I Am A New Member-With Questions

Hi.  I am a new member.  In all honesty, I was looking up one of the medications that I am on and found this site.  The irony of that is I was invited to go to a local church every Tuesday night recently where people who have this same illness as me go and get personal support.  It sounds like a great idea to go but again in all honesty, right now I would just prefer to chat with people on-line with the same illness, as I am terrified to be around people. 

2 different Psyciatrists have diagnosed me with Bi-Polar Depression, Generalized Anxiety Dissorder, and Obsessive Compulusive Dissorder about 5 years ago.

Like I was saying, I am on medications for all this, which I have listed in the Medication Section.

The first time I knew there was something not just right about me happened about 5 years ago.  I woke up one morning and when I got out of bed, I collapsed.  Seriously, I could not walk at all.  Every time I got on my feet, down I went.  I was so afraid at that point that I had no choice but to call 911 as I thought I had something physically wrong with me.  When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor ordered all kinds of tests on me.  During that time, my legs were just shaking like a leaf in the wind.

about 7 hours later after all the tests came back, the doctor came up to me and said, "There's nothing wrong with you, and you’re healthy as a horse".  I couldn't believe he said that as I was shaking and trembling.  I asked him what was wrong with me and he said it was extremely bad anxiety?  I asked him what do I do and he said "therapy" and then he gave me this small little yellow pill, which stopped the shaking, and trembling in about 30 minutes.  However, I still felt very uneasy and weak in my legs.  So much so that I went to my pharmacy and rented a cane.  But by the next day, my legs felt really weak, my balance was off, and I was just terrified.

Has anyone experienced and physical symptoms brought on by anxiety?  Please tell me I am not alone.

Prior to this happening, I was waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats even though my air-conditioner was on as high as it could go blowing in my face.  I mean my sheets were just clinging to my body; I had a low appetite, and just felt and still do feel at times really depressed.

I went and saw my family doctor and he again ordered a second set of tests and again, there was nothing wrong with me.  At the time, there was a shortage of physiatrists in my area and thus, my family doctor had to help me the best he could with some medications to help me until I found a psychiatrist which I found about 1 month later.  Amazingly, my current physiatrist has but me on almost the same medication my family doctor gave me.  He just changed the doses and added 2 more medications.  These medications seem to work but there are times when I am feeling really tired and just want to sleep all day or do nothing at all for days.

I have still have days where I am shaking like a leaf.

Hi Lyn.  Thank you so much for the kind reply.  I thought I would try this as a support group on-line rather than in person.  Trust me, I do a lot of deep breathing exercises while thinking of a happy thought like walking on the beach in my bare feet.  Like I was saying, I still shake like a leaf even though I am on medications.  And when I say shake like a leaf, I mean that literally.  To the point where I am afraid that I will fall down the stares.  The psyical symptoms of extreme anxiety are very real to us.  I sometimes feel that I am going to have a heart attack because my heart feels like it is beating a mile a minute, even though every EGG that I have had shows my heart is beating fine. But the worst for me is when I wake up dreched from a cold sweat at night.

I am on a lot of medications.  Paxil 40mg a day, Clonazepam 3mg a day, Seroquel 150mg a day, and Remeron RD 45mg a day.

As for the Clonazepam, when I take each day, I don't really feel anything but all I know is if I stop taking it, about a week later I am in terrible shape.

I am also very glad that I found this site.  Hopefully I can find answers on how other people have dealt with this and that I can also contribute others as well.  I have been in the psyc. ward 3 times in the last year or so.

I was reading the FAQS on this site, and I honestly can't find the Medication post in order to stop a ton of threads based on medications.  It's probably right in front of me.

Again, thank you for the kind words.

^^Thank you all the above for the kind words.  Lyn I am sorry to hear that you have crohns as well as other serious medical conditions with anxiety on top of it all.  Yes, the heart pounding seems very real and to us, it is.  I find that around holidays I get extremly anxious and try to avoid large family gatherings.  I was on Valium for a good year and even though it is a very good medication, I could not stay awake.

I don't recommend that anyone stop taking the benzo's cold turkey.  Oh yea, you will go through hell, literally.  In all honesty, I don't care if I am on them for the rest of my life if they can at least help me live a normal life.

I would go to chruch and talk to other people in the same situation as me however, and again in all honesty, I am terrified that I will have a full blown panic attack or start shaking like a leaf.

What is really hard for me is to meet women.  I know this may sound weird and I hope no one takes offense, but it is really hard for a man like me to suffer from all these illnesses and then having to tell a woman that I have to take medications and can't work.  I find that once I meet a woman and tell them this, they seem to "run away" from me. 

Try to have a great Easter everyone!!!!

Boomer2uall

Nick