Anxiety Advice Please

Hello, I hope to get some sort of advice or maybe I am just venting because this is so new to me. On July 14th I was driving to the store and I suddenly felt like I was going to faint. I was really hot and my heart was beating very fast. (Reminded me of when I was dehydrated and needed an IV) I assumed I was dehydrated because I dont drink a lot of water.

Anyways, been to the hospital several times as they tried to figure out why I felt this way and it took up until about 2 weeks ago for them to say that I have Anxiety. I spent the entire month of july sleeping because everytime I walked or moved I thought I would pass out. My skin is always hot to the touch but no fever. I would get hot/cold chills/flashes all day long.

They tried two different antibiotics through the month at first because they thought I had an infection. I was on them f or 20 days out of the month and then experienced some very intrusive and unwanted thoughts which prompted me to stop the antibiotics all together. My heart rate was constantly at 120-130 and once it hit 150. Blood, urine, chest x-rays. stomach and heart sono, thyroid, and every other test came back normal. They gave me zoloft which made everything worse and same when they tried wellburtin.

They then gave me buspar and hydroxzine which I take now but still have those feelings on and off. My vision is weird..sort of like everything is yellow hazed or grainy and everything seems extremely bright to look at. I have no history of anxiety, depression, or any other mood disorders. Nothing in my life happened to cause me to be anxious or upset and I never felt anxious until last month. The only things that have happened to me in the last year that was out of the "norm" was the birth of my second daughter in Sept. of 2014, I put my 14 year old dog to sleep in June because she bit my oldest daughter, and I stopped my Birth control the first week of july after my "withdrawl bleeding" was done.

I have never suffered from OCD (where they say the intrusive thoughts come from) I am just trying to get a better understanding of what has happened to me and if this really could be anxiety. Buspar seems to make me very dizzy, irritable, and more anxious then I was before. I dont understand why I would have anxiety all of a sudden without a know cause or real reason behind it. Could this be a different health issue or am I just getting my hopes up that I wont be stuck with this anxiety forever.

It has really taken a toll on my life as I cannot keep my kids at home with me feeling this way. I cant drive or go anywhere and it is starting to make me depressed that my life is so out of control. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated because I am at a loss. I have an appointment for theraphy on the 19th of this month.

Edited to put into paragraphs to make it easier for people to read. :)

Post Edited By Moderator (AngelLisa) : 8/12/2015 10:24:16 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Shay and welcome!

I am glad that you have found, and reached out to us! Although I am sorry for the reason...which I agree, sounds like anxiety. (so many of your symptoms sounded familiar! )

I too was shocked to find out I was dealing with this issue. I really never felt anxious...and the stressors I was experiencing at the time seems par for the course...

However, I have read countless posts that express exactly this! So know that you are not alone.

I too am glad that you are set up with a therapy appointment. I can't tell you what a difference it made for me. I know you will benefit and learn tools to manage the anxiety and symptoms that are challenging you now.

Until then, do have a look at our Resources as Hibee suggested! They are filled with effective self help material. Let me know if you have something specific you'd like to address, and I will pull up links that are a good fit to get started with. :)

Keep posting here with us if you find it helpful. We do understand, care...and support is key!

Talk soon,

Scaredy Cat

Hi Shay,

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry you've been hit with anxiety out of the blue, but there is a great group of nice, supportive people here, so you won't feel alone in your journey.

I'm going to go through some of the things you mentioned, and give my two cents.

1) Antibiotics -- Some antibiotics cause anxiety. Cipro, for example, is one of the ones you should avoid. It could very well be that the antibiotics made you more anxious.

2) Bad thoughts -- These don't always mean OCD. Anxiety sufferers get them, too. If a thought pops into your head that is in any way disturbing, you react much more strongly to it while in a fearful state. You become afraid because your own brain had that thought, it must mean somehow that you want the bad thing to happen. That's some scary stuff! It's hard to ignore something that's scary, but try to remember that if you get a random bad thought, it's not coming from your rational brain, but from the anxiety.

3) Zoloft -- This drug is famous for its bad start-up side effects, which include anxiety (even though many doctors claim anxiety is not a side effect of Zoloft). Those of us who have been on Zoloft have all had increased anxiety when starting it. Zoloft may still be a viable option for you, if you can get something else to help control the anxiety while you get used to Zoloft. It can take up to two weeks for your body to adjust, and for the side effects (i.e. anxiety, insomnia, etc.) to go away.

4) Wellbutrin and Buspar -- Most people do well on these meds, but I get a paradoxical effect. In other words, instead of calming me and removing my anxiety, these drugs give me energy, restlessness, and insomnia. The more I take, the more I bounce off the walls. I believe this is because they deal with a neurotransmitter called Norepinephrine and for some reason my body doesn't like it. Perhaps you are the same way.

