Can someone help with these horrible symptoms? - Anxiety Message Board

HypoPete · 03-15-2004, 09:29 AM

Hi all.
I have had tests, which have ruled out anything serious and have been diagnosed as suffering from stress and anxiety. I get some dreadful symptoms. My chest feels heavy and I have to breathe deeply, dizziness and or light-headedness, Tight/aching neck, tiredness. I don’t feel as if my limbs belong to me and sometimes I think I’m going to fall over or faint. I find it difficult to focus and can get very hot and red faced. Sometimes all of these symptoms appear at once. My doctor has suggested drugs, which I wish to avoid.
What I would dearly like to know is what is the physical cause of all this? If when they happen is there anything I can do about them and what can I do to prevent them? I do have to live a very busy life style – I’m a single father and I’m trying to maintain my career and hobbies. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for listening.

Rick7799 · 03-15-2004, 12:08 PM

I have a problem with stress and anxiety and I have had a lot of your symptoms in the past. I actually get chest pains which is stress related. I can yell you two things, if you worry about the symptoms they will get worse. Once my doctor convinced me the problems I was having was stress related and nothing physical, I stopped worrying about it they got much better. I was having all kinds of things go wrong and I would worry about each individual thing. Find a doctor you can trust and believe him when he tells you there is nothing wrong. It is the stress that is causing the physical problems.

Second, exercise helps greatly, especially aerobic exercise. It gives you a sense of well being. In order for it to work you have to be committed and do it just about every day.

You are right about avoiding drugs. They can cause more problems than there worth.

So to answer your question, first do not get yourself so worked up when these symptoms appear. Don't forget your doctor said it was nothing serious, second get some exercise.

hry33 · 03-15-2004, 02:29 PM

to hypo, you need to learn to relax and to worry less, meds often help, exercise and jacuzzi spa baths are very relaxing

mandi-deg · 03-15-2004, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypoPete

Hi all.
I have had tests, which have ruled out anything serious and have been diagnosed as suffering from stress and anxiety. I get some dreadful symptoms. My chest feels heavy and I have to breathe deeply, dizziness and or light-headedness, Tight/aching neck, tiredness. I don’t feel as if my limbs belong to me and sometimes I think I’m going to fall over or faint. I find it difficult to focus and can get very hot and red faced. Sometimes all of these symptoms appear at once. My doctor has suggested drugs, which I wish to avoid.
What I would dearly like to know is what is the physical cause of all this? If when they happen is there anything I can do about them and what can I do to prevent them? I do have to live a very busy life style – I’m a single father and I’m trying to maintain my career and hobbies. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for listening.

Hey! I am sorry to hear you were diagnosed with anxiety and stress. It can be a very horrible thing. I deal with it everyday. I too refuse to take meds. I took Paxil once and I hated it. I went through a really weird state. I told my doc about it and he said it was the seretonin affect. I still refuse to take it or anything else for that matter. I lately have been going through an extremely hard time with my anxiety. I literally quit eating and made it much worse. I did start eating today and felt twenty times better. I am looking into Therapy instead of meds. So maybe you should give that a try. Try not to worry about it because like everyone else said it makes it worse. I went to the doc for feeling faint. she ran tests and they all came back normal. Its funny what your mind can do to you. Well I really hope you can get a hold of it and defenitely look into therapy. Oh and one thing my doc suggested for better mental helth was Omega 3 fish oils. It seems to help me when I take it. Good luck. keep in touch!!

billy7772 · 03-16-2004, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypoPete

Hi all.
I have had tests, which have ruled out anything serious and have been diagnosed as suffering from stress and anxiety. I get some dreadful symptoms. My chest feels heavy and I have to breathe deeply, dizziness and or light-headedness, Tight/aching neck, tiredness. I don’t feel as if my limbs belong to me and sometimes I think I’m going to fall over or faint. I find it difficult to focus and can get very hot and red faced. Sometimes all of these symptoms appear at once. My doctor has suggested drugs, which I wish to avoid.
What I would dearly like to know is what is the physical cause of all this? If when they happen is there anything I can do about them and what can I do to prevent them? I do have to live a very busy life style – I’m a single father and I’m trying to maintain my career and hobbies. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for listening.

Hi Hypo and welcome to the boards

I was convinced I had just about every serious ailment under the sun for many years. I eventually learned it has little to do with the symptoms and everything to do with the way I was thinking about the symptoms. CBT has since changed my life. It's all about using the tools to learn to think more clearly and accurately about things and once you do your stress and anxiety will begin to lift before your eyes. My favorite starter book on CBT is "Been There, Done That? Do This! by Sam *****. Many Universities offer CBT programs for little or no charge.

Billy