Feeling AWFUL symptoms after anxiety attacks? So lost on what to do...

Mental health
1

Hey Guys, 

Back again. 

20 year old Male here.

About 2 months ago I had 2 severe panic attacks,.

After that I started getting pretty much every anxiety symptom. (most of which I've never experienced before) 

Spells of dizzyness that turned into almost constant dizzyness, brain fog, tingles, derealization brain zaps, confusion, ears ringing, twitches, muscle spasms, etc. 

It was to the point I had to start cancelling work and daily activites. 

I went to the ER and was assured this is all anxiety related. 

I scheduled a Doctor appointment and was once again reassured, but still did some blood tests, and a quick neuro test (all came back normal)

Went back to the ER again because issues continued and I was just feeling awful pretty much all day.  

ER finally ran a Brain/Neck CT Scan with and without contrast, More blood tests, urine tests, all came back normal ONCE AGAIN. (I had to say NOTHING about my anxiety, just physical symptoms so they wouldn't blow me off again)

I have periods of days were I feel okay, or different symptoms, then I have periods of days when I get hit with major anxiety and afterwords I just feel AWFUL. 

I feel Brain Fog, Fatigue, derealization, dizzy, tingling, and lately my vision has been weird pretty much all the time. Visual Snow (Google it if you have never heard of it) Eye floaters when looking at my computer screen or the sky, almost wavy vision. 

I've been getting woken up from almost falling asleep by major anxiety attacks. 

If I take a quick nap afterwords I just feel terrible. (All the symptoms above) 

This evening I had a heavy anxiety attack that lasted like 30 minutes. After I just felt the same terrible symptoms so I decided to take 0.25mg of Xanax that my aunt gave me, it has worked wonders in the past (she has heavy anxiety and takes them)

It really had no effect. Could be due to the low dosage? I feel a bit calmer, the anxiety has died down but I just still feel the brain fog, dizzyness, derealization, etc

The doctor didn't want to put me on Xanax or any other benzos because people fish for pills like that, and maybe assumed I was doing the same? So he wanted to try Anti-Deppresents (i've heard TONS of horror stories with these and certainly don't want to try them and risk making matters worse) 

Is there something else that could be wrong?

What can I do to fight these symptoms when they are here even when I'm not anxious or having anxiety/panic attacks?

If anyone has any suggestions that'd be great. I have a big show coming up (I produce music and DJ) and I just can't even think of having these symptoms while playing my set in front of hundreds of people. 

I'm pretty lost and don't know what to do. 

I've been staying hydrated with lots of water, I've looked into taking magnesium supplements, Vitamin B12, but am just afraid of putting something into my body that will make things worse. 

The doctor said that my potasium levels were low so I've been eating lots of potasium rich foods. I'm pretty much trying EVERYTHING I can think of...

Are these long lasting symptoms normal? Is there anything I can do to fight these symptoms? 

I'm just so lost and I don't want to feel like death anymore. I have periods were I feel fine but they're so sporadic I can never tell when a day is going to be good or bad. 

Any help, suggestions, or anything else is much appreciated. 

 

2

can I reassure you my love, the horror stories or negative reviews always stick in your mind. I have been on and off citalopram (an anti depressant) and I have been lucky they have helped me the only time I had a problem is when i used to take my self off them. yes there is side effects for the first couple of weeks an initially they may you feel worse this is because the anti depressants are helping to renew and make new serotonin cells in our brain this our the cells that make us feel good. after a couple of weeks, you will notice a difference. I was years ago put on sertraline but they didnt agree with me and now I have been back on citalopram for almost a year and i have been told that they will look at reducing it in the summer (im only on 20mg) but they work for me and I had also gone through CBT therapy. there is of course, natural therapies from the health shops bachs rescue remedies are excellent when you are particularly anxious. yes its better and helps by eating the right foods cutting out coffee but i cant see what harm taking supplements do to boost your body. have you considered relaxation techniques? it will take a while but is natural  and costs nothing I have a cd with binaural waves which is excellent   but what works for one may not suit another there are other meditation cds on the market also long walks focus whats around you and distract your mind. hope this has been of some help to you

3

I'm going to save the anti depressants as a last resort. 

I'm moving back to my home town at the end of the month which I am very much looking forward to. 

There I'm going to try CBT and try to use a benzo (xanax, ativan, etc) on a short term at low doses as that's the only thing that has helped me that I know wont have any side effects. 

