Anxiety- Seriously?

This is what I said to the doctor when I was told I had anxiety.

Most everyone has experienced a form of anxiety at one point in their life for various reasons. It could be starting a new job or going on stage or even meeting the in-laws. Many of these situations might cause a person to have a healthy amount of anxiousness, but its when you get that extremely high level on a continuous basis that sets off the alarm bell.
Waking up from a perfectly fine sleep in the middle of the night feeling panicked and heart racing for no reason is not a roller coaster I care to be on.
This was happening to me. A couple of years ago I started having this racing feeling in my chest followed by icy cold sweaty hands, dizziness and sometimes shaking as if I
was cold. I blew it off as stress or hormonal changes. I was going through an enormous amount of stress in my life at the time all while entering the, "Change of Life", too.
The symptoms persisted and even got worse. I felt heart palpitations and my focus was off when trying to work. I could be standing in front of a room full of people and this would happen and I did my best to shake it off and act as if nothing was occurring. I finally decided to go to the doctor after having to leave my work space and go cry for a few minutes. At this point I was convinced I had some sort of ailment or cancer or anything else but "ANXIETY!" (#Anxiety, #Wellness)
NOPE ITS ANXIETY
Now to be fair I had a lot going on in my life, I was in a new state with a new job, finances were tough, home life was less than desirable, hubby had severe health issues, you name it was happening in my life. To top it off I was gaining weight faster than I could buy clothes.
When I met with my doctor she said you have a lot going on in your life and you have been running on empty so long this is the result and you have anxiety. Ugh! The first thought in my head was, "I don't have time for this". Then my next thought was how am I supposed to fix this crap with everything else going on? The first go to for the doctor was a prescription for pills.
To take or Not to take
Now let me be clear I am not a doctor or making suggestions to anyone!
I chose not to take the Rx. I have been in and around the mental health field for some time with my profession and seen patients and what they go through. It can be very sad and disheartening. I did not want to be on anything for the rest of my life or even change my brain function. That is until I started waking up in the middle of the night!
I found my self back at the doctor begging for an alternative solution. She gave me the prescription again and made a few natural solution suggestions, many of which I knew from my history in health and fitness but was so wrapped up in my sad world I was lost. The natural solutions did have an affect but at this point not enough. I was waking up pacing the floors sure I was having a heart attack my blood pressure was up and then some. My family didn't understand and would just say take a few deep breaths you will be fine. I knew in my head what was happening was ridiculous and I probably wasn't going to have a heart attack, but when you are experiencing real anxiety nothing else matters.

With time and radical changes in my life for the better I was able to cope. I did get off of the prescribed long term medication soon after starting. For me I just couldn't wrap my head around being on it. It also made me feel odd along with everything else I was experiencing. (#natural, #panicdisorder) I took an as needed prescription for a period of time that helped when my symptoms were at their worst. I was told what I had was a form of anxiety called, "Panic Disorder". It has taken over 2 years since the start to find real solutions to help with this disorder. I had to push, prod and research a lot to get what works for me. I wouldn't settle for just another prescription and I did seek a counselor to get the crap out! I felt there had to be natural solutions because our bodies are so wonderfully made and anxiety is natural to a small degree. So how did people way back deal? After all their lives were hard from the start. There are alternatives that can work for many people but I never said it was easy, lol.
I hope you enjoyed my sharing of the experience. Please feel free to comment or leave your experience we can all learn by sharing!
Wendee-
www.WheresWendee.com

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