Anxiety ruining life, anyone experienced something like this and know how to fix it?

Don't worry if you can't make it to the psychologist, I've cancelled mine after 3 appointments, my anxiety got bad that I was afraid I couldn't sit there without panicking. The psychologist will explain to you that anxiety is normal, and right now your stress level us at its peak and it's stuck there, you just gotta take it slowly and it will come down.

Try to give yourself 2 weeks break from everything if you can, see what happens. You need to stop looking up diseases and being a hypochondriac it doesn't help, it makes it worst, I recall reading up symptoms and and my brain would mimic those symptoms because I believe I had that disease.

My anxiety is fairly low now compared to rock bottom where I experienced physical symptoms likes yours. But I do get freaked out and panicky sometimes, usually when I feel like Iam stuck at the traffic lights or waiting somewhere, when that happens the symptoms come back for a very short period of time.

Edit: like wise, we have this street just around the corner it's like a bloody mountain, a avg person would get their heart rate up to 130 just by walking it at a slow pace, me and my buddy would sprint up that Hill 20 times no problem. Now I walk 1 metre up that Hill and my heart rate is 145, panic kicks in dizzy, dry mouth, lump in throat choking, shortness of breath, chest pain, trembling, feeling like I'm about to pass out feeling of dread, got this urge to stand in 1 spot and call some body to pick me up, it's like 5 minutes walk from home lol. Sometimes just looking at the hill sends me AWOL. I push my self bit by bit now I can successfully walk up that Hill.

Post Edited (Tungster) : 5/20/2016 6:07:53 PM (GMT-6)

That is amazing news Michael!

....and yes, it IS a great start...and surely the beginning of a big leap in your recovery! With time and further efforts to expand your comfort zone gradually...you will be doing all those things you want and need to in your life.:)

Continue to practice that acceptance, as well as use your meds and coping skills all in combination to face down and manage your anxiety!

We are cheering you on!

S.C.

So, I was meant to have an appointment that I have been waiting over three months for with a psychiatrist today. I even got the text message yesterday saying "your appointment is tomorrow at 2pm" So I went in and get told that they had rescheduled my appointment for another month away, for no apparent reason. Well that was just great. It was near impossible for me to just get there and then they just tell me that it's another month. Didn't even get a message. waiting for this appointment was the only thing that kept me going, my doctor even rang them last week when I was having a panic attack, and they told my doctor that the appointment was today. The past few nights have been horrible and I was just holding on for this appointment, and now there is nothing left to do, Doesn't even feel like i'll make another night, can't go to the doctors again because it's too far away and will cause another panic attack, cant call an ambulance or anything cause I've already done it multiple times. now there is nothing I can do anymore.

Hi Michael,

That was beyond unprofessional practice from the P-doc's office! Interesting how many professionals require a 24 hr. cancellation notice on our end, but for them... :/

I know this is just so disheartening for you...but don't lose hope.

For now, keep working on your coping skills...

...and call everyday into the psychiatrist's office and ask about cancellations. It never hurts to be the squeaky wheel...especially when it was THEIR mistake in scheduling in the first place!

Keep us updated. ..we will do our best to keep you encouraged!

S.C.

So sorry you are going to these horrible feelings. You Have definitely come to the right place the people on here are amazing and have great advice. Make good use of all the resources. Also there are great YouTube videos on mindfulness meditation and it does calm you down and helps to keep your mind off of things even if you don't think you're thinking about them sometimes subconsciously you Are. Best of luck to you and I hope you feel better soon

its great to hear they have appointed you a meeting. hope you get well soon, keep us updated.

Hi Michael
I'm glad you got an appointment ...and you are still alive...see since you joined this group you had this thing in your mind that you are going to die... But here you are ..still posting and even getting better. Doctors won't lie about test results ...you are okay , it is this devil ( tight chest , heart racing ..short breath) that's keeling us from being happy..keep on attending sport.. It will get better and easier to handle with time ..stay strong let's fight together. But how's your appetite? Are you eating at least.

