Thread: New to the site...but not new to anxiety

Hello Everyone,

I'm also new to this site and thought it would be a good idea to reply and express some of my feelings towarRAB anxiety. I had my first panic attack in August and ever since then I have been having a lot of anxiety. I think all of this started because of major changes in my life style (changing school to a different college, moving and just a lot of stress) But as I was told panic attacks and anxiety don't just appear they build up like an avalanche. Before a avalanche occurs snow builRAB up for a period of time just like stress in our lives do. Then after a while all it takes is just one tiny snowflake to create a avalanche or a Panic attack/anxiety. Now I am on Effexor Xr 75mg which seems to help some. I go though period of time where I have no anxiety and then out of no where anxiety appears. It could be one thing that triggers it and then I worry about it for a couple of days while my anxiety builRAB and then it slowly subsides as I realize why I'm having anxiety. Some of the side effects I receive include: dizzy, soar mouth/cheeks, jaw gets tense (T.M.J.), Soar neck, get extremely tired which bothers me the most because my eyes hurt. Doe's anyone else get any of these side effects from anxiety and how do you diminish them? Well I hope everyone else is hanging in there!! Thank you for reading!!

Tyeshe

Hey Lindaru My birthday started out with a trip to the Gyno, yea, tell me..Now, having said that, my birthday was really good. I got some nice gifts and carRAB. I was hoping to get my test results yesterday too, but, this morning was fine, I am so happy everything is ok. I have been stressing over one thing or another continuously for so long. I hope I can relax and settle now. Waiting 3 weeks for pap results is ridiculous and torture for those of us anxiety ridden people. Sometimes I did not think I was going to make it another day without knowing. And right, I don't have to go back for a year or 2 for an annual exam. I totally understand the money fretting, especially now with holidays. I have been stressin' about that already myself. Glad to hear you are doing well, keep positive, we will get eachother thru the holidays....

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry to hear about your Grandmother . It's good that she is already home. I know that this type of thing can send our anxiety overboard. Try not to go there.

I loved Lindaru's suggestion. We are "virtually" here for you. I think of all of you often, and when I'm anxious I know that there's a place for me to cope with it. This has been such a great way to find coping skills for the anxiety.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. The weekend will go great Lindaru. No worries!

Tyeshe2...are you there? I hope you're doing well.

Hugs to everyone.

I hope everyone is doing well Things here are going along better. I found, that alot of my aches and pains are made worse if I obsess over them and worry. My mom helped me discover that muscle spasms in my neck and jaw are causing my problems, good ole' TMJ,which I have had since a child. I believe, my flare up was caused by emotional stress stemming from; having to deal with an ex after a nuraber of years, as well as not getting a job I really had banked on getting,thought was a sure thing. I have gained a few pounRAB back, which usually means I am snapping out of it, as I don't eat much when I get depressed and stressed. I am the type of person, that has to be busy and keep preoccupied so don't dwell on things. Maybe some of you are like this too? Tiredofworry, I have taken your advice and I have been doing crafty things, like making a tye blanket, painting, which I love crafts and it's like therapy. I also am TRYING to learn to lean on God & not try and figure everything out myself. Come on everyone, give some upates on how you are....Chrystal

I only hope that you find this post, (tired of worry), I see you haven't posted here since 10/13.... I did not allow myself to look up any health related issues today other than STRESS management type things. Please always search me out on here as I will you, we are on such a good road of helping eachother thru our stresses. Keep me posted

Hi all
Im new here but suffer terrible anxiety everyday
it comes and goes like waves throughout the day and sometimes I truly feel I am about to die. Headache or pain I think Brain tumor chest pain or rapid heartbeat I think heart attack. I make sure that I kiss and cuddle the 3 special girls in my life as many times as i can a day as I have nearly convinced myself that I am dying. I t seems like I am struggling just to stay alive. Have had anxiety on and off for 5 years but have felt like this for the last 3 months. was on 100mg setraline hydrochloride per day but it did nothing
I now try to manage it with valium when it gets real bad. Anxiety sucks

Hi Tyeshe2!

Welcome to the board, and we're so glad to have you join the discussion about anxiety. I'm very sorry you're suffering with this too, but I hope you find as much encouragement and hope here as I have so far.

