anxiety and adrenaline rushes

Hello. Regarding the dilantin, I suggest you find a good doctor who you trust and get her/his advice about whether to continue, or not to continue, dilantin. I don't think anyone on this board can (or should) tell you whether to continue that medication, or not. I also think going to 10 doctors and 6 ERs can be confusing (not to speak of expensive), and can give you information overload. I would suggest, instead, that you find one doctor whose advice you respect.

Regarding the adrenaline rush, I doubt anyone here can tell you whether that is caused by anxiety or by something else. But it is a symptom that some people have from anxiety. My doctor thinks part of my anxiety is caused by excess adrenaline, and I am on atenolol (a beta blocker), at a low dose, to help with that. This is an off-lable use of the beta blocker, and I am NOT recommending it to you or anyone else, but it is one thing you could discuss with your doctor. Best wishes, Medved

I guess everyone is diffferent. But I have anxiety and still if 10 qualified doctors, with relevant expertise, told me the same thing, I think I would probably believe it. If not, what could convince you? Another 10 doctors? Or twenty?

As I said, I am not qualified to tell you what medications you should, or should not, be taking. But try not to let your anxiety impel you to make bad medical decisions.

Best wishes, Medved

Ameyers, I went to so many doctors, has so many unnecessary medical procedures done, and spent and untold amount of money when I first developed my anxiety disorder. I too, could not seem to trust what they were telling me. But at a point, I realized that this path was doing me no good at all. At a point, you have to trust what the doctors are telling you. Putting your faith in a stranger is hard, but remember, they are not fools. They spent years in an extremely difficult education and career path to get where they are. Take what they tell you as truth and follow their advice. I have to agree with medved, find one doctor you really trust, and stick with them. If you keep going to so many it is going to become confusing and you won't feel like you can trust what they are saying. I can't speak to what the exact causes of your sensations are, as I myself and not a medical professional, but I will say that anxiety can manifest itself in seemingly endless ways as far as physical sensations. When you are hyper alert, you notice any physical oddity, and then it expands into a symptom. Headaches, gas, stomach aches, numb fingers, tingling tongue, dizzy, light headed, lights seem brighter, eyes won't focus, don't feel attached to reality, and many more and just an example of the different thing I PERSONALLY have felt during panic attack.

My doc told me that in the UK, beta blockers are often used to reduce anxiety because, in addition to lowering BP, they also reduce the production of adrenaline. I am probably oversimplifying the science to some extent, but that is the general idea as he conveyed it to me. He said that is less common in the US (where I am located), and indeed using atenolol for that purpose in the US is an off-label use. But he thinks there is something to it. I am on a low dose of atenolol -- 25mg once a day.  I feel no side effecst from the atenolol.  I also take 5mg Lexapro. (Doctor started me on 10mg Lexapro, but I did not like the side effects and I suppose was not willing to "wait it out" to see if it got better, since the side effects were impairing my ability to function well, so I reduced to 5mg -- at which point the side effects disappeared). I am doing much better with my anxiety (which for the most part related to certain specific issues/events, rather than generalized anxiety). At one point, the anxiety was quite bad -- I was not sleeping, and more generally not functioning well. I really do not know whether the atenolol is doing any good. Or the Lexapro. Or therapy. Or some combination. Or just the passage of time. It is hard to tell. As the scientists say, there are "confounding factors" that make it impossible to determine what is helping me. Of course, to some extent I don't much care, so long as I feel better. I can't say my anxiety has disappeared, but it is FAR less accute than it was a few months ago. I will likely soon try to go off the Lexapro and probably the atenolol and see how I do. I don't want to take this stuff forever, if I don't have to, and the only way I can think of to see whether I can do well without them is to go off them and see how it goes. Of course, I will go off them -- if at all -- only under the supervision of a good psychiatrist. So, for whatever it might be worth, that is my experience. Best wishes, Medved