Ive been reading these types of pages for over a year now trying to find answers as to why i feel the way i do. For the past year i have been dealing with symptoms such as
dizziness, heart palpitations, ectopic heart beats, nausea, stomach issues, visual problems like feeling as through everything is glowly or very bright, and i notice every little thing in my vision, i cant stand up for longer than 5 minutes without feeling like im going to pass out, i get very hot, feel heavy in the stomach and ringing in the ears, it is all worse when im standing majority of the time is it only when i am standing, once im sitting i feel completely normal only depressed at the fact if i know i stand up i am going to just feel horrible, i have constant hot flushes, chest pain, short of breath, cant exercise at all because i get severe anxiety and cant breath at all. I have experienced plenty of other symptoms along with these. I have been to multiple doctors and had blood tests, ecg, 24 holter moniter, stress test all done and everything came back normal except i am low in vitamin b12 and i have too much anxiety to get the injections. Ive done 10 sessions of cbt and i have only gotten worse, ive done hypnosis, ive seen a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with panic disorder and prescribed me zoloft and i refuse to take it, ive seen a naturopath and was given a herbal tonic and took one shot of it and my anxiety symptoms all enhanced and had major stomach upset and i refused to take it again. I have not worked in 6 months, i hardly leave my house and when i do i get very dizzy and feel faint constantly and rush back home. I can no longer live my life like this but have tryed everything i can and am only getting worse, if anyone has expierenced any of this at all an over come it please let me know.
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I’ve been dealing with the same thing. You are not alone. I’m still finding my way through it so there’s not much I can offer other than ask for help. Talk to friends, get it off your chest. Then you can work on accepting the anxiety and not fighting it. Once it loses its power it will become more manageable. I do hope your able to find some kind of peace with this.
Stephen, you have just listed all the classic symptoms of anxiety and the medical tests you've had confirm it. Most people here have experienced some of the symptoms, I know I have. You have tried many remedies but none seem to work for you.
But you can recover. The first thing I'd say is that as your health anxiety is serious enough to keep you off work and housebound you should consider a period of relief that meds can bring. There are alternatives to the one you've tried and don't like.
If you had diabetes you'd take insulin. If you had glaucoma you'd take timolol to stop yourself going blind. And if you had pneumonia you'd take antibiotics. So what's the big hang up about taking anti-anxiety meds when you're experiencing anxiety? At least until you've worked out a strategy for recovery which I believe you can find on this forum.
As I always say: anxiety about taking anti- anxiety medications is just another symptom of anxiety.
Stephen, to continue, if you don't want B12 injections at least take a B vitamin complex tablet every day that's got the maximum dose of B12.
Christory77 is right when he says to work on accepting the anxiety without fighting it. He's referring to the acceptance method for recovering from anxiety disorder first set out 50 years ago by Doctor Claire Weekes in her first book 'Self help for your nerves' which is the basis for many present-day authors of self help recovery literature.
Where you're going wrong is focussing on curing the symptoms when you should focus on curing the cause - anxiety caused by over sensitisation of your nervous system due to stress, over work and worry.
Sensitised nerves start playing tricks on us by causing all these fake, phoney symptoms that make us believe we've got all kinds of serious illnesses. Our natural instinct is to fight these symptoms. But fighting only feeds our nerves with more stress, tension and fear hormones. And that keeps them sensitised so recovery doesn't take place.
To recover we have to learn to control our fear and the fear of fear. We have to accept the symptoms for the time being and do it calmly and without responding to the flash of first fear with second fear. Do this long enough and our nerves lose their sensitivity and return to normal - and all your symptoms will resolve.
Acceptance takes time but when we learn to accept the bad feelings for the moment we are no longer fighting or fearing them. Doctor Claire Weekes is long gone but her book I have quoted is still a best seller in its field and is available for a few quid new or used on Amazon. People say they immediately recognise themselves in its pages, they feel Weekes knew them personally. It brings understanding, reassurance - and a road plan for recovery.
