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Feel like I am going crazy!

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Anxiety & Panic Disorders
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Posted 5/3/2013 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
I know this is a bit long winded but I just need to talk about what has been happening to me with people that actually understand.  So I am 36 years and when I was in my early 20's I started having panic attacks.  I had them for about 6 years and then they just disappeared.  Then about a year and a half ago it started with what felt like skipped heartbeats here and there.  I ignored it as I was a bit stressed out and figured it was just a little anxiety.  I went my pdoc and she gave my Xanax (the same things I had taken years ago).  She also believed it was just anxiety.  Then one night I went into full blown panic attacks...heart racing, shortness of breath, trembling, chest pains, the whole nine.  It went on for about 2 hours.  I as convinced I was going to die and my heat was going to give out but in the back of my head I knew it was a panic attack...I had had enough of them in the past.  I took a .25 mg Xanax and it did nothing.  I had to take a second one before I felt any affect and started t calm down.  I finally just fell asleep.  I then became obsessed with my heart and ended up in the er twice.  Both times they did ekg's and chest xrays.  They all came back fine.  So my pdoc put me on Zoloft and I had a bad reaction which she said was just my anxiety.  After arguing with her that it was not my normal anxiety (I had a really bad pounding heart, chest pains, and it felt like  band around my chest) I stopped taking it and found a different doctor.  My new doctor said I did the right thing, that I was having a bad reaction to.  She has started me on Lexapro (though I am working my way to taking it).  But I will!  I also need to add that I have only 1 kidney and have kidney disease in my remaining one.  Everything was under control until a year and a half ago when my protein levels skyrocketed to over 3500 mg when a normal person loses 150-200 mg a day.  And at the same time my blood pressure spiked as did my blood sugar.  Then they found a complex cyst on my ovary and a golf ball sized lump on my breast.  It's like this last year and a half my body just started falling apart. 

That is when they found that at 36 I was perimenopausal.  I have gotten my blood pressure and blood sugar under control through diet and lost 25 pounds.  I also cut out aspartame and caffeine and most of my sodium.  The cyst on m ovary turned out to be fine and burst on it's own and 2 doctors both think the lump in my breast is a cyst caused by hormones (and it has gotten much smaller).  I go for a mammogram in a couple weeks just to be sure.  I go next month to see if my protein levels have gone down.  And I made an appointment with a cardiologist the same day as my mammogram.  But the anxiety is driving me crazy!  I do see a cbt and it is helping a bit, but no as much as I would like.  I have this intense anxiety everyday!  I feel anxious, my left arm, aches, my upper back and next and shoulders hurt, I have daily headaches, shortness of breath, either a racing heart or what feels like skipped heartbeats, I am exhausted, I fall asleep but cannot stay asleep, chest pains, numbness/tingling in my arms and hands, confusion, trouble concentrating.  Those are the most prominent symptoms.  I just feel lousy.  I have tried exercising as that is supposed to help but as soon as my heart starts racing or skipping I get scared and stop.  It even happened when I just tried doing yoga. I force myself to take walks, but that is all I can manage. 

Is anyone else going through this?  If so, any ideas what I can do to help myself?

Posted 5/3/2013 3:23 AM (GMT 0)
Crystal,

I hate to keep repeating myself but, I think you would or could benefit from changing your diet, I started juicing and haven't felt better in years and years, I also have had a lot of your issues, I have read and studied so so so many articles over the years and more so even recently on how food can cause tons of things, especially with the liver, kidneys, skin, lungs, thyroid and womanly parts, you wouldn't believe it. It's from food allergy or sensitivity, I know a lot of people may shrug this off, but if they would just TRY it out and see if it works for them, it cannot do any harm, let your doctor know if it is something you would like to try and give it a whirl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpLQwWKb3l8

That link there is the link to the movie that changed everything for me, I figured it can't hurt me to give it a shot and I have, so so glad I did it.

But I went on a super juice fast, I strain the juice and drink only that and water, you flush your system and drink tons of water and juice for a meal, that may be too extreme for you, so even if you don't choose to go that route, you can drink juice smoothies, or even a good diet and juice here and there.

By the way none of this is premade, you actually have to make these smoothies or juices on your own, I bought a dual gear juicer, set me back 500$ >< but was worth it now.

-Jessie
Posted 5/3/2013 4:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi CrystalLee and welcome,

I am sorry to hear of your recent return of anxiety. We have several members who deal with both physical/health problems and anxiety either separately or as a result of the issues.

How long have you been doint the CBT? I ask, because for me personally, it took a few months for the therapy to start to help. Then once it took effect, it really snowballed and I got better and better.

