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Anxiety: Need advice

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Floofy   Canada. Aug 08 2015 20:14. Posts 8708
Hey guys... so i'm not sure anyone can really help me with this, but writing alone might help, so here it is.

I'm going to start with the beginning.

Mai 2013, my Ex dumps me. I start working out crazily to get hotter or something. October 2013, i'm with my current girlfriend. Mai 2014, i start a new job in a new city, goes well.
September 2015, i get hired permanently, and its also a really nice job, with only 35 hours/week and good pay, etc. However, one of the guys who trains me has a throat infection. A few days later, i get some weird pain in a weird spot in my throat. I see several doctors, some of them try antibiotics, etc. Nothing works and i'm stuck with this pain. It sometimes gets better, but when its bad, just talking hurts. They even make me see a throat specialist, who doesn't find anything even with a scan. I get worried it might be a cancer or some shit.

November 2014, i go in vacantion with GF in cuba. everything goes good, but the plane makes me VERY ANXIOUS (no panic attacks or anything, just normal anxiety). After this, for some reasons, i decide to stop working out. No real smart reason for this... i guess my motivation was to get hotter for the girls and that stopped.

beginning January 2015, i get vacantion, and i play CS GO almost all day. i get weird feelings like my hearth stops when going to bed... 2 days later, i get some chest pressure which finally does something similar to a heart attack -> i later understands its probably a panic attack. I go to emergencies, they do ECG, but nothing.

February 2015, i now live with my GF, but i still get those weird symptoms of all sorts (hearths stop, chests stabs, chest tightness, pains in arm, etc).

between January and now, doctors do severals tests to me (6 ECG, 3 blood tests, 1 echo, 1 CT scan), and they never find anything heart related.

One doctor suggested it could be hearthburn. But the heartburn medication only helped a little, i still get those strange symptoms. However, my strange throat symptoms now stopped after that.

Another doctor suggested its anxiety, and suggested i see a psy for that. I saw one a month ago.... she tryed to find what could cause this anxiety, but really, i couldn't find anything other than this chest pressure. She seemed to think maybe there's something wrong with my stomach and i should see a specialist.

So i took now have a meeting with my doctor on september... but i'm not sure he will really do much.

Nowadays, the only symptom i'm getting is chest pressure/tightness along with annoying feelings in left arm. Only thing which seems to help is hot showers. One doctor even gave me Ativan, but it only helps relax, it doesn't make the pressure go away. Sometimes the left side pressures moves to the middle and give me a weird feeling of difficulty breathing but my lungs are fine on X rays.

Doctors/internet suggested me all kind of breathing exercice, or suggested to exercice, but it doesnt do anything for me. I mean, if there is actually something making me anxious (like plane), then yes it helps, but there isn't...

I don't really know what to do anymore.. it seems to get worse over time (have the tightness almost all the time). I don't want this shit to affect my job or gf. Sometimes it goes away for 3-4 days but thats it

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james9994: make note dont play against floofy, ;( 

MARSHALL28   United States. Aug 08 2015 20:33. Posts 1897

im 1000% sure u are having panic attacks. i used to get them in college. the mind is very powerful and can convince u all sorts of shit is wrong when everything is actually fine.

next time u start to get the chest tightness you need to start taking deep slow breaths .. in your nose, out your mouth ... and repeat to yourself that you are completely fine and that this is just a panic attack ... that nothing is actually wrong ... and that it will go away.

once you believe it, all this other shit will stop happening. i got over them, no reason you cant.


Floofy   Canada. Aug 08 2015 20:38. Posts 8708


  On August 08 2015 19:33 MARSHALL28 wrote:
im 1000% sure u are having panic attacks. i used to get them in college. the mind is very powerful and can convince u all sorts of shit is wrong when everything is actually fine.

next time u start to get the chest tightness you need to start taking deep slow breaths .. in your nose, out your mouth ... and repeat to yourself that you are completely fine and that this is just a panic attack ... that nothing is actually wrong ... and that it will go away.

once you believe it, all this other shit will stop happening. i got over them, no reason you cant.



Just to make things clear, yes its VERY likely i do get panics attacks sometimes. The question is, is it just anxiety, or is there something wrong with my stomach and thats causing panics attacks.

Because as i said, the chest tightness is nearly always there.... it usually goes like this:
I'm fine for a few days, then i get small chest tightness which isn't a big deal. Usually i just ignore it. Then the next day, its worse, but i can still handle it easily. Then next day, its gets pretty bad. At this point i try all kind of breathing exercice, proffessionnal massages, etc. Nothing seems to work, except for hot showers.