I really want to keep attending sport but even trying to just do push ups will make me feel like I am about to have a heart attack or something like that. It's not even pain just this annoying feeling I don't even know what it is. I basically just sit in my room all day eating unhealthy food thinking every moment will be my last

Michael:

I went to WebMD.com and it said this:

What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders?
It depends on the type of anxiety disorder, but general symptoms include:
• Feelings of panic, fear, and uneasiness
• Problems sleeping
• Cold or sweaty hands or feet
• Shortness of breath
• Heart palpitations
• Not being able to be still and calm
• Dry mouth
• Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet
• Nausea
• Muscle tension
• Dizziness


How Are Anxiety Disorders Treated?
Fortunately, much progress has been made in the last two decades in the treatment of people with mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders. Although the exact treatment approach depends on the type of disorder, one or a combination of the following therapies may be used for most anxiety disorders:
• Medication : Drugs used to reduce the symptoms of anxiety disorders include many antidepressants, certain anticonvulsant medicines and low-dose antipsychotics, and other anxiety-reducing drugs.
• Psychotherapy : Psychotherapy (a type of counseling) addresses the emotional response to mental illness. It is a process in which trained mental health professionals help people by talking through strategies for understanding and dealing with their disorder.

I've panic attacks. They were preceded by a nervous breakdown, and I had the panic attacks off and on for years.

I was about 27 when all of that hit. It turned out, I was manic-depressive, which breaks out at about that age, so it was just a situation waiting to happen. I was out of work at that time, isolated from not working and not socializing, and all of those exterior factors, but it was an internal condition waiting to happen at age 27 or so.

I had manic-depression in my background, my mother's mother, my mother's brother (my uncle) had that, so the signs were there. Do you have any mental illness in your family? I would ask around and explore that.

In a way, it's just your body and mind, telling you who you are. It's a major life adjustment, as the True You starts to emerge as you get older. In my opinion, from similar experiences in my life.

My basic mental illness was manic-depression. My anxiety attacks stopped when I was put on Lithium, which brought down the mania, and helped lift the depression. As a secondary benefit, it stopped the anxiety attacks.

Your doctors may be treating the symptons (anxiety), but not the central problem. For instance, they may be asking you what went on in your life yesterday, but ignoring what went on in your family 50 years ago.

Questions such as, "Do you have mental illness in your family?"

That's why I think you need to look back 50 years, not to just last week, as my psychiatrists would ask me, "Are you having any stress?"

You may be under stress at Uni, but you were under stress in high school, but you weren't of the right age at 16 or 17 to have a break. What are you about 22?

Your psy. has about 20 minutes with you, you have all week, all month or more, to look on the net, to talk with family members, and recall on your own what you remember about such things.

I take Power to Sleep from the health food store or net which helps me sleep. There are other such sleep aids now mentioned on this current thread of "anxiety" under headline "trouble sleeping" or something.

Oh, also, if you are in any shape to do so, if you can get yourself out to help others as a volunteer (dog shelter, senior citizens home, hospital), you might get your mental energy going out worrying about others (like I'm doing now), and reduce the mental energy going in worrying about yourself.

What helped me out of my mental breakdown/panic attacks/depression, was a job came my way, and within a few weeks of being around people and worrying about others, my improvement was so vast, even I couldn't believe it.

Also you can be positive that you can get through this.

Michael,

I am sorry your appointment was not as productive as you'd hoped.:/

Please do contact the psychologist's office and get on the wait list (if necessary)...it will be worth waiting!

For now, keep working on the self help. ..and keep posting for support.

There is hope!! Stay encouraged...things will get better with time and continued effort.

S.C.

Wow TT !! That's awesome

Thanks so much. Have a blessed day

Michael:

Thank you for your reply, and to prew.

There is so much in your post. There is a gold nugget in there I perhaps wasn't expecting for a long time. It thought it was going to be a long, difficult mystery.

I knew it didn't have to be a long term situation, but there weren't any quick solutions that I could see, unless there was something in your family's past medical history, and I didn't know if you were going to be talking to grandma and grandpa.

The golden nugget in your post is this:

You said:

"I have tried multiple medications and types of counselling but none of them have done anything and the problem is only getting worse. They have asked a bit about mental illness in my family, and my mum does have bi polar, but I don’t have any idea if there is anything on my father’s side. Everyone says that it can’t be bi polar however and that it is just anxiety."

Key words being, "...and my mum does have bi polar...."

Bingo!

Michael, is anybody home? Are you listening to your own words? Are you listening to your mother?


Concerning your doctor, you said:

"It’s hard trying to explain to them what I feel as my doctor just kept brushing it off as anxiety. I’d tell her all my symptoms and she would simply check my pulse and tell me I was fine. I wanted some kind of tests to see if there really was some other problem but she said there was no point and that it is anxiety. I even tried going to other doctors who just did general check-ups, and blood tests and told me that I was fine as well"

Well, I think, sometimes doctors don't want to hear bad stuff. Not that manic-depression is bad, what's worse is having it and not being treated, in my view. But, they just don't want to hear bad stuff.

