Help is this really anxiety

Hi @Cally,

I'm Sahara. I suffer from anxiety too. Last year I went to the ER with bad chest pain and nausea- I even vomited. I thought I was having a heart attack for sure. As it turned out, all the tests were fine... my heart is in good condition. It was only anxiety after all!

I say only anxiety, but that's a bit misleading, because in my experience, anxiety can be a debilitating, chronic condition which can lead to loss of quality of life. I can also get heart palpitations, sweats, mild dizziness, fear, panic, and sometimes want to avoid social situations and especially avoid people who are in authority positions. I also have a lot of aches and pains in my shoulders and arms sometimes form tensing up my muscles (without even realizing that I am tense.)

My journey has been a long one... I have had about 10 years of therapy/counselling, on and off. I now understand what anxiety is and how it effects me, which helps a lot. When you understand something, it becomes a lot less ominous.

I do a lot of yoga for my aches and pains and I also make sure I get a lot of 'down-time', where there are no expectations on me. I don't take medication for anxiety anymore, but I am not against it... I would certainly take it again if I needed it.

Would you consider getting treatment for anxiety?

That would feel so scary @Cally It's great to hear you've connected with support and I do hope that talking about things on the forums has been useful too. This resource may or may not relate to your experience but I thought I'd drop it in just in case. It's an online workbook on understanding and managing health anxiety. Take care of yourself and hope to see you around the forums 🐼

Hi @Cally

I have anxiety - actually I was writing how it is a lot less since I have been taking medication for my BP which makes me tired, keeps my BP in order and is sometimes prescribed for anxiety and it seems to be making me tired and helping my BP and I am a lot less anxious about my elderly relatives who are very ill, and my own family as well - I feel this is rather odd because I am so used to being tense about things and a lot of this has been under control

But whatever else is happening if you have unusual pains in the chest it is always best to have it checked out - even if they say it is only anxiety - and as @Sahara said - the word "only" sounds weird but yes - anxiety does weird things to us - it can make us unwell in a lot of ways - and it is psychosomatic but that is only a word

It can be really and totally miserable to have severe anxiety - it's natural to feel anxious at times - that is normal - but it can be a really hard thing to deal with - stress is just that - stressful - and it's something we can learn how to deal with - and make it less of a problem

I wish you the best - what you feel is normal as unpleasant as it is and I am glad you have opened up

Dec

hello @Cally, checking in to see how you are today, sending you hugs

Hello @Owlunar, @Sahara, @CheerBear