Please someone help.

[Minnie87]

Okay so I wrote a pretty desperate post a few days ago.but honestly I cannot understand how I'm feeling.

Every minute of the day(I promise I'm not exaggerating) I feel-

Lightheaded

Strange surging feeling through me

Heart racing/skipping beats

Churning/butterflies high in tummy

Just generally feeling awful can't explain the feeling.

In bed sleeping I feel these things too.

I just really cannot live like this anymore.the doctors all say the same thing and even when I went to hospital and had tests they still say anxiety.i just don't know what to do.i used to feel hopeful and now I feel like I don't live I just exist.i don't leave the house at all.i guess I just don't want to feel alone.please help.

[_jenc_]

Hi Minnie87,

So sorry you're going through this hun. I understand as I suffer bad with anxiety myself. Its absolute torture. Have you spoke to your gp about it and if so, what are they doing to help you?

Sending a big hug! We're all here for you. Xx

[Minnie87 in reply to _jenc_]

Thank you so much for your reply.i really appreciate that.they just say to take my medication and have CBT.

How do you cope with your anxiety? X

[Hidden]

Have you had your thyroid levels checked?

[Minnie87 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for replying,yes I did a couple of months ago and apparently completely normal x

[Emest86]

Hi Minnie, anxiety is an ass. A few years ago I didn't leave the house either and I'll be honest if I didn't have to now to get my son to school I probably wouldn't. What I did was listen to Dr Claire weekes book self help for your nerves. It's in just about every format you could need including audible if you have eyesight issues like myself. Listening to this book for the first time I cried my eyes out because she described me on every page and it helped, then I listened to her next audible book and she told me how to get out the house she went with me because she says to put your earphones in and we will go. Dr Claire weekes has passed away and her books are ancient in terms of science so some things don't apply but she got me through a nervous breakdown and I still listen now on the bad days. Don't give up because there is a light it's just finding out how to cope when you're in that storm. I head for the eye of the storm a lot because its always calm in the centre of a storm even when everything is going crazy around us. Big hugs xx

[Minnie87 in reply to Emest86]

Thank you so much for your lovely reply.it really helps.i guess I'm just fed up of living like this and want to be like everyone else.i feel so hyper aware of my body and think about my heart all day.its exhausting.

I do have claire weekes book and it is amazing.if only I could just believe all these horrific symptoms were anxiety I think I would be able to handle it so much better.

I swear the acceptance is so so hard x

[Emest86 in reply to Minnie87]

Acceptance is hard, I've still not managed it fully. I think the hard part is that, it is so very real. One of my cbt nurses said to imagine what I would say to a close friend if she/he were going through this, sort of a "take yourself out for a cuppa and chat" thing. It didn't really work for me but we are all different so maybe it's worth sitting down with yourself and giving it a go? When you're in the moment it is very very hard to be rational because your body is literally screaming at you that everything is wrong. My main ones are, heart attack, another bleed on the brain and fainting. My Dr has told me the percentage chances of me having a heart attack, the percentage chances of another bleed and is very blaze about fainting but its still hard. I try and tell myself these statistics whilst I'm worrying and I try to keep busy, being bored just allows our brains to over think everything and then we become over tuned to our bodies. Then every ache/twinge/change becomes something new to worry about. It's not easy and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but I do believe that we can live rather than just plod on ☺ xx

[Hidden in reply to Minnie87]

Minnie, I have severe anxiety and actually DID have congestive heart failure(they’re attributing it to a traumatic child birth with my last child)...My heart has recently healed up leaps and bounds which considering my circumstances seems to be a miracle, but I will tell you this...the heart failure didn’t feel nearly as bad as the anxiety I live with day to day... I did learn though that anxiety itself can harm your heart so yes it’s important to do things that help release stress and keep you calm

[FP77]

I know exactly how you are feeling when I go through these spells. On top of medication, counselling and cbt I find exercise helps, which of course is the opposite I want to do when feeling pants. Somehow I make myself do it each day and gradually anxious feeling subsubside...