5) "If this could really be anxiety" -- Well, are you anxious? You mention a ton of physical symptoms, but you don't talk much about fears or any of the mental aspects of anxiety. If you aren't mentally anxious, it might not be anxiety at all, but some condition that is causing physical changes in your vision, being hot to the touch, and feeling faint.

6) "Having anxiety all of a sudden" -- This happens to a lot more people than you might think. It could be that when you stopped the birth control, it messed with your hormones. You might also have had too much caffeine, too little sleep (or a combination of all of those things) that led to the start of your anxiety.

I hope some of these comments were helpful. I would recommend you get a psychiatrist rather than using medical doctors because they often don't know as much about psychiatric medicine.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Cat

Hello again,

Thank you all for all of your replies, support, and advice. This has been such a hard journey to go through and don't have much support here in my world. Everyone keeps telling me to stop being anxious and don't think about it and as hard as I try it doesn't work. In regards to mental symptoms, other then intrusive thoughts, I don't believe there are any. I developed a fear of being alone with my children since having the thoughts because I am afraid I will have a mental breakdown/go crazy and do something terrible. I don't have the intrusive thoughts now but I do constantly have the fear of having the thoughts if that makes any kind of sense. Referring to the buspar, I started on 2.5mg twice per day for 3 days and I felt okay, then my Dr. Moved me up to 5mg twice per day for the last 3 days and I feel terribly angry, easy to irritate, nausea, dizzy, and a general sense of unease (as if I could black out at any moment). My eyes seems to be jittery and all over the place and my aniexty seems to fluctuate all day long. I have tried to use mindfulness techniques but cannot seem to find time to do them. I run my own busines which has become harder to do with anxiety and my youngest has just started teething so she cries the whole time she is home. My doctor did put me back on my birth control and I have only taken 10 days overall, but with the medication I am on I cannot tell if its helping at all. I hope the buspar works for me and the side effects are just startup ones that go away. I just want to be my normal happy self again and each day I seem further away from the old me.

Hello again, its been a few days and I am hoping people will still reply. My appointment with psychiatrist was pushed to tomorrow. I stopped talking all anxiety meds as of three days ago. I am struggle because now I am able to drive and go places without feeling faint which was impossible before. I have been laughing more as well. However, now I seem to be so tired all the time and the intrusive thoughts have come back in full force. They scare me so much because my body feels weird and I fear its trying to act on these thoughts and so I struggle to keep control by sitting on my hands or avoiding objects. I find little things frustrate and irritate me and I get sort of angry. I also have these waves like I have a lump in my throat as if I want to cry but don't know why. My brain is foggy and my eyes are just weird. I'm terrified I will loose control and go crazy or acts unknowningly on these thoughts. I get so anxious when I am alone or home alone with the baby. On the other hand I find I have more calmer moments where I am able to just sit and relax. It just feels like I can't get out of my own head. I don't get why some things are getting better and new things are occurring and why these thoughts won't go away. I hate feeling this way and want to be better again. Anyone able to give me advice on these symptoms especially the intrusive thoughts. I know I'm supposed to accept them, face them, I just can't figure out how. My mind continuously fights them with no I wouldn't do that etc. I feel like I'm screaming inside my own mind.

Hi Shay,

I'm glad to read about your positive moments, and I'm sad to read you're having trouble with bad thoughts again. Why did you stop taking your anxiety medication? Is it because the Buspar had too many side effects?

It's really up to you if you want to use pills, or whether you would prefer the cognitive behavioral therapy route so you can learn to ignore the thoughts and refocus your mind. Of course you don't have to choose one or the other ... there is no shame in using medicine to help while you learn to block the thoughts on your own. I do a little of both when I get bad thoughts... I try to ignore and refocus, but sometimes it's too hard, and I end up taking a pill to help me calm down.

I have been reading about natural supplements that help with anxiety and sleep because I have not been sleeping well at all. I think I am going through some sort of withdrawal because I am having a lot of anxiety symptoms I don't normally have, plus I am waking up all through the night (which is unusual for me).

A lot of people swear by Valerian Root. I just purchased some today (in pill form) on Amazon so I can't say whether it will help you (or me!) but here is the one I got: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GG6EV2?psc=1 Apparently it tastes and smells horrible, but most people find it helps them sleep well and reduces their anxiety. Side effects may include headache, dizziness, stomach problems, sleeplessness. lol I sound like a commercial!

I hope you feel better and get some good rest soon. :)

-Cat