Anxiety Hypochondriasis and Agoraphobia

[becca777]

Hi , I thought I'd just post to this forum so I can feel less alone and feel like I'm going to be okay, and maybe make other people feel the same. My anxiety has picked up so much in the last few months. I have it every day now and it's so hard to experience and deal with. The main symptoms I experience are chest pain, heart palpitations and weird throat pressure. I also dissociate a lot, mostly derealization and this is usually paired with feeling lightheaded and faint. I have been diagnosed with hypochondriasis and generalized anxiety disorder, therefore I usually react to my symptoms by googling them and end up freaking myself out worse, usually I think I'm having an allergic reaction or heart attack and sometimes a stroke. I feel like I'm trapped in this feeling, I have a hard time leaving the house and doing things I like, I'm sleep deprived and depressed due to my anxiety. I am even up right now at 5:48 am because I am having severe chest pains, and even knowing it is anxiety is still hard to deal with because I always think about the "what if", like what if as I'm typing this it's really is a health issue that is gonna make me die. This has been so hard for me. I'm in therapy and I'm trying to make better habits, but fuck, this is so so draining.

 

[stygianiron222]

how long have you been doing therapy? because if you've been doing it for a while and it's not helping, then it might be worth talking to your therapist to see about something different.

 

[becca777]

It's only been a few sessions so I'm hoping it will start to help.

 

[Iv3rson3]

Hi
I’m going through a similar story to you too. I know it how troubling it can be to even do the simplest things, its getting on my nerves i feel like I’m stuck in a place and not moving.
I have yet to start therapy, did it help to talk to them?
I read that doing eye integration movement helps a lot have you tried that?

 

[becca777]

Hi, therapy has been really nice so far, I have been doing cognitive behavioral therapy and I am getting lots of tips from my therapist to manage my panic. I think therapy could really help you if you are able to go. I have also never heard of eye integration movement so I will be sure to try that. I am so sorry you are going through this and I hope it gets better soon.

 

[Alexander Ypsilantis]

Hi , I thought I'd just post to this forum so I can feel less alone and feel like I'm going to be okay, and maybe make other people feel the same. My anxiety has picked up so much in the last few months. I have it every day now and it's so hard to experience and deal with. The main symptoms I experience are chest pain, heart palpitations and weird throat pressure. I also dissociate a lot, mostly derealization and this is usually paired with feeling lightheaded and faint. I have been diagnosed with hypochondriasis and generalized anxiety disorder, therefore I usually react to my symptoms by googling them and end up freaking myself out worse, usually I think I'm having an allergic reaction or heart attack and sometimes a stroke. I feel like I'm trapped in this feeling, I have a hard time leaving the house and doing things I like, I'm sleep deprived and depressed due to my anxiety. I am even up right now at 5:48 am because I am having severe chest pains, and even knowing it is anxiety is still hard to deal with because I always think about the "what if", like what if as I'm typing this it's really is a health issue that is gonna make me die. This has been so hard for me. I'm in therapy and I'm trying to make better habits, but fuck, this is so so draining.

I've had all those symptoms at one time or another. You usually go through periods where the anxiety can get worse for awhile, then it lessens. It's not always easy to understand what sets it off.

I assume you have a complete physical so you've eliminated any physiological causes for your symptoms? If you have, then you may want to look into relaxation exercises like meditating and deep breathing. Those can help get our mind focused on NOW instead of worrying about what can happen in the future. Our minds are the cause of the greatest part of the anxiety we feel, you have to distract your thought processes by focusing on something else. It takes practice, but you can work yourself up from a couple of minutes to much longer.

Anxiety is an unnatural response to a genuine concern, it's a carryover from when we needed adrenaline in our bloodstreams to confront dangers-like a cave bear or something. You need to retrain your mind not to catastrophize-or see the worst in any outcome. There are lots of good YouTube videos that train you to focus on NOW and they're all worth watching. If you can improve these exercises you can get away from the need for continual medication. There will always be a place for anti-anxiety medication, but you can do a lot to cut it down to a minimum by practicing stress-reduction. Good luck.