Ordered the book as well. And just restarted cymbalta. Thought I could do without but two months in and anxiety is back. This time with new fears. Furthermore I support myself with yoga and meditation when possible. Although not always easy when you are super anxious
I think you are doing the right thing, Dtchgrl, go back on a medication that you've found works for you and use the respite to explore self-help methods that can change your response to fear and anxiety and eventually lead to recovery without the need to take meds for ever. I wish you every success, please let us know of your progress.
Thx Jeff! So far getting back on hasn’t been easy, but it’s been just a week. Increased anxiety especially in the mornings, and every other day it seems. It’s hard to be a patient patient
Dtchgrl, Many people find this about anti-anxiety meds that their anxiety gets worse to begin with. I can't understand that. Maybe it's the 3 to 4 week wait until the med kicks in and they were going to feel more anxiety anyway. Don't know the answer. Twenty years ago when I went on to amitriptyline you just noticed an improvement after a couple of weeks and the full benefit after 3 or 4 weeks.
The much demonised Diazepam, on the other hand, gives instant relief of anxiety. The medics say you can't take it continuously for more than 8 weeks max. Well 40 years ago I took it daily for 18 months without side effects and it was just as effective. But when I decided to come off it I realised you have to taper off it slowly over quite a few weeks. But then that's true of most meds that are taken long term.
Jeff is so correct ! There were 2 pages of Dr Weekes' book I kept open in my desk drawer at work and when an "attack" was coming on or present, I quickly read those pages over & over 'til I calmed down inside and could function again. Steph's life has been turned upside down and been a massive shock to the system. Dr Weekes' words "Face the fear and do it anyway" have stuck in my mind for some 30 years as have Gloria Gaynor's record "I will survive" - (a hit during my troubled times; divorce, new job, new home etc.) So... play that record loud, put on a brave face, get out & about, ask for help where you can, try not to dwell too much. Good luck Steph.
thank you so much for you reply jeff, this has helped so much and you have explained in depth which is great, better than majority of doctors I've seen ! I will take on board your advice about trying the meds and acceptance and overcoming the fear and hope for some improvement, thank you again!
Hi you have severe anxiety and you do need to take medication to calm all your symptoms down.ask your doctor if you can try diazepam 2 mg they are excellent for anxiety a few days on this medication will bring you such relief of your symptoms ,trust me I have been where you are now !!!! I have had anxiety most of my life I'm 62 now.diazepam works by calming the mind and helps calm palpitations ,dizziness etc etc.please put your faith in trying this medication and once you see your symptoms improve you will see that all your symptoms was caused by the anxiety.you can then think more clearly and lose your fear of all the strange feelings you have been having.but you must take the first steps to take diazepam ( at least try them ) .once you are feeling back to your old self start to reduce them gradually with the help of your doctor.I live a great life now and I'm anxiety free most of the time,but when I get the odd bad day I can cope with it.don't let this anxiety hold you back GO TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR.
great advice, thanks ! i have been prescribed diazepam but just havent got myself to take it, ive heard good and bad stories about it but it seems to help alot so i may give it a try! thank you and so glad to know you overcame these awful feelings, gives me hope !
Hi, Your resistance to taking anything that could help you is a double edged sword.
You seem to have a good team of doctors who suggest the same approach and your refusal to take their advice, kinda looks like, you are more educated than they are, doesn't it?
We have ALL been down this road stephanxiety.
My doc said I could take the valium or xanax an hour before I was to take my SSRI, so I would be calm and able to get that tiny little helper down my throat.
Jeff1943 always nails it with his explanations and it was his post's that got me on my way
to take responsibility for how I was feeling. Good luck, keep us posted.
Hi, I am experiencing anxiety and I often get dizzy most days. The only issue that is challenging for me is driving because I feel dizzy a lot. I take Xanax and it’s hard to tell if it’s helping because I’ll take one or two and symptoms don’t seem to go away. Have you ever tried Xanax?
