Anxiety: Need advice

Floofy wrote: September 2015, i get hired permanently...A few days later, i get some weird pain in a weird spot in my throat.

Pretty sure you just found the first known side effect of time travel.

Caffeine can worsen anxiety and panic attacks, as can consuming a high sugar beverages devoid of nutrition.

I'm not anti caffeine or sugar, but these are mood altering chemicals(that I'm currently addicted to despite knowing the research).

Benzos are great, they work better than anything I've tried for anxiety, but they are a tool/bandaid that probably shouldn't be used long term due to possible health consequences(but they still have a lot of value). Benzo addiction and tolerance is a real thing at doctor prescribed doses.

You didn't mention alcohol and drug habits, which can also play a role obviously.

tl;dr

you should consider tight chest, shoulders and biceps +bad thoracic spine mobility as a culprint

Yeah man,

Some good posts in here from ppl who have experienced similar. I am another one.

It looks like you are talking to doctors: good... or bad. I mean, for me, it was good for me to talk to some doctors but i went through 2, 3, 4 doctors before i found one i liked. For me, i had to make sure to understand the general practitioner is a general practitioner. The psych med doctor is the psych med doctor. The therapist is the therapist. The clergyman is the clergyman (respek for good ones but i am not a religious fellow. Does not mean they are incapable of being smart, caring, loving, understanding, peaceful). The friend is the friend. The mom is the mom. The dad is the dad. etc.

Do not be afraid of therapy. I was, then i got honest, open-minded, and willing to change, and grow, and improve. It has helped tremendously. It took some time. I went through 2, 3, 4 therapists before i found one i liked.

For me, i tried so many things. I tried drugs. All sorts of drugs. I tried all sorts of escape. I tried all sorts of expression. For me, it all stemmed back to the shit i was suppressing and repressing. All sorts of shit. All sorts of pressure that was building up. Certain avenues lead to relief but it can also lead to other suppression and such. It can be just kind of like driving around, crashing around blindly following all these roads to desires and relief and they all just lead to other roads and other roads and i was just driving around lost. Highs and lows. Depression and (false) ecstasy. Hell, even chasing Molly and flashing lights and sonic bliss got me closer to God for a song or two but there was always the crash, the hangover, the pain.

Anyways, everyone's story is slightly different but many have similarities. Again, i can only speak from my experiences but at the end of the day after everything i went through i had to and i have to continue to treat the mind first. Bandaids only work for a time. They are only aides, that aid in healing. For me, i was in denial and suppressing and repressing my feelings for so so so long. Like i was always in a stage of grief for something. Always carrying some form of shame, apathy, anger, guilt, pride, FEAR. 100 forms of FEAR. 1,000 forms of FEAR. 1,000,000 forms of FEAR. For me, there was never a way to think myself out of fearful thoughts. That just keeps me in a state of worry to anxiety to panic to despair to FEAR to FEAR to FEAR. I have to figure out ways to change those feelings and the thoughts naturally evolve to courage and acceptance and LOVE and JOY and PEACE. Love and gratitude overcome fear and pride.

Be honest and aware of feelings and thoughts. Be accepting of all the wide ranging feelings and thoughts. Let go. They are just feelings and thoughts.

i o e n o

Hang in there Floofy, the hardest step is awareness and honesty and it seems like you are there. It can and will get better.

That looks like 100% anxiety panic attacks. By all means you should check your stomach, so you can clear any health related problem.

I had the same problem not too long ago so it is fresh in my mind. Overcoming it is a bitch sometimes but if you do the right things you should be fine very fast. You need to realize there is nothing wrong with you and it is just the mind playing tricks.

I triggered my anxiety when I had this 2 day cocaine binge and at the end of it, my chest got tight, my left arm went numb and I freaked out big time. Basically for the next 4-5 hours I had this chest pains all the time and they got worse and worse. I thought I was going to die any moment. It was a terrible experience and I even visited the ER. After it was clear it was nothing wrong with me physically, I continued to have this chest pains recurring over time and every time I started to give them more reflection, they got worse.

