Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: coldethyl on January 10, 2016, 11:51:35 AM
-
Daft question,but I'm curious to know just how unwell feeling anxious makes us feel. I suffer from panic disorder and health anxiety and since hitting the peri it's escalated exponentially so that I am finding it hard to accept that all the weird aches , pains , dizziness, sinus troubles, burning hives, feelings of unreality and weepiness are just anxiety and not signs of my imminent demise. There seems to be something new every day and when I put one anxiety to bed( I've just had a run of heart related panic) another takes its place immediately. I always feel unwell these days- sometimes just a niggle, other days I just want to sit in GP's surgery all day and wonder if this is "normal" for anxiety or whether I need to see someone ( again)
-
I don't have any answers but I do want to let you know you're not alone!
The only way I would have peace of mind now is to employ my own personal doctor to give me a check up every single day and put my fears to rest.
I never know whether my fears are due to my anxiety or whether they are something I should seek medical advice for. More often than not when I do decide to see a Doctor I'm told its 'nothing' .
I've begun to realize that my anxiety either exaggerates my symptoms or even causes them.
What would be a small twinge to one person can feel like a huge and agonizing pain to me. And at the time it does feel very real. Most days I just want to crawl under the blankets And be 'ill' whether I am or not!
-
Coldethyl, a question. Do you think this is all rooted in the fear of death rather than in the health worries themselves?
-
Coldethyl, a question. Do you think this is all rooted in the fear of death rather than in the health worries themselves?
I think for some people with HA it is - I'm not sure I am afraid of death or dying- what I am afraid of is making a fuss, dealing with medical people and leaving my family unprepared for my not being here. I have a terribly out of proportion sense of responsibility for everything that makes any hint of uncertainty unbearable. I don't know what the answer is, as life is inherently uncertain - starting CBT again with a private therapist this week who also does other sorts of therapy so hoping that helps.
-
I don't have any answers but I do want to let you know you're not alone!
The only way I would have peace of mind now is to employ my own personal doctor to give me a check up every single day and put my fears to rest.
I never know whether my fears are due to my anxiety or whether they are something I should seek medical advice for. More often than not when I do decide to see a Doctor I'm told its 'nothing' .
I've begun to realize that my anxiety either exaggerates my symptoms or even causes them.
What would be a small twinge to one person can feel like a huge and agonizing pain to me. And at the time it does feel very real. Most days I just want to crawl under the blankets And be 'ill' whether I am or not!
sorry you are suffering too. I've struggled with anxiety all my adult life but still found it possible to enjoy things- now it just seems that my life is anxiety. I'm trying to put my CBT stuff into practice but it's hard when all you want to do is run to the doctors at every twinge.
-
good morning
I discovered yesterday how unwell anxiety can make you feel. I forgot to take my low dose AD yesterday and didn't realise until I was up in the night at 3am having felt anxious and unwell all day.
This morning I took it at the usual time and now realise they really do work. :)
-
I think anxiety really does make you feel unwell. I think that I now notice every single niggle or slight pain and concentrate on it - that makes it worse but it is only worse in my mind. But anxiety certainly causes me to swallow more air -thus leading to heartburn and thence heart worries. It does upset my digestion - leading to stomach/bowel worries. It does cause me to clench my jaw - leading to tooth ache/jaw ache worries. I even had weeks of bladder pain/constant needing to wee which must have been anxiety.
I find distraction the best defence. I say to myself - if that pain is still bothering me through a night out with friends, then it is serious. So far it hasn't been.
-
Thank you ladies. I think it is a case that I notice things more because I'm so focused on my body and how I'm feeling. It is easy to attribute the strange feelings to the anxiety response when I'm actually having a panic attack but much harder to accept the 24/7 aches, pains and niggles that everyday anxiety causes. In the past I'd have severe panics but come down in between a lot but nowadays I feel always at 7 or 8 so am quickly off the panic scale - mr ethyl seems surprised when I am him if I seem anxious as he can't believe that I can't tell myself that I am as I'm constantly fidgeting and wringing my hands even when just sitting down. And of course, there's the constant ' I hope I don't feel x here" so of course I do.
Distraction does help and I try to get out and do stuff even if part of me thinks that if I'm in town and I collapse the ambulance will get to me more quickly than at home!!!