[Minnie87 in reply to FP77]

Thank you for your reply.

I really think I will try some exercise.i used to alot before all this.

It's just giving yourself that push isn't if.its hard x

[FP77]

Hi Minnie, hard can be a bit of an understatement for those that don't understand when ur suffering! Get support and hopefully you have friends and family that can nag/encourange to get moving, it reduces the adrenaline that the anxiety creates and gives you those feel good endorpines...

[FP77]

What meds are you on if u don't mind me asking? I've tried a few different one before, although I think it's different for everyone...

[Minnie87]

I'm on propranolol and have just been given sertraline.

Thank you so much for your replies I really appreciate it.

The hardest thing is to try to get on with normal life when you feel so so ill.

[Agora1]

Hi Minnie87, I was where you are at one time. It was the most incredibly emotionally troubled time for me. No one understood and so you find yourself feeling more and more alone. Wondering why the numerous doctors I saw couldn't find something they could fix and stop telling me "it's anxiety"

I experienced everyone of those feelings you described both during the day and night. How could it be a mental disorder when it was so physical? It wasn't until I became Agoraphobic for 5 years did I realize I personally had to do something since no one else did. Everyone is different but for me it was coming off my 30 years of benzos (low dose) but never the less medicated. I leaned more and more towards therapy as well as finding methods that would work in reducing my anxiety and stress levels. Accepting how I reacted to stress, knowing that life can't be perfect but I have that choice to choose what's best for me.

Quiet time for me every day with meditation and deep breathing brought me reduced adrenaline levels as well as a peace of mind and body. Once I truly accepted that this was anxiety and that the doctors were right all these years, I got angry with Anxiety with the time in robbed me of living. Step by step, I got out of house and started feeling like me again. Minnie it will happen for you as well. Medication and therapy are only aids for a short time. It's your mind thought that will carry you the rest of your life. Life can be good. xx

[Minnie87]

Agora I think you actually are my guardian angel and my online mum.

Thank you for all your support and help.i appreciate it more than you will ever know.and I always screenshot your replies xxx

[Serenity2014 in reply to Minnie87]

Yes agora1 is very good replying back she ansewerd back to me few times. Nice to know not alone x

[FP77]

I think propanalol is a beta blocker designed to slow everything down, heart rate etc. Not heard of sertraline...perhaps it's only offered in certain countries? I will investigate, have been on fluoxetine, then venlafaxine which was a nightmare, withdrawal symptoms every day. Then duloxetine which was better for 3 years before going back to fluoxetine more recently due to a liver issue. I hope things work out for you, if you ever want to chat/share about things that help let me know...the hardest thing I had to accept is avoidance doesn't help me long term, but I try bit by bit, small steps. You will get there.

[Blondiful]

Hi Minnie, I feel for you, I too suffer from bad anxiety like right now my heads full my eyes feel weird, I have floaters, dull headache, sore throat and chest from a flu but of course I’ve told myself it’s cancer or a brain tumour, I have my kids to bring to school and I work part time, when I get these symptoms I have a motto get up,dress up and go out, so even feeling horrible I shower do hair and make up and drop my kids off even with my hands shaking and my head dizzy and I make myself go to the grocery store thinking I’m gonna faint any minute and guess what I never do, and when I’ve accomplished these I feel great, my symptoms are there, I’ve read Claire weekes and gone to cbt but it’s so hard when ur feeling like ur about to drop dead, it’s a case of making urself move and not letting them affect you, I promise one day u will look back and see how far u have come, but know u are not alone these feelings will pass we are all here to help and talk it out and we aren’t professionals but we can relate, I’m here anytime is u need a chat xx

[Hidden]

Could it be loneliness? Try just being around others more... and not with people you feel judged or compared by...

[Minnie87]

Thank you all so much for your comments.they mean a lot to me and I will read them all again when I need that reassurance x