being sick and anxiety

Hey folks,

I've been doing very well with my anxiety for almost three years now. I had no major attacks from 2011-2014. In January of 2014 I got married and at that time I was doing so well that my doctor and I discussed trying to taper off my SSRI (I take 40mg of Celexa daily before I fall asleep at night). Well, a few months later, surprise surprise, I had a massive anxiety attack when I was up in Rickett's Glenn, a campground in the Poconos, Pennsylvania. It's a very remote area, no cell signal, no internet, no phones etc. so for a guy who enjoys feeling like he's connected to his friends, you can imagine how the isolation hit me. I don't believe I've ever felt so trapped. It was like being in solitary confinement even though my wife was right next to me and three of our friends were in the next room of the cabin.

In August last year my wife and I had to travel up to Rhode Island for a friend's wedding. I thought I'd be ok and was still tapering off my meds at this time. Well, the first night we were there, laying in bed in our hotel room, another huge panic attack. I had residual anxiety for the rest of the trip and although I forced myself to go to the wedding, by the morning we were scheduled to go home my wife was starting to get very annoyed with me, which of course just made me feel worse.

There were two more major anxiety attacks near the end of the year before I told my doctor that things hadn't been going well. She immediately recommended resuming my original dosage of Celexa. I was also prescribed Klonopin and Ativan to take only as needed for times when the panic was extremely acute.

Most of 2015 thus far has been fairly quiet, until today. This morning I woke up with a stomach bug, severe nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, dizziness etc. I didn't feel too bad until about 11am when I decided I was going to have to leave work because I was feeling so lousy. Being sick to my stomach is the number one thing that triggers my panic attacks, so you can imagine what the rest of this day has been like. I finally caved and took an Ativan about an hour ago (I really do try to use benzodiazepines sparingly, given the studies surrounding them), and it's calmed me down a bit, but I still feel very on edge. My wife got home from work about half an hour ago and she's been a sweetie and made me toast and talked me through some of the panic, but it would help to read some funny stories about other peoples' anxiety on here. I've got a few embarrassing stories myself, so I'll share if the thread gets going a bit.

As always to all the wonderful people on the HealingWell anxiety and panic board, thanks for being here whenever anybody needs a shoulder to lean on.

Welcome back Soonblue! I'm happy to see you posting again, but sorry to hear about your current anxiety attacks.

Just wondering, have you been checked out by a doctor and diagnosed with anxiety? It should be the first step.

Have you ever been to therapy? We recommend CBT or Mindfulness therapies as both are really effective towards anxiety and panic attacks.

Hey Soonblue,
Stomach ailments seem to get me too. Especially considering when I have either the stomach flu, or food poisoning, it comes out from both ends and I'm sitting on the bathroom floor not really knowing where to go from there. Hehe. Sorry to hear you're feeling lousy today, but it will pass. Just think of it as a little obstacle in an overall smooth road.

Elaborating on my embarrassing story, one time the stomach flu hit when I was out at a restaurant. I had been feeling terribly all day but still agreed to go to a local Italian joint with a few friends of mine; my best friend, her boyfriend, and the person I was seeing at the time. After we had ordered our delicious pastas, I was seconds away from throwing up but didn't have enough time to let my friends know, or make it to the bathroom, so I grabbed my own purse and threw up into it. All. Over. My. Purse. We're talking money soiled in throw up, credit cards, some school papers, gum, and make up. All ruined with vomit. When I was finished with that episode and I looked up to find my dinner companions staring at me with wide eyes, I suggested we find the closest restroom and bed. My best friend took me back to her place, a teeny tiny apartment about a minute away from the restaurant. Her boyfriend and the person I was seeing came with as well. I barely made it in the door before I started vomiting all over her apartment while simultaneously pooping my pants. Yep, I said it. And I own it. I pooped my pants as then-21-year-old. All in front of my friends and the person I was trying to impress. Naturally this was all happening when I was also trying to battle a panic attack from being freaked out from being so sick.
Ah, good times. Needless to say I recovered a few days later and to this day it's the sickest I've ever been. And the most anxious. But I can laugh about it now.

Hi

Welcome back to the forum.

Sorry to hear you have been having anxiety/panic but it sounds like you have a good support network around you which is key. You should look into Mindfulness more as it is really effective in treating anxiety takes a while to master it but worth the effort.

With regards to embarrassing stories I have many but they are to embarrassing to share on the web lol I seem to have a good knack of embarrassing myself.

Hibee