Hello All,
Sorry for the length here.
I have not posted in a very long time but I do lurk often and with interest as this board has been a source of great help for me in the past.
I am a classic TMS-er; highly/overly sensitive, worrier, catastrophizer, glass is half empty-er. I’ve had: chronic low back pain, various gastro things, weird arm and hand pain, and now (again) intense anxiety/panic attacks.
I’ve had anxiety attacks on and off for 17 years, and while I know it's my mind just doing its distraction scheme, I often forget this and need to be re-assured. It’s also a very difficult thing to deal with because the symptoms are so terrifying and troubling. Add the fact that they almost *always* hit early in the morning when I’m asleep, and it's a truly awful experience. I don't get the "I’m dying of a heart attack" thing, I get the "intense waves of fear and insanity" thing...and it can last for hours. I had another one this morning and have been a wreck all day.
Here's something that should've clued me in. I play a lot of racquetball. For the last 5 months or so, I’ve had really bad "tennis elbow" during and after I play. This is actually a very intense arm pain that hurts like hell during a game and pretty much lingers between r'ball sessions (usually a couple of days). And even though it hurt, I just totally ignored it. Well, as soon as I started having the anxiety again, guess what. The arm pain, even during really hard play, completely disappeared.
So I know I should just rest assured that as long as I do the mental work the symptoms will subside, but it’s always great to hear from you all about your stories of anxiety as a TMS equivalent.
I appreciate any feedback/support.
Cheers,
Moose |
Another anxiety/panic as TMS thread
Posted - 05/26/2008 : 13:30:40
