Ear problems & panick attacks

Posted , 4 users are following.

Has anyone else experienced this? I don't have them every day now, but definitely have begun to have a rise in panick attacks since my ear trouble began.

Sometimes the 'feelings' within my ear/head can bring it on as well.

I read that vestibular disorders can cause anxiety in itself - which really is not fun for someone like myself.

Hello to everyone and hope you are having a nice evening!! smile

2 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • Posted

    Hello SillyMop. 

    Yes, I believe any physiological condition - particularly centering around the head - will stoke the flames of anxiety. If you already suffer with GAD, OCD, or health anxiety, then medical conditions (even relatively harmless ones) will only add insult to injury. I believe you may panic less the longer you experience your ear troubles and begin to cope with them. But I'm so sorry it's been feeding your fears sad 

    hugs xxx 

    • Posted

      Hi Nick I hope you are well, lovely to hear from you again smile

      I'm recovering from my virus now and thankfully things are a little better. I am no where near as woozy and off balance as I was a few days ago - but it is still quite bad in comparison to how my symptoms were during the summer.

      You would think by now that I would have come to terms with it far more and learnt to accept it in a way... But instead, the longer it goes on for the worse my anxiety over it becomes rolleyes

      My vision is not back to normal yet BUT I noticed last night that it was a little better. Mornings are not good and I am wondering if this is due to laying down for a long period of time and that any congestion is able to lay inside my ear, so moving around in the morning feels even odder.

      It also feels very swollen in the area of my head directly around my ear and it feels like it could or should pop

      Slightly when I swallow.

      In trying to relax and keep going about my day - just in a more gentle way.

    • Posted

      Indeed

      Symptoms, be they induced by anxiety or a physical illness or a combination of both, can be overcome with self-help methods, with quiet acceptance and determination and not trying to fight them or to appear "normal" to society for fear of being humiliated

      The symptoms are not the problem. They are manageable, can be overcome with patience, with the routine of utilising all the self-help methods.available

      The root cause of AD/PD is not the symptoms themselves. It is the fear of them.

      Fear entrenches them. It spirals the imagination into notions of fatal illnesses lurking, of GP's and hospital tests missing something It generates panic.

      It is difficult, when symptoms attack, no matter how they manifest, to control that fear. despite constant reassurance some people cannot accept all that they suffer is due to AD/PD. Thus they pile fear upon fear and become cemented in the anxiety/panic cycle

      I still maintain that acceptance is the way out. Seperating normal and common physical illness from AD/PD.

      Patients add suffering by refusing to acknowledge that their AD/PD causes their multiple symptoms and suffering. GP's are wrong, tests results are wrong.

      Despite their unnecessary fears of brain tumours, heart attacks and so on and so forth, their symptoms do not align with such disorders. Their condition does not physically worsen, as it would do were such serious illnesses present

      Brain tumours/heart disease/cancer and the rest do not remain static. They evolve, worsen and are apparent to the GP and to the hospital medics

      Fear is our most unpleasant emotion.

      It is vital that those with AD/PD utilise Right Thinking when viewing their condition. Accepting that this is AD/PD and accepting that the symptoms are truly awful.

      But they will not kill you. You will not run out of breath, have a fatal heart attack,  cancer is not spreading in your body nor is a brain tumour waiting to strike you dead.

      Taking control is essential because AD/PD sufferers who believe they have lost control are adding more fear

      Weeks, months, years are lost feeding fears about fatal illnesses as opposed to dealing with, accepting the nasty symptoms.

      .At the end of the day there is nothing to fear but fear itself

      The mind is a complex mechanism. It is open to suggestion. Tell yourself you have a fatal illness and the body will react accordingly

      Losing the fear is not easy. But it can be done. Has been done by countless AD/PD sufferers

      Losing the fear opens the door to recovery

      Please, please have faith in your own ability to overcome.

      That you can and will have your life back

      This does not have to be forever.

      This Forum is a remarkable place with remarkable people

      Let's all stay together, help each other, share and reassure each other.

      Hugs to everyone

      Helen

       

    • Posted

      Hi Helen thanks for replying to me smile

      My fear of it being something catastrophically serious seems to be easing away of recent. Despite my symptoms being worse recently, I feel I can pin point them to my ear directly, especially as it feels so swollen and tender within the inner ear itself...oddly this makes me feel better because I can feel feel a reason for the dizzyness, rather than walking around feeling woozy and wondering what on earth is going on.

      Another thing that seems to have helped is contracting this recent virus... The congestion it gave me had an awful effect on my ears and I was so dizzy I was unable to move very far or go out.

      The anxiety makes everything so, so much worse. The feelings of panick are the absolute worse and I'm trying very hard to keep myself more on an even footing and to not allow myself to become carried away by it...

      I have noticed a few links with my reaction and OCD. The intrusive thoughts are just different in that they make me feel that I am deadly ill as apposed to the type of fears I would have before... This realisation did make me see things quite differently..I suppose it is knowing your enemy.

      Currently I know something is wrong with my ear, I just don't allow myself to assume it is anything severe or life threatening.

      This forum has really helped me. Instead of panick googling I come here instead and read other people's posts - I try to help where I can.

      I hope at some point soon the doctors can give me something that gets rid of this problem, or at least lessen it greatly. I keep plodding on

  • Posted

    YES!  Anytime my head feels funny for any reason at all I can go into a spiral!  I for some reason fear feeling dizzy and always assume I will pass out or throw up even tho I never do.  I had an ear infection a few years ago and basically ruined the holidays for my entire family over it.  I was sure I was dying of something and couldn't eat or move past it.  Of course I was fine!

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