anxiety problem

Hi, up until a week and a half ago i had suffered no panic attacks or anxiety before. However last week while in the library at college i had a panic attack my heart beat went really fast my breathing got fast and i had to leave. I have been under a lot of strain with my college work and this could be a contributing factor. This has never happened to me before and i was scared. As soon as i had left i felt better but am now suffering from anxiety it got real bad last friday i couldn't eat or sleep and was extremely restless. I went to see my GP who put me on a short course of diazepam to help me which they have a lot but i know there addictive. He also put me on prozac which i'm a little skeptical about as i don't feel depressed as such just anxious it's worse in the morning i get a sick feeling in my stomach my heart races my breathing gets faster and i start worrying im losing it my GP has assured me im not i have improved in the last few days but im worried.

Any opinions are welcome,
Chris:)

Hi Chris

Sorry to hear about your problems. By identifying it as anxiety this early on you probably have a good chance of overcoming it before it becomes a habit.

I had my first panic attack in 1999 and, if you're anything like me, it comes as such a shock to the system that you can't understand what happened and you feel constantly on your guard from that point on.

You have to realise a number of things... Firstly, the way you reacted physically is not unusual. If you felt this way while you were being chased by a wolf, you'd think nothing of it. Sweating, shaking, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, heavy breathing, etc are all necessary reactions to fear that we have evolved. I won't go into why they are necessary but you can mail me if you really want to know.

Secondly, your conscious mind is not always aware of what has triggered such anxiety. Your subconscious mind is very elementary in the way it works and it can't tell the difference between real danger and imagined danger.

Thirdly, fear in itself is nothing to be scared of. It can't hurt you and a lot of people pay good money to experience it (rollercoasters, bungee jumps, shark diving, whatever). The lack of understanding, frustration and fear of fear are what perpetuate your anxiety.

I'm telling you these things because they are the things I wish somebody had explained to me when my panic first started. Unfortunately, nobody did and it's taken 8 years of research to get the understanding I have now.

I know it's difficult but you have to try and treat it as insignificant because the more importance you give it, the more your subconscious will repeat the behaviour. Try to think "it came, it happened, and now it's gone, no harm done."

I'm surprised you are sceptical about taking Prozac but not about taking Diazepam; I think I'd be the other way round because of the potential for tranquilisers to be addictive. Anti-depressant drugs are prescribed for their anti-anxiety qualities too, you don't have to be depressed to be prescribed them.

Anyway, I hope you find some of this useful and your condition improves. PM me or email me if there's anything else you want to know - rabid.badger@ntlworld.com

Good Luck

Chris

PS. If you were losing it, you probably wouldn't know you were losing it :)

Thanks for the kind words :) . I am sceptical about the diazepam and have cut down from 3 a day which i was taking down to 1 a day. I have only been taking them for a week so i think i should be ok. I was such a mess i needed them the day after i couldnt sleep i was shaking could not control my breathing and my heart was racing i was at my wits end i thought i was going crazy and this just fuelled the anxiety. I since have realised that it is normal to have these irrational thoughts. my anxiety seems worse when i sit around thinking in my head i am just waiting for it (the anxiety) to start and im worried it will not go away and that i have some kind of disorder. I have nothing really in general to be worried or anxious about thats the scary thing but i have been very stressed recently which my gp said could have triggered it.

Thanks for understanding,
Chris.

Hi Chris

Reading your story, it could have been my precise words 8 years ago. Everything you've said sounds so familiar. I had just been promoted at work, I'd got a new car, a lovely girlfriend, three holidays a year - nothing wrong at all and then WHAM, it hit me.

In the early days of my anxiety I saw a couple of psychiatrists because, like you, I was convinced that it was something seriously wrong with me. They both put it down the the break-up of my marriage, which had happened a couple of years earlier.

So, if it's any scrap of consilation, I'm still alive 8 years later - and 8 years from now you will be too. I just hope you can shake it off quicker than I have.

Best wishes

Chris

Hi Chris,

Been feeling a lot better the last few days went back to college yesterday and that was fine. Weirdly enough i still feel a moments anxiousness when i wake and then thats it for the day :confused:. I'm not takimg the Diazepam anymore a stopped them yesterday so i'll see how i get on. Do you still have the anxiety after 8 years?

Kind regards,
Chris.