Then usually when it gets REALLY BAD after 3-4 days, i sometimes get a full blown panic attack. After this, it usually start getting better the following days, and ill eventually be fine. It goes in a cycle like this for the last 8 months.

Also, its usually not too bad in the morning, and gets worse progressively during the day. However, i sometimes forget about it if i'm doing something fun like gaming.

james9994: make note dont play against floofy, ;(Last edit: 08/08/2015 20:41

YoMeR   United States. Aug 08 2015 22:13. Posts 12435

just go see a shrink. you prob have a lot of unresolved issues fucking with your brain. And stress/anxiety really can have physical manifestations.

Meditation/walking/exercise can help with that stuff if you can do it consistently.

eZ Life. 

ggplz   Sweden. Aug 08 2015 22:29. Posts 16784

If the doctor looked at your throat and there was something there they would have found it, don't worry about that. It might be mono though.. I know first hand doctors can miss that and just prescribe antibiotics. If it's that, the only way to fix it is to get a ton of rest to let your body heal. They can test for mono though. Lay in bed.

Could be mental but I went through something similar recently and fixed it:

- Anxiety
- Heart palpitations
- Difficulty breathing, chest felt tight, felt like I couldn't get enough air during stressful situations
- Difficulty relaxing
- A doctor told me they could be panic attacks, she sucked though and I see someone else now.
- I also had a slightly elevated blood pressure of 145/85, over the next month of changes it became: 130/80 then 105/60 now 120/70, which are way better numbers.

Do you get enough sun? Vitamin D levels checked through 25 hydroxy D test? Have you had your thyroid levels checked? Just something to consider, might not be necessary. Are you getting enough sleep? Try to get more rest and take walks in the beautiful summer weather, it's very relaxing to your body, screens aren't.

It's important u cut out sugar and processed foods from your diet as they're very inflammatory. Eat mostly fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, coconut oil (for all cooking) and quality meat/fish. Eat more turmeric with black pepper together, it's delicious especially with coconut milk + stir fry and extremely good for you. Fresh garlic is great too. Cut out all other vegetable oils barring flaxseed oil which you can only use cold i.e. in salads or via chugging a few tablespoons. Cutting out out sugars entirely for a month helped me a lot, I also took 360mg of magnesium every day with food as it helped me to relax significantly more. Magnesium is awesome and if you're under stress you need more of it, try it out, it worked wonders with me. I ate way more omega 3 foods (anti-inflammatory fat) like organic flax seed oil (like 58% omega 3, yum) and more mackerel/salmon too. I also cut down omega 6 fats which are inflammatory. I had my vitamin D levels checked, it was low and i took 5000-10,000 IUs per day to raise it.. waiting on a test next week to see how it is now but I expect it'll be way higher.

Now I have almost no heart palpitations, never difficulty breathing and I can relax way better. I did other stuff too but that helped a lot I think.

if poker is dangerous to them i would rank sports betting as a Kodiak grizzly bear who smells blood after you just threw a javelin into his cub - RaiNKhANLast edit: 08/08/2015 23:22

blackjacki2   United States. Aug 08 2015 23:14. Posts 2581

most likely anxiety/panic attacks. I don't know how old you are but you're probably fairly young. Unless you have a congenital heart defect or other risk factors having heart problems that early is just super rare. Only other thing I would consider is maybe angina which could be why hot showers make it better as heat would cause vasodilation. But again assuming you are young and relatively healthy even that is rare. More likely just some heartburn with anxiety. The fact that you're also worrying about plane rides and having throat cancer is kind of a giveaway that you're just a really panicky dude. Take a step back and consider how likely it is for a young person to get throat cancer, or how likely it is for a plane to crash. Don't flip out over stuff that has <0.0001% chance of happening. Pause, take a deep breath, and rest comfortably knowing that if Dick Cheney can make to age 74 then you should at least be able to make it to age 50.


Floofy   Canada. Aug 08 2015 23:47. Posts 8708


  On August 08 2015 22:14 blackjacki2 wrote:
most likely anxiety/panic attacks. I don't know how old you are but you're probably fairly young. Unless you have a congenital heart defect or other risk factors having heart problems that early is just super rare. Only other thing I would consider is maybe angina which could be why hot showers make it better as heat would cause vasodilation. But again assuming you are young and relatively healthy even that is rare. More likely just some heartburn with anxiety. The fact that you're also worrying about plane rides and having throat cancer is kind of a giveaway that you're just a really panicky dude. Take a step back and consider how likely it is for a young person to get throat cancer, or how likely it is for a plane to crash. Don't flip out over stuff that has <0.0001% chance of happening. Pause, take a deep breath, and rest comfortably knowing that if Dick Cheney can make to age 74 then you should at least be able to make it to age 50.



