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Something more :( update - freaking out
jasonlester
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
To say I've been stressed for the past few weeks is an understatement. It's nearing the end of year at college and everything is due in. A week after that, exams start, so I'm fairly stressed. So much so, I think it's making me ill.
I went in the other day, and suddenly felt ridiculously sick. Like I was going to pass out. I soldiered through it for the most part, came home, and suddenly felt a lot better.
The next day I felt sick walking to the train, but soldiered through it. I got on the train, nearly got to uni before having to turn back because I felt so sick. When I got home I felt better.
Today, same thing happened, I get up, I'm about to leave the house and suddenly my gut wrenches. So I stay home.
I'm not sure if it's school that's making me sick, or something else. For a while now I've been having some chest pains (maybe due to my job in which I lift a lot) and I've convinced myself I have cancer. Thinking about that only adds to my stress and I suddenly feel sick. It's getting to the stage where I can barely leave the house, even going to work is hard. Nothing at college is bad. I have a group of wonderful friends, and genuinely have fun. I just can't shake this feeling.
Sometimes I think about getting trapped in a lecture and not being able to get out. It sounds ridiculous but I really feel like it will happen. This makes me more and more sick. I don't know what to do, I should make an appointment for a doctor but I'm scared of what they'll find. Waiting for the results of a blood test will only make it worse. I have a major test tomorrow, that I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make because I feel so sick.
What can I do in the short term?
I went in the other day, and suddenly felt ridiculously sick. Like I was going to pass out. I soldiered through it for the most part, came home, and suddenly felt a lot better.
The next day I felt sick walking to the train, but soldiered through it. I got on the train, nearly got to uni before having to turn back because I felt so sick. When I got home I felt better.
Today, same thing happened, I get up, I'm about to leave the house and suddenly my gut wrenches. So I stay home.
I'm not sure if it's school that's making me sick, or something else. For a while now I've been having some chest pains (maybe due to my job in which I lift a lot) and I've convinced myself I have cancer. Thinking about that only adds to my stress and I suddenly feel sick. It's getting to the stage where I can barely leave the house, even going to work is hard. Nothing at college is bad. I have a group of wonderful friends, and genuinely have fun. I just can't shake this feeling.
Sometimes I think about getting trapped in a lecture and not being able to get out. It sounds ridiculous but I really feel like it will happen. This makes me more and more sick. I don't know what to do, I should make an appointment for a doctor but I'm scared of what they'll find. Waiting for the results of a blood test will only make it worse. I have a major test tomorrow, that I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make because I feel so sick.
What can I do in the short term?
jasonlester on
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For example on my bus, it first happened on the first day of uni, I got onto the bus to go to the downtown terminal to get on a bus which takes me to the uni. I felt particularily ill on the bus to the terminal but it was managable. Now I'm waiting for the bus to go to the school and it goes down a bit, now I get on the bus to go to the school and it is packed. I start feeling sick again, and then I panic and start think what if I am sick with all these people on the bus and get embarrassed or something, so I have to get off.
This event made it impossible to ride the bus for the next day or two, luckily I was able to get a ride with my roomate. So I had to take it slowly from here, for the first week of school I would only get on the bus going home, and only if it wasn't packed solid. Once I felt ok with this I would go on the bus to school but only if I had later classes like 11am and on. Now I can take the bus any time and it doesn't bother me at all. One thing that I found helped me a lot was music and drinking water. Talking to someone else made it worse for me. Also I would think about past experiences that were either funny or were really awesome. I used to get the same thing when I first started to go to parties where I would be drinking a lot but thats fine to.
I think it has to do with the fact that the brain just goes into overdrive and it makes it really hard to shut it down. Some people suggest a drink or something but you don't want to rely on something like that.
EDIT: I use the water not only to keep my gag reflex down but it also helps mentally, to reassure myself that I have something there to help me if I need it.
Drinks probably aren't so good for you. If you feel like you can't handle it, then go talk to a therapist of psychologist. Otherwise, just ride it out.
Is there anything I can do about panic attacks? short of going to a doctor?
edit: Often those afflicted will experience significant anticipatory anxiety and limited symptom attacks in between attacks, in situations where attacks have previously occurred, and in situations where they feel "trapped". That is, where escape would be obvious and/or embarrassing.
Yeah, sounds like this.
There is nothing you can do quickly that I can think of which does suck, but if you do it in stages, small steps it can help. Maybe go to the bus stop eariler when it is less busy and try that. I have actaully been sick from this too before which sucks.
Presently I haven't been to school in about a week, and I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out, trying to figure out how I'm going to cope tomorrow.
If you're crying and don't really know why, then it's prolly pretty prudent that you go talk to someone. I mean, unless you can figure this shit out on your own. I know I sound sexist, but a dude crying for no reason he can understand isn't normal. We generally handle difficult situations differently. So, maybe your body is telling you something you don't understand.
I think I have basic health insurance.
I feel better now. I just saw a friend who I had lunch with a week or two ago and he just had a stomach bug, with symptoms similar to what I've been feeling. So some of it might be down to that (light-headedness, nausea)
I should see someone though. I'm just don't think they'll be able to help.
It's always worth a try. See someone, let them check your vitals and maybe your blood chemistry. It might turn out to be something straightforward they can take care of for you.