Hi ticc1212 never tried Xanax only ever taken diazepam as that works for me and its a great anti anxiety medication,its often given to people as a pre- medication to relax people before operations and also many people take them before going to the dentist to calm down.so they are well known for calming you down.perhaps you could ask your doctor if you could try them ,and see if they work better for you ? Ask your doctor ,never give up hope as anxiety can be controlled.
I feel the same way I pray a lot and I'm bout to try acupuncture to see if that helps but hun your not alone I don't go out either feel free and talk to me anytime
Accupuncture has been used in China for 2000 years and is recognised by the National Health Service in the U.K. so it must have good things going for it. My wife was given it for non cardiac chest pain and I used to stick the needles into her every day. In time please let us know here what your opinion of it is, Lovely2.
Yes. I have experienced everything you mentioned and more. Currently going back through this again. And everytime it seems as if this anxiety pulls a new trick out the hat. And it feels like something ive never been through. Some of the symptoms I remember and i try to tell myself that I've been through this before but some times i get all new things that I don't recall and I get back into the fear of everything. Just like you I am trying to not take any meds. I refuse to. I tried it once last year for 45 days and quit because it didn't seem to help. And I never took any meds again. I stopped working once before as well and I got through it and was able to work again. But even now sometimes I want to quit so bad again because im suffering mentally with all these symptoms that i cant seem to stop focusing on every little thing i feel in my body.
As I've explained to Stephen above, stop stressing and obsessing about the symptoms, they are phoney symptoms no matter how bad they make you feel. Instead concentrate on resolving the single cause of all these fake symptoms - anxiety.
i hope you can overcome this, it is the worst feeling and stops you from living your best life ! i will let you know of any things i see help improve my anxiety and hope that they can work for you also, but i completely understand when you say new symptoms just randomly pop up cause i feel like that everyday theres something new and it makes me think there is something else wrong but i know it just anxiety !
I agree with what others have said. Take the Zoloft and try diazepam. They will make a difference. At this point you are choosing to suffer, rather than take the medications that will bring relief and allow you to work on the anxiety and any deeper seated issues. The medications you have been recommended do not have side effects.
thanks for your reply ! I like how you mentioned that i am choosing to suffer rather than trying the medication, that really put things into perspective for me and made me realise i actually am letting myself suffer I wil give the meds a go !
WOW Step,sorry that your going through such a hard time. You haven't tried everything? You said you refused to try the Zoloft your doctor prescriped? How do you know it won't WORK? Maybe see if a doctors will commit you for a couple of days? I've gotten it pretty bad, not like that. Have you tried you tube? There are doctors that can help with advice. You never know what will work? Best to you
Hi Step, glad to hear that. I can relate to your suffering. I get scared when I'm in the dark place I can't eat. I went two days on 1 piece of string cheese
ive lost 40 pounds, I had a doctors appointment today to get blood results. I got good news n not so good news. I reversed my diabetes it's back to normal. But my cholesterol went up. The other thing is that because if my lack of food, I had low blood pressure which can be worse than high blood pressure? I don't understand that? The stess I've been dealing is dangerous to my health. And my acid reflux is gone. Let know how your feeling after you've begun taking your Meds. Oh and please be patient, it can take a couple of weeks to start working. Take care
That is anxiety of the worst kind and you are not alone. Thousands know how you feel. In your case go to a phychiatrist and get some lorazepam, you need it. I'm not a druggie, or a pusher, but a 66 year old lady, who likes to get from point A to point B by taking a straight line. These kind of doctors are about the only one's who can prescribe you the stuff that works. All of these new and latest antidepressants are from our crooked FDA, which are not as safe and worse than being a little dependant and are only good enough to go in the garbage not your mouth.
I just want to say I agree with all the replies here and I understand too, had all these symptoms over the years and still have them sometimes they easier to deal with,other days I let my anxiety trick me again into thinking I have many serious illnesses,i try now to get through minute by minute,living in the moment,relaxation,helps,listening to music,meditation,i know it is not easy ,,what Jeff1943 said in his reply to you is so spot on,acceptance is the key,it releases the hold the anxiety has on you ,so releases the strength of the horrible symptoms you feel,i would definitely get the B12,my daughter has the injections every 3 months and she says it has helped so much,as this does cause many symptoms ,like the breathlessness you feel,and the palpitations,i wish you well ,what you read will help ,but it is what you do for yourself that will help you feel better,as I have read many books and lots of info online,but it has to be acted on and put into practice .
