)
Hi ;-)
Yeah, that's new for me also, never had low blood pressure in the past. To be more clear (my english suck sometimes), I stop the inderal 2 weeks ago after I call my Cardiologist, and I was at a low 10 mg dose divided into 2 doses of 5 mg (Am and PM)... and the low blood pressure is worse since I stop it, who surprise me a lot cause normally when you stop cold turkey a beta-blocker the blood pressure tend to be higher. I run a homemade test with my blood pressure monitor machine and when I have to leave the house and get a lot anxious about being in a car ( by the way I stop driving since October 2010, just being a passenger in a car lead to panic attack most of the time) my blood pressure will return to the bordeline limit of 140/90... when I return home I take it again after 10 minutes and it's low again, and by low I mean 85/45! Maybe it's the way my heart find to get some rest after a stressfull event? And if it was the answer (heart who need to rest more), why I have low blood pressure all the time if I stay at home for 3-4 days in a row?
I don't find stressful medical tests or Doctors visits, they make me less anxious in fact (with the exception of the heart tests, I hate them especially the treadmill).
Yeah I understand what you mean by "you never ending search for answers/mental help... but I didn't come on medhelp for more than 2 months (PDoc at the group therapy told me it was bad for me) and he didn't help me at all... in fact when I come here to read others posts, I feel better cause I know that i'm not the only one who experience chest pain and crazy heart things because of the anxiety.
I take some baby step to get out, that what we do in a normal CBT Therapy, they call it progressive exposure and I done 3 Therapies last years and one, 3 in a row with a different Therapist and also one in 2011 with a new Therapist, they all use the CBT technic and progressive exposure with breathing technics and things like that and I don't improve. The last one I had told me that I had a somatoform disorder, mean symptoms of disease that I don't have and she put me out of the Therapy saying that I was a hard case to treat...
Relaxing for me is very hard, I feel tense and very anxious all the time, watch a movie for me is very hard, I always have pain in my chest and me heart race or go too slow all the time, the headache and the very low energy level disturbe me to the point that I can't enjoy simple life things who make me happy in the past.
And i'm not healthy, had a gastric by-pass to loose a lot of weight was at 450 pounds and now i'm at a LOW 168 pounds... Since last january I loose more than 40 pounds and I don't exercise at all since 2009 and smoke one pack of cigarettes day, try to stop often but my anxiety increase all the time...
If I talk about chronic fatigue or POTS it's because I feel tired all the time, even if I sleep 8 hours in a row. Before I had a small 2-3 hours in the day where I was more energic, was able to take my shower, clean the house, I was less anxious in the morning, now it's seem that i'm tired all the time, can't do anything...
Also like my Cardiologist suggest to me, I drink more water, always add salt in it, add salt in all the food I eat, take potassium, magnesium and calcium supplements, he said it will help to keep a normal blood pressure BUT it's not working... He told me that 10 months ago when I first meet him and since then I add salt everywhere and drink more than 12 bottles of water a day and my blood pressure is low... Recently because of the hot weather and the low blood pressure I had more salt in my water, I drink also some Gatorade, I add more salt in my foods also but my blood pressure stay low... nothing to do for that... I had recently a blood work who show that everything was normal (sodium, calcium, potassium, iron level, hemoglobin, Vit A- D - B12, B6, T3, T4, TSH and many other things...).
I don't know what to do... I feel trap... Can't increase my Xanax and Rivotril dose cause I already take 3 mg of Xanax + 8 mg of Rivotril daily ( i'm benzo meds tolerant, they don't decrease my anxiety anymore and i'm addicted to them...)... Can't be back on a SSRI like thte Paxil cause i'm med sensitive, can't take a simple Advil for my headache cause my heart race as hell... really don't know what happen...
Anyway thanks for youre answer, that's nice ;-) Have a nice day!!!
Yeah, that's new for me also, never had low blood pressure in the past. To be more clear (my english suck sometimes), I stop the inderal 2 weeks ago after I call my Cardiologist, and I was at a low 10 mg dose divided into 2 doses of 5 mg (Am and PM)... and the low blood pressure is worse since I stop it, who surprise me a lot cause normally when you stop cold turkey a beta-blocker the blood pressure tend to be higher. I run a homemade test with my blood pressure monitor machine and when I have to leave the house and get a lot anxious about being in a car ( by the way I stop driving since October 2010, just being a passenger in a car lead to panic attack most of the time) my blood pressure will return to the bordeline limit of 140/90... when I return home I take it again after 10 minutes and it's low again, and by low I mean 85/45! Maybe it's the way my heart find to get some rest after a stressfull event? And if it was the answer (heart who need to rest more), why I have low blood pressure all the time if I stay at home for 3-4 days in a row?