-
Coldethyl, this is me exactly as you will see from my constant postings over the last few days. I am so, so sick of myself and this HA. It took me weeks to pluck up the courage to go to the Drs and she has doled out the ADs again but wasn't concerned about my heart worries so now I am fretting that I didn't stress them and forgot to mention waking up with chest ache every day and just because I have had a 'normal' ECG, she is not concerned. I am now thinking should I pay too see a private cardiologist or a full BUPA check....I can't live like this. I too think that I am better collapsing in town and carry aspirin with me!!! I can't relax either...got to be 'alert' at all times....I dread bed time as I think the ambulances will be slower to arrive at night and panicked when the junior Drs mentioned striking!!! My head is seriously messed up. I wish I just got normal aches and pains but chest aches and pains are so scary as its all based on time and whether you get treated quickly enough. I am afraid of suffering and being left in a hospital bed with no staff to look after me. This stems from a real experience 28 years ago so the scars are deep. I really feel for you...this is hell.
-
Coldethyl, this is me exactly as you will see from my constant postings over the last few days. I am so, so sick of myself and this HA. It took me weeks to pluck up the courage to go to the Drs and she has doled out the ADs again but wasn't concerned about my heart worries so now I am fretting that I didn't stress them and forgot to mention waking up with chest ache every day and just because I have had a 'normal' ECG, she is not concerned. I am now thinking should I pay too see a private cardiologist or a full BUPA check....I can't live like this. I too think that I am better collapsing in town and carry aspirin with me!!! I can't relax either...got to be 'alert' at all times....I dread bed time as I think the ambulances will be slower to arrive at night and panicked when the junior Drs mentioned striking!!! My head is seriously messed up. I wish I just got normal aches and pains but chest aches and pains are so scary as its all based on time and whether you get treated quickly enough. I am afraid of suffering and being left in a hospital bed with no staff to look after me. This stems from a real experience 28 years ago so the scars are deep. I really feel for you...this is hell.
I can relate so much to all of what you say. The only thing I can say is that I think we have to accept that this is anxiety. Yes we have the pains , but it is our anxiety and all the physiological changes that causes in the muscles and nerves that is causing it and not any underlying defect. Today I've a headache and can't turn my head and 22 years ago I'd have been at a and e sure that I had meningitis because that was in the news day in day out. Now I can see that it is much more likely to be tension and the sinus pain I have causing it. Many years ago I ended up in hospital on cardiac ward because my GP was concerned and I had lot of tests and saw the cardiologist and for all of about three days I was certain I was ok, until an acquaintance told me about her husband who had had all the tests and was cleared but then wasn't ok at all... So I guess I am saying that it isn't the tests you need but an elusive certainty that you can't ever have and it would be far better to use BIPA to see a psychologist to get some therapy and support that way, otherwise you risk just shifting from one illness to the next. The menopausal transition is going to keep throwing these sort of things at us and I genuinely think that the only way through it is to keep riding the waves and not let ourselves be pulled under by every weird sensation. My GP suggested I went for more CBT so that is starting this week and I've enrolled on a mindfullness course as well and she has said she will see me every few weeks just to check I'm doing ok. Maybe you could ask your GP for a check in appointment every few weeks until this starts to settle. X
-
I lost my response for some reason!
Yes, can see you're right to a point but just reiterates why I can't believe it when Dr says its just anxiety if tests aren't reliable so how can we just 'ignore' symptoms???? We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain. I am exhausted with it all.
-
I lost my response for some reason!
Yes, can see you're right to a point but just reiterates why I can't believe it when Dr says its just anxiety if tests aren't reliable so how can we just 'ignore' symptoms???? We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain. I am exhausted with it all.