Anxiety is a F***er! This is true. And what is also true is that getting over it is one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face. It seems to me that you have tried everything but not given any of it a chance. I could be wrong but what did use from all this and add as a daily practice? You sound as if you had already made the decision that none of this is going to work. You have made your anxiety such a powerful thing.
You now need to make a decision. Take control of this or don't. That doesn't mean it's going to be gone in the next couple of days, or next week or even in a month...this will take a long time for you to master and overcome.
But what is the alternative? Live in a closed state, frozen in time? This is your life, this is it. Don't let this thing control you.
What you know:
1: There is nothing medically wrong with you
2: This thing is still happening to you
3: You are the only one who can do something about it now
What is your decision? Are you going to let this thing get the better of you? Are you going to create a practice where you gradually take away its power?
Because that is what this is about...you are giving all your power and energy to the negative story you keep playing out and this story takes that energy and gets bigger and bigger.
Somewhere in your thinking lies the triggers that begin a story that leads you into panic and anxiety. Your mind and body now look at this state as being the right way to act, it has now become irrational and you must change it.
How?
Firstly, take the power back. Open a dialogue with yourself and make a promise that you are not going to put up with this any longer and that you are now giving yourself permission to fight this thing, never mind how long it takes or difficult it is, you will succeed.
Secondly, begin a process of self-awareness. Think about what happens when you get in to these states at every stage. How does the story begin? How happens next? How does it end?
There are many things you can try to begin the practice but these are the first steps.
It’s about making your life bigger than anxiety, doing normal day to day stuff, regardless of how you are feeling and taking anxiety along for the ride.
Trying all those things to stop yourself feeling anxious haven’t worked. Anxiety is a paradox. The more you do to try and get rid of it, the worse it gets. The less you do to get rid of it, the quicker it will disappear.
To get rid of anxiety, you don’t actually need to do anything except change your attitude towards the symptoms and allow yourself to think and feel anything and just carrying on. Doing nothing about the symptoms works.
You won’t get better until you stop trying to get better. That’s the truth.
im really just worried about how it will make me feel, i feel like if it added anymore physical symptoms on top of the ones i already have or if it enhanced the symptoms i have i wouldnt be able to cope and would be taking myself to the hospital, i know i wont know what i will feel like until i do take it, but its just the anxiety taking over making me worried about how i may feel.
ive been prescribed diazepam but i never took that either, my psychitrist has told me to take it with my zoloft meds to calm my anxiety over taking the zoloft meds.
I would at least try the meds. I used to take Diazepam and it helped. Maybe try the meds when someone can be with you so you will feel less anxious. You've been given remedies, maybe try them.
In all likelihood, you have probably experienced the worst anxiety can do and have been able to cope. The anxiety volume control doesn’t go up to 11 😂
It’s a slippery customer and will happily flit from one thing to another, whether it be intrusive thoughts or physical feelings, made easier in your current sensitised state. This is why a change of attitude from fighting the symptoms of anxiety to acceptance, and not doing anything about them is key to recovery. Just label it all as anxiety and turn all those “what if’s?” in to “so what?!!”
haha good point !! i have heard alot about just accepting the feelings instead of fighting them and it seems to have worked for alot of people, so i think thats one of the main things i should start to focus on now, as i do notice myself fighting my symptoms majority of the time and going into a state of panic over it which strengthens my anxiety
I have alot of these symptoms I find the ectopic heart beats the most scary do you get alot of them in a day? Since I've had anxiety they just won't go away
yes i get alot in a day, sometimes maybe only 5-10, other days i can have them non-stop every second beat is an ectopic beat for days which is very scary but ive had tests done while this was happening and was told its just caused by stress and nothing is wrong, but can never get myself to believe that.
