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Feelings of extreme anxiety and doom: looking for advice (and also what this is)

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@littleoc
I hope it isn't offensive that I'm thinking soon I might refer to you as littlesister.
After reading your post again, I missed the lung problem before.
I recently finished one that kept recurring for over a year and remember quite well experiencing all the anxiety that you expressed, particularly when it got so bad that when walking up a flight of stairs, could hardly breath and was just waiting for a heart attack.

As mentioned somewhere I spent hours going through google (in Thailand I have a little problem getting my symptoms across to anyone because I'm too cheap to spend a fortune on English speaking specialists, and to be honest it's more entertaining playing charades than it was playing what's my line with people in Ontario).

I blamed the heat making my lungs too dry, had my air conditioner super cleaned when it was first diagnosed as "some kind of" bacterial infection that showed in my blood, and of course the high particulate matter in Bangkok hasn't helped. So I've got a super collection of dust masks from 10 micron to 2.5 that I can't get enough air through.

All that aside it got my interest when I read something about tooth abscesses often being linked to lung infections so I decided that finding a a dentist would at least be another adventure. Long story short I did have an abscessed tooth. More than once I've been told that either I'm not as sensitive as most, or it was just not as sensible as most are to pain.

Anyway it's a miracle that putting a canal in a tooth could have stopped panic attacks but it did, and the lungs seem to have cleared up at about the same time.Not being personal, but have you considered something as simple as that was.
Just saying
 
I hope it isn't offensive that I'm thinking soon I might refer to you as littlesister.
I'm not offended at all by that :)

Not being personal, but have you considered something as simple as that was.
I decided to do just that. Started on probiotics, tried exercising more. I'm not sure if it helped, but I definitely feel better now, so that's wonderful.

Also, I definitely saw the connection with alcohol. I have been careful to drink very, very little since then.

:) :)
 
@littleoc
Pleased to know that then littlesister.
I'm the last person to be a born again and sermon anyone on the evils of alcohol, or allege taking 12 steps when it's only 8 steps to falling off the edge improves the quality of life. (Sorry this doesn't seem to have means to edit after whatever I hit. So maybe I'm worse after not drinking or allowing anyone to sedate or make me take "psychedelics" ever again just to make life easier for others. I kind of enjoy just being high on life now)

@littleoc
In the event of any cognitive dissonance like I had skimming this, (until I noticed that there is a means of editing), I hope our moderator doesn't mind if I feel better confessing that I hit enter or something after q and had to send the rest starting at uality, I think we can agree that otherwise it looks like I have no credibility. :)
 
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It’s good to hear that you are doing better than before! That’s scary! Its really important to understand yourself and your body and still not put your life in danger if it was something life threatening. I’m terrible with words so I apologize if it doesn’t come off right.

When you said lungs and blood clots and birth control pills it sent shivers up my spine. Throughout my life I’ve always had some unexplainable physical pain and problems and even then, it would take a lot for me to go to the doctor “just in case.” It wasn’t too long ago that I started getting really weak and had a really bad cough but that’s happened before and nothing was ever “wrong”. I would have horrible coughs lasting up to 6-7 months. It was pure luck with the events that was played out in my life at that time that actually brought me to the doctor but only for refill prescriptions and not for this cough. Long story short is I had both lungs full of blood clots and shouldn’t have been alive according to my doctor. She couldn’t believe I was walking. I had no symptoms or pain but thank goodness she wanted to check out my cough because I just said that the cough was probably emotional stress. Birth control pills was probably what caused it so no more of those pills for me.

I guess I just wanted to say that you just never know and I’m glad you made it through this horrible experience. Please take care!
 
I’m terrible with words so I apologize if it doesn’t come off right.
Haha, no, I understand what you're saying!

Be in tune and be cautious but not too cautious :P

I had no symptoms or pain but thank goodness she wanted to check out my cough because I just said that the cough was probably emotional stress.
Man, that sends shivers down my spine, too... I've had some pretty weird symptoms of suddenly needed an inhaler, often.

