Anxiety Pattern

[michigan07]

Over the holidays my family and I had a bought of the stomach flu, last wed-fri (great way to spend the holiday, right ?). Everyone is better but I am finding it harder than usual to over come it. I had the flu earlier this year, which lead on to anxiety and dry heaves for at least 3 months on and off. Therapy and adjustment of medication helped. I find that I am at an increase of anxiety, nausea, and fear (paticualry missing time of work, due to this). I had dry heaves both this morning as well as this afternoon, with the only good thing about it being the reduction of nausea. The odd thing to me is in the 15 years I have delt with anxiety it has not manifested itself in this way until this year. I guess my question is two fold, 1. Has anybody went through changes in how their anxiety presented itself years later ? 2. Has anyone else delt with something similar ? Thanks for any help : )

[LRon]

"Stinks." Such coarse language! ;-)

[michigan07]

I put the word stinks and it placed astricks lol go figure

[michigan07]

I appreciate you telling your story. I think a lot of it is after time our bodies get used to the meds we take and then they may need to be tweaked. Then we try to get off them when we feel good and it throws our body off. I get the dryness in the throat as well and that ***** a lot when it's mixed with a stomach ache.

[Lcer]

I read your post and the reply. I'm taking comfort in the fact that others are saying their symptoms have morphed.  I had been diagnosed with panic disorder 30 years ago. Once I was medicated, I was able to be mostly panic free. I use to have the "classic" symptoms - dizziness, nausea, wanting to flee, racing heart, blurry vision. Occasionally an attack included a strange surging feeling, like something hot was squirting into my system and then causing a burning sensation that moved trough my upper body arms and back. These episodes were rare.  I hadn't had panic attacks for years when suddenly this type of attack started occurring and I could have one episode after another throughout the day and night. I went to the ER twice and it was always diagnosed as pnic attacks. I even was admitted overnight so I could be on a heart monitor and have a stress test.  My heart was ruled out as the cause. I had stopped taking meds for about 4 months, when suddenly these type of episodes began relentlessly again.  I went to Dr., was diagnosed as panic attacks and have been back on meds for about 2 months.  Attacks while awake, have stopped, but oddly, almost every morning I wake at the end of a dream and have one of these attacks.  They last only minutes, but sometimes they affect my stomach so much, I feel ill all day. Also during the attack it seems like all the moisture is sucked from my throat, which becomes extremely dry. This suppresses my appetite.
I have always had trouble believing that these non-classic sysmptoms are panic attacks, but if others can attest to their symptoms morphing also, maybe I can accept that this can happen.  I hope that by me telling you my story, you also can have some comfort..

[LRon]

Sorry to learn you are struggling with this. Anxiety for me can be like playing whack-a-mole. Just when you think you've learned to cope with or overcome a certain anxiety symptom, it morphs into something new. I've read that from others as well, so this may be what is happening to you. My only advice is try to become involved in something that requires all of your mental focus, like starting a home improvement project or a hobby of some kind -- anything that focuses your attention OUTWARD onto the world and not INWARD onto your sensations, fears, etc. Not easy but it can be done. When I do that I often find myself saying "Hey, I just went a couple of hours without thinking about my anxiety or feeling anxious." Best wishes, Michigan07! From a fellow Michigander.