I do understand. I've been to a and e so many times with chest pain only to be told it's anxiety. It might not be, and I might drop dead tomorrow from it but I have to start living as if things are ok. Otherwise I actually might as well be dead as what I've been going through these last few months ( and what you sound to be going through too) isn't living. It really isn't easy and all weekend I've wanted to get my bp monitor out ( they told me at hospital that my constant checking was just feeding my anxiety) but I've distracted myself with other things and told myself i can get Gp to check when i go in few weeks. I think we just have to take these small steps even if we don't believe it is all anxiety. In CBT they talk a lot about theory A and theory B, where A is doing what we are doing now, and B is living as if we have an anxiety issue and seeing if things improve by doing that. It won't happen overnight and some days it will feel overwhelming but it is worth just trying to see this as a symptom of a body sensitised by the hormonal fluctuations of the menopausal transition. Yes, we will get the usual meno symptoms and yes, they may be scary and unpleasant but the less we respond to them with fear and more adrenaline, the less they will be so overwhelming. If you feel that only having a full work up will help, arrange one privately but as one of my GPs said to me, any one of us can have a heart attack or stroke at any time and nothing can guarantee it won't happen so it is far better to just get on with living while we are alive. Please think about psychological counselling just to help you calm down a notch or two as you are obviously very distressed by all of this - it is exhausting and I feel like I've run a marathon every day for a week so can empathise with you completely. X
-
We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain.
The thing with chest pain is you need to be seen WHEN the pain is happening. Year before last my OH was having chest problems for a couple of months but the ECGs were fine. One day they happened when we were at the GPs for something totally different but they did do an ECG then called an ambulance for him. So JJ, if you can get to the Drs or A&E to get an ECG done then there is a chance of identifying the problem.
-
Limpy, went twice while having pains but told normal. Even had bloods done once at the same time and normal.
Coldethyl, thanks. You seem to be at the stage where you can rationalise things which is where I need to be! I am seeing someone privately for some therapy this week.
-
Limpy, went twice while having pains but told normal. Even had bloods done once at the same time and normal.
Coldethyl, thanks. You seem to be at the stage where you can rationalise things which is where I need to be! I am seeing someone privately for some therapy this week.
JJ, I find it far easier to tell someone else what to do than do it myself , so this is a sort of reminder for me too of what needs doing. Good luck with the therapy. I see mine on Friday so maybe we can compare notes.
-
Coldethyl....good luck too...good idea! :)
-
Does your anxiety shift from one health issue to another? Mine does, so I've found it helpful to note what I am worrying about & when. Because the worry shifts from week to week, or even day to day, I can look back and see how many major illnesses I've convinced myself I have in the past 2 weeks & it makes it easier to convince myself that it's all in my mind! I've also been able to see a pattern to some pains - e.g. headache immediately before I start bleeding (so probably linked to hormones, not a brain tumour), breast pain (ditto)
I also have a rule the health issue has to be a problem for 10 days before I go to the GP - inevitably, by the end of 10 days, I've moved on to a new illness!
-
Does your anxiety shift from one health issue to another? Mine does, so I've found it helpful to note what I am worrying about & when. Because the worry shifts from week to week, or even day to day, I can look back and see how many major illnesses I've convinced myself I have in the past 2 weeks & it makes it easier to convince myself that it's all in my mind! I've also been able to see a pattern to some pains - e.g. headache immediately before I start bleeding (so probably linked to hormones, not a brain tumour), breast pain (ditto)
I also have a rule the health issue has to be a problem for 10 days before I go to the GP - inevitably, by the end of 10 days, I've moved on to a new illness!
Mine has one major constant theme ( my heart ) and then lots of other ones that rear up and I'm obsessed by them for a bit. I find it hard to remind myself that I've had them on and off for so long that it has to be anxiety but I am trying. I am finding that not buying in to a symptom does seem to lessen its impact, or reminding myself that a tight chest is also a sign that I've been holding my breath while typing on the iPad or is just from me tensing up with a hot flush. I used to do something like your ten day rule years ago when I first had panic attacks. My then GP was very popular, so I'd book an appointment for a few weeks hence and then cancel it if the symptom had gone. It seemed to help me refocus my attention away , knowing that if I needed to go, I'd already got an appointment.
-
It must be so much harder to cope with if you always worry about the same health issue. It sounds as if you are putting some good coping strategies in place though.
I get regular chest pain, but I've had it since before I started peri so bizarrely, that's the symptom that bothers me least! Mine has been put down to stress, which can make the muscle over the heart cramp. I've found deep breathing, rubbing the breastbone and shoulder area and using a heatpad or slightly-warm hot water bottle on my chest help ease it. (Though the heatpad probably won't help if the pain has been brought on by the stress of a hot flush ;D )
-
ILL! to the point of wanting to die.
