I have been debating to myself if I have GAD or something similar like Adrenal Fatigue and now feel very highly I have both.
Well last night around 11pm I was lying on the couch watching a movie....all of a sudden I heard some banging and knocking in my kitchen, next minute I rush out and see my cat 'Charlie' convulsing, shaking, legs and arms going everywhere.....I grab him and place him on the carpet he's crying out, I was just about in tears, shouting to him, Charlie, Charlie.......I opened his mouth as I thought he may have been choking and this went on for 40 seconds but felt like 40 minutes, I felt the worse straight away, he's going die in my arms. I rang my wife as she was out and she came rushing home to take him to the after hour vets. Charlie calmed down within a minute and then began purring....My wife took him to the vets....I began shaking, breathing was fast and was so wired I couldn't relax at all, even to the point I had a couple of beers trying to relax myself but this wasn't working, hell I was scared and was close to panic.
It took me over 2 hours to calm down and even then I couldn't sleep at all, this was 2am and this morning I was so so tired, only 4 hours sleep and couldn't get my mind off what I had witnessed that night and felt like being sick in this morning......
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dunc-b73
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Hi, I'm sorry that happened to your cat, I'm glad he is feeling much better! It's not hard to know if you have GAD or not, I have it....I worry constantly about the smallest stuff. For years I was wondering why I worried so much, I mean it was constantly worrying and feeling my feet tingle. I made an a appointment with the psychologist and straight away she diagnosed me with GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER!!! Trust me you will know...GAD is horrible to have lol...I'm learning how to deal with it!!
Hey, thanks for that, he's better but if he has another seizure he'll have to have a scan $1000.......cost us $800 last night but I don't care about the cost.
Do you get unsteady like off balance, this is my worst symptom and lately feeling nausea in the morning, I get tingling in the legs now and then at night, stomach growls, diarrhoea etc
Hello. You really had a tough time with Charlie.
Did the vet say what was going on with him?
Is Charlie going to be ok, or is there something chronic that you are going to need to to do for him?
I don't know squat about GAD. I know a lot about panic and anxiety....I manage to keep them under control, but sometimes it takes awhile....so don't be so hard on yourself.
You sound a little the way I was a week ago. During our walk home, my service dog just suddenly couldn't walk anymore or get his breath. He tried his best, was moving his legs but wasn't getting anywhere and just wasn't getting his breath.
I didn't know what else to do except to pick him up and try to carry him home. Cars went passed me and saw me carrying him, but no one bothered to stop to help. I was afraid he was going to die while I was carrying him home.
Is it possible your strong reaction about Charlie is that you're close to him and your anxiety may have lasted longer than you wanted, but maybe it was normal when you saw him like that and didn't know what to do?
I was in panic mode when I finally got home with my dog....could hardly dial the vet's number and talk. Had to finally turn the phone over to my husband because I simply lost it....couldn't deal with the vet's office suggesting a vet coming to our home the next day as their office was so booked.
Anxiety, worry, trying to figure out what happened, what was I suppose to do...my husband had to drive us to the vet's.
I didn't sleep that night, or the next, and the mornings are still the worst.
Check with your doctor if you think that will ease your mind about your medical condition. But let me know about Charlie too and whether you think your attachment to your buddy set off your anxiety and sleepless nights because you saw him in real trouble like I did my dog, ok?
My best hopes that both you and Charlie are better by the time you receive this. And Please let me know about Charlie and how he is doing.
I think I would have been the one not able to walk or breathe rather than my service dog.
Yes we think Charlie be ok maybe he had a Grand Mal seizure, I was shaking and tried several times to call the wife on my cell phone, before this I was relaxing having a drink watching TV felt great as I have been feeling ok with only really mild symptoms now and then. Any type of stress gets me going and irritated, takes me a long time to calm down
If Charlie has epilepsy, it's not as hard to care for than you would think. My friend has a cat that is diabetic and she gives her cat a shot twice a day, but the needles are tiny and the cat is cool about it and the fact his cat food had to be changed. Epilepsy doesn't require injections but may require some very clever ways to convince Charlie to take his meds
Scooter is a service dog to help the anxiety part of my PTSD. He also woke me when I had a terror dream. He's been doing that for 12 years. He is with me 24/7...walking, in the car, at meetings, at classes, volunteer work, snoring while lying across my lap at movies, attending Mass, on airplanes, trains, ships, buses.
Scooter was diagnosed with congestive heart failure last November, He had several meds to take twice a day, and no regular dog food due to the high sodium content in most commercial food. He did well, was just tooling along for months, walking two miles every morning with me to the grocery store, the drug store, the clothing shops, the bank, my hair salon. Or where ever we decided to go that morning. Good exercise for him and me...and everyone in the stores knew him and he just kept a low profile. Traveling on the ships, planes, cars, airplanes and always up for play like always until last Wednesday.
Please tell me if Charlie is doing ok ...it is important to me personally.
Scooter was lying across my lap being stroked nonstop and was in calm spirits when the vet helped us with Scooter's end of life care. I held Scooter for a very long while after he first went to sleep and then the vet checked his heart .
So, you see, Charlie has to be ok......and you too.
We're ok, but are grieving and feeling very sad. But my anxiety and sleepless nights haven't stopped yet. You saw Charlie when he was going through the seizure and that set off your anxiety.
That is what happened to me whiIe I was carrying Scooter home but knew I was going to make the worst decision of my life.
Yes our cat a few years ago had diabetes and I had to jab him in the neck twice daily in the back of the neck. He passed away 4 years ago a lovely large long hair ginger male cat. I remember crying for along time I don't cry but I believe I have become way more emotional with GAD. I see a sad story on tv and I have a few tears in my eyes. We will have to wait and see if he has another seizure. If he does will need head scan then meds. Worse of all we are on holiday to Australia on Saturday for 2 weeks
If only humans could recover as quickly as cats and other animals do; - as you said once the traumatic event was over Charlie immediately calmed down and was purring again, within a minute. If only we could switch off just like that instead of suffering for days from events.
I thought about your reply a long time before I decided to answer. You're correct in the fact it would be more pleasant for us if we could "switch off" from our bad days or times like a cat could have his seizure. But, maybe in an odd way, we are different from people who can do that or have never had an episode like we do. Don't you think because we know how badly feel sometimes, that we are better equipped understand what others are going through, even our home animals...
Hi PTSD, yes very much indeed. A day after I calmed down, watching Charile sleeping and he lay on me all night, never moved and was still on me when I woke up this morning. This even was both good and bad for myself, bad in the way it happened and I was a mess but good as after a day my empathy turned to looking after and caring for Charlie and this helped because it took my mind off my problems. stress, anxiety etc and today I just about felt 'normal' whatever that is. My best friend years ago had seizures all the time so I didn't notice at the time that Charlie was having one, I just panicked.
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instead of suffering for days from events.
Driving with anxiety 
My problem
So scared
Night time 