Wouldn't those tests have found out about angina tho?

Plane does give me a lot of anxiety, but i take the plane once a year, so i just deal with it its not a real problem, and is def not the reason of my problems

I don't believe in throat cancer anymore because of the CT scan and because it got better.

I am 28

james9994: make note dont play against floofy, ;( 

PuertoRican   United States. Aug 09 2015 00:34. Posts 13029

Maybe anxiety and acid reflux? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease

I don't know shit about this topic, so yeah.

Rekrul is a newb 

punix   Germany. Aug 09 2015 00:46. Posts 406

hm i cant really fully relate to this as i never experienced something like this in my life but what I did experience is having strange "medical" conditions that raised a fear of maybe having cancer.
my dad had lymph cancer and some of my lymph nodes are swoolen (still kinda small in general but i have several of them all across my throat. saw my doc and he did several tests and assured me that iam absolutely ok.

first of all: did you talk to your gf about this? i find that usually the most helpful ppl are those that know you and know how you react to things. she or your family might picked up on things that cause your anxiety or something. talk to them about your thought and conditions!
you saw a lot of doctors so personally I think your health is mostly absolutely fine (high percent chance) as usually the ppl that end up with severe conditions are these that refused to see any doctor for a long time (and my gf for example hates seeing a doctor and she has a strange conditions with her stomach and I needed to drag her to a physican). its good that u visited these doctors but the important question is: did it help you at all when they found out that you are ok?
since it didnt help your panic attacks you might not have benefitted from it too much (i had a huge relief after my physican told me that he is very sure that my lymph nodes are absolutely standart and nothing serious).

Tough position.. I have a feeling that a psych is the best way to go (i heard from some ppl that it can be hard to find the one that you can really build up some connections with, so you might try some additional psychs). I have the feeling that its mostly your mind as your health seems to be fine. So try to calm down and try to see the brighter picture in which you have a very good life position (gf, job, nice pay, not too much work, some freetime). try to enjoy life.

let us know about ur progress

 Last edit: 09/08/2015 00:46

ClouD87   Italy. Aug 09 2015 01:00. Posts 524

I used to have constant anxiety and sometimes panic attacks and that was very detrimental to me as a progamer... Then I started doing meditation 20 minutes every day and it all went away forever within the span of a week


MysticJoey   Poland. Aug 09 2015 01:38. Posts 1430

just smoke weed


Floofy   Canada. Aug 09 2015 02:49. Posts 8708


  On August 09 2015 00:00 ClouD87 wrote:
I used to have constant anxiety and sometimes panic attacks and that was very detrimental to me as a progamer... Then I started doing meditation 20 minutes every day and it all went away forever within the span of a week



Thats what i have. THe panics attacks arent a big deal, it happens like once a month and last for 2 minutes, i dont mind it that much (even tho its pretty intense when it does happen), but the near constant chest tightness is annoying as hell.

i should give meditation a try

james9994: make note dont play against floofy, ;(Last edit: 09/08/2015 02:53

Floofy   Canada. Aug 09 2015 02:54. Posts 8708


  On August 08 2015 23:46 punix wrote:
hm i cant really fully relate to this as i never experienced something like this in my life but what I did experience is having strange "medical" conditions that raised a fear of maybe having cancer.
my dad had lymph cancer and some of my lymph nodes are swoolen (still kinda small in general but i have several of them all across my throat. saw my doc and he did several tests and assured me that iam absolutely ok.

first of all: did you talk to your gf about this? i find that usually the most helpful ppl are those that know you and know how you react to things. she or your family might picked up on things that cause your anxiety or something. talk to them about your thought and conditions!
you saw a lot of doctors so personally I think your health is mostly absolutely fine (high percent chance) as usually the ppl that end up with severe conditions are these that refused to see any doctor for a long time (and my gf for example hates seeing a doctor and she has a strange conditions with her stomach and I needed to drag her to a physican). its good that u visited these doctors but the important question is: did it help you at all when they found out that you are ok?
since it didnt help your panic attacks you might not have benefitted from it too much (i had a huge relief after my physican told me that he is very sure that my lymph nodes are absolutely standart and nothing serious).

