Hey guys,
I just wanted to ask about people's experience of anxiety getting better and then suddenly coming back.
I have a lot of heart attack/heart disease based health anxiety fears. I got an echocardiogram about 5 months ago and dr told me I was fine. I was still really anxious all the time so I finally went back to the dr and she ended up putting me on Effexor. I've been on it for about 2 weeks. I noticed that a few days before my visit with her I was actually feeling a bit better than I had in a while, and after seeing her my anxiety continued to lessen. I don't think it was directly due to the meds since I know it takes a bit to take effect. Anyways, for maybe a week and a half after my appointment, my anxiety was way less than it had been in a while... not totally gone but noticeably less and I was feeling more like myself again for the first time in quite a while.
Then, a couple days ago, I had a really fitful sleep and when I woke up in the morning I felt really weird and felt like my heart was not beating normally (which happened before and was a source of anxiety). Since then, I feel like I'm practically back where I was before, feeling physical symptoms that are making me scared of heart problems again (for instance, on and off pain in my left arm and shoulder).
I'm feeling a whole mix of emotions, sometimes convinced that something is really wrong with me and sometimes more able to tell myself that it's just anxiety. But if it is just anxiety, it's really upsetting that you can feel like you're getting better and then suddenly fall right back to where you were.
I just wanted to ask about people's experience of anxiety getting better and then suddenly coming back.
I have a lot of heart attack/heart disease based health anxiety fears. I got an echocardiogram about 5 months ago and dr told me I was fine. I was still really anxious all the time so I finally went back to the dr and she ended up putting me on Effexor. I've been on it for about 2 weeks. I noticed that a few days before my visit with her I was actually feeling a bit better than I had in a while, and after seeing her my anxiety continued to lessen. I don't think it was directly due to the meds since I know it takes a bit to take effect. Anyways, for maybe a week and a half after my appointment, my anxiety was way less than it had been in a while... not totally gone but noticeably less and I was feeling more like myself again for the first time in quite a while.
Then, a couple days ago, I had a really fitful sleep and when I woke up in the morning I felt really weird and felt like my heart was not beating normally (which happened before and was a source of anxiety). Since then, I feel like I'm practically back where I was before, feeling physical symptoms that are making me scared of heart problems again (for instance, on and off pain in my left arm and shoulder).
I'm feeling a whole mix of emotions, sometimes convinced that something is really wrong with me and sometimes more able to tell myself that it's just anxiety. But if it is just anxiety, it's really upsetting that you can feel like you're getting better and then suddenly fall right back to where you were.