I think that if you stick with the therapy and give your new Rx a try, you may find that this is just the thing to help you get to a place of anxiety management.:)

We also have a great Resource Guide here on our main page. It is full of great ideas and self-help strategies that you may want to add to your arsenal of tools and coping mechanisms. Take a look and see if there is anything helpful for you in there.

Keep posting here as well. It is very healing to have the support and understanding of others who care and share similar challenges!

Talk to you soon,

Scaredy Cat
Posted 5/3/2013 4:37 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Crystal. i have had anxiety for the last 2 years and get it to the point where i cannot leave my house. i too, am on zoloft and have heard of people having bad reactions but have not had them myself. for the last two weeks i have had chest pains and i thought it was due to my costochondrisitis but yesterday when the pain become unbearable, i went to the ER. my d-dimer levels were high and they wanted to do a CT scan with contrast to check for a pulmonary embolism. i freaked out so bad, i left. i went back later last night and had the test done and it came out to be nothing but my costochondrisitis. chest pain can be a really scary thing and if you are having shortness of breath along with it, its wouldnt hurt to get it checked out right away. when i heard that it was in fact not a blood clot, it immediately put my mind at ease and im feeling rather good today despite a small head cold lol. if you have already gotten your chest checked out, maybe try a warm compress on your chest to try to ease the muscles, or taking a long warm bath to try to relax would help.

i really hope things get better for you hun =\

-Jessie
Posted 5/3/2013 11:00 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for the replies, I really appreciate it! I have changed my diet almost 3 months ago. I cut out caffeine, aspartame, I watch my sodium very closely (max 1500 mg a day), I cut out simple carbs, and a lot of sugar. I eat a lot of whole wheat, veggies, and fruits. The only soda I drink is diet rite and that is a glass about every 2 weeks when I really get the craving for soda. I drink milk and tons of water. Since I am no a huge water person I will put some Mio in it for flavoring, but force myself to have atleast 2 bottles of water a day without it. If want something sweet I have Atkins bars that have low net carbs or sugar free stuff. I have a lot of sugar free things that I have replaced other things with (jelly, syrups, stuff like that) I have lost 25 pounds, my blood pressure went down and my sugar is now under control.
I have only been doing the CBT for 2 months now. I am not ready to give up on it yet. And I am staring the Lexapro tomorrow. I am starting at 2.5 mgs and working up to 10 mgs. I made an appointment with a cardiologist for May 21st. Seems like a long ways away but I can make it until then. I think it is more for my peace of mind. I will add that I do smoke and am very out of shape so my shortness of breath could be due to that as well...I hope anyway! The worse part is the chest pains and skipped beats and racing heart. Breathing exercises do help if I am having a panic attack and so does the Xanax. And since I am still here I know I am not having a heart attack! I will definitely check out that video and the resources on this page to see if there is anything that can help me. I appreciate help!
Posted 5/4/2013 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
Crystal,

Hate to tell ya this but eating regular foods and/or drinking regular soda's are better for you than DIET anything, diet is filled with all kinds of things that are hard to digest or are known carcinogen's etc. some still have aspartame in them, some another form of a sugar that isn't digestable or is predigested and is bad for you. Natural forms of foods are easier to burn off calorie wise than something that has been altered, the media and marketing make people think that "diet" foods are better for you when they are not at all.

Milk can have hormones and other things in it, you could be allergic to it or sensitive, and especially to wheat(which isn't even the same kind as our grandparents ate/had 100 years ago, it has been altered), which you mentioned you are eating a lot of, not to mention the plastic that usually contains bpa and that is only 1 of many many many bad chemicals in the plastic.

The best way to look at food is, what did they eat 100 years ago? Was this even available then? Did it come in this type of package? If not then it's probably best not to eat it. Veggies and fruits today are covered in pesticides, and even the organic type need to be washed well or peeled... grapes, strawberries, apples, cucumbers etc. are some of the worst for having pesticides that can cause issues.

And if you do get something anyway, try to find it in glass packaging(the best) or paper, which is better for you than plastic.

I know all that sounds negative, but I hope I'm passing on information that I had to learn the hard way.

-Jessie
Posted 5/6/2013 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
I know how you feel. However, I am 19. I have been hypocondriac/panicked mess since I was very young. It just showed up one day and never left. Lately it has been worse. I get the pain in my arms too, as well as lots of pressure in my head and pins and needles in my feet all the time. And then ill get disoriented and sweaty and just completely fall apart. I've also had immense pain in my breasts and I'm just so scared to get help because I'm afraid of what the doctor will tell me. I don't eat well at all. I think I'm addicted to bad food, and then when I start thinking about what it's doing to me, it makes me depressed so I just eat more which triggers my panic attacks. It's a vicious cycle and I can't get out of it.
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