Tough position.. I have a feeling that a psych is the best way to go (i heard from some ppl that it can be hard to find the one that you can really build up some connections with, so you might try some additional psychs). I have the feeling that its mostly your mind as your health seems to be fine. So try to calm down and try to see the brighter picture in which you have a very good life position (gf, job, nice pay, not too much work, some freetime). try to enjoy life.

let us know about ur progress



Yes my GF/family knows about it. I only hide this from co workers, and actually it doesn't (yet) affect my work. Just that i missed work once because i had really bad tightness one night and didn't sleep all night.

I absolutly see the bright future, i am in no way depressed, everything is perfect beside this.
The thing about the psychologist is, his job is to find out why i have anxiety. But i'm pretty sure that, if it is anxiety, it comes from the fear of heart related problems. And the psychologist can't really cure my fear of heart related problems, i think a doctor would be best for this, but doctors just like, do an ECG, then tells me to go home, and when i ask "does this clear me from heart problems", theyre like "no it can still be ur hearth, but unlikely". And when i google myself, u can see tons of case where people had a clear ECG and still had heart attacks.

james9994: make note dont play against floofy, ;(Last edit: 09/08/2015 02:58

punix   Germany. Aug 09 2015 03:16. Posts 406

oh ye i feel ya man. but!! if you google some shit and think about possibilities about getting this or that serious illness you will go numb at some point (iam glad i didnt study medicine bc iam sure i would have gone crazy by now). ye thats what i meant with the question if your physican made you a bit easier about potential serious problems.

the fear of real serious diseases or illnesses is definitely something that one has to take serious as well and iam sure if your open about this to your psych and a physican that you trust they will be able to work something out together.

for example when i told my physican about the lymph nodes and my fear that i might have cancer in my lymph system (that was before my father even got diagnosed with it) he took it very serious and tested everything very carefully and then talked to me after his results and the bottom line was that ofc he can not rule out something like cancer for 100% but that it is sooo unlikely that he is almost sure that is not cancer or some form of it. i was relieved.. as soon as my father got diagnosed i was worried as fuck again and went back to him and told him that. again he took it very serious and told me that he can perfectly understand my fear and that it is indeed good to come back after my father got diagnosed with it. he did multiple tests such as blood test for lymph cancer markers, general white to red blood cells in blood, ultrasonic investigation of my throat and so on. he even got a 2nd physican (that works their as well) involved to get his opinion on it and he basically shared his opinion that there is only a verrrry slim chance. i even went to another throat specialist, to get his opinion and he basically shared their opinion as well. so afterwards i told myself "ok there is a very slim chance and i can live in fear for the rest of my life or i can just accept that there is a .5% chance (or something) that i will get that cancer soon and a waaay higher chance that i wont the next couple of years and just enjoy my life. for me it was not a problem at all accepting that there is only a slim chance and i just forget about it in my everyday life and dont think about it most of the time. every now and then i still check my throat for new swoolen nods and shit but iam not too worried about it.

I dont know. I think the best solution is to seek out professionals that are specialized (maybe even in specific cancer types) and ask them and get investigations on your body until you feel comfortable enough accepting the very slim chance and enjoying life again. It is a bit like poker if you have the 4th-5th nuts in your hand on the river and now asking if you should make a play. if you always fear that your opponent has the 1st nuts you never make a play and almost always fold which is obviously not correct! (a bit like folding kings preflop bc u think the other guy only has AA in his hand which is simply not true). there is for sure a chance that it could be something serious but most of the time it wont so try to relax and dont think about it all the time.

Sometimes it helped me also to think about it that way:
If i really get cancer and die at worst to it, I'll just accept it as some kind of evolution. survival of the fittest and my dna obviously wasnt the best since it might had some cancerious mutations (most cancer is highly related to specific gene codes) so in the long run its better to rule that out instead of spreading that dna (greater picture and stuff).


ClouD87   Italy. Aug 09 2015 03:17. Posts 524


  On August 09 2015 01:49 Floofy wrote:
Show nested quote +



Thats what i have. THe panics attacks arent a big deal, it happens like once a month and last for 2 minutes, i dont mind it that much (even tho its pretty intense when it does happen), but the near constant chest tightness is annoying as hell.

i should give meditation a try

Check this vid out, it explains in a simple way everything you need to know without doing much research. It's from a PUA so he will talk about getting better results with women aswell because it makes you become more present and aware, but what you need is an easy activity that reduces your cortisol level which is through the roof right now.


ggplz   Sweden. Aug 09 2015 04:16. Posts 16784


  On August 09 2015 01:49 Floofy wrote:
Show nested quote +



Thats what i have. THe panics attacks arent a big deal, it happens like once a month and last for 2 minutes, i dont mind it that much (even tho its pretty intense when it does happen), but the near constant chest tightness is annoying as hell.

i should give meditation a try


Do you know what your blood pressure is? I've had ECGs too and mine lasted <30 seconds, it's hard to capture your problem in that timeframe. It's pretty much to detect absolute emergencies and clear cases of dysfunction.

If there's 1 thing you should try it's to supplement magnesium from a good brand every day with food. Most people are deficient in magnesium and it helps to relax your whole body, improve mood (reduces anxiety), dilates arteries to increase blood flow, promotes a normal heart rhythm and regulates blood pressure. The type I take has magnesium citrate, lactate and malate. It's cheap to do and you should feel the effects immediately or within a few days.

if poker is dangerous to them i would rank sports betting as a Kodiak grizzly bear who smells blood after you just threw a javelin into his cub - RaiNKhANLast edit: 09/08/2015 04:17

Baalim   Mexico. Aug 09 2015 04:33. Posts 34246

You are having panic attacks, I had them too and It was hell I also thought that I was having a heart attack and I made exactly the same questions. Anyone who has had them strongly related with what you said, so take our advice.

There is nothing wrong physically with you relax!, go see a psychiatrist, they will prescribe you anti-anxiety meds, ideally he will give you one box to make you feel better right away of traditional meds (benzodiazepine or Clonazepam) those meds cause dependence though, so ideally he will prescribe you the "new generation" anti anxiety medication that helps you release serotonin those start working after 1 month of usage and you will probably have to take them for at least 6 months.

As soon as you take your first med and the chest pressure is gone you will love me.

Dont feel bad for having no real reasons to be anxious and dont hide it from people close to you, if you are feeling anxious let them know, trying to conceal it only makes it worse.


btw your panic attacks didnt bother you that much because they were mild ones, people who get severe ones faint and it can happen you while driving etc, anxiety is greatly underestimated

Ex-PokerStars Team Pro Online 

ClouD87   Italy. Aug 09 2015 04:42. Posts 524


  On August 09 2015 03:33 Baalim wrote:
You are having panic attacks, I had them too and It was hell I also thought that I was having a heart attack and I made exactly the same questions. Anyone who has had them strongly related with what you said, so take our advice.

There is nothing wrong physically with you relax!, go see a psychiatrist, they will prescribe you anti-anxiety meds, ideally he will give you one box to make you feel better right away of traditional meds (benzodiazepine or Clonazepam) those meds cause dependence though, so ideally he will prescribe you the "new generation" anti anxiety medication that helps you release serotonin those start working after 1 month of usage and you will probably have to take them for at least 6 months.

As soon as you take your first med and the chest pressure is gone you will love me.

Dont feel bad for having no real reasons to be anxious and dont hide it from people close to you, if you are feeling anxious let them know, trying to conceal it only makes it worse.


btw your panic attacks didnt bother you that much because they were mild ones, people who get severe ones faint and it can happen you while driving etc, anxiety is greatly underestimated


Meh ok, I would try what I told you before delving into the territory of addictive drugs. One thing I have to say though is that if you have a serious condition they might help by making your body re-experience a sense of calmness and make it start to get used to it again. I had the same thing when I tried MDMA, was depressed for a long time and couldn't really smile much to other people, but after that experience I realized that being positive leads to better results and that inevitably changed me afterwards.

Do whatever works of course but again, I would be careful before taking any substance.

 Last edit: 09/08/2015 04:44

ggplz   Sweden. Aug 09 2015 04:50. Posts 16784

From my perspective, having gone through almost exactly what he's going through and having solved it with a cheap magnesium supplement it's ludicrous to suggest seeing a psychiatrist, resigning to their care and taking drugs that may have side effects.

if poker is dangerous to them i would rank sports betting as a Kodiak grizzly bear who smells blood after you just threw a javelin into his cub - RaiNKhAN 

Baalim   Mexico. Aug 09 2015 06:13. Posts 34246

Totally Ludicrous to go to see a specialist doctor and get medications to treat his condition, yeah what a daft suggestion... better go get your supplements and probably stop eating gluten too while you are at it.

Ex-PokerStars Team Pro Online 

 
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