Anxiety ups and downs

[anxiousk]

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.

 

[Wally]

Sounds like what I went through when I started my meds. It’s going to take a few weeks before you feel good all the time. I think it took me about a month or so.

 

[Trikay12113]

I was put on effexor and had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t walk, my vision got blurry, and my body felt numb and my lips were tingly. I felt super lightheaded and dizzy. It was the worst experience I have ever felt. I had to go to the hospital and get it taken out of my system and they noticed that my heart rate was staying high 125-150 and wasn’t going down so they put me on propranolol to help lower my heart rate and I’ve been on it since which is about a year for my anxiety.

 

[naboudre]

I get very bad morning anxiety. My heart is beating like crazy, and I’m very dizzy. That being said.. I also didn’t have a great reaction to Effexor. Talk to your doctor about it.
your heart doesn’t suddenly go bad in 5 months, I promise. I see a cardiologist twice a year. This is all just anxiety.

 

[Henrie]

I have health anxiety about bowel trouble which has been good for a good few weeks now and bang all back again I know it all anxiety but can’t shake it off had a panic attack yesterday whoo full blown I know it all because off this virus carry yes it was getting better

 

[TX85]

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'm fighting this as well. It's almost more frustrating than the anxiety itself. Indeed, we "heal" and move past whatever was making us so terribly anxious, have a week or two of normal functioning, and then BAM -- something new! And this time, this is it, this is the end! ...until it isn't. Oops. Rinse and repeat. Won't someone let me off this ride? Ugh.

I do hope, for all our sakes, that we're getting a little stronger with each episode we experience. I hope we're able to more quickly get to that "I'm just spooking myself, and this weird sensation will go away just like all the others have" each time we relapse. I feel like maybe that's happening, but it's very difficult to tell.

 

[Henrie]

Hi guys had really bad night just wish this would all go away I feel for ever one off you it a terrible thing health anxiety

 

[Henrie]

Hi guys again was reading the message again I have had health anxiety for 30 years plus there has been times when it not been there for about 2 year it was great but then bam it comes back just one wee thing can trigger it off you know it just anxiety but you just can’t get your head round and the panic sets in hope everyone of us find peace from it

 

[martingalindo]

yep it happens

 

[Wally]

Stay strong friends. We’re all a little anxious these days. Take a step back, refocus and move forward. What’s helped me in the past is writing down what I was doing or thinking at the time of feeling anxious. Then go back and read it later that day. When I reread it if it’s something I can control I’ll readjust. If it’s not, I’ll say really, you can’t control that..