I know to tell my psychiatrist, "Hey, yeah, everything is great," because it probably makes her day go better or something.

I do tell her bad stuff, when I'm having it rough, because there is no choice, and she handles it pretty well. We have to admire them, though, because they're in there handling some real cokes, not us, of course, but cokes.

But we do have to ask them, like here are the symptoms from WebMD; here are some of my symptoms; WebMD says it can be inherited; my mother has manic-depression.

It says it breaks out between ages 15 to 24. I'm 19.Do you think I need to go on something besides anxiety medicine, like Lithium which WebMD mentions, or one of the other M-D medicines?

And see what she says. What you don't want to do is go 20 years or more like I did being misdiagnosed.

You have the information. You need to be deciding how long you want to go with just anxiety tablets, in my view. The doctors aren't always going to get it right. You aren't always going to get it right.

But you need to be watching the doctors reactions when you give them this information. You need to decided when you're fed up with bounding off the walls. They're not bouncing off the walls.

They might not want to pronounce you with a serious mental illness at 19. But you are already taking a medicine, one for anxiety. So substituting another one, Lithium for instance (I don't know the names of the new ones for m-d), is not an increase in medicine, in my view. You're simply substituting one pill for another.

She may be wanting you to prolong taking Lithium, for instance, for some reason. But you're gong to have to make some decisions, also: Do I want to continue in this "state?"

Lithium keeps me calm and it stopped the panic attacks. No way I'm going off Lithium, unless it's a m-d substitute medicine.

Just like looking for signs of mental illness in your family, you're going to have to keep on this. You can't blame them years later for not putting you on Lithium, etc., soon enough, like I do. What were you doing all that time?

Talk to your mother about how medicine has helped her, and see what she thinks. Remember, you're the final judge here. You might want to go another year or two or more bouncing off the walls, or you may decide you're sick of that. You're the final judge.

Below is what it says on WebMD.com about bi-polar, or manic-depressive disorder:

What Is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a complex disorder that likely stems from a combination of genetic and non-genetic factors. The mood episodes associated with it involve clinical depression or mania (extreme elation and high energy) with periods of normal mood and energy in between episodes. Along with manic or depressive episodes, patients with bipolar disorder may have disturbances in thinking. They may also have distortions of perception and impairment in social functioning.

What Causes Bipolar Disorder?
Like with other mood disorders, the causes of bipolar disorder are not known. What is known is that bipolar disorder involves dysregulation of brain functioning and sometimes has a genetic component (it can run in families).
At What Age Is Bipolar Disorder Usually Diagnosed?
Bipolar disorder usually appears between ages 15 and 24 and persists through a lifetime. It's rare that newly diagnosed mania is seen in children or in adults over age 65.

What Are the Depression Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?

• Decreased appetite and/or weight loss, or overeating and weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions
• Fatigue, decreased energy, being "slowed down"
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex
• Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain
• Persistently sad, anxious, or "empty" moods
• Restlessness, irritability
• Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts

What Are the Signs of Mania in Bipolar Disorder?
The signs of mania in bipolar disorder include:
• Disconnected and very fast (racing) thoughts
• Grandiose beliefs
• Inappropriate elation or euphoria
• Inappropriate irritability
• Inappropriate social behavior
• Increased sexual desire
• Increased talking speed or volume
• Markedly increased energy
• Poor judgment
• A decreased need for sleep due to high energy

How Is Bipolar Disorder Diagnosed? continued...

In addition, your doctor may want to talk with family members to see if they can identify times when you were elated and over-energized. Because elation may feel good or even normal when compared to depression, it's often hard for a person with bipolar disorder to know if the mood was too high. Mania often affects thinking, judgment, and social behavior in ways that cause serious problems and embarrassment. For example, unwise business or financial decisions may be made when an individual is in a manic phase. So early diagnosis and effective treatment is very important with bipolar disorder.

How Is Bipolar Disorder Treated?

Treatment for bipolar disorder may include the use of mood stabilizers such as lithium. Certain anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines may also be used to stabilize mood. Sometimes antidepressants are given in combination with mood stabilizers to boost the depressed mood, although antidepressants are often not as effective as some mood stabilizers or certain atypical antipsychotics for treating depression in bipolar disorder.

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Reviewed by Joseph Goldberg, MD on February 27, 2016
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