hellooo everybody it's mee feeling bad

hi guys. i'm feeling extremely weak and exhausted lately. walking up the stairs in my house makes my heart pound and makes me feel dizzy. I just took a shower and thought I was going to pass out from standing up. (i was using cool water too!) I am hypothyroid, but I'm on medication for it. I haven't had it checked in a while but every time I do get it checked it's perfect now. My anxiety symptoms seems to have gotten worse since I started taking birth control so I stopped that yesterday. Extreme weakness and exhaustion like I ran a marathon when I just walked a few steps is probably my hardest symptom to ignore. That and the feeling that I'm going to faint afterward. would you believe when i was in school i actually won an endurance test for running the longest without stopping? i used to be one of the most high-energy people i knew lol. that was pre-anxiety though. I'm just using this as kind of a journaling/ranting thing but I want to put it out there.

[Agora1]

Hi someone5673, I do believe that you won an endurance test pre-anxiety.....I can almost tell you without a doubt that what has change is not your endurance level but your fear level. With anxiety we tend to focus on our heart (whether you think you do or not). We don't want to put extra strain on our heart muscle even though it is more than capable of handling any kind of strenuous exercise. With that thought in our minds, whenever we walk a few steps or climb a flight of steps, our heart will pound and we will get dizzy. Why? because subconsciously at least we can sense the heart speeding up a little which scares us, which pours out more adrenaline, which starts the heart pounding, which makes us dizzy. During all of this comes our erratic breathing. Even we start shallow breathing or even holding our breath til we reach the top of the steps.

As for the shower, it's not about standing in the shower as much as it is about feeling trapped, out of control in a compromising position. The anxiety starts from the minute we enter the shower and the heat of the water plus the fear produce that faint feeling afterward. Again improper breathing the culprit.

Practicing deep full slow breathes throughout the day will prepare you for anything that you have to do. From walking, driving, talking, shopping, exercising etc etc. Deep breathing isn't given enough credit to a calmer mind and body. x

[Speechpat in reply to Agora1]

I experience this as well. Agora’s advice is spot on. Keep your mind open to the great things that you will do today and try not to play the “what if” game.