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So apparently i have anxiety...

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Anxiety & Panic Disorders
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Posted 2/7/2012 9:25 AM (GMT 0)
I've been told i have anxiety by my doc, psychiatrist and psychologist, however i am not convinced and am having a hard time accepting it, so i am hoping someone here can relate to my symptoms and sort of reassure me i have anxiety.

Basically i have a few symptoms which have been getting worse. First one is i get these terrifying episodes where i feel like i am falling, it isn't vertigo at all, its like my mind truly believes i am falling and it makes me terrified, even though i am quite aware i am in say the lounge room sitting down watching tv or whatever.
Doctors etc say these are panic attacks, but i've never heard of anything like them.

I have a horrible or pretty non existent short term memory i cant remember hardly anything at all i have to make my self endless reminders to do stuff and even then i forget to read the reminders...i cant keep track of time at all. Again doctors tell me this is "somatisation of anxiety" and i am causing it myself.

Finally i have been getting times when it is very hard to breathe, it feels like my heart is in a vice and i just cant breathe enough, no fast heart rate or weight on chest though which is what docs keep telling me is normal for panic attacks.

And i have started getting this totally random fever which comes and goes every day or so. I get a really high temperature and my head feels really really hot inside like blood is rushing to it. Sometimes its only certain parts of my head that feel really hot. Docs say this is also anxiety. Other than the temperature i have absolutely no other symptoms of a fever, and i'm not panicky or anything at times when it happens.


So, to me i cannot believe any of this is anxiety but it doesn't matter who i tell it to they all tell me to go away and accept it is just me causing it due to anxiety.

I have been prescribed Mirtazapine for this, which doesn't seem to help i might add.

What i want to know is does anyone else here get these symptoms as part of anxiety? it would help me a lot to know whether or not other people get these same symptoms.

Cheers.
Posted 2/7/2012 1:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there!

I'm not a doctor, but I can share my own experiences in this regard.

I've heard of just about all of these symptoms occuring in people with anxiety in varying combinations and degrees, among many other things. Anxiety can do all kinds of crazy things to your body, even possibly be causing some of that doubt you're experiencing. I suffer from some of those very things, myself, and I was very skeptical of believing that anxiety can have such an effect for a long time. However, history and research has proved it to me--we know that the brain has an impact on our bodies simply because of the way we can control our limbs and such just by the impulse. The same applies here. If the brain perceives some sort of threat or stress, whether or not it's entirely rational or even completely conscious, chemicals will be released that causes bodily effects, sort of like how one gets really sore after a workout, or how an adrenaline rush works in times of stress, followed by fatigue--these all work more or less on the same principles, as far as I understand it. My therapist was just telling me last week about how anxiety has a more potent (and worse) effect on your body than any drug out there. Physical symptoms of anxiety are very much a reality.

I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with these issues, and it's possible that you're actually experiencing more anxiety over trying to figure out where it's coming from. This is what a great number of us deal with very frequently.

Hope we can help you out and that you'll continue to post. Welcome to HW!

Risa

Posted 2/7/2012 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Argh,

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to you on your first visit to Healing Well! To help you get the most out of the Anxiety and Panic Forum please take the time to browse our threads.

Your symptoms do fit in with an anxiety disorder however that being said, I am not a Dr.  What caught my eye was your comment, "I get a really high temperature ".  Would you mind sharing what your temperature is when this happens ?  I have read about stress fevers. During stress, the body tends to be on  overdrive. This causes certain abnormal functions to occur in the body. This may cause  body temperature to rise =   fever.

If you are not convinced your Dr. has the right dx do look into finding a good Psychiatrist that can evaluate you and your symptoms.  I know it is very hard to accept that our body has betrayed us especially when it comes to mental health disorders and I have been right where you are.  I did learn to accept that I am a person with Anxiety and Depression but I still wanted to know why me.  The answer to that question, of course, as told to me by a wise therpaist is " Why not you? "

I have found the support, validation and encouragement that I receive here, to be so helpful and healing and I hope that will be your experience too.  Stick with us as we do care about all of our members.

Kindly,

Kitt
Posted 2/8/2012 11:39 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the replies.

