I'm new here, but not to anxiety. I have been afraid of heights and storms since I was little, but it did not really interfere with my life. I had to drive over bridges regularly and would walk on the wall side of the open hallway at work, even on the 5th or 6th floor. I didn't like thunderstorms but had never experienced a severe storm.
16 years ago I moved to Brooklyn. My job is a 10 minute walk from my house so I rarely have to drive anywhere and do not have to go over bridges. I once had a rough ride in an elevator, so started taking the stairs. With lack of exposure my fears of heights and elevators have been steadily increasing. As my anxiety to those increased, so did my fear of storms. Having lived through 9/11, I am very attuned to the terrorism going on around the world which has increased my general anxiety.
I tried going for CBT therapy but was not successful. I did not "click" with the therapist and he did not really do any talking or explaining to me. We basically spent 12 weeks practicing walking up the stairs to the subway. While I did eventually accomplish that, he felt that that accomplishment should carry over to all my other phobias, which it did not, and I quit.
2 years ago when I was pregnant I experienced an episode of SVT while at work (a very rapid heart rate). I have had this with other pregnancies, but only a few minutes at a time. This time it was prolonged and I felt like I was going to faint. It was very scary. I followed up with a cardiologist and a specialized cardiologist who said it was jus pregnancy related and not dangerous.
However, since then, I have had repeated episodes of suddenly feeling very weak, tachycardic and short of breath. I will stop what I'm doing and sit or lie down and have something to eat and drink. I feel better after a while, but sometimes it takes up to 1/2 hour. I have been to all kinds of medical doctors including endocrine, cardiology and neurology but cannot find anything wrong. My blood sugars are low/normal during episodes.
I have felt all along that these are panic attacks but my husband felt it was real so sent me to all the specialists. Today I was doing fine, ready to go to a museum with my family but shortly after we left I started getting dizzy and tachy again so I came home. I'm sitting here feeling fine now but disappointed that I'm missing a trip with my kids so I decided to do research on panic and ended up here.
Sorry this is so long, but that's my story. Its been cathartic getting it all sorted out and I hope this program will help me get my life back in order.