I had my first panic attack aged 3, I became anorexic at age 5 and my parents were told I would 'grow out of it'. Didn't!
Anxiety begins around the bottom R of my belly button with a tightness, which immediate induces nausea = weak thighs followed by weak calves and then the despair. In a matter of less than 10 mins. i can be a blubbering wreck shaking uncontrollably. Which is when I take an emergency tablet which eases all symptoms within 20-40 mins.. Then I pee, lots, every 10 mins..
Then I worry in case the anxiety makes me house bound as it did in the 1990s. I didn't leave our house even to go to into the Garden for 3 months.
Haven't read the other responses due to needing to 'get on' …… you are NOT alone!
-
Thank you both. Not coping well today - had bad night with hot flushes which make my heart do funny things - been awake every 20 minutes so felt like rubbish when I woke up then my mum phoned to say my grandad had died during early hours. Hubby trying to talk to a GP for me as I can cope with the anxiety or the menopause but not both at the minute. I wanted to go and see my grandad yesterday but was scared that the anxiety would kick in so I didn't. Now I have to live with that failure.
-
:bighug: coldethyl I am so very sorry to hear about your grandad. That will be a very real grief that you will need to bear, along with your feelings of guilt over not seeing him.
There is no need to feel guilty and grandad would probably not want you to feel this way, but you will anyway as it is part of the grieving process. Please let us support you if you would like us to x
-
:bighug: coldethyl I am so very sorry to hear about your grandad. That will be a very real grief that you will need to bear, along with your feelings of guilt over not seeing him.
There is no need to feel guilty and grandad would probably not want you to feel this way, but you will anyway as it is part of the grieving process. Please let us support you if you would like us to x
Thank you so much. Everyone here is so lovely. You are right- my grandad wouldn't ever want me to be sad - it just feels like someone has dealt me all the rubbish cards at the minute at a time when I feel least able to cope. X
-
Guilt can be destroying. Because we can't alter what was happening and the result of not going - now that Grandad has died you don't have to visit so that option no longer causes anxiety. :bighug:
Anxiety is 'normal'. It's the 'fight/flight' response left over from when we lived in The Cave. Knowing that however doesn't help when the physicality of it all hits. The number of 'experts' that advised me to 'remember how you feel on a good day, that will take over the anxiety feelings' ……….. >:( now I would alter the shape of their face if they said anything similar to me :-X
Of course the next problem will be: go to the Service or not :-\ - when my friend died suddenly at the start of Dec. DH and I volunteered to sit at their house because I couldn't go ……. we sat reading, thinking about how the Service was progressing …… if that's how you cope don't let anyone else sway you to do different! Sitting with the lights low, maybe light a candle, remembering can be done anywhere.
Some people find that blowing into a brown paper bag helps. Something to do with oxygen levels? but I've never been one to carry a brown paper bag with me. Some find singing can regulate breathing …….
If you had something serious by now you would have had 'more' symptoms.
-
I will go to the service. I'm mostly ok during day at minute. It's the nights without proper sleep that I'm struggling with. Spoke to GP who suggested upping my betablockers as necessary ( I only take 2x10mg ) to see if that helps with the palpitations and adrenaline.
I think you are right that you have to do whatever it is that you think you can cope with on any given day.
My grandad had a long and good life and I'm going to remember that when it hurts that he isn't here.
-
It's not about the 'final visit' anyway, but about all the other times you spent with the one who has gone. Don't think about the one time when you weren't there, think about all the other times when you were, and all the memories you have from that. That's what counts. Hugs x
-
It's not about the 'final visit' anyway, but about all the other times you spent with the one who has gone. Don't think about the one time when you weren't there, think about all the other times when you were, and all the memories you have from that. That's what counts. Hugs x
Thank you x
-
That's a lovely thought Dorothy.
I take 40mg BB at night and if necessary, add a tablet at breakfast occasionally.
-
Having a bad day today - sat at work really anxious. Haven't been sleeping for over a week now so think that's not helping. Waking up anxious and worrying every little twinge in my chest is going to turn into a full blown heart attack. Have just started on the AD this afternoon - decided couldn't cope with it this morning in case I felt bad at work but as I usually start to feel a bit better after lunch, have taken half a tablet and intend to go onto them very gradually if this is the route I have to take.
