Anxiety about health and sleep

[tjr1228]

About 3 weeks ago I started to notice this dull pain in the left side of my chest. I didn’t think too much of it at the time because I work out a lot and thought it was just a sore muscle. But I guess my subconscious brain thought differently because a week into feeling that chest pain I woke up in the middle of the night and had a full blown panic attack. Normally when I have a panic attack I can talk myself out of it but since I had chest pain and my heart was racing, I thought I was going to cause myself to have a heart attack, so I had to resort to taking a benzodiazepine. I hate taking those because I know they are habit forming and I do not want to be dependent on them. I have GAD and have had panic attacks in the past but haven’t had one for over 6 years since this latest episode. I went to my pcp and he gave me a clean bill of health but I still had the pain so I asked if he could do a CT scan of my chest. The test didn’t show anything of concern but I still have the pain. It comes and goes but my brain is still in that fight or flight mode, going on two weeks now. This lead to me not being able to fall asleep, which lead to more anxiety the next day, and it repeated itself in a vicious cycle. There were some days I literally felt like I was going to have a mental break. I lost any desire to eat, losing 10 lbs in 1 week and literally had to force myself to eat at times, which is very uncharacteristic of me because I love eating. My anxiety started seeping into other aspects of my life. My wife doesn’t know how to help and she is worried about me, the sleeping is so bad I have been sleeping in the guest room for 2 weeks now, I don’t spend as much time with my 3yo daughter because I’m anxious all the time. After seeing two psychiatrists, I had to increase my SSRI, and since my anxiety is causing insomnia, I am taking another med for sleep, and I still get very interrupted sleep, even on the med. I wake up at about 2:30am every day, drenched in sweat and anxious. I plan to talk to a therapist who can teach me some CBT techniques and I started to do mediation and a little yoga. Everyday is a struggle but I think things are getting better, whether it be the bump in SSRI finally kicking in or all of the other things that I’ve been doing for self-help. I just wanted to get my story out there and see if it resonates with anyone else and to see if anyone has any advice ok managing their anxiety.

[SCC1]

EDIT: Hi. I am sorry you are feeling this way. I hope the increased dose in your meds continues to work, as well as the self-help techniques you're doing.

Have you tried White Noise? I just saw a commercial yesterday, about Green and Brown Noise, as well. I think it is the Green Noise that also works well for racing thoughts. You can find a lot of sounds on youtube for sleep and stress.

[tjr1228 in reply to SCC1]

Thank you for your reply! I have never heard of green and brown noise! I have an oscillating floor fan to simulate white noise, I wouldn’t be able to sleep without it. I’m hoping things will just gradually get better as time goes on. I will keep doing what I’m doing and hope for the best.

[SCC1 in reply to tjr1228]

Did you know you can also get White Noise, etc, on your cell phone? I have googled, "white noise on youtube", and many headings come up. There are so many sounds to choose from, including the fan noise, and many of that, too!

[tjr1228]

Hi thank you for replying! I too have been prescribed a beta blocker but I intend to only use them if I have physical symptoms. Right now I’m working on retraining my brain to handle stress differently.

[grab0001]

I also have a lot of anxiety surrounding health leading to a lot of "useless visits" to the doctor. Ive had a CT Scan of my head, full cardio workup, countless blood tests, everytime i feel even the slightest bit off so i definatley understand. Since taking medicine the anxiety has gone down a lot. Something that also helps is knowing that im taking care of my body, eating right, focusing on sleep and exercise, taking the right vitamins, not smoking and all of that helps to remind me that I am taking care of myself and the chnce of smething happeing then are slim. Continue to see a doctor for your annual visits and obviously when sick and those should help to keep your mind at ease to have those scedauled health check ups to know you are actually okay.

[Matthew89]

Thank you for sharing, we all deal with our own types of anxiety which trigger other worries. Finding a "remedy" is doable, but it takes thoughtfulness, time and patience. Life is a journey, twists, turns, peaks & valleys. Your story is unique to you, therefore define yourself by leaning into this situation and being hopeful that you ARE improving and that one day you will look back on this and understand how you got through it. All the best and never forget, you're not alone.

-MJD

[tjr1228 in reply to Matthew89]

Thank for your response Matthew. Since I created this post, I have done many things to help cope with the anxiety. Some things I found that have been helpful are meditation (morning and night), journaling after work to wind down from the day, running outside, going to the grocery store just to get out of the house and be around people (I work 100% remotely), talking to a therapist, and talking to a psychiatrist to help figure out the right meds for me. I try to do these things every day and keep a routine. I also try and limit my multitasking, just focus on one task at a time and take things a bit slower. As you said, everyone’s journey is unique. I hope one day I can look back on this and recognize this was a tough time in my life, but I got through it. And that when I do look back on it, it doesn’t cause anxiety again.