Mostly successful anxiety story. :)

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hey everyone. I haven't really been on this site too much the past couple month. I use to almost live on it though. Like everyone else, just hoping to see who shows up with answers that make sense or remedies that truly help.  My anxiety was terrible. Felt like I've tried everything to fix it but nothing was good enough.  

For 10 years I suffered mostly from nausea because of anxiety. But not until recently did it turn for the worse. It wasn't just nausea anymore. I started feel heavy headed (felt like my head needs to roll off my shoulders), headaches, facial/head tightness/numbing, felt like when I walked I had conveyor belts under me going inward, dizzy almost 24/7, heart palps, burning sensations, etc. The list is huge. 

I have tried everything from medications (Cits, currently on Sertaline still 50mg), a pharmacy full of supplements, diet change (hard one), daily walks, chiropractor visits, massage therapy, etc. Things got slightly better but not drastically. Well the chiropractor got rid of my headaches at least!

I went to the neurologist for the first time and he did a ton of tests. He doesn't see anything serious going on. I don't show signs of any neurological disease but he did mess with some trigger points in my neck and shoulders. One spot in my shoulder I felt like I was about to pass out. Was a little pain but me feeling like passing out wasn't due to that. He found a few more spots that have been triggering the burning sensations in feet and hands.  He thinks I'm having tension headaches just without the pain.  He thinks my shoulders and neck are so tension it's messign with my trigger points. So starting this week I'll be going through something called Manual Therapy. 

Although I'm still going through my issues that may have been triggered due to constant stress and anxiety it's nice to possibly figured out what's causing all of these issues the past 8 months.  They can't find anything else and him pushing on specific spots causing me to almost pass out not due to pain is a good sign in my eyes.

I know how hard it is to have all of these symptoms and not truly knowing if anxiety is really the answer or not. With our anxiety filled brains all we can think of are all the "what-ifs" nonstop. We can't stop it. It really helped when talking to my neurologist he was upset when he hears people tell others with anxiety to "suck it up" or "just don't think about it". Anxiety is hardwired into everyone. Just a lot of us have it for too long verse the normal anxiety durations which takes a toll on us.  But we can train out brains to help deal with it better.

With that being said, don't expect things to get better on their own. I know people say "Time cures all" but really it doesn't.  You being proactive about your issues does.  There's no magic fix because everyone is different.  

What helped me out A TON when I first started being proactive, nightly walks. Less people out there, the air is nice and cool, relaxing. Every day I woke up and felt nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the day.  Not a lot of us have that feeling when we are anxious. We choose not to do anything in fear our anxiety will flare up.  Seriously though, go for a walk at night if you can. It really does help.

After a few sessions of Manual Therapy I'll come back and reply to this post on any or no progress.  I'm going to stay positive that we found my answer finally.  My mind a bit more clearer now too so if anybody of you want to talk or compare what I went through with what you're going through now it could be good for the both of us. smile

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  • Posted

    hey man i think trigger point therapy is really helpful if you find an experienced practitioner. About five years ago i pulled my back muscle (rhomboids, lats, ect..) and it got progressively worse and my anxiety symptoms definitely contributed to the tension. No western medicine could help so I turned to alternative therapies. Massage was a help but I must say that acupuncture cured my issue. You need to find an acupuncturist who specializes in trigger point therapy. They literally find the trigger point in your muscles and instert the needles therapy (doesnt hurt either), you can feel the trigger point twitch and melt away. Give it a few sessions! Where are you from? try looking up tri state acupuncture and finding trigger point therapist from that school.

    Unfortunately my anxiety symptoms still create other muscle tensions and such. I still use acupuncture as a maintenance of these muscle tensions but I think the only cure for that is treating the anxiety first. However, it truly did cure my back when the muscle injury was due to a physical injury.

    • Posted

      I'm from Minnesota, USA. Yeah, you definitely have to work on the anxiety. But I think my main anxiety now is when the tension is crazy and causing the facial numbing it's making my anxiety much worse. I think the Sertaline helped me out quite a bit though. I haven't had anymore nausea during events which is a huge change. 10 years of it and now none of it is big for me.  