I do know that benzos like xanax are heavily addictive and don't plan on staying on them for longer than a month to avoid dependencies (I have a few friends that use them like this and have never had withdrawel symptoms or dependancy issues. 

Just want to use them until I can get in with a therapist and start CBT. 

If nothing else works I will resort to an anti depressant and continue with CBT. 

Are these long lasting effects of Anxiety normal tho? 

I want to make sure that this is ACTUALLY caused by anxiety and not some other illness before starting medications. 

I was BIG on health anxiety for a while and thinking I have a brain tumor (the CT Scan pretty much put that thought to rest) or some fatal illness but now I'm just more worried something more minor might be wrong with me that the doctors may be overlooking that could be solved. 

Insight on this is appreciated! 

4

Believe it or not anxiety can and does create a lot of problems in the body and the mind is a very powerful tool thus time I had a lump in my throat this went on for three weeks this was what the anxiety caused. One night I had the palms for over two hours I thought my heart would pack up it was anxiety just before Xmas I had a cough which I had lasting nearly two months I was bringing copious amounts of phlegm all day and unable to string a sentence I thought I had lung cancer it was part of the anxiety I have pains in my chest and back it's the anxiety believe me I have had every check going and all negative yes I have the occasional palpitations and the back pains because deep down there will be an anxiety which hasn't raised its head yet. I hope you find some peace because I know what a horrible place it is to be there

5

I appreciate the input! 

If I have any questions in the future about the anti depressants would you mind if I private messaged you? 

6

Hi

Unfortunatley all your symptoms are part and parcel of the mean anxiety symptoms.

And it is hard to accept that these symptoms are due to anxiety which then puts your body in high alert with every sensation , twinge, feeling you get. 

I should imagine every anxiety suffer can relate to this.. especially when you think one symptom has gone another appwars.

Thée are lots of ways to do self help to enable you to cope better until you can get rid completely.

A few tips i did was morning and evening guided meditation . off you tube.

Night sleep one to aid a eaceful drift off to sleep and a positive morning one to start my day. Also progressive muscle relaxation training can help with the physical symptoms of stress and calms your mind too. Rememeber Anxiety can not harm you ... but the symptoms can make you feel rubbish so telling your self when your dizzy and panicking then distracting your self really helps.

You have nothing to lose by doing all the coping tools but a lot of peace to gain if they work for you xx

Good Luck .

A little tip i also use i repeat to myself i am strong , I am calm , I can do this xx

7

Noted. 

Thanks for the reply! 

8

I have severe OCD which was just getting worse with age. I am currently on 200mg of Zoloft and it has worked wonders for me, however I was on Prozac for a few months before starting Zoloft and that was a different story. It made me intensely spaztic and basically ADHD. I then switched from that to Zoloft and I am finally able to get through a day without having panic attacks and having a racing heart and restless nights. I was very adversed to medications but doctors start you off at such a low dose that you can see how it affects you and then you switch if it doesn't work for you. I think you need to weigh your options and based on what I read, medications would really benefit you and help your life move on a whole lot easier.

9

ImAnon, hello again

As I said to you before, I have everything that you list. In fact, your post could have been written by me if I didn't know better! I cannot really offer you much advice other than to keep going. Some symptoms really unsettle me, like the brain zaps and dizzyness... But once you accept them for what they are.. They lose their power and become far more managable.

The derealisation is an odd one. I find it happens a lot to me when I am among other people and most especially when they are talking to me. I think it is an odd form of social anxiety.

I start thinking about feeling derealisation, then I do, then I question if I am really there at that point (though I know I am) and I feel terribly panicky.

The trick is as always to remain calm and to know it will pass.

It sounds so stupidly obvious, but this works for me.

10

I litrerally have all symptoms you've described and They started identically to how yours did I havnt been able to find any answers and I'm about 8 months in I have a neuro appt on feb 27(the soonest they had) then hopefully an MRI after. At about 6-7 months in I noticed my pupil changed sizes and had that looked at by an eye specialist who wasn't concerned hopefully we can get answers soon I'm tired of feel this way, good luck

11

Gotcha and yeah it always does. 

Just wanted to make sure this awful feeling I get is normal, if there's anything to do about them, and make sure there wasn't anything else I should have checked out. 

I'm getting a lot better at dealing with the symptoms just wanted to try to find a way to make them go away (other than CBT and working against my anxiety) 

Thanks for the input once again! 