I don't find stressful medical tests or Doctors visits, they make me less anxious in fact (with the exception of the heart tests, I hate them especially the treadmill).
Yeah I understand what you mean by "you never ending search for answers/mental help... but I didn't come on medhelp for more than 2 months (PDoc at the group therapy told me it was bad for me) and he didn't help me at all... in fact when I come here to read others posts, I feel better cause I know that i'm not the only one who experience chest pain and crazy heart things because of the anxiety.
I take some baby step to get out, that what we do in a normal CBT Therapy, they call it progressive exposure and I done 3 Therapies last years and one, 3 in a row with a different Therapist and also one in 2011 with a new Therapist, they all use the CBT technic and progressive exposure with breathing technics and things like that and I don't improve. The last one I had told me that I had a somatoform disorder, mean symptoms of disease that I don't have and she put me out of the Therapy saying that I was a hard case to treat...
Relaxing for me is very hard, I feel tense and very anxious all the time, watch a movie for me is very hard, I always have pain in my chest and me heart race or go too slow all the time, the headache and the very low energy level disturbe me to the point that I can't enjoy simple life things who make me happy in the past.
And i'm not healthy, had a gastric by-pass to loose a lot of weight was at 450 pounds and now i'm at a LOW 168 pounds... Since last january I loose more than 40 pounds and I don't exercise at all since 2009 and smoke one pack of cigarettes day, try to stop often but my anxiety increase all the time...
If I talk about chronic fatigue or POTS it's because I feel tired all the time, even if I sleep 8 hours in a row. Before I had a small 2-3 hours in the day where I was more energic, was able to take my shower, clean the house, I was less anxious in the morning, now it's seem that i'm tired all the time, can't do anything...
Also like my Cardiologist suggest to me, I drink more water, always add salt in it, add salt in all the food I eat, take potassium, magnesium and calcium supplements, he said it will help to keep a normal blood pressure BUT it's not working... He told me that 10 months ago when I first meet him and since then I add salt everywhere and drink more than 12 bottles of water a day and my blood pressure is low... Recently because of the hot weather and the low blood pressure I had more salt in my water, I drink also some Gatorade, I add more salt in my foods also but my blood pressure stay low... nothing to do for that... I had recently a blood work who show that everything was normal (sodium, calcium, potassium, iron level, hemoglobin, Vit A- D - B12, B6, T3, T4, TSH and many other things...).
I don't know what to do... I feel trap... Can't increase my Xanax and Rivotril dose cause I already take 3 mg of Xanax + 8 mg of Rivotril daily ( i'm benzo meds tolerant, they don't decrease my anxiety anymore and i'm addicted to them...)... Can't be back on a SSRI like thte Paxil cause i'm med sensitive, can't take a simple Advil for my headache cause my heart race as hell... really don't know what happen...
Anyway thanks for youre answer, that's nice ;-) Have a nice day!!!
Will respond to a couple of things.
.low blood pressure can be caused by blood pressure meds...the inderal. Same thing
happened to my daughter.
Therapy was too intense...understand, tho' I have never been in same situation.
Connection low blood pressure and anxiety? That is a new one for me.
Most of us with anxiety respond to events with raise in bp. The scary example you gave of sister's friend illustrates that.
You have had lots of tests...and are young. It sounds as tho' you are basically healthy, but very anxious.
My opinion, which is just that....not a doctor you know....is that in your never ending search for answers/mental health help....you are kinda walled in by medical stuff.
Life measured by medical tests and doctor's visits is stressful in itself.
Most of us with anxiety disorders learn to accept this fact and then take baby steps to get out more. Simple things are fine. If driving is really hard...can someone else drive you, or can you take a bus. Get creative...but most of all...take it easy on yourself.
Best....
I recommend relaxing in whatever way you want...and
.low blood pressure can be caused by blood pressure meds...the inderal. Same thing
happened to my daughter.
Therapy was too intense...understand, tho' I have never been in same situation.
Connection low blood pressure and anxiety? That is a new one for me.
Most of us with anxiety respond to events with raise in bp. The scary example you gave of sister's friend illustrates that.
You have had lots of tests...and are young. It sounds as tho' you are basically healthy, but very anxious.
My opinion, which is just that....not a doctor you know....is that in your never ending search for answers/mental health help....you are kinda walled in by medical stuff.
Life measured by medical tests and doctor's visits is stressful in itself.
Most of us with anxiety disorders learn to accept this fact and then take baby steps to get out more. Simple things are fine. If driving is really hard...can someone else drive you, or can you take a bus. Get creative...but most of all...take it easy on yourself.
Best....
I recommend relaxing in whatever way you want...and
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