Went to meet a friend for a coffee at lunch time but was so anxious that my chest was hurting while I was talking to her and I couldn't enjoy it so it felt like a bit of a panic attack and I was glad to get back to the office. This is ridiculous. I keep looking out the car window on the journey to and from and see people walking along briskly and it makes me feel ill just watching them do it and I even passed an elderly woman power walking last night - it makes me so depressed that I can't do that....how do people do it??? I hope these tablets work - I'm at the end of my tether with myself. I just want to get home so I can have a cry. :'(
-
JJ does exercise affect the pain you get, i.e. does it bring the pain on, or does it alleviate things?
What OH found when chest pain happened was that exercise actually helped to stop it.
Perhaps a gentle walk might help next time it happens to you?
-
Limpy, if I say yes, you'll say angina won't you?? I don't know to be honest because I don't exercise! I walked to the coffee shop fine yesterday and I can walk up and down flights of stairs no problem, so it doesn't make sense, but today was so anxious but think I am getting anxious about taking the tablets....
-
Limpy, if I say yes, you'll say angina won't you??
Err No :-\
It was just a question.
Do you think it's angina? When you've had tests done when the pain was happening it wasn't picked up then.
You say you don't exercise, it might be an idea to do a little more! You may feel a little better in yourself then.
-
Sorry Limpy, just my mind is catastrophising today. Yes, when I had the ecg the niggles were there but then people tell me that an ecg doesn't pick up angina and you have to have a treadmill for that so that's why I can't get my head to not worry. They just didn't suggest further tests.
I do need to do something - I made myself go for a walk in the Park with OH and dog but I panic I think and that makes me tense up.
-
I felt really ill this morning. Nauseated. Sick. Dizzy. Shaking.
You look at others going about their day but how do you know that they aren't covering up? Stop projecting!
Tension can cause aches and pains in muscles not usually used. When I came out of a deep depression years ago my whole body would ache, inside and out; even my shadow ached :'(.
Heart problems don't usually niggle, there is a pattern and the pain is usually in one place. Are you aware that as oestrogen levels drop it triggers various aches and pains as muscles become lax!
-
No, didn't know that CLKD. I am annoyed that when I went to the Drs the other day I didn't ask to get my hormones checked...she will have just done bloods...too busy concentrating on the bloomin anxiety and depression. Sorry to hear you have had a bad day too.
Yes, Sparkle, I am sure the anxiety isn't helping but do you think anxiety can be 'different' from one time to another? This time it's not affecting eating or anything. Just concentrating on heart but then I am always fixed on some body part!!! This feels worse because it could be terminal straight away!!! Oh I hate this pathetic person I have turned into.
-
Nothing is immediately terminal other than a stroke, heart attack or haemorrhage ………….
Your GP is probably working through the various methodology to get various tests out of the way. It's the waiting between tests and suggestions that can be so tiring :-\ ………
Hormone blood tests can be reliably un-reliable! because the hormone levels alter on and off all though 24 hours. GPs need to dismiss other conditions that cause similar symptoms. At least all those tests will be out of the way!
Anxiety for me affects my gut first. Part of the 'fight/flight' response.
-
How unwell does anxiety make me feel? The answer is- very! It wears me out and leaves me with very little energy... physical or mental energy left....to deal with normal life, or to deal with the issue that caused the anxiety in the first place (for me that is usually health related).
There is no easy or guaranteed way to become 'less anxious '....but i keep trying.
-
I've tried the deep breathing. Helped for a while. Some people find that walking eases anxiety, or swimming/cycling/jogging :-\
-
JJ, I really do understand how you feel as I'm in a similar place. I only have to realise that I have to walk somewhere and my chest starts hurting. All I can say is that the constant focus on my chest pain has begun to alleviate but only because I am now fixated on my dizzy head, twitchy leg and bunged ear. That says to me that it is anxiety - yes the pain is real and you can get spasms of the coronary artery through anxiety induced hyperventilation causing heart pain as well as worn out chest wall muscles but it is still an anxiety response and not an imminent heart attack.
I am telling myself that if things worsen then I will demand more tests etc but at end of day, constant reassurance is a very short lived thing and you are back to square one.