Diazepam gives immediate relief from anxiety symptoms that lasts several hours. It is brilliant. I have taken it on and off for 40 years and never noticed any side effects. If you're going to use Acceptance to recover you need to read the book: Doctor Claire Weekes 'Self help for your nerves' UK edition and the same book different title 'Hope and help for your nerves' U.S. edition.
You're right, flaxxy703, I believe in Doctor Claire Weekes' acceptance method. And I often explain here how it works so maybe others can find it of use which is after all the purpose of this forum.
So would you like to share with us Doctor Abraham's "low system" that you prefer better. There are many roads to recovery and some others here may find Abraham's system useful. Which is the purpose of this forum.
his books MENTAL HELP THROUGH WILL-TRAINING, MANAGE YOUR FEARS MANAGE YOUR ANGER. Listen to phone meetings tomorrow 3:30pmEST and another 10pm EST just listen.
Sorry flaxxy703, just giving us a shopping list of books to read isn't good enough. You have to outline why this man's contribution to finding a solution for anxiety disorder is worthy of further study. Otherwise all we would do on this forum is swop book lists.
I don't just list all thr books that Claire Weekes wrote and tell people to go read them. Within the limitations of a posting I outline what her method is and what in my opinion is so special about it. Then it's up to the reader to decide whether they want to invest in a book.
So once again I invite you to outline the teachings of Doctor Abraham so that we may be enlightened. Thank you.
Flaxxy703, I don't want to go to a free meeting, that is not the purpose of this forum which is to exchange ideas for recovering from anxiety disorder.
You have told us that you prefer Doctor Abraham's method to that of Doctor Claire Weekes. That's fine. Now I ask you to tell us why and to do so on this forum. Thank you.
Flaxxy703, hello again, you were going to spell out for us why you find Doctor Abraham's method is preferable to that of Doctor Claire Weekes. It would be helpful if you could explain the gravaman of Abraham's method so we can decide if it could be helpful to us.
Hey...If you go on YouTube and look up The Anxiety Guys videos..his name is Dennis..he does great videos explaining what he went through with Health Anxiety and how he overcame it...gives great tips to use....I am the same and was housebound for almost 6years...only leaving the house to post a letter across the street..awful...Do u have any hobbies? Trust me this is a good one the more u focus on something u really love to do..the mind at some point will stop focusing on the symptoms and break the awful cycle that we find ourselves in...this was the only thing that worked for me years ago and stopped my panic attacks....unfortunately...ive had a lot of stress recently and my attacks started again...I wish u the best...x
Hi thank you for your reply! I love Dennis, I have watched all his videos and his helped a lot but still can’t seem to find any relief
I don’t have any hobbies, I’m the type of person who gets bored very easy so as soon as I start to enjoy something, I loose interest within a few weeks which sucks
I hope you can overcome this and please let me know if you find anything that helps you !
Hi stephanxiety I've been thru most of what you describe, and like you, all bloodwork was normal- i even ended up hospitalized in 2016 bc of the debilitating dizziness, ringing in ears (more like a constant buzz in my head), out of whack panic attacks, lightheadedness/nausea to the point of feeling like i would faint, etc , and a bunch of other crazy symptoms--and in my case it's due to anxiety also. and things that were supposed to help (as in "alternative" supplements like omega 3 or whatever---made it worse) . But i trust and listen to my psychiatrist--Your biggest mistake here is refusing zoloft as that is precisely what helped me get relief from these symptoms. you don't have to stay on it forever, i no longer am on it- but right now you're like a person going to the ER with a bullet wound and you won't let the surgeon operate and take the bullet out. You have NOT "TRIED EVERYTHING" as you say - you are refusing meds !!!! i pray you see the irony of your situation and trust your doctor to help you
There are natural methods that help, stephanxiety that have alleviated my symptoms, but when you are in the "emergency" state you are, in that extreme of things, meds are necessary. When you've calmed down to a manageable level, things like magnesium and vitamin c help- these help to calm stress.And deep breathing, mindfulness etc etc. But i know how scary it is to deal with awful symptoms like that, and when it's at the point where a person can't function, it's ok to trust the psychiatrist and take what he prescribes. Blessings
Hi stephanxiety & all good wishes. Just thinking "outside the box" but you've never had epilepsy have you? My TBI has left me an unstable epileptic & much of the symptoms you describe are akin to the aura & onset I experience immediately before a seizure hits me. One major trigger is stress & my work leaves me suffering up to 16 x PS + 6 x TC szs per month. Have a chat with Dr re an EEG exam?