12

Yeah recently someone heavily suggested trying to get an MRI done (not to look for anything sinister as that would of most likley shown in my CT scan) but to look at the way my brain is processing everything and to make sure there isn't a heavy imbalance anywhere that could be casuing these things.

Long term anxiety completely changes the brain chemistry and I think that's where most of our symptoms come from. 

Sadly it doesn't look like anything will help except for dealing with the root problem which is anxiety.  

 

13

Yeah as I said I'd like to leave that as a last resort but I will use that if need be. 

Thanks for the input! Any knowledge or experiance certainly helps on the process! 

14

I have experienced ALL of these symptoms when dealing with my anxiety. I have tried a couple of different pharmaceutical interventions. Was on citalopram for a while, but it didn't really do much for me. Honestly the things that I found worked the best are cognitive behavioural therapy, and creating my own distractions. I was having daily panic attacks, and also experiencing those post-attack symptoms that you're talking about. Like an anxiety hangover. An anxiety attack is a pretty traumatic thing for your body and mind, so it's really no surprise that it leaves you feeling so horrible after. The key is to not shoot and dwell on how bad you feel. I started with just dropping and doing some push-ups when I would start feeling my anxiety coming on. That helped. Now I get out and go for a run. It's a really hard fight to get your mind to let you do that when it's in panic mode, but once you start it's a great distraction. Also it helps to train your brain that there's nothing to worry about. A panic attack makes you feel that there's something horribly wrong with you. Going for a run basically said to your body and mind "see, there's nothing wrong with me. If there was, I wouldn't be able to do this." The more times you're able to show your mind that you're OK, the less your anxiety will affect you. It's worked wonders for me

15

I am sorry you have gone throu all this.

I call anxiety the most exspensive and costly disorder because no matter what any one told us we go do test again and again and we hope to find an illness to be relaxed. And that what makes us really hopeless, as we become really tired and desperate to find an answer for our symptoms and we wish to fine a problem in our body then all the answers from doctors came ( you are normal ). Then we lose the trust in our doctors and we go to another then to another hospital and so on. Then we will have more symptoms as depression will come along and we will have another problem ...etc

You say my friend that what i have gone throu before and as a reasult become agoraphobic.

Seek a mental health and dont do xanax , as antidepressants work for us. I did that and i rocovered but of course i relapsed again because i thought i am good without the doctors but now i took the meds again and this time i will follow what he say.

Take it easy man , it is anxiety what yiu are feeling.

16

Thanks for the input! 

Really appreciate it. 

17

I'll keep all this in mind. 

Thanks! 

18

Perfectly normal. I went through YEARS or medical testing before I finally accepted my anxiety. Even after I accepted all my physical symptoms were manifestations of my anxiety, I fought medication forever. I tried therapy (twice) and I finally worked up the courage to ask my GP for medication. She started me on sertraline and so far I haven't had much luck. I'm still kind of early, been on it for about 8 weeks now, but I don't feel any different. I have had several panic attacks in the last month and I still feel nervous all the time. It's worse in the mornings and I actually find taking a nap helps (might just calm my brain down and reset everything) unfortunately I don't always have time to go nap.

It makes sense that your having anxiety with your profession. I know a lot of times my panic attacks come from the thought of having a panic attack. Despite me realizing that, it's just not that easy to not think about how terrible panic attacks are. I tell myself everything is fine, it's all in my head, nothing is going to happen and I still have a panic attack and once I do I feel horrible anxiety and depression and just general sickness for at least the rest of the day, sometimes multiple days.

19

Welp it helps to know that I'm not the only one. 

Yeah that's my main issue now, it's like thinking about the anxiety is causing the anxiety.

Just gotta learn to live with it and hope CBT and anything else I try in the future will do the trick.

Thanks for the input!  

 

20

I think I'm going to try at a low dose on Benzos (Xanax, Ativan, etc) for a week or two with daily doses. 

A few days ago and today I took a dose (0.25mg of xanax)  early in the day. It was the first days I've felt little to no anxiety, and no physical symptoms in weeks. 

I'm hoping that if I give my body a few weeks to balance out without the symptoms and anxiety that'll help MAJORLY. 

I'm not open to anti depressents just yet. Going to save that as a last resort. 

I'd like to try a short period on a low dose benzo and see if that may do the trick along with CBT.