None of this is easy and I'll admit I sometimes have to skim bits of posts if there's something triggering in it, but I do believe that things can improve if we take time to breathe better, do some relaxation and just accept that we can't be certain. If you think about it, you didn't know before 100% of the time that you were 100% ok but you just got on with living. Living the way that we are/have been isn't living and I am determined that if I drop dead tomorrow that I will have lived today.
-
Breath …………. ;)
My shoulders are up round my ears ::)
-
Good points well made Coldethyl. When I think how much time I've wasted worrying that I'm about to drop dead and yet I'm still here. I think I worry that if I stop analysing each symptom that will be the one time I should have worried! In the meantime I'm wasting my life. I really need to get on with it but I can really understand how much easier said than done this can be at times.
S x
I'm coming to the conclusion that it is both the easiest and the hardest thing to do- to live as if you are immortal whilst knowing that at any turn you could just cease to be. It isn't quantity of life that matters but quality and it has to be better to just get on with living than letting so much time pass by in what ifs. If the worst does happen, it won't be any less bad or any easier to cope with because we have fretted about it so much in advance.
-
Just have to practice what I preach now ;-)
-
My shoulders are actually permanently located round my ears and typing all day doesn't help.
I have got some sort of weird breathing going on too as I wake myself up doing it and OH noticed it and I hold my breath when I am typing so wondered if I am hyperventilating at times.
Coldethyl, I feel loads better when you explain it like that. You and I sound very similar with the same symptoms. I think the walking thing has become mostly psychological as I panic if I know I have to walk. I know when I have pains elsewhere I tend not to concentrate too much on my chest. I am trying to deep breathe as much as I can. I am booking a massage this week too...long overdue for one.
Thanks all.
-
I know...thank goodness somebody can talk sense!!! Now I need to tell my brain to listen.... :-\ ;D
-
It is important to remember that hyperventilation isn't just breathing quickly but is also breathing in other ways that wash the CO2 out of our bodies. So taking too deep breaths can trigger it if we are already teetering on that edge. I find jp hold my breath a lot when I type, then take a deep breath and this seems to trigger all the weird symptoms of anxiety like pins and needles and numbness that I also get.
The trick is to breathe, slowly and regularly without sighs or gulps and use the diaphragm rather than the upper chest muscles ( they are not designed to be used constantly ) for breathing.
DInah Bradley a NZ physio has written some good books on breathing techniques to help anxiety which are pretty cheap on Amazon.
-
Having a bad day today - sat at work really anxious. Haven't been sleeping for over a week now so think that's not helping. Waking up anxious and worrying every little twinge in my chest is going to turn into a full blown heart attack.
If I hadn't slept for a week, I wouldn't just be having little twinges, I'd have so much chest pain I could barely breathe! No wonder you are feeling rough. Tiredness is one of the biggest causes. A doctor once said to me that you often get chest pain with exhaustion as it is nature's way of trying to make you rest. If it hurts to move, you are more likely to stay put!
Walking: I don't have your problem, but I did go through a phase of panicking about walking anywhere after I collapsed once when I was out. If I had to walk anywhere, I would panic it would happen again, which of course made my breathing funny, which made me light headed, which made me panic more... I built it up in tiny amounts, gradually extending how far I went & eventually it eased.
Typing - make sure you do lots of relaxing exercises regularly - shoulder shrugs, rolls etc. It's really easy for the shoulder & neck muscles to tense even if you aren't anxious. Also, check your chair, desk height, screen height etc - it's amazing what a slight difference of position can do.
-
Ha ha, yeh Sparkle ....OH says I sound like Darth too...and the mouth has started to stay open now!!!
Coldethyl, I will take a look at that book and some You Tube techniques. My therapist did teach me how to breathe but then you forget to do it and fall back into old ways.
-
Ha ha, yeh Sparkle ....OH says I sound like Darth too...and the mouth has started to stay open now!!!
Coldethyl, I will take a look at that book and some You Tube techniques. My therapist did teach me how to breathe but then you forget to do it and fall back into old ways.
I think that what we have to remember is that the things we are taught like relaxation and breathing are things we need to keep doing to stay well. I'm guilty of doing them when I have to and then as soon as I feel ok, dropping them. If we are habitually anxious, we are prone to hyperventilating, holding ourselves tensely and so on so it is essential that we keep at all the techniques that support us. It would be lovely if life was as effortless as it seems to be for others but it isn't so we have to just accept that we need to take time for ourselves to sustain ourselves.
