My anxiety disorder is inherited but I know how to deal with it thanks to the teachings of 'the woman who cracked the anxiety code' - Claire Weekes. Through the understanding, reassurance and recovery her method brings I am able to control my occasional visitations of health anxiety.
But I'm pushing 80 now so can't automatically take it for granted that some new symptom is down to nervous sensitisation.
Just recently I've been over-stressed due to a young member of my family falling ill and losing his income just when his first child is about to be born.
I've noticed over the last few days a small blind spot briefly appearing next to my centre of vision when I alter my gaze whilst reading. Most probably 'nerves' I thought but how can I be sure: like I said real organic illness becomes more of a possibility when the Big 8 draws close.
Here's something I've used before which may come in useful to others some day.
I have a small script of diazepam (Valium) which I keep in reserve for dire emergencies should one ever come my way. I know from my pre-Claire Weekes days what a God send the much maligned diazepam is. It brings tranquillisation in minutes rather than weeks and is highly effective. And no more addictive than any other highly effective med.
So this morning after noticing the short-lived blind spot when reading I took a 5mg. diazepam. I felt its calming affect immediately. Then one hour later I tested my vision for the blind spot on a page of black-and-white type. Sure enough it was conspicuous by its absence no matter how many times I tested for it. It's now 6 hours later and the momentary blind spot still has to make an appearance.
So now I know without shadow of a doubt it was a symptom of jangled nerves and not the first sign of macular degeneration.
The moral of this story is: if you want to know for sure whether some symptom is 'nerves' playing up or genuine organic illness you could do a lot worse than do the diazepam test.
Written by
Jeff1943
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I’ve had the anxiety off and on but more than that is the years of having my extreme case phobia of taking my Bp.
Even if I take the ativan I also keep in an emergency but the Anxiety of taking My Bp numbers is bigger than anything i’ve tried.
I’m on bp meds and last year I got a few decent numbers but a couple of bad numbers triggered me again.
My bp can jump up to 200 then second time taking within 2 min can be maybe 170 then the 3rd 2 min later could be anywhere from 140 but see the anxiety keeps it up.
I’ll never know what my Bp
really is but i’ve made some peace with that.
I even saw a psychologist but didn’t remove the fear.
I posted this in case you have a suggestion I also have read claire’s books.
I know hundreds of other people have experienced this and it’s tiring.
My bp is always high when taken in a medical environment but normal 135/70 when taken with the same model bp machine at home. I guess the medical environment creates more anxiety, we are less relaxed. My doctor always goes by my readings taken at home.
When it comes to anxiety symptoms I think those of us who have been experiencing health anxiety for 50 years know more about the subject than doctors most of whom, by their training, are looking for organic or physical changes which don't exist. Over sensitive nerves, including those connecting the visual cortex at the back of the brain and the optic disc in the retina don't show up on even the most sophisticated scans.
Mention it to your doctor by all means, it would be a useful clue in helping him or her to decide whether something is nerves or physical. Just as in a different context we check our own blood pressure, blood sugar levels or blood oxygen levels to monitor our health.
Ya those measurements are very concrete. You do what you feel is best for you. I'm a medical professional that's why I mentioned an eye Dr can see your eye. Never know what's going on.
You are right, doctors go to medical school for years and know much more than we ever can. Sometimes though it's difficult to decide whether some symptom is serious enough to seek medical advice specially if you have health anxiety that causes frequent examples. The valium test helps me in that decision.
I sometimes get what are called optical migraines, no headache but visual disturbance. Lights appear in my visual field usually just one eye and there's a blind spot . Lasts for about 20 minutes with no lasting effect. Mine have nothing to do with anxiety. First time it happened was at work years ago and a coworker took me to the ER and I was told that's what I had. It doesn't happen very often. I would recommend you get checked ou to find out what's going on.
I have those as well from time to time, always driven by stress in my case. In 1976 when I had the first one they were called scintillating scotomata, now they call them visual aura. Back in the 1970s and 1980s most doctors had never heard of them. I get them 3 or 4 times a year but I know from medical reports they are harmless and pass after exactly 25 minutes. I accept them and carry on with what I'm doing, if they were harmful I would have discovered it in the past 50 years I reckon.
Sorry this took so long BUT your visual disturbance is most likely something called a "silent migraine"! I've had them for many years and only found out what they actually were around 10 years ago. Do an online search and check it out.
Silent migraines which used to be called scintillating scotomata are caused by a disturbance in the visual cortex not the eye itself. They start with a blind spot and quickly enlarge taking the form of a zig-zag pattern that moves across your visual field and disappears after 25 minutes exactly with no after effects. I get them 3 or 4 times a year, the first time was 1976.What I was describing in this post is different, it was a tiny blindspot for about half a second if I looked at something bright and blink. It passed 10 days ago and I am certain was a symptom of stress caused by worry about a relative's health. If not caused by anxiety it could be caused by remnants of the vitreous jelly after Post Vitreous Detachment reattaching to the retina and tugging on the retina when I blink causing the momentary blindspot but I think the former cause is the correct one. Anxiety takes many forms but it is always still anxiety. Thank you for your interest.
Very interesting Jeff. I used to get visual migraines which were as a result of stress I thought so there may well be a connection. However to echo the others I would definitely make an appointment with the optician to set your mind at rest.Good luck and let us know how you get on.
My health anxiety centres mainly about my vision: shadows, shimmers, light sensitivity, bright spots when looking at white clouds or walls painted white.Here in London we have two A&E/ER open 24 hours 365 days a year specialising in eyes. I used to rush off to the one at Moorfields Eye Hospital (finest eye hospital in the world) quite frequently but with one exception the answer was always the same: your eyes look normal. The one exception was a sudden rise in intraocular pressure called by a childhood injury to my left eye. They fixed it o.k.
When you have health anxiety you have to exercise some judgement about what symptoms are caused by 'nerves' and what are possibly organic or you'll be rushing off the the eye hospital every five minutes.
It could be migraine, I’d get it checked out just in case, I agree about Diazapam. They are great , but Drs are reluctant to prescribe them as they say they are addictive which I don’t agree with, I have some for emergencies only too.
Every medication that works well is addictive by the very nature of its efficacy. If you get addicted to diazepam then you just do what you do with all other meds: you taper off them gradually. In 1975 I became addicted to diazepam which I was taking 3 times a day for over a year without any reduction in effectiveness. When I decided to come off them I quickly realised 'cold turkey' wasn't going to work so gradually reduced my intake over several months until I could stop taking them completely without a problem.Diazepam is based on the rawawulfa root used in India to calm hysteria for centuries, Mahatma Ghandi started each day with a porridge made from grated rawawulfa root hence his pacific nature.
It's unfortunate that Diazepam has been demonised, it's just so effective though the aim should be to control anxiety using the acceptance method pioneered by Doctor Claire Weekes.
You could say that insulin is addictive for diabetics but that would clearly be ridiculous.
Progress report: the momentary visual disturbances returned today following a stressful phone call about my broadband connection with a call centre in India. So I repeated the experiment and took another 5mg valium and sure enough after an hour the visual symptoms yielded. That is confirmation enough for me but I don't intend to take any more valium but will apply the teachings of Claire Weekes ("the woman who cracked the anxiety code"): Face. Accept. Float. Let time pass.
Progress report: it is now 2 weeks later, the visual disturbance ceased about 10 days ago following reassuring news about the health of a family member I was worried about.
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