Posted by Shandra on October 31, 2003, at 1:23:20
In reply to What is anxiety?, posted by dmwilmoth on October 22, 2003, at 15:54:58
I haven't been on Lexapro but have been treated for anxiety so I thought I'd add some thoughts from my experience. Basically, I think if it's really anxiety, it sort of "hits" you - even if you can't put your finger on any one thing that "caused it", you notice sort of an internal jolt, an emotional wrenching of some kind, and this jolt or whatever it is, really gets your attention. In other words, in my humble layperson-type opinion, I don't think it's possible to have an anxiety or panic attack without knowing you're experiencing anxiety and panic.
I had been on Ritalin for several months with good results and started going through some serious job stress. Naturally, my overall health diminished. Well, one day, I had a physical experience which I swore was a heart attack. Long story short, I had several doctors tell me the problem was my ritalin and that I was just having anxiety from that and I should consider stopping the meds. Well, I knew this couldn't be wrong. (My pdoc person didn't think this was the issue at all!) FINALLY I got in to see a cardiologist for followup tests, and this was a good three weeks after the incident, and it turns out I had a severe case of pericarditis (inflamation of the lining of the heart), severe enough that even three weeks later it was still showing up on the diagnostics as if it were a real problem -- and by that time I was actually feeling 1000% better as far as chest pains went.
The thing is, there's still so much prejudice out there regarding psych meds, psych conditions, and even particular meds such as Ritalin. Compound this with the notion that when people (should I say when women) have chest pains and indications of heart trouble, particularly if they are young (I was 35 at the time), it seems unfathomable to some doctors (like ppl in emergency rooms!) that the woman who's on psych meds might actually ALSO have another, serious, entirely physical problem! If I hadn't pushed to find a good (and young, bright) cardiologist to get some real answers backed up by tests I could participate in and understand, I might actually have been tempted to buy the bogus notion that the problem was either not serious or it was a result of the meds that I actually needed. Hopefully these attitudes will change over time. But in the meantime, I would say we need to get our doctor's attention and not let them tell us that chest pains mean anxiety when we don't feel emotionally anxious at all, and we should not allow non-pdocs to tell us our psych meds are causing anxiety attacks when they don't know our history and individual needs. It's just too easy to head down the wrong path at the detriment of our overall mental, emotional and physcial health because we want answers so badly.
Just don't let some underinformed and overworked non-pdoc tell you that if you were fine one minute, got chest pains etc the next and then started feeling freaked - out that the chest pains are a *result* of anxiety. It's very possible that pain originating in your chest and moving rapidly and painfully to your arms and hands might be one of those things itself that *makes* a person anxious and could well indicate a purely physical issue that you deserve to have investigated seriously by the rest of your care providers. If it's anxiety or panic, you many very well not know WHY you feel anxious or panicky, but odds are you're going to FEEL ANXIOUS emotionally, and usually at least a split second before it hits you physically (for me the first physical sign of panic/anxiety is a quick, terrible sinking feeling in my stomach, and then other symptoms follow. But the emotion is always first.
Sorry to ramble. Just a hard thing to really describe in so many words. - Shandra
> I have been taking Lexapro for about 4 months and have been doing pretty good, but just wondering if any of you can explain your symptoms of anxiety.
>
> My doc said I have a pre-occupation with the fear of puking or passing out in public (true) and thought the Lexapro might calm me. Also I get nervous when I'm sitting in a crowd (like in bleachers at a concert) and I'm not on the aisle -- I don't like being penned in (and mostly have a fear that I might have to puke and can't get out).
>
> But the confusing part of my "anxiety" is that before anything happened to me to trigger an alarm that something might be wrong, I was fine. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt like I was going to pass out, got really light headed, and had a hot flush throughout my whole body. I'm assuming it was a panic attack, but since I never had one I can't be for sure.
>
> Since takig Lexapro, I still have a nagging fear in the back of my head, but it is not foremost in my mind anymore. Also, I've stopped being so obsessive about house cleaning like I was before.
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> Can anyone give me their experience with fear/panic attacks?
>
> Thanks!
poster:Shandra
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031030/msgs/275158.html