-
Sparkle, that's always my tightest spot when I get massaged...completely knotted and hard.
Dorothy, think a lot of the discomfort is exhaustion at the mo...post Christmas etc. I would love a week off just to chill and recharge.
-
I have a dead upper left arm from using my ipad so much. I can feel a lump under the skin and it hurts when I touch it and spasms now and then. We were never designed to sit so long or use computers or touch screens. No wonder our bodies are rebelling.
-
Coldethyl, I agree it's important to keep doing these things even when we don't feel the need for them. I was given stretching/relaxing exercises following a car accident a number of years ago & told to do them at least every half hour when using a computer - by the time I'd finished the physio (6 months) it had become automatic to keep doing them. Even when I'm not aware of being tense, I always find I am when I do the exercises! I think it's important for everyone but much more so if you are prone to anxiety related tension to build these things into daily life, not just wait till you feel the need for them.
-
Well I keep reminding myself that I am not 25 anymore as I watch the young ones in the office banging away twice as fast as me on the keyboard!
Coldethyl, wise words and so true.
This forum has been a Godsend to me since I have discovered it. Thank you all so much.
-
I think it does help just to see that we are not alone with all of this. Reaching out to others has been shown to stimulate the production of oxytocin the feel good hormone, and I think the support and space to share that this place provides is invaluable.
I'm like you Sparkle. The bad habits are so ingrained that they just are normal now and it is hard to accept that they can cause so much physical upheaval. I guess we just cope with it until something like the hormonal maelstrom of the menopausal transition comes along and our poor bodies scream " enough!"
Dorothy, you are so right. I'm going to switch my light of shortly and just do ten minutes breathing practice.
-
Was reading a book on anxiety yesterday and one of the sections was on importance of just drinking enough water throughout day. I know I should but I don't so going to add that to list of things I should do. I thunk it's doubly important when you are suffering from the hot flushes and night sweats.
-
I am terrible at drinking water. Every New Year it's one of my resolutions and every year I fail! Trouble is, I am never thirsty, even in hot weather so I have to consciously make myself have a drink. I make numerous cuppas through the day but never drink more than half a cup! I too will make an effort and see if that helps.
Hope everyone has a good day today.
-
A water app sounds good idea. Will check that out. I really do need to up my intake as I've been feeling on the edge of a migraine this last week and it drinking more fluids does help them.
I had a reasonable night's sleep but then had two hours of flushes when I got up so now look and feel very damp!! Wouldn't care so much but I am a diabetic and it raises my blood sugar. Argh. Can I pencil myself in as coming back as a man next time?
Have a great day ladies. X
-
Water is good for helping flush the stuff through your system faster and helps the kidneys cope. My BS was perfect till this all started but now goes up with a flush- all that cortisol and adrenaline not great for the body in so many ways. Of course the diabetic nurse will just think I have been eating all the pies!
Yes it would be my luck to get me as a partner!
-
Sparkle, not heard of a water app! I will have a look now.... :)
-
I have a pint glass of water on the dining room table with a drinking straw and I have three draws on the straw every time I pass. I find a draw on a straw easier than gulps from the glass. I try to refill the glass at least once so that's 2 pints a day (1 litre) in addition to my normal cuppas with the hubby.
-
How does water intake have any effect on anxiety :-\
It is known that if the body is dehydrated = headaches
However: it is not necessary to drink as much as we are told - because we take in fluids with other food stuffs. Back to the colour of pee: the 1st one of the day (i.e. after 2.00 a.m.), will be dark. As the day goes on it should be straw coloured, any lighter and the person is drinking TOO much. Often we are told that we should be drinking X-litres of water by the bottled water Companies, we don't see Anglian Water pushing the info., do we?
I do know that after my anxiety subsides I pee every 10 mins. for hours and not small quantities either.
-
I don't always drink when I am thirsty unless I have a visual reminder, hence the glass on the table. It is nothing to do with how much I am 'told' to drink. I never have dark pee in the mornings as I drink during the night due to dry mouth, and sometimes it is almost as clear as the water itself in the day but that wouldn't stop me drinking if I needed to.
-
I drink when thirsty. Or when I realise that I haven't had as many cuppas as 'usual'.