But, I think my doctors are tired of seeing me come in, thinking I have something horrible, only for it to be nothing -- or, more accurately, I am, because it's time consuming and expensive. And so far the only off thing was that my liver wasn't producing a lot of bile, so... and it wasn't actually that alarming in my own context, it turned out. So that was great!

I'm so glad you made it. That actually, ironically (though I'm 78% sure I just misused that word), makes me less afraid :)
 
I’m glad it “ironically” made you less afraid! Lol! I have no clue if that’s the correct way to use the word but I think so:roflmao:

One of the biggest physical problems I have had for the majority of my life is something like IBS. I would get to points in my life where I would be in so much pain with intestinal cramping that I’d be passing out constantly. I had had 2 colonoscopies and “nothing was wrong” so I get booted out without any help or knowing what to do about it. It wasn’t until maybe 10 years ago that I was finally told about the body/mind connection and then it all made sense about all the mysterious physical pain that would come and go.

It took a lot to get me to go to the doctor and there was actually something physically wrong in those cases such as me not being able to walk anymore without a known cause and then the ding dong doctor telling me there was nothing wrong with me. What!? Ended up with him finally getting me a blood test and my thyroid wasn’t working and was almost in a coma state. Oh brother!

Later on in life I would catch a cold and get one of those coughs where I would cough so hard, blood would come up and would get that checked out but everything came back okay. If it lasted over 5 months my coworkers would urge me to go to the doctor to make sure I didn’t have cancer or something so I would and still was okay. So of course I didn’t go to the doctor with this last cough I had. It still amazes me how lucky I was and how events going on around that time forced the situation for me to go to the doctor and not be dead. I did the breathing tests and those were even normal also and my lungs were full of blood clots.

Sorry to go on and on....what kinds of physical symptoms have you had that doctors told you “nothing is wrong”?
 
.what kinds of physical symptoms have you had that doctors told you “nothing is wrong”?
Ah, man, so many. I'd feel weird listing them all. Anything from mysterious bruising over 90% of my legs but nothing else, to having an ovary just die on me, lol. I was honestly surprised when they told me the ovary was actually covered with cysts that had ruptured, was so sure it would be nothing.

Also, frequent headaches. Turned out to be post concussion syndrome, I think he called it? And migraines related to PTSD stuff, I'm sort of unclear on that though.

It's been incredible frustrating. Something similar to the IBS you mentioned to, where it turned out to be hormonal imbalances and a lack of good bacteria because of another problem. Good times!

I know most doctors are trying their best, but sometimes it sure is frustrating.

I hope my anxiety was just alcohol the days after and that I continue to not have problems :)
 
Starting off, I would like to let everyone know that I am safe and will not hurt myself. Service dog e...
ME right now, im going to therapy right now and my therpist is digging at my trauma and that has opened a floods gate of feelings i dont know how to handle, the feelings of doom and no escape is a symptom of ptsd. i was diagnosed by my therapist. Maybe you might have it or something else with similar symptoms.
 
Very late to the party but...
But an incredibly intense sense of doom
I'll give you the neuroscience angle if you like.
Our body's systems are two-way, and they reinforce each other.
I picture it like tin cans and string.
On one end we have our fight/flight lizard brain sending signals to our body that we are in Terrible Danger, to tense our muscles, stop digesting, channel our adrenaline and suspend all non-essential processes.
At the other end, we have our brain receiving those messages from our body that we're in terrible danger. It rationalises that we must, in fact, be in terrible danger because all the signals of our body are telling us so.
This gives us a feeling of "doom", and that horrible anticipation of what's to come, because our body is telling us we're in danger, so our brain knows we are.
Brain then shouts "doom!!!!" Down the tin can to body, which responds by sending us even more doom signals.
It's a feedback loop.

So, what to do about it?
Basically, I try to get my body to send some "we're okay" signals to my brain, and that seems to help. Tense your muscles for a coupla seconds and relax.
Also, chewing gum. Our chewing circuit communicates directly with lizard brain that we're actually okay, because if you're being attacked by a mammoth, you don't stop for a snack.
Calming smells, deep breathing and tactile stimulation also work well, but in my experience the chewing works the best.

Sorry this is happening, it's bloody awful.
 
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