I started to freak out and feel paranoid about my health a few years ago while in school. This went on for several months until I called my family and spilled my guts, crying. I'd thought it was all in my head, but it turned out I had dangerously high blood pressure. As soon as I started meds to control that, I felt fine again. But don't wait around to get checked out; delays can hurt you. (Running at that high pressure for so long permanently damaged my left eye so the picture I get from it is fuzzy now and always will be.)
Bring Effexor up and see what your doc says.
Electronic composer for hire.
Well, I don't actually think it is Hep A. Hep A isn't that bad anyway, It's not like I'm going to die. I have very good hygiene and haven't done any of the things that cause it. I think it might be something worse
one thing you have to do is keep the school informed about this. talk to the teachers that you have major work due in for and explain what's going on with yourself at the moment. they're there to help you and will do their best to make sure you get through the year.
if the doctor's results turn out to be serious, they should be able to take that into account when you sit exams aswell.
stay calm mate, i hope it all turns out okay for you
Have you tried leaving the house and not going anywhere in particular? Say, getting on a nearby bus and planning on riding it for a stop or two, and then coming home. Deliberately setting yourself small, achievable goals may help in the stort term.
And def. talk to your teachers, keep them informed of what is going on. You don't have to be specific, just tell them that you've been feeling unwell lately, your doctor is in the process of running some tests, and you're feeling stressed and having a hard time coping at the moment. The majority of teachers don't want to fail you, and they will probably be supportive and helpful.
It made no sense whatsoever. Before we could drive sometimes it would be so bad and I'd feel so awful I'd call my mom at 2 AM to come pick me up from sleepovers and such. My stomach was always upset in public and staying home was the only thing that could ensure it wouldn't happen.
And then it just went away. I'm not sure why it started, or stopped, but it did. I just tried to suck it up and deal with it as much as possible and even though it sucked, I explained to my friends what was going on and they were all really supportive and dealt with me through it.
It might be the same with you, but I'm not sure of anything beyond that and to say I'm sorry and I know how much it sucks. ):
Apparently you get it from bad food or something. I'm pretty careful. Although I'm not as careful with "men having sex with other men"
-You said you only feel this way when you try to leave the house, and you feel better when you stay at home.
-You are under high amounts of stress.
-This bit of your post ("I think it's being an hour away from home in case something happens. What if I need an ambulance? What if I pass out? Being stuck in a lecture theatre does it to. Or a test. I have no idea how I'm going to do this one tomorrow. What if I need to leave? I'll fail. I can't fail. That's what runs through my mind. Being trapped.") is a big flashing arrow pointing to psychology.
-When you worry about all of this, you start feeling sick again.
These don't really make sense if it's just a physical malady.
Any of this this seem familiar?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_anxiety_disorder
This? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive-compulsive_disorder (There's a bit of an overlap with OCD and general anxiety/panic attacks/etc., and OCD can easily go undiagnosed, so it's worth a look. It's a pretty wide spectrum though, so things that aren't "classic" OCD [hand washing, hoarding, completionist stuff, etc.] can still fit in there. Stuff like fear of forgetting, or fear that some mistake will harm a loved one. Though without at least some of the more classic OCD symptoms, there probably wouldn't be a diagnosis of OCD, and would probably fall under a different category of anxiety disorder).
<Bleh. I write that out, then find this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder . Run through it, see if any of it seems close. Use the google and whatnot for more research if stuff fits.>
Don't get panicky about any of this, by the way. I'm basically playing the armchair psychologist who knows jack all about psychology, so I could be way off the ball. For all I know, you're just being hit with massive amounts of stress, and the issues will go away in a few days. That said, if any of the info in the links fits, discussing these issues you're having with a psychologist probably won't do any harm. If you're nervous about seeing a psychologist, you could try talking with a doctor again, perhaps trying to put more emphasis on psychological diagnoses (again, if the info in the links seems to fit). Maybe you have a counselor or someone you could talk to?
Oh, and try to talk to your teachers about what's going on. Going into some sort of death spiral in the last few weeks, where you stop going and cut off all communication with teachers, would suck.
In short: It sounds like a psychological issue along the lines of an anxiety disorder, though perhaps only temporary, being brought on by stress. Highly recommend talking to someone about it, very preferably a psychologist, if you can finangle it.
Other stuff:
It doesn't really make sense for a doctor to test for cancer (without even knowing what type) without at least mentioning it. I think that's just your fears talking.
Quick googling on Hepatitis A:
"Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis A virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months. Hepatitis A is usually spread when a person ingests fecal matter — even in microscopic amounts — from contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the feces or stool of an infected person. "
-http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HepatitisA.htm
"As many as 1 in 3 people in the United States have antibody to HAV, meaning they have been exposed to the virus, but most do not become ill."
-http://www.emedicinehealth.com/hepatitis_a/article_em.htm
Wikipedia (so, grain of salt) says that some areas of the world have close to a 100% infection rate for Hepatitis A.
Obviously worse than the flu, but probably nothing to get tremendously worked up about.
EDIT: Holy crap, this post looked tiny when it was in the little edit box with a scrollbar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/27/mentalhealth.healthandwellbeing
Hey man the same thing happened with me with the sleepovers...ahh fond memories. Yeah having to go home at 2 in the morning really did suck. Odd how it just goes away though. Samething used to happen in movie theatres to