I had never really thought about the anxiety building for a while, before finally revealing itself. Thank you for sharing that. I am going to reflect on my "pre-anxiety" times and see what "snowflakes" were accumulating.

As for your physical symptoms, I can personally say yes to the tense jaw, sore neck, and fatigue. I think we expend an enormous amount of energy coping with our anxiety, and that reveals itself when we clench our jaw, are tense in our shoulders and neck, and the fatigue is from our emotional drain. I have suffered from shoulder and neck pain for quite a while. Somedays I have none, others I feel like I have an elephant sitting on me!

When you begin to feel the anxiety, take a moment to review your physical tension. From your head to your feet, note if your holding muscles tense and consciously relax them. It's easy to do, and you can do it anywhere. You will be amazed at how much tension you are holding and you don't even know it. Practice some sort of relaxation technique daily that works for you, to alleviate the tension and the side effects of it.

Let me know how it works for you, and we look forward to sharing your progress.

I totally can relate to your post tigger. I'm sure you have read my posts, my health anxiety is a doozy. I go from one thing to the next, and even though I know it's my pattern, it is still a hard one to stop, and even harder sometimes to convince myself I am ok, yet another time. I too find comfort and release when talking to others thru this board, it really helps. I am still having a pain in my head, for example, when I was getting laundry out of washer, etc.,seems to be when I am doing something using muscles, as you said tiredofworry. My neck hurts and I am tense all over, I know, and seem to carry a mild headachey feeling off and on... I should of never looked head pain up on the net, the fear sets in. I try to rationalize, this all started 2 weeks ago when I woke in bed with my neck in a crooked position, moving it and had the first pain, upper middle left side of head. I would, like all of you, like to learn to break this cycle, without medical help. I am not going to the doctor this time, it will settle, when it's ready. Tigger, I am very sorry you also have health anxiety, it is no fun, but I believe that thru this board we all will get thru......Chrystal

Hi rapture323,

Welcome to the board. I'm so pleased you felt comfortable enough to share with us. We all empathize with you. Just as Chrystal36 said, it appears that most of our anxiety is based on fear...or lack of control. It is not a rational thing, but that doesn't really help when we feel that way, does it? I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time now. I'm wondering if it's something to do with the holidays? Do you know any of your triggers for anxiety? We all have identified some episode or occassion that triggered it for us. Sometimes we can keep it more under control than others.

My best advice to you right now...do not search your symptoms on the internet. Stay away from it. We all do it, or have done it, and it never helps. It makes us become obsessive, and it adRAB to our worries, rather than alleviates it. As you well know, after the first few articles, they all say the same thing anyway. You can't allow yourself to wander down that path, it's too tempting, and it's not comforting. Play games on your computer, or come here to share with us, express your concerns, etc. Stay away from symptom checking. I used to do it constantly. It would fill my day and I would lose hours and hours of time. It never made me feel better either.

Welcome to the board and we're glad your here. Chrystal36...I'm so happy to hear from you. Remeraber, we feel so much stress during the holidays, it adRAB to our symptoms.

Wow! Great news on the PAP results! Now, find comfort and reassurance in that and move on. No more worrying. It's cold and flu season, so you're bound to not feel good once in a while, but that's all it is.

Lindaru, I also feel your pain on upcoming expenses. Maybe our anxiety thread will change from health anxiety to financial anxiety! :jester:

I've been pretty well myself, and even though we've had very rainy and cloudy weather in Washington, I've been able to stay pretty upbeat. I have found my anxiety is very deeply weather driven, and I struggle with that tremendously. Have any of you ever noticed that?

Chrystal36, Happy Belated Birthday! This turned out to be a great week for you. I'm so thrilled! This has made my day.

Also, do any of you ever project your health anxiety on your children? I try not to, but I had to take my son to the Dr. recently for a shoulder injury, and I had some waves of anxiety suddenly. It was almost worse. Ugh! This is very trying.

I'm going to follow Lindaru's advice, "right here, right now, I am fine". That's been the best thing I've heard in a long time! Thank you so much.

Hugs to all of you and I'm thrilled with the good news!