Felt ok yesterday but not been a great day today. Woke at 6:00 in an anxious state and couldn't get back to sleep. Went to college but was fairly anxious i had to take a diazepam which calmed me down but i don't want to have to keep taking them as i do not want to become addicted to the things. I have so much going on at the moment with exams and things i really don't need this. I dont know if its coincidence but this all kind of started when i attempted to stop smoking cold turkey and with all the other stress i had probably wasn't a great idea i am now smoking again which probably isn't helping things. Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris

Don't be too hard on yourself. Giving up smoking is a big change and it's bound to affect you physically and mentally. Maybe you should try cutting down gradually?

Chris

Hi Chris thanks for your help. I started smoking again because i was suffering such withdrawal symptoms i'm going to try again over the summer when college has finished. I just feel at a loss when i see my GP he just seems to push tablets at me which i don't like but i dont know what else to do. I need to get through the next few weeks i have around 8 exams left and just cannot get down to studying. I have seen my mum become addicted to prescription drugs and it's not nice i don't want the same thing to happen to me im only a young man :rolleyes: the pills have made me lose my appetite which is worrying me went to see my GP and he said it would where off but i don't know.

Kind regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris

Has your doctor offered any help other than drugs? Maybe you could ask him/her if you can have a few sessions with the Community Psych Nurse. They probably won't be able to counsel you effectively themselves but thay may have other options for you.

Chris

First of all let me say, learn all you can now before you get any worst,, if I knew then what I knew now, I don't think I would have gotten as bad as I did. I know it seems impossible, but the more you fear it the worst it will be,, believe me, I dont say the lightly,, Fear feeds it,, you can have a panic attack with out the fear, ITs hard because that is what panic is, is fear, but as long as you fear the panic will be worst.
Since you are afraid of being hooked on anything, I dont think you will have a problem with the nerve pills, If that is what you have to take to get through college then do it,, dont quit college, I quit a good job, I was making good money had good benefits, and now I am living in poverty because of my anxiety.
Try to find out if there is any stress er in your life that you can avoid. Sometimes people you are around causes stress in your life, Try to get alot of sleep, I know sometimes its impossible.
If you do get on anti depressant and they work for you , then please stay on them. I was on paxil and it was working really well, then after three months I felt good and weaned my way off them, then I got bad, really bad, and I have tried eight different types of antidepressant and couldnt get over the side effects. I guess my system was overely sensitive at that time, but I still cant take antidepressant...
I hope this will pass, my sister had it for six mouths and then they just stop,, I hope that is what is like for you,,,I have had mine for going on 10 years..
I feel like a hypocrite, because I am telling you all this stuff, and I myself is still suffering with anxiety,,, I dont have panic attack, but anxiety is not fun....
Good luck

Thanks for all your support guys. I feel a chat with a counsellor would help me immensely. The thing is i have been taking the prozac for nearly 2 weeks and feel slightly nauseous all the time which means i have lost my appetite and feel like crap. i have no idea how long this will last i can't go on not eating. I will not quit college. The anxiety is not so bad i can't go to college, just enough to be uncomfortable. I feel it is mainly down to stress that i cannot avoid (lots of exams in the next month). I feel (hope) that once i have finished for summer i can get sorted. I refuse to let it beat me. I am slowly learning to just ignore the feelings and get on with things but it's hard. It seems worse in the morning does anyone know why this is?

Kind regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris

While physical and mental functions are very often dealt with separately, you can't truly separate them because they overlap so much.

You are much more prone to anxiety at times when you are physically low. This might be because you are tired, hungry, hung-over, run-down, etc. I assume this is why you suffer the anxiety more in the mornings - maybe you are still tired or your blood-sugar is low or something??? Maybe it is anticipation of the day ahead that makes it worse?

These are just ideas.

Chris

Hi Chris, yes i suppose those could be some of the reasons the situation i'm in is nothing as bad as what some people on here are experienced/have experienced and i feel like i'm whining :rolleyes:. It's just not a very nice feeling to wake up in a startled anxious manner heart racing, tightness across my whole chest and worry, that just ruins my whole day. I didnt take a prozac today i can't take the nausea i was sick this morning and hadn't eaten properly for days i just couldn't stomach it. I have eaten well today and feel much less nauseous so it must be the tablets. Ive tried 2 different types and they have both been awful making me physically sick and like a drugged up zombie quite frankly. If i go and see my GP again i know he will just say take a different type but i just dont think they are for me they just don't seem to know how to treat anxiety.

Sorry for the moan,

Chris.

Hi Chris

I was prescribed so many anti-depressants over the years and my doctor used to get really pissed off with me because I'd stop taking them because of the side-effects.

