So back in January I woke up in the middle of the night in a full panic attack. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I was not working at the time and spent the next 2 weeks trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It was taking 3 weeks to get into my GP....she was on vacation..... Anyways I spent hours upon hours up hours....pretty much all day, everyday, googling....I boiled it down to hormones....in my head....I was on birth control at the time, and I tried skipping a period by not taking the placebo bills and just starting a new pack. It did not work I ended up bleeding for almost 4 weeks straight....I finally quit on a Sunday, and that Tuesday night I had a panic attack.....
Anyways I quit taking the birth control in April.....I have been getting progressively better with the panic attacks and anxiety since then....until last week I experienced exactly what I experience then... with the 3-4 panic attacks a day, anxious feeling, scared, not wanting to leave home. I just worked and went home and that was. The difference in this time and last time was I was actually sleeping a lot better this time and I didn't want sex as much.....Now back then it was not staying up for days on in like i "hear" bipolar is.... it was more restless nights. Waking up and staying awake for an hour or so, or restless sleep, waking up numerous times. What scares me most is every time I start taking birth control...I end up leaving whoever I am with at the time.
So I was sitting here today....thinking i was in a better state of mind and I started thinking back on how many times I have ever done this, and the answer is only 4 times in my life since I was 14. ALL of which when I would take birth control..... When I take birth control I am "stable" so to speak. But I do want sex more, I am a little more active, I am happier, life just seems to make "sense" However, when I am not on birth control as I am still stable, I tend to rarely if any want sex or think about it, I am a little more irritable around "that" time of the month.
I can only maybe twice in my life remember a time I became depressed, one time after me and my fiance of 7 years broke up, and one time when I got "laid-off" from my job where I made a lot of money a few months after I moved into my own place and just started dating a guy that I knew I wanted to be with no matter what. i started worrying for whatever reason he would leave.
Does this sound like bipolar? If birth controls induces "manic" like symptoms? Or is it just that my hormones get messed up on birth control?
I am SO CONFUSED!
It sounds like what a lot of people on this site have as well as millions of other people. Generalized anxiety disorder.
I have had it since grade school and I know what the panic feels like. The more you worry about it the worse it will get. Talk to your doctor about the possible effects of birth control. I have never heard that but your doctor would know more.
this does not sound like bipolar at all.
see if you can get some counseling for this because anxiety is difficult to manage alone.
if you're ever panicking in need help listen to "panic attack emergency" on YouTube. They will guide you through it. There are several to choose from. Pick the one you like most .
another important one to hear is called mindfulness breathing meditation guided 10 minutes . It's short but shows you what to do and you can use this anytime you need to once you learn it.
🌸🌸🌸
Thank you! I just worry! I know something is wrong and it’s hard to accept that anxiety can wreck this much havoc on somebody. When I first went to counseling they asked me if I was manic, I told them no. No doctor has ever even mentioned that to me (I’m 29) but ever since then it’s been my fear. I guess my anxiety is feeding off that fear? Is that how GAD works. They told me I have panic disorder. Which I’m sure goes hand in hand with GAD
I can tell you from experience that anxiety can wreak major havoc on peoples lives! I got about 10 symptoms of anxiety all at one time when I was in my 20s I never thought anxiety could have done that but it did!
you are not manic. When we have fears about anything and we are prone to getting anxiety, anxiety feeds off the fear and everything gets worse. Then our minds and our brain becomes over anxious, negative and that can lead to panic. Our brain is a powerful thing and if we suggest to it that we have fear it will try to protect us by sending out adrenaline and other hormones that can cause panic symptoms.
doctors can't really do much for anxiety except prescribe anti-anxiety medication. It's not like when they can see a broken bone they know exactly what to do. They can't see anxiety and they can't feel what we are going through. That's why a lot of doctors brush people off and just prescribe something .
So we have to take matters into our own hands sometimes. All anxiety starts in the brain so we need to relax that. We don't have to let panic and fear take our lives over.
first thing I did was get some counseling by someone who specializes in anxiety. It really helps to vent to someone else.
The mindfulness approached teaches you how to manage anxiety and negative thoughts to reduce or eliminate anxiety and panic. There is a great book with the title Mindfulness. It's white with a ball of string on the cover. This approach is taught all over the world and it does work.
. I listen to mindful meditation is on YouTube for anxiety and they completely relax me.
I decided that it was time to take care of myself. Stress takes a huge toll on your body and I didn't want to do that to myself anymore. Life is too short. I started exercising, eating healthy, getting active and social etc. I stopped taking life so seriously and began to laugh and smile more.
do things that relax your mind like walking in nature, relaxing music, whatever you enjoy.
be relentless at getting better. You can do it! 🌸🌸🌸
That’s probably made more sense to me than anything has in a while! I do have an appt with a counselor who specializes in anxiety, but the soonest I could get in was the 26th. I went to a psychiatrist for a while but she would barely listen to me and wanted me to take all these medicines that I really didn’t want to take. It was an awful experience within its own. I’m finally starting to calm down after over a week of this stuff. It’s good to talk to people who can actually relate and know what you’re feeling.