Through the Fire back into the Fire

[Maltezmoose]

Hi my names Allan and I'm 26 and have been diagnosed with health/social anxiety along with panic disorder

it happened a year ago I had my first panic attack, I was dizzy, lightheaded, fealt nauseas and like I was going to colapse. I'd been dealing with anxiety for maybe 5-6 years beforehand but never had any major physical syptoms.

 my battle then began with medication which made me feel better at first but I didn't realise the addictive nature they came with. I would feel so sick coming off the tablet like I was going through withdrawals between each and every tablet. I eventually got myself off the tablets and didn't touch them for around 4 months. My anxiety was still there but was at a contrable level.

then 2 months ago I had another dizzy turn and went straght back to the medication thinking I'll only take off a tablet to take the edge off. I am now back on 3 a day and feeling worse than ever. Feels like all that hard as been erased.

 I have had these syptoms off and on and to varying degree of severity over the past year.

dizzness

naseua/ feeling sick

lightheaded / weakness

tension headaches( not serve)

chest pain/ bad intigesten

sweating and chills

sexual probelms

Agitation and mood swings

fatigue

neck and shoulder pain/discomfort

i have had blood tests run about 4 times which has always came back all good, have had an ultrasound and barium swallow and all was clean and have had an ecg which came back completely normal.

after I got off the medicationI felt I could at least function during the day and could start to live normal, but as I write this today in lying in bed and even the thought of going to the kitchen is making me anxious.

has any had a similar experience with medication or just these types of anxiety syptoms?

thanks so much

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Allan,

Welcome to BeyondBlue and thanks for reaching out.

Sorry to hear that you haven't been coping well with anxiety and that you've had withdrawals and difficulties with your medication.

Each persons experience with anxiety medication differs but I have found that it helps if medication is combined with other therapy - such as seeing a psychologist or trying other coping techniques to manage what's going on for you.  Certainly everything that you've mentioned sounds like anxiety but I'm glad that you're in the clear for other things that might be causing it.

What else (other than medication) have you tried?  Sometimes people can find that things like meditation, walking, puzzles, drawing or muscle tension/relaxation can really help.  The trick with anxiety is to remember that it is a reaction from your body to what it perceives as stressful - even if there isn't anything stressful there.  This is called the flight or fight response.  Some people also find that thought-challenging can help a lot - asking what it is that they are anxious about and questioning the anxiety rather than letting it 'run it's course'.

Hope this helps a little - feel free to let us know what you've tried or what's worked/hasn't worked for you.

In terms of medication though we are not able to give specific advice.  But in my own experience I know that medication is not always necessary if you can implement other strategies.

Take care,