      I'll definitely look into acupuncture. I heard it's amazing. Good tip on trying to find someone who's specialized in trigger points with acupuncture.  I would have just thought it was mandatory, haha.

    • Posted

      yea the anxiety needs to be addressed for sure. im not sure about trigger point specialist in Minnesota but maybe the website can help. goodluck
  • Posted

    I'm really struggling with healh anxiety.

    Could you PM me some advice if you can?

     

    • Posted

      Ooops. Sorry. Didn't get the email for some reason. What things are you struggling with when it comes to health anxiety?  Do you have multiple symptoms that come and go? Do they stay? Do you not have any at all?
    • Posted

      I have so many random aches and pains and I alays think the worst even when my docottor says im fine
    • Posted

      I went through the same thing. Stomach pains, gut aches, hands and feet feel hot and tingly, my entire face and head would go tight or numb feeling, etc. I had it all. From day one my doctor told me anxiety. So far, she's been right. Bless her for still letting me get some tests done more for ease of mind. 

      I'm clearly not normal though. Right now I have chest tightness and my head feels hot at times.  Can't concentrate or anything. But she still let me go see a neurologist to see what he though. 

      I know it's REALLY HARD to believe in what your GP is telling you but you have to try.  To more you think about your problems the worse they will become. Just feeding fuel to the anxiety fire.  I'm still learning this myself.

    • Posted

      What things have you tried? Tests? Yoga?
    • Posted

      how did you find yoga? did it help?
    • Posted

      It did a little bit for me.  But I still couldn't turn off the mind. I guess it takes a while to train your mind to shut off and focus on your one position at a time.  I did find before goign to be mindfulness music/talk did good aftera  few weeks of training my mind to shut itself, haha.  

      One thing I'm starting to try is Tai Chi. It's heavily intensive in mind and body just like yoga. I might try and mix those up so I don't get bored of each.

      Like I mientioned before, go for walks. I almost feel cured when I go for a night walk.  It didn't happen over night but after a couple weeks of night/cool walks I feel pretty good during it.

    • Posted

      Sounds good,

      If you think of anything or learn something that helps a lot, could you send me a PM?

    • Posted

      Definitely. We're all in the together. If I feel better I won't be the one to ditch the very people who has the same, if not, worse symptoms that I had. I'll try my best.  If you have some extra money I'd recommend a massage every 2 weeks. 30min to an hour each.  Feels great and it helps rid the toxins from the muscles.
  • Posted

    LMK how Manual Therapy works for you. I've had a bad panic disorder for the past 5 yrs and I'm looking into doing CBT. My panic attacks just randomly happen and I get dizzy, feel like I'm going to pass out...heart racing..blurred vision..feeling really weird (like what's happening around me really isn't) and all of that good stuff.
    • Posted

      Will do.  I'm sorry you've went through so much in that amount of time.  I really hope you get some things figured out. We are all here though if you want to talk about it!  
    • Posted

      Yeah I'm definitely trying this out. I very rarely talk about it and just deal with it on my own. I rarely talk about it with others just because they aren't going through it so it would be difficult for them to understand in my opinion...and they will probably think that it's normal anxiety, which it's not. Sooooo I'm just hoping that talking to people that actually go through it will help.
    • Posted

      Definitely. That's why I came here myself. Nobody else understood. But here people do.  I go to another site too but not sure if I'm allowed to share links here. But it's called No More Panic. 

      Don't be afraid to post here though.  It definitely helps to talk about it where people actually understand. 

    • Posted

      Have you went on pinterest? It has some really great stuff too. Not a discussion place but loaded with all different remedies and meditations, teaches trigger and massage therapy..it has everything. I learned juicing from there, bought a juicer and its such a great addition to a diet and vitamins absorb quickly when you juice. They have juicing for every ailment or mood. Interesting. 
    • Posted

      I'll have to take a look at that. Thank you smile

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