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[babyjane]

Sorry to start yet another anxiety thread but I find posts can get lost if you put on in the middle of an existing thread.

It's just a weird observation of mine but my anxiety started last September and seemed to replace my hot flushes.  It feels as though my thoughts and heart are racing but if I take my pulse during an anxiety surge it is slow and steady so although it feels like palpitations it clearly isn't.

I don't understand the physiology of it because it can't be due to adrenaline then or my pulse would quicken.  When it happens my thoughts speed up and I feel 'wired' but there's a strong, slow pulse which seems to contradict it.

Perhaps there is someone more knowledgeable who can help me understand what actually happens during these anxiety surges and why.  I find things so much easier to deal with if I can understand what is happening to me 

[honeybun]

I really don't think it's possible to rationalise anxiety. I wish it was.

My anxiety started after I began HRT, so although my flushes were under control and I felt so much better physically, out of the blue I had a couple of panic attacks and there began my anxiety journey.

If I could figure out what caused it then I might be in a better position to stop it.

I am really interested in what others think.


Honeybun
X

[CLKD]

The phobia triggered mine.  I think it was started within days of being born so is deeply engrained = learnt pattern. No amount of therapy has shifted it.   

The flight/fight response kicks in 'naturally' and it depends on how a person deals with it as to whether they suffer/not.  Thinking of athletes, they use this adrenaline surge to good benefit usually; thinking of the Royals, wonder how they cope with any anxiety surges?  I saw it happen to someone on TV on Sunday …… DH and I looked at each with a knowing look 

Beta-blockas help me a lot otherwise 

[babyjane]

I think mine has to be psychological.  If it was physical my heart rate would go up.  In a way I am glad my heart rate does not speed up as I have a bit of an issue with the fact my father had his first heart attack when he was my age but my cholesterol, BP and heart rate are all fine.  However this does not totally reassure me and I will be glad when I get to my next birthday without a heart attack.  I guess that is a type of anxiety in itself. Thank you for letting me explore this, I am afraid I have a tendency to want to analyse everything, it's a control thing.

[dazned]

Im very much a control freak,have been all my life

Which makes all this anxiety malarky worse ! Now I have learned that I can't control everything in my body it perversely has become easier,oh and tablets help ! 
Which I guess in turn by taking tablets I have controlled it.   

[Milamam]

Hi BJ,
I think I have read somewhere, could be in this forum in fact, that betablockers such as propanolol and others calm down the physical symptoms of anxiety ( ie trembling, palpitations, etc.) but the emotional symptoms remain. Betablockers do slow down your heart rate. If you take BBs, then it could be possible that you heart rate is normal during an anxiety surge.

I do also overanalyse things , but I think it is a tendancy for me since meno started. Hmm...

Milamam

[babyjane]

Oh yes, I have been on Propranolol since January so yes, that could be an answer as my heart rate and BP were considerable higher at my clinic appointment then which is why it was suggested - Duh! If I had a brain cell I could be dangerous 

[oldsheep]

I get weird sensory attacks that The Doctors have deemed anxiety related, even 'involuntary anxiety' (where you aren't feeling anxious and boom, they symptoms come on for no apparent reason). I have v cold hands and feet, and a greatly slowed heart rate as among my "favourites" when this happens.
I wondered if it was because my BP goes high, so the pulse slows down.

Now if only I could totally control my brain to be as positively charged as it gets negatively charged. A guy I used to work with called me Warrior Worrier Woman 
I do think it's a byproduct of being on my own far too much, being generally unwell (M.E and fibro and meno - although HRT helps it's not a panacea) and not being able to exercise as much as I'd like to.

[Sarai]

I am taking beta blockers and they control the wobbly bits and palpitations but as you say cant stop the brain going haywire. My digestion and bowels are may latest 'fear', I have lost count how many times my brain moves from one cancer to another. I feel my body has been taken over by an alien. As soo as a pain or change hits, bingo my old brain has a field day and frankly I am sick of it. I just wish I felt normal then I would have nothing to worry about.
i used to know my cycle so knew what went with ovulation and what went pre menstrally, right now Im 76 days since last period and feel pre mentstral and ovulatory. Crazy.
Do I really have to live like this for years to come?

[oldsheep]

I get so angry with myself for wasting so much precious time and energy on anxiety! My mind runs on about 10 channels = can't sleep.

[CLKD]

Oldsheep - when my Brain gets going nowt will stop it, I had an early morning when I was on here at mid-night  ……