The ones I'm taking now are quite good. They are called escitalopram and they are in a more easily absorbed oxalate compound. Therefore, the daily doses are smaller (10mg rather than 20mg) and you get fewer side-effects. I felt sick for about the first 10 days I was taking them but I never came close to vomiting really. Plus they don't make me feel like a zombie, which I certainly did when I was taking seroxat and prozac.

The effect they've had on me is quite remarkable but it's hard to tell how much is down to the drugs and how much is down to your own efforts.

If you can survive without the drugs then it's obviously better to do so but it is true that what works for one person won't necessarily work for the next.

Anyway, best wishes. Keep your chin up.

Chris

LouLou ,I read your message to Chris and couldnt agree more,I wish I'd known all those years ago .And I too got myself off anti depressants only to find after 4 months I'm back on some and these seem to be giving me more anxiety than I had the week I decided to go back on them ! lol I m hoping its only initial side effects .

Chris sort it out now while its young and not got such a hold,as Chris said it is really just a bad habit of fearing the fear,but habits can be broken. There is so much more available knowledge and self help out there now than when mine first started.AND DONT GIVE UP COLLEGE ! don't avoid anything you enjoy or anything new..avoidance is a slippery slope which this little monkey feeds off.

Good luck and with the exams :)
best wishes
jan

Hi Jan, thanks for your kind words :). I feel much better since stopping the meds and i think i have it under control, i'm back at college, still feel slightly anxious at times, normally worst in the morning, thats the one that gets me. As soon as i wake up it's there as if instinctive but a lot milder than it has been i just let it run through me i'm not fearful of it and it seems to wear off pretty quick as the day goes on. Has anyone got any advice as to how to try and eliminate the anxiety if im only getting it in the morning? it's terrible waking up every day with that feeling :( I'm getting plenty of sleep (8 hours a night) i guess it's something i just have to try and break myself.

Kind regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris,glad to hear things are getting better :) some of the anxiety could be left over effects of the meds,i dont know how long you were on them ,but most seem to have side effects when we start and finish them. Other than that all i do is when those thoughts hit is stop and touch something and say to myself 'this is now',it grounds me and gets me off my thoughts.

have a good day :)
jan

Wasn't a good day today woke up at 6:00am with the anxiety :( took a long while to feel less anxious breathing shallow, stomach churning, hot feeling in my chest etc, i'm sure you all know what i mean. Got myself to college and felt slightly better but still slightly nervous and worried. Good news is i got the results for my last set of chemistry,physics and biology ang got all A+'s still have maths to do but i'm not as happy as i should be because of this blasted anxiety. I thought i was really getting somewhere, but it seems stress is a big trigger of it for me. I found out i have more exams next week the other day which threw me. when i wake in the morning it feels as if my thoughts are racing but i'm not really thinking anything :confused: it's weird i don't know if anyones felt this before. It's really hard to get on with the day when i feel like that in the morning just don't know what to do and frakly i'm scared lol

Hope everyone else feels better
Regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris

First of all congratulations on your exam results; you should be really proud of yourself.

Secondly I think we all (anxiety sufferers) experience the racing thoughts thing from time to time, I know I do. You have to remember that, unlike fear of real danger, where you have an object that scares you and something you can run away from, peceived danger has no such focus. It has no definite start, no definite end, no easy escape and nothing to signal that you are eventually safe. I think this is why the mind races so much.

Chris

Hi Chris, thanks, yes i do feel proud but the anxiety gets to me and gets me down. I am finding it difficult to get myself to college when the anxiety is bad. I dont want all the hard work i have put in to go down the drain. I just need to get through the next three weeks and all my exams will be finished. I can the focus on getting better. I suppose i will have to see my GP again :rolleyes: i suppose i will be put on some more medication maybe i will be able to deal with the side effects if i'm not at college for the summer and they may help i don't know. I'm feeling at a loss at the moment there seems little help available to me. My appetite has decreased even when i'm not anxious and i feel drained and not myself, like i say i'm at a loss. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Thanks for all your help it is really appreciated,
Kind regards,
Chris.

Hi Chris

Please don't get into the habit of seeing anxiety as an object or an amorphous entity waiting in the wings to get you.

No matter how hard it is to overcome or how unaware you are of it, anxiety is a process that you put yourself through, just like love, hate, joy, anger, embarrassment, etc, they are all processes. You would never describe yourself as an embarrassment sufferer because each time you experience embarrassment you treat it as a separate process.

The brain is an object, the mind is not. The mind is a process and so are all of these emotions and they are initiated in some way by us.

Chris

PS. If you can get any of the above to sink in, please let me know how because I know all the theory but I'm f**ked if I can put it into practice :)