Newbie - help please .....

[nh_user_676275]

Hi there :-)

I need some help and support as I'm so confused right now!

I am 29 years old and work a very stressful job. I've had an intense year with a few stressful events in my personal life too. I started to feel rundown about three months ago and I noticed that stress at work was affecting me more than usual. I started getting internal trembling when under pressure and then developed chronic indigestion. I worked shift work so always ate at funny times and slept irregular hours.

One day at work I came over dizzy and my manager told me to go to get a check up at the hospital. I went and they did an ECG. This is where the drama began for me!!

The nurse said there was a minor abnormality on the ECG and that they would do further tests. She did not explain anything else and just left me sitting on a hospital bed alone and crying. I was terrified! That's when I had my first ever panic attack - all alone on a hospital bed.

Long story short they did blood tests and a chest X-ray and all was perfect. They re did the ECG and the doctor told me it was perfect. I asked him what the abnormality was and he said there was no abnormality just that my heart rate was high as I was panicking. The nurse had terrified me and actually it turned out that all was fine.

Well that should have been the end of it right? But oh no! I then worried myself sick for weeks that I was about to have a heart attack! I googled and worried and obsessed over it! That's when, out of the blue, came my second panic attack - the biggest one I've had! Again I was at work. The medics came as that's normal practice where I work. They ran an ECG - perfect! They took me to hospital as a precaution as I had a temperature. Bloods done again - all good!

Since that point I don't worry about my heart, but the anxiety has remained. I don't understand it. I believe I'm not ill physically, but the anxiety comes and goes. Initially I couldn't sleep or eat but now I'm fine and sleeping and eating well, but it's like I'm hypersensitive to any stress. The smallest stress and the anxiety comes back.

I've found a new job as I don't want the intense stress anymore and I'm currently on holiday from work so I should be chilled out, but I'm not!

The worst symptom for me is the waves of dread that come over me. I am so scared by these waves that only last a few minutes that I'm now getting healtg anxiety worrying I have a mental illness or depression. I have an intense fear of depression and I worry "what if I get depressed and suicidal"

My anxiety has gone from heart worries to depression worries and it's driving me crazy!

This all seemed to come out of nowhere 3 months ago and I'm so fed up with it!

Can chronic stress trigger anxiety? I Currently don't take any medication for this but I do see a therapist and have been to my doctor who suggested Propranolol.

Please help!

[nh_user_112520]

1. Chronic stress can certainely trigger anxiety.

2.You do not have a mental illness, you have anxiety (which is not an illness)

3. Anxiety can take some time to simmer down even after you know there is nothing wrong with you.

4. The anxiety gets perpetuated by worrying and obsessing over the symtoms of anxiety. This is classic anxiety. The fear of fear.

5. You may get a bit depressed, who wouldn't! but it is very doubtful that you will become suicidal. Hundreds of thousands of people get depressed every year (it is very, very common, as is anxiety) but only the very few become suicidal. Practically everybody feels like they want to die at some point in their life, but this is very different from being suicidal. Thoughts are different from actions and what you are getting is a lot of irrational scary thoughts which is a very common symptom of anxiety. It's the anxious thoughts that are the problem, not depression or suicide.

This is because you are anxious!

6. Anxiety is your bodies own defence mechanism and is completely harmless. The symptoms cannot do you any harm whatsoever and it is important to remember this. You are perfectly OK apart from feeling a bit anxious.

7. Propranolol can be very useful in counteracting the effects of anxiety as can exercise, healthy eating, good sleep hygiene, relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, yoga, meditation and fun. But even if you did none of these things anxiety still would not harm you. They just reduce the symptoms to make life a bit less uncomfortable. Take your doctor's advice.

8. A major symptom of anxiety is worrying!  it will worry about anything! You do not have a mental illness, you are physically sound (and have the tests to prove it!). Try to understand that you have anxiety, and nothing else! All the dread, terror, worries, etc are the normal symptoms of anxiety and anxiety is not harmful or dangerous in any way. It just feels like it is, but it isn't! Ask any doctor or anxiety specialist.

[nh_user_655753]

Hi Helen,

There are many suggested causes of anxiety such as stress and traumatic events, chemical imbalance in the brain or some people say it is a learnt behaviour a bit like a bad habit. I don't really think the medical profession fully understands anxiey yet and for me there is a big difference between occasional panic attacks and prolonged periods of anxiety from which I suffer.

The best things that help me are keeping busy, having a supportive partner and trying to maintain a healthy life style.

I would visit your gp for advice and support if they are not helpful I would suggest switching gp.

[nh_user_676275]

Thank you for the replies! It really really helps. I guess I'm just confused as I've never suffered with anything like this before and it scares me. I don't really understand what I feel, but I get these kind of waves of feeling kind of sick and just sad. It lasts just a few minutes and any distraction will take the feeling away for a while. I just worry that these feelings are depression although I've had times where they've gone away for weeks at a time which doesn't sound like depression to me, but what do I know!

3 months ago id never even though about mental health :-(