Hello all, just wanted to let you know there is hope at the end of this long tunnel. I succumbed to this awful thing earlier in the year in May. Ended up in A+E after big panic attack - all vital signs ok though. Then had all the usual issues. In my darkest time I never thought I'd get through this. The dizzy spells, nausea, thinking I had every serious health problem going, never being able to get these thoughts out of my head and disturbed sleep.
6 months later I'm at last, feeling more "normal" than I have for a very long time. Fortunately i found one of the GP's at my local surgery to help. I was off work for 4 months, Luckily for me I was still paid whilst I was off work, which helped as my GP recommended taking my self out of the work environment. To make things worse I had a couple of legitimate health scares during this time, including an operation, but fortunately for me, I'm now ok.
GP prescribed 10mg of Citalopram which is a low dosage, which took quite a few weeks to make a difference. Also managed to eventually get some CBT sessions as well. The initial period of taking Citalopram was hard for me. The first two weeks made me feel worse and there were a couple of times I thought about stopping taking them. But after seeing things on here, I persevered with it, and eventually I think it started to help.
This has been the longest 6 months of my life. I'm not saying I'm totally right because I'll still get some weird sensation or pain that I'll start to think, "what's that, that's not right". Whereas before, I'd sit and worry over and over that it was something serious, now I just tell myself, ok something doesn't feel right but I can carry on. And then, before you know it, I've gone a couple of hours and not noticed it! And low and behold, I'm still here.
Another thing I've done is to do significantly more exercise than I used to. During my bad period, I lost nearly 2 1/2 stone but I didn't really do any exercise. I think it was all due to my nervous tension. I decided to get off my backside and started swimming and cycling. Again it was difficult at first but I managed to do something 3-4 times a week. I can now swim 80 lengths and I've put a bit of weight back on but still look leaner that I was. The stress relief exercise gives me, really has made a difference. I'm still taking Citalopram but will take advise from my GP as to when, or if, I should stop taking it.
This event really took my by surprise, but looking back it probably crept up bit by bit on me, then bang, it hit me. It's a long, hard road to go down, but I'm determined that it won't bite me again. I hope this might help you and I feel for all of you as I know what your going through.
All the best and hope you all have a good Christmas
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