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Super bad anxiety issues.
Hi, I'm a 16 year old girl and I have been struggling with anxiety for over a year now and I'm really getting sick of it. I've had nearly 11 or 12 panc attacks within the last two months. I find myself worrying about my breathing, I have pressure in my head and I always focus on my heartbeat. I have no history of any medical problems so I'm clueless as to why I'm so concerned, other than the fact that about two months ago, I drank a glass of Mountain Dew (and see I began working at a McDonald's and started drink coffee and tea and side ALL the time.) and I guess my body reacted to the caffeine and my heart sped up and I panicked. Since then I've started doing breathing exersises, but sometimes I just have this "unreal" feeling. Like, I feel spaced out? Is this a normal thing with bