I'm a mid 40's male with a beautiful wife of 23 years, 2 fantastic children, a wonderful job, and dark, souless, evil cloud of anxiety and panic that started affecting my life about a year ago. Like many others I have been to the E.R. more times than I can count, seen my family doctor umpteen thousand times, I'm on my 2nd psychiatrist and 4th medication. It seems I'm on a roller coaster ride where everything is fine when it's going uphill, but when it reaches the peak, it drops into a never ending void of fear and confusion. No one in the family understands what has happened to me, incuding me! I tend to hide my affliction from them because its so hard to explain what I'm feeling and/or dealing with. Anyhow, I joined this group in hopes of learning more about my anxiety, talk with others that have had the same experiences, and hopefully in the end.... whoop its butt!!!!
I understand what your dealing with. Of course, I don't claim to have an answer for your situation. I can only tell you my story and I how I'm dealing with my own work anxiety: I work at an extremely stressful job in the electrical industry. My decisions can directly affect the safety and lives my co-workers. When my anxiety / panic attacks began I often left work to go to the hospital and/or doctor because I had a great fear that something was terribly wrong and I was going to drop dead at any point. I also had some of the same symptoms; increased pounding heartbeat, restlessness, confusion, unreality, light headedness, an uncontrollable shaking. I'm sure I too was a topic of discussion and laughter for those around me. I seriously dreaded going to work and embarrassing myself day after day - I considered quitting, but I knew I had an obligation to provide for my family. So, I stuck it out - suffering every day and doing my best to hide my anxiety. Finally, I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and medicated. After a few weeks I began to feel like I had a little bit of control. I openly discussed my situation with my co-workers offering an explanation for my odd behavior. Through conversation I found that I was not alone as an anxiety sufferer. It turns out there are many people with similar conditions and they just needed someone to open up and offer some time to listen to their story. Now, my anxiety has become a source of laughter for all of us. I'm quick to tell them to watch out, "I could freak out at any moment!" I know anxiety/panic is no laughing matter but it helps me get through each day and my co-workers have a better understanding of what I'm dealing with. They are often quick to console me and offer help when they notice I'm having an "anxiety" day. I hope you find your way back to the job you want and I wish you the very best.
Thanks for the nice welcome everyone! I'm excited about the CBT program- have read all of session 1 and started my homework. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best...
I recently had what for me is considered a "Bad" panic attack. I haven't experienced an attack of this magnitude in the last 2 months or so. It lasted about an hour and kept coming in waves ... shakiness, flushing, chills, fear of heart attack, etc. I'm attributing it to the fact that I recently changed medications from Lexapro to Vilazodone HCI. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced a set back to medication changes? Does anyone have knowledge about Vilazodone? I thought I was doing much better until this happened. The attack left me physically drained and worried that I may have another attack. Any info would be helpful
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