"Trigger" caused anxiety to re-surface?

Hi people

I haven't posted here in awhile but during my absence, I got involved in a really exciting new hobby that gave me months of endless joy, plenty to learn/do and allowed me to completely get my mind off of my issues because I was so busy having fun!. I was pretty much on cloud nine the whole time. I even joined a large group of people who shared the same hobby and interests as myself and everything was going just great. For awhile, that is.

But lurking deep beneath the facade of distraction-filled happiness was still a nearly full "anxiety bucket" brimming with underlying fears, phobias, worries, stressors, what if's and uncertainties. One day something happened (long story) that triggered me and caused my anxiety bucket to overflow. Over a period of days, I found myself right back where I started with waves of anxiety and panic attacks, fears, worries, what if's, feeling hot and flushed, nervous, jittery, constantly fretting and worrying about everything, etc.

It was really quite amazing actually...the stark contrast between feeling so motivated, happy and enthusiastic and then suddenly being slammed down to the point where I felt like a complete basket case. This afternoon I was just sitting here at the computer and could feel wave after wave of anxiety/panic/adrenalin flowing through me - almost like electricity. It was an AWFUL feeling!. A few nights ago I was laying in bed and was just about asleep when I suddenly had a panic attack and just laid there for a few minutes with my eyes wide opened. Last night it wasn't much better. I just felt really strange.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?. Where you are feeling just great for several weeks or months and then something suddenly triggers you and snowball's out of control and leaves you feeling like a quivering mass of anxiety?. It's like my anxiety was in remission for awhile or something and the thing that recently triggered me made it all come back to the surface again worse than ever.

Post Edited (Sethp) : 3/24/2013 2:29:41 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks so much for the reply!.

Yes, it feels so absolutely good when it goes into remission for awhile and then just miserable when it comes back to haunt us again. It's like being hit in the stomach.

I hope so much to get back to that place where I can get involved in some fun new project and get my mind off of this. Along with the anxiety comes all of the physical symptoms and along with the physical symptoms comes all of the "what's ifs" and then more anxiety. It just feeds on itself.

Thanks again for the words of encouragement. It's so sad to know that other people have to deal with this as well but at the same time, a sense of relief that I am not the only one.

Yes, this is me. I've recently had a setback in my anxiety after having a fairly good 5 years. As I mentioned in my introductory post, my anxiety was triggered again after a recurrence of some health issues I have had (ulcerative colitis). I'm working through it now, but the setback was very hard to take. I thought I'd finally kicked the anxiety, but in a matter of weeks I went from being very happy and relaxed to needing to force myself to do the things I love. I know it will eventually get better, but in the meantime, it's been rough.

It's interesting you should mention the weird feeling in the eyes. Part of my anxiety is eye issues. My anxiety flares, my vision gets hazy or foggy and I find that bright fluorescent lights really bother me. Sometimes I feel like my eyes are strained. I try not to think about it, but it's hard.

That's about the same with me. I usually have some event that precipitates it--almost ALWAYS a health issue (this time it was a sudden flare up of my IBD which necessitated an ER visit)--and then I might have a few sleepless nights that leave me feeling acutely anxious/disconnected for a few days. Eventually the acute anxiety sort of fades to a "low grade" level, but it's always there. I have a constant feeling of dread, sometimes about no specific thing. By this point my GAD really kicks in. I worry almost CONSTANTLY, like a dialogue going through my head of what could be wrong. I start to fear I'm dying or going crazy. I worry that I must have a serious disease (brain tumor) or serious psychological problems.  I get a hissing in my ears, a sensation of pressure in my head that comes and goes, stiff neck, general feeling of weakness and/or tense muscles, extreme fatigue, and of course the very bothersome vision symptoms (which seem a lot worse this bout). I also feel depressed and discouraged, and pretty much lose interest in most of my hobbies. Sometimes it's hard even to concentrate when watching TV.

It sucks.

In the past, my health anxiety also focused on heart issues, but after testing revealed my PVCs were benign and due to low iron and potassium, I actually completely stopped worrying about them. Now if only I could stop worrying about the other things.

Post Edited (redleader) : 3/25/2013 7:42:13 PM (GMT-6)

Hello,

It's good to read these post and see I am not alone.

I have suffered from anxiety and OCD for most of my life about 6 years ago it started to get really bad to the point it was hard to function. I was put on medication cipralex 10mg. The medication, along with therapy did wonders for me and I was on it for about 2 years.

I was able to deal with my anxiety and OCD for 4 years with no medication and was doing pretty well. This past February I was feeling a little down and attributed it towards the weather.
One of my main anxiety triggers in the past used to be driving my car. So In February I'm driving home in a winter storm and all of a sudden I got a panic attack. Things just went downhill from there.
I think the fact that I got a panic attack started to trigger everything that used to affect me the what if's started, racing mind, fogginess. My panic attacks came back full force. I tried to handle the situation on my own and use the techniques I learned in therapy but nothing was happening.

I went back to my doctor and have been put back on cipralex. My doctor actually made me feel a lot better about the whole situation. I was feeling like a failure for relapsing but he reminded me how well I did for 4 years and these things are going to happen it is going to be a life long issue for me.

I will be starting therapy again in a few week as I feel that this along with the medication really helps. I'm hoping that i may not have to be on my medication long term but I've come to accept that it may be necessary and I am ok with this because it really does make me feel so much better.

It's a scary feeling when you are feeling pretty good about things an then out of nowhere it comes back. You are not alone and I hope you are starting to feel better!

Thank you so much for posting this. Your story sounds almost exactly like mine. I've been crafting for a few months to help make money ( i also enjoy it) and I have gone months without having an attack. A few weeks ago i was home with my 3yo and i was having seriouse stomack pain. All of a sudden i start freaking out thinking what if it gets bad enough i need to call an ambulance and i'm home alone with my 3yo and my mother is over an hour away and my fiance is a work with our only car and i'm stuck here! Well now since that happend I have spent everyday since dealing with the dread or trying to stay calm. I'm hoping it'll pass. I fell for everyone of you that are going threew this too, even though it makes me feel so much better hearing everyones comments. I have never been on a forum for anxiety but i think its amazing everyones descriptions of there attacks makes me relize i'm not alone or somekind of weirdo.

Also whanted to note that i to get the hotflashes in my face. One of the first signs for me is the hot flashes in my face and fluttering feeling in my chest that goes to extreme beating. And the my arms go tingly. I get the spaceyness after its over. I feel like i'm in a daze and drained of energy.