CP, panic attacks, thyroid?

Hey, haven't been her much lately, mostly due to me being spazzed out.

I have been getting anxiety or panic attacks lately that go on for days. I only had one in my life before this and within a few minutes that time I told myself that it was just in my head and then I was fine but that does not work now.

I have stress from my elderly mother going down hill fast and having to go to a nursing home. But the real kicker is when the weather is bad and I think we will be snowed in or have no power. I can't sleep, can't eat (down to 136 lbs from my normal skinny 154) BP up 25 points, pulse at 100-120. Feels like I drank 10 cups of coffee and I'm going to blast off!

I saw my doctor yesterday and first he ordered a blood test to check the thyroid. Did a little reading and it seems to make sense especially since it seems to also be linked with the adrenal gland which is known to work OT in chronic pain patients.

So is there a link between CP and thyroid and or panic attacks? Or from the meds? I am on Hydrocodone and flexeril only. It seems to have come on so sudden. I have always had kind of a nervous personality but always controlled. Most of my career was as an estimator for construction so I could have sunk the company with one mistake! But I thrived at it.

anyone have any good tips?

I'm not sure about CP and anxiety although I suffer from both, but I wanted to tell you that there is an awesome anxiety/panic forum here on HW that is very very active and on the very top of the forum is a thread of resources that is very good with alot of ways to help your anxiety. You might want to check it out. I post there too.

Hey Abilene, howzit going?

Angel, I figured there was a some kind of forum here but didn't realize it would be so specific. Will definitely do some reading over there.

nvrthesame, For now the doctor wanted to start with the blood test. Last night I woke up at 3:30 and was already amped up when I was sleeping, but then it got worse. This has all happened so fast when I never had problems before. While I was always happy sitting in the woods by myself I also would have a blast going to a stadium with 50,000 people.

Now my family still expects me to be the go-to-guy to take care of everything even though I have been telling them I am sick. I guess they think I am on one big vacation.

My mother has been in assisted-living for over 10 years due to depression and numerous suicide attempts. But it seems to be the stupid weather that freaks me out. I went skiing by myself one time when the windchill was like 70 below.

I also have on going strange allergy problems which add to the sick feeling. Have to ask the doc if I can ttake Melatonin for sleeping.

Thanks everyone.

T-9, how are the symptoms now, the same or some better, hopefully not any worse. So, since the thyroid came back ok what is the dr going to do next?

I would talk to your MD about having your baseline cortisol level tested. It is a time sensitive test, as cortisol follows a circadian rhythm. The blood draw should be done before 8 am for the blood level to be correctly interpreted.

Adrenal fatigue and adrenal insufficiency (the more severe manifestation) are both possibilities. Adrenal insufficiency is relatively uncommon and not on most MD radars.

I have the condition, myself.

- Karen -