I'm not sure what my temperature is unfortunately, i went to the docs when it first started happening and they took my temp and said it was very high and that i obviously had a fever. Not sure what the exact temp was though. But it doesn't make sense to be a fever because it comes and goes with no other feverish symptoms, and a fever surely doesn't last so long on and off. Also sometimes only specific parts of my head get really hot, like recently its been the front right portion or mainly the right side of my head, which seems weird.

Its hard for me to accept because i've had anxiety all my life and i've learned to live with it, deal with it and accept it, but just one day suddenly after some 20 odd years of anxiety suddenly i started getting all these other symptoms id never had before with absolutely no apparent trigger. Its been getting worse, and i don't understand how my memory could become so bad, at one stage i could barely do basic household chores it was so bad (thankfully memory has improved a little since then).

The main thing that makes it hard to accept is people with anxiety all seem to have similar symptoms to mine, but mine are also subtly different. Such as the falling sensation, which is more like a sensory hallucination and not like vertigo which most people describe. Also these symptoms are there in some form or another 24/7 until i cant take it any more and have to resort to valium.

I'm hoping an mri will put a lot of my fears to rest and therefore help my anxiety.
Posted 6/17/2012 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
I am going through the same thing. Though i have been suffering from anxiety for 5 months now i find it very hard to cope with. These are feelings i am afraid of. es[ecially the head thing. Yes sometimes i feel spacious like im gonna pass out or fall down but it never happens. Sometimes this can go on for days and sometimes i am free. Being that i have started on these meds zoloft (which wakes me in the morning feeling like an adrenaline rush) and Klonopin ( which i stopped in a matter of 2 days bc it makes me jittery and feels really weird) this isn't yet working. I even feel like im having some memory lost and this is causing me to assume that i have something more than just anxiety. I try and fight this but sometimes the worry is hard u kno. I don't want the Dr's to be missing something and it gets worst for my health and then used as a ginea pig you kno. I tols my doctor abt the klonopin not working but she don't wanna prescribe anything else she believe the zoloft will work. I just want a deliverance!! I need to have an MRI done myself maybe that will help my anxiety also. confused   Concerned but :-) Blessed!!!
Posted 6/17/2012 11:44 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately I feel very similar to you. My husband tells me if I just
except i gad I could try to help myself. But I too am
very skeptical. I think about going for an MRI
but then i realize u have no real symptoms
For example. When I feel off balance I stand in one leg.
I do this to show myself that I am not truly off balance.
My anxiety gets worse and then better buy
I know I am never safe from an attack. This forum is great
because you see you all not alone. I feel very similar to you and
I hope that gives you some peaCe.
Posted 6/18/2012 7:36 AM (GMT 0)
Hi everybody.

I am new to this site. I also have anxiety. The first time really bad and making me aware because of a panic attack and ER diagnosis was three years ago during my Mother's five-way bypass operation after a major heart attack. This is called "situational" anxiety. I hope to learn more about all types and get a grip on it. I also have been chronically sick with Lyme Disease, so that itself is a constant stressor. I look forward to discovering same feelings and coping strategies. Blessings...
Posted 6/18/2012 8:11 AM (GMT 0)
Argh,

I don't want to send you off on a wild goose chase because anxiety is powerful enough to explain what you describe. But, as a person who did catch a "freak" disease which turned out not to be as rare as doctors told me, I would feel bad if you just happened to be one of the unlucky people who unknowingly got bit by a tick...had a Summer flu and very gradually began becoming unglued due to a misunderstood malady called Lyme Disease. Lyme has anxiety...fevers that come and go cyclically...definite joint aches and pains...severe fatigue...bigtime memory/cognitive problems, bad headaches...other stuff. If you had those many other wacky symptoms it might be worth ruling out.

I say this because most Lyme patients have weird fevers (I did) and they almost universally are misdiagnosed with panic attack/anxiety syndromes.

An outside idea...and I do not wish it on anyone. It would definitely be better to have--forgive the expression--"just" anxiety vs. Lyme, but Lyme can be excluded with a reasonable analysis and patient history. If you had a job where you were in the woods a lot...lived on a farm exposed to ticks...or if you were a dog groomer for instance...then there is real reason to think about it.
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