Hi there, thanks for your opinion, I like when people try to think outside the box and give me other options it could be rather than anxiety. I’ve never suffered from epilepsy, neither has anyone in my family. Am I able to get a seizure without having any history at all ?
Don't know where you are but I'd have thought if you go to Drs & discuss the symptoms you're experiencing he/she should be able to refer you to a Neurologist.
BW; FB 🇮🇪
Hi Stephanie,
Have you any idea when this first started, as presumably you didn`t always suffer these symptoms ? And also, if anything in particular triggers off these awful feelings ? What was happening at that time in your life that initiated these reactions in the first place ?
If it isn`t anything physical, it has to be "in the mind" If that is the case, you say you tried hypnosis , but seems to me that this may really help. A hypnotherapist who specializes in anxiety issues will help. Even as a starting point, to be mindful of the build up and learn to stay calmer and less anxious in general will be useful. I teach many techniques to achieve this, and incorporate NLP and EFT within the sessions.
Under hypnosis , your mind accepts what you imagine is real, so with repetition, you can re-learn your reactions and start to become less anxious- that in itself can be a leap forward, as worrying is negatively imagining the future and you have, inadvertently set your mind up to be anxious and react accordingly. May not be a cure but hypnosis can dissipate much of your tension and stress this causes.
This first started when I was 8, it lasted 6 months until I moved schools, so I guess it was something to do with school but never figured out what it was as I thought I was fine there.
It never returned until I was 17, due to a bad abusive relationship I was in, that also lasted 6 months.
This time it started last year in February when my Aunty passed away and has only gotten worse and see no signs of improvement yet
I`d explore the hypnotherapy route- we come into life with instinctive responses held within the subconscious mind . This part of the mind protects our survival and aims towards pleasure i.e. crying when uncomfortable because we are hungry . Over time, this part of the mind is learning and anything that is repeated strengthens the neural pathways that lead to an automatic response . When you are 8 , it can be difficult to express yourself so you may have stuffed the emotions and the subconscious will do what it can to help. i.e. making you uncomfortable to alert you ...cannot say it`s the case with you, as would have to be seen first hand to draw any definite conclusions. These are just suggestions.
( When I was young, I was looked after by a child minder. I then stopped eating and was introvert . My parents thought it would pass as it was a reaction to being away from mum. Fortunately, the minders neighbor spoke out as the minder was abusive towards me. My parents instantly took me out of the situation- with a kind childminder; back to being a happy child once again) Also, any traumas we go through are unprocessed thoughts held in the Amygdala . These need to be stored as memories only- with no emotional attachments - hypnosis dissolves these emotions . Until such time, these memories can be constantly re-lived just as they would have done the first time you ever experienced them. So even in future yeras, if a similar situation occurs that causes anxiety - lo and behold, those emotions come to the fore to protect and alert you . If you do decide to go to a hypnotherapist , most offer free consultations, so you can find out how we can help. Make sure they are qualified and are a member of a recognized body; I `m G.H.R. registered, since 2007.
..wishing you the best for your future- it is possible to put an end to the anxieties .
Omg you sound like I'm writing this... I have everything you are having and the worst head symptoms... I can't believe anxiety can o this .. I just don't believe it.. it's been 4 yrs for me
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I wil give the meds a go !
I cant be the only one going through this anxiety 
Starting sertraline.....
Anxiety
