Update on me brain fog and derealization

[Adamj]

So my anxiety has seemed to die down some I don’t have a panic attack every time I leave my house which is nice but I still can’t think straight I feel like I’m living in a dream half the time I keep getting brain fog. I still feel dizzy here and there still have chest pains in both sides of my chest and into my back. My hands also seem slightly numb like I’m not feeling stuff as well on my hands. And my hands and feet still get cold. I’m still getting chilly and hot at the same time. Doctors put me on 40mg of omeprazole for over a week and was on 20mg for a month before that all its done is gotten rid of the heart burn and burning in my throat. I’m just so over feeling out of it and not myself and feeling so spaced out most of the time. The doctors did try me on Effexor but made me even more dizzy. On a positive note I did have a great Friday and Saturday with my girlfriend but last night and today just back to feeling like garbage physically and mentally. I’m tired of crying because of how I feel I don’t know what to do to make me feel like myself hell I didn’t even think I’d make it these last two months dealing with all of this. I don’t even see a future for myself. Like I don’t want to die but I’m so over feeling like this and these symptoms.

[Jeff1943]

Adam, it's good that you've put yourself under the care of your doctor. Have you had Covid, could these symptoms be Covid Long? However it sounds to me that you have general anxiety disorder and health anxiety in particular. Just as I did during the early 1970s.

Derealisation is our mind's unhelpful way of trying to distance us from an anxious situation. I had that too in 1974, the feeling that you are watching everything on TV. I was too busy coping with the other false symptoms of my health anxiety to bother about derealisation so it 'died' of neglect. We tend to keep the fake symptoms alive by feeding them with fear, accept them as blips in an over-sensitised nervous system and they yield.

I was lucky. In 1975 I came across a copy or Doctor Claire Weekes' book "Hope and help for your nerves". I sat down. I opened the cover. I began to read. My recovery had begun.

It's quite amazing how many genuine health issues can be mimicked by over-sensitised nerves. For example, if your doctor is satisfied your chest pains are not a cardiac problem (extremely unlikely at your age anyway) then they can be caused by muscular tension in the chest, something which is often reported here.

Over sensitised nerves caused by high anxiety is a most unpleasant experience. But it is not life threatening, cannot disable you or make you lose your mind. Through understanding and reassurance you can find the way forward to recovery and to regain your quiet mind. You will not always feel like this.

[Adamj in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you! Means a lot the way you spoke about it. Just annoying that I went through something similar 5 years ago and it has all come back full force.

[leeeeee]

Hi Adam, I just came across your post and wanted to warn you about Omeprazole. I started having panic attacks after taking it, so I looked it up and others have reported an increase in anxiety and cognitive issues as well.

Did your anxiety and brain fog spike after you started taking Omeprazole? If so, maybe you could stop taking it and see if your symptoms lessen after a couple weeks.

[Adamj in reply to leeeeee]

I’ve stopped all meds the doctors have prescribed they all seemed to increase anxiety even after being on them for a month. Buspar really did me in I don’t feel right even a little anymore it’s horrible