So what helped me was realizing there is nothing wrong with me and trying to keep my mind occupied with different things. If I got the chest tightness I will go and make some high intensity training and get a cold shower. It would make me feel good immediately . I was having a good diet and lots of sleep. I guess meditation can help also.

Relax about that and you will overcome this problems in no time. I have and so many other people so you can do it, too.

Good luck .

On August 10 2015 12:25 goose58 wrote: Caffeine can worsen anxiety and panic attacks, as can consuming a high sugar beverages devoid of nutrition. I'm not anti caffeine or sugar, but these are mood altering chemicals(that I'm currently addicted to despite knowing the research). Benzos are great, they work better than anything I've tried for anxiety, but they are a tool/bandaid that probably shouldn't be used long term due to possible health consequences(but they still have a lot of value). Benzo addiction and tolerance is a real thing at doctor prescribed doses. You didn't mention alcohol and drug habits, which can also play a role obviously.

I rarely take any alcohol. I mostly do on vacantions, but last time i went, i didn't notice any difference from it, except the problems were less bad while drunk.
Never took any drugs.

I rarely take caffeine, but i do take big juice things from Jugo Juice and Starbucks coffees sometimes, and yes, i think i usually got worse after taking those.

Benzos help, but they don't fully make the chest tightness go away.

On August 10 2015 16:08 dogmeat wrote: tl;dr you should consider tight chest, shoulders and biceps +bad thoracic spine mobility as a culprint

Explain? i sometimes feel something weird in my lower back and back too, and i tend to have a really bad posture. Maybe it can matter

On August 10 2015 17:05 RiKD wrote: Yeah man, Some good posts in here from ppl who have experienced similar. I am another one. It looks like you are talking to doctors: good... or bad. I mean, for me, it was good for me to talk to some doctors but i went through 2, 3, 4 doctors before i found one i liked. For me, i had to make sure to understand the general practitioner is a general practitioner. The psych med doctor is the psych med doctor. The therapist is the therapist. The clergyman is the clergyman (respek for good ones but i am not a religious fellow. Does not mean they are incapable of being smart, caring, loving, understanding, peaceful). The friend is the friend. The mom is the mom. The dad is the dad. etc. Do not be afraid of therapy. I was, then i got honest, open-minded, and willing to change, and grow, and improve. It has helped tremendously. It took some time. I went through 2, 3, 4 therapists before i found one i liked. For me, i tried so many things. I tried drugs. All sorts of drugs. I tried all sorts of escape. I tried all sorts of expression. For me, it all stemmed back to the shit i was suppressing and repressing. All sorts of shit. All sorts of pressure that was building up. Certain avenues lead to relief but it can also lead to other suppression and such. It can be just kind of like driving around, crashing around blindly following all these roads to desires and relief and they all just lead to other roads and other roads and i was just driving around lost. Highs and lows. Depression and (false) ecstasy. Hell, even chasing Molly and flashing lights and sonic bliss got me closer to God for a song or two but there was always the crash, the hangover, the pain. Anyways, everyone's story is slightly different but many have similarities. Again, i can only speak from my experiences but at the end of the day after everything i went through i had to and i have to continue to treat the mind first. Bandaids only work for a time. They are only aides, that aid in healing. For me, i was in denial and suppressing and repressing my feelings for so so so long. Like i was always in a stage of grief for something. Always carrying some form of shame, apathy, anger, guilt, pride, FEAR. 100 forms of FEAR. 1,000 forms of FEAR. 1,000,000 forms of FEAR. For me, there was never a way to think myself out of fearful thoughts. That just keeps me in a state of worry to anxiety to panic to despair to FEAR to FEAR to FEAR. I have to figure out ways to change those feelings and the thoughts naturally evolve to courage and acceptance and LOVE and JOY and PEACE. Love and gratitude overcome fear and pride. Be honest and aware of feelings and thoughts. Be accepting of all the wide ranging feelings and thoughts. Let go. They are just feelings and thoughts. i o e n o Hang in there Floofy, the hardest step is awareness and honesty and it seems like you are there. It can and will get better.

Actually i think thats problem, i might be in complete denial. In my mind, i have no fears except from heart related problems (i do fear that), and the plane. When the therapist ask what stressed me, i'm like.... nothing other than this bullshit i can't get rid of.

I mean my job is a stupid job at governement where i do nothing a good part of the day where i'm essentially protected, i don't see how that can possibly be why i'm stressed. (even tho i tend to want to be very productive).

Then, everything is fine with GF, family, etc.

I guess i do spend most of my time playing competitive games and/or gambling, maybe that stress my mind, even tho i consciously feel perfectly fine (a bit like when i have to talk in front of a crowd... i am consciously 100% fine with it, but my body gets anxious).

I think if it is anxiety, health issues is the culprit. I've always had some fear of heart problems, so when i really had symptoms which mimicked a heart attack, i panicked.
THe first panic attack, i essentially shaked for like 2 hours.

Nowadays, when i have a panic attack, the second it ends i'm laughing at it and i stop shaking 10 seconds later....


Anyways, i bought ggplz's magnesium. No idea how long it can take before some effect, but i thought its worth a try.

Thanks guys for the replies i'm still surprised so many people had the same problem (assuming it really is anxiety ).

Again today, i started worrying it could be my heart, and i started having really intense squeezing feeling in my left chest. Really felt like something heart related.

Indeed, fascinating topic and a lot of different angles. I'd say talk to a doctor about that squeezing feeling but you already have. If you feel it's serious though obviously do see the doctor again. Good luck, keep us updated on how you're doing and I sincerely hope the magnesium helps you. Magnesium does help you relax more, you'll feel more calm and less anxious generally, i took a combination of 3 types of magnesium (mentioned earlier) from a good brand and about 360mg per day, split it up if you like. When you're stressed your body needs more magnesium so that can explain why you might have a deficiency even though you think you're eating enough through diet.

I had this. I found many possible causes and then cured it. Let me explain.

I had nearly all the same reasons. Lets just say I had INTENSE shit going on in my life. Was basically depressed. Mass tabling poker, paying my way to live, but not a comfortable living.

I have always had a perfect heart, and then all of a sudden I was getting heart "hiccups" that would wake me up at night. There was little pattern to it so I was really scared. Even felt I couldn't breath some times.

The doctors didn't care, I had a monitor for a bit but didn't even get called back about the results. I looked on the internet, and chest/heart palps generally are no cause for concern.

I wasn't getting sun, I was low in vit d and magnesium, so I supplemented. I think everything helped but I suspect the true cause was a hyper active sternocleidomastoid. From holding a mouse

I was getting intense heart burn as well but I was also chewing tobacco.

I found a study where a mom was getting all these same symptoms and eventually even passing out. They recognized it was from carrying her infant with one arm while doing things like cooking food.

My belief is that the tight overactive neck muscle pulled my neck/spine out just a hair. And this caused my entire nervous system to go crazy and waky.

I had to do many things to get things back to normal and it took a few months to see improvement and then bout about a year before I was comfortable things were fine.

Neck stretches, yoga type exercises. Walking regularly to make your standing muscles strong. Reading about posture etc.

Every so often I can feel a terrible headache or have nerve pain in my foot or arm, or hot or cold, and if i just move my neck to right way a very soft release (click) and its all instantly gone.

I think my anxiety, breathing, depression, palps etc...all had very much to do with this. But as you can see its a complex problem that requires a complex solution (multiple variables), so don't get upset if you don't see a clearly defined issue with a clearly defined solution. Work at a bunch of small improvements and give it time and consistency!

On August 11 2015 16:38 diggerflopboat wrote: I had this. I found many possible causes and then cured it. Let me explain. I had nearly all the same reasons. Lets just say I had INTENSE shit going on in my life. Was basically depressed. Mass tabling poker, paying my way to live, but not a comfortable living. I have always had a perfect heart, and then all of a sudden I was getting heart "hiccups" that would wake me up at night. There was little pattern to it so I was really scared. Even felt I couldn't breath some times. The doctors didn't care, I had a monitor for a bit but didn't even get called back about the results. I looked on the internet, and chest/heart palps generally are no cause for concern. I wasn't getting sun, I was low in vit d and magnesium, so I supplemented. I think everything helped but I suspect the true cause was a hyper active sternocleidomastoid. From holding a mouse I was getting intense heart burn as well but I was also chewing tobacco. I found a study where a mom was getting all these same symptoms and eventually even passing out. They recognized it was from carrying her infant with one arm while doing things like cooking food. My belief is that the tight overactive neck muscle pulled my neck/spine out just a hair. And this caused my entire nervous system to go crazy and waky. I had to do many things to get things back to normal and it took a few months to see improvement and then bout about a year before I was comfortable things were fine. Neck stretches, yoga type exercises. Walking regularly to make your standing muscles strong. Reading about posture etc. Every so often I can feel a terrible headache or have nerve pain in my foot or arm, or hot or cold, and if i just move my neck to right way a very soft release (click) and its all instantly gone. I think my anxiety, breathing, depression, palps etc...all had very much to do with this. But as you can see its a complex problem that requires a complex solution (multiple variables), so don't get upset if you don't see a clearly defined issue with a clearly defined solution. Work at a bunch of small improvements and give it time and consistency!

Thanks man, posture is actually very possible. I'm sitting all day and not with a very good posture.

So today i went to see a new doctor, who told me he is 100% sure it isn't the heart, and that he is sure its anxiety. He didn't really have a solution tho. I asked him about the pills and he said its only as a last resort when you essentially can't function normally because of the anxiety (which isn't my case).

Here's what i'm going to try:
#1 Magnesium
#2 Vit D
#3 30-60 min physical activity per day, at least 5 times a week
#4 attempt to keep a better posture
#5 see a psychologist.

Hopefully it go better from there.

Maybe strengthen core with planche and stuff for better posture?

Sounds good. You can obviously take the posture thing way further, likely correcting anterior pelvic tilt and strengthening glutes. I'm working on that myself atm with squats/deadlifts and forming better posture habbits. Get up out of your chair and walk around for at least 1 min every 20 mins. If you're interested in knowing some neck stretches for times of tension here's some i regularly do, took screenshots from a youtube vid + made a few notes. Vid @ bottom of spoiler.. .I keep a whole bunch of these stored on my phone for easy viewing
+ Show Spoiler +

Source:

Worth getting a vitamin D (25 hydroxy D) test to see where you're at right now. Be sure to take vitamin D with fatty meals or you won't absorb it. Best form is D3 with 5000 IUs 1-2 times per day, which is also written as 125 µg or micrograms (mcg). D2 isn't absorbed as easily by the body so try to avoid getting that.

I have to disagree with the LP posters who proposed the diagnosis of panic disorder. I have dealt with panic disorder and have had much different symptoms from yours. It's not even close to what you're experiencing. You only mention physical symptoms at random times, nothing which triggers panic attacks or comes from them, which is present in all panic disorders. I'm not a doctor and I won't attempt to diagnose your anxiety disorder (if you have one), but it's very clear to me it's not panic disorder. You do seem like a bit of an hypochondriac though.


Btw, you mentioned Ativan and how it didn't really solve your problem. I was given Ativan at the dentist a couple times, because I know the dentist triggers them for me, and I have to sit still and avoid feeling nauseous during surgery, and surely enough it was absolutely impossible to get one on Ativan. As such I had no physical symptoms at all, since it prevented me from panicking, and I only ever got symptoms from the actual panic attacks or their onset. You mention still having discomfort even though you rarely ever have panic attacks, which just doesn't make any sense for a person suffering from panic disorder. Also, and just fyi, your most overwhelming symptom seems to be chest tightness, which I have never experienced. For me it was always a rise in body temperature, nausea and feeling faint that were predominant.

On August 12 2015 23:26 Loco wrote: I have to disagree with the LP posters who proposed the diagnosis of panic disorder. I have dealt with panic disorder and have had much different symptoms from yours. It's not even close to what you're experiencing. You only mention physical symptoms at random times, nothing which triggers panic attacks or comes from them, which is present in all panic disorders. I'm not a doctor and I won't attempt to diagnose your anxiety disorder (if you have one), but it's very clear to me it's not panic disorder. You do seem like a bit of an hypochondriac though. Btw, you mentioned Ativan and how it didn't really solve your problem. I was given Ativan at the dentist a couple times, because I know the dentist triggers them for me, and I have to sit still and avoid feeling nauseous during surgery, and surely enough it was absolutely impossible to get one on Ativan. As such I had no physical symptoms at all, since it prevented me from panicking, and I only ever got symptoms from the actual panic attacks or their onset. You mention still having discomfort even though you rarely ever have panic attacks, which just doesn't make any sense for a person suffering from panic disorder. Also, and just fyi, your most overwhelming symptom seems to be chest tightness, which I have never experienced. For me it was always a rise in body temperature, nausea and feeling faint that were predominant.

I agree i do not seem to have a panic disorder.

Your phobia is dentist. My biggest phobia, by far, would have to be the plane. But when i took the plane, nothing happened other than feeling anxious (as ive always been taking the plane). At that time i did have the chest tightness... it didn't increase or decrease. 3 days later during my vacantion, it was still there. Then, the next morning it vanished, no idea why. That being said, i remmeber that when they did my echo, i looked at the screen, and at one point, i saw the heart explode, made me get a bit anxious and the chest tightness suddenly did a sudden pain.

However, i do occasionnally get "panic attacks". What happens is, i get like, fed up with that constant chest pain, and then it amplifies so much that it gets REALLY INTENSE and i think i'm dying of a heart attack. then 10 seconds later, i shake a bit, and then i still have the tightness. Many times when that happened, i went to ER, and heart test all came negative.

Yesterday i saw another doctor, told him most of that stuff (you cant tell a doctor EVERYTHING they wont listen after 2 minutes), and he also said its anxiety.

The psychologist didn't seem to think it was anxiety, but she said it could be that. She advised me to first see my doctor again to make sure it isnt a stomach issue, and She encouraged me to find the common factor between all of my panics attack. I told her i already knows its constant chest tightness that makes me panic, but she told me to try anyways. I honnestly can't find one... One time was playing video games at my GF's parent's home. One time was at a family party during chrimas. One time was simply watching the UFC with my GF. One time was at work (and nothing special was happeing at work). And i think i had another time where i was at my home doing something random on the computer.

i'm gonna try anyways the things i said, and the pharmacist gave me some sort of naturel med called "relaxen" which im gonna try, can't hurt.

I think most people with anxiety don't all have the exact same symptoms tho.

On August 12 2015 23:26 Loco wrote: You do seem like a bit of an hypochondriac though.

I've always been an hypochondriac but it never caused me any problems

It's not that my phobia is the dentist. My issue, more generally, is when I find myself in a situation where I have no control, and where I have lost my freedom to act as I want to. More specifically, where escape seems impossible, or is socially problematic. If I don't feel free to be able to escape from an unpleasant situation, I panic.

And yes, symptoms in anxiety sufferers vary, but they all come from the anxiety, which is caused by something in the environment. Yours comes from a pre-existing feeling of discomfort in your body. You become anxious because you are fearful something is wrong with you, because it starts with physical pain, not the environment. I think if you have anxiety, it's hypochondria related, and it's clearly not the anxiety that is causing these chest problems. Hard to know exactly what is. Get a second opinion for everything so that you have peace of mind, and adjust your diet and exercise routine so that you can feel as strong as possible to combat your hypochondria. Without a sense of control over your well-being you will always be fearful that something might be wrong with you, which will make you anxious and contribute to the discomfort. If you know for certain your organs are not in danger from doing the necessary tests, and if you are taking care of your body and you feel strong and resilient, I'm sure it will subside.

One potential common factor to consider is that your GF might be triggering anxiety on some level. Do you fight a lot or cause each other undue stress? Do you have feeling of mistrust/resentment towards her? Do you often feel you have to worry about her? Sometimes we're put in situations where we feel forced to act certain ways that feel unnatural.. especially around family and work to "save face". It could be something to think about but if it is that then talk with her about it. Everything should be calm at home. No need to actually answer any of those highly personal questions here btw, you can though if you like.

Personally I dislike flying too because if something was to go fatally wrong I'd likely die in a way I'd have little control over, I'd be dependant on the crew + random factors. Yes, it's one of the safest forms of travel but that doesn't stop me vividly imagining the plane exploding mid air 4-10x per flight. I seem to want to look out the airplane windows and get fascinated by the height, most people on the plane seem oblivious that inches from us there's an environment quite foreign and lethal. I just fly anyway when it's necessary. One thing to consider trying is to buy a more expensive flight next time. There's a lot of subconscious power behind paying more money for something higher quality or more safe etc... I feel way more anxious flying a cheap airline like ryanair and basically cba doing that anymore.

On August 13 2015 07:26 ggplz wrote: One potential common factor to consider is that your GF might be triggering anxiety on some level. Do you fight a lot or cause each other undue stress? Do you have feeling of mistrust/resentment towards her? Do you often feel you have to worry about her? Sometimes we're put in situations where we feel forced to act certain ways that feel unnatural.. especially around family and work to "save face". It could be something to think about but if it is that then talk with her about it. Everything should be calm at home. No need to actually answer any of those highly personal questions here btw, you can though if you like. Personally I dislike flying too because if something was to go fatally wrong I'd likely die in a way I'd have little control over, I'd be dependant on the crew + random factors. Yes, it's one of the safest forms of travel but that doesn't stop me vividly imagining the plane exploding mid air 4-10x per flight. I seem to want to look out the airplane windows and get fascinated by the height, most people on the plane seem oblivious that inches from us there's an environment quite foreign and lethal. I just fly anyway when it's necessary. One thing to consider trying is to buy a more expensive flight next time. There's a lot of subconscious power behind paying more money for something higher quality or more safe etc... I feel way more anxious flying a cheap airline like ryanair and basically cba doing that anymore.

Na man my GF has nothing to do it. Beside sex being not the best everything is perfect. I also had 1 attack at work. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

So many of us can relate because this is hard to talk about because you/I/we are/were being irrational so when you talk to anyone about it you get funny looks and people think less of you, or at least thats how we feel.

Think of it like this, 99% of people know whats up with poker because of all the shit they read. 1% of us actually have a clue whats going on, so you can pretty much ignore the other 99%

Same with this, the doctors know what is up. Go to see them, if there is anythng physically wrong with you, THEY WILL KNOW, They are the professionals, they have all the equipment and knowledge to find out. Its their job and by and large they do a fantastic job of it. If there is nothing wrong with you, you HAVE TO take them at their word.

Example, if I was an amateur poker player and I asked Ike Haxton for hand advice, and he gave it to me and I disagreed. If we assume Ike has no reason to lie (whihc we can presume for doctors) should I take his advice or just ignore him and think I'm right? Obviously we just take Ikes advice.

So when you have done this, keep yourself busy, get sunlight, go out of your way to spend time with people. If this pressure doesn't go away then consider seeing a specialist about anxiety.

I suffered from this for a while, the only way I got out of it was when I realised MYSELF that there couldn't be anything wrong with me due to passage of time/doctors imputs/differeing symptoms it must just be anxiety and i pushed myself to get on and just get over it. If I was suffering for another 6 months or so I would have definitely gone to see a doctor.

It is obviously extremelly common, that is why everyone who is responding is sure you are suffering from the same thing as us. We know what it was like and we just want you to get over it as soon as possible.

Anxiety is an illness, you can beat it by yourself but if you are just 'waiting' to feel better you wont you need to be ACTIVE in combatting it. If you are not it will spiral down and you wont beat it by yourself so go see a specialist. Your minor panic attacks will get worse if you don't try to beat them.