As an aside - I maybe begin anther thread ;)
-
Dehydration can cause palpitations which in turn can trigger anxiety response so I guess that is why you should keep drinking. I know when I went to and e one morning after I'd been out and about and not drinking as much the previous day and night they suggested I needed to drink more as that would ease things.
-
I also find I get constipated if I don't drink enough ::)
-
My mucus has never been cleared by drinking ::) …….. I've had post nasal drip since the 1970s and worked for an ENT Surgeon who told me that living in a drier country would ease symptoms: when I asked if the NHS would pay for me to go to Oz he shook his head ::) ………. did the Consultant ask what your diet consists of ? and is there evidence to back his suggestion ………. why would drinking more interfere with mucous production as that's a way of clearing the area of bugs etc.. :-\
Drinking too much can be fatal :-\
Background anxiety today has stayed, background …….. but I dread the next attack :'(
Yep - bowels can be affected if people don't have enough fluid in their diet. Lack of exercise can also cause an affect on the bowels ::)
-
One Speciality ticked off then ::)
I would have thought that drinking would affect the acid reflux :-\ certainly for me if I drink too late then try to sleep, at night I get heartburn ………. do you ever wish that you could see your insides, would that ease health anxiety? :D
-
I have a dry mouth all the time, but hardly ever feel thirsty - by the time I do, I have a headache and feel sick due to dehydration. I drink a mug of warm water first thing and another before every meal. By drinking at set times, I make sure it happens. As a bonus, the water means I feel less hungry so eat less!
CLKD I don't think the amounts we are talking about (e.g. 1.5 litres) are enough to be fatal.
-
Nope. I think athletes can be affected if they over-drink.
-
Thought I would wake this up as hoping all my issues are anxiety! Two years ago I just had tooth issues and the occasional panic attack. Then bladder pain, stomach aches, trapped wind, numb arm, jaw ache... Currently it's a weird feeling under my left rib and gurgling bowels.
I just feel like s*** a lot of the time.m. Hypnotherapy tomorrow!
-
Hi Urbanchick, I'm asking myself the same thing at the moment as I feel so ill in the mornings.....can't believe it's just anxiety. I've been here before but this time it 'feels' different but then the family say I say that every time!!
I feel dreadful today and it's nothing hormone related with me as I'm well past menopause :'(
-
Hi Urbanchick
Just thought I would let you know you're not alone. We've 'spoken' before on other threads and as I said, I have very similar symptoms to you.
I wanted to mention specifically the pain under left rib and the gurgling. I had this a lot several months ago and on/off for several years. Fortunately ;D it was gurgling once when I was at a doctors appointment so I got her to listen to it. She explained that it is relatively normal, a lot of people have it and it's because on the left side there is a sharp bend in the 'pipes' and it's also the 'valve' where the stomach goes into the intestine. This was also confirmed when I read the Guilia Enders Gut book. I try to remember this to stop me from worrying - that some gurgling is OK, and also that gut is the 'second brain' and affected by anxiety. There's a lot of stuff about this on the internet at the moment.
I managed to get rid of the pain and gurgling by cutting out refined sugar, dairy and as much gluten as possible. My diet is actually virtually vegan. I don't know if it was diet related as it seems more likely to be anxiety as the HA makes it worse (Brain says it is pancreas C). Anyway it went away and I had three good months. However, recently all the gurgling has come back following the 'lentils' incident and a re-occurrence of more peri symptoms, like a period wants to come but it won't/can't (last one July), so I am putting it down to HA due to the lentils incident, the lentils themselves disturbing gut balance, and oestrogen surges. I am trying to push through it.
Good luck :) BB
-
Thanks so much Betty, this has helped me enormously. Am much better today, despite lack of sleep.
Best wishes to all fellow sufferers!
-
Hi, just thought I would say I wake most mornings with the dread I having a heart attack and it does take some shaking off, sometimes the darn thought is sitting right in the background all day. Then symptom wise I seem to get like funny electric feeling in the area elbow to wrist in both arms. Sometimes a pain in the middle of my chest and aches across the shoulders back. These I link to having a heart attack. :'(
-
Ops, forgot to say have fizzing in the head and sometimes like a thick head feeling and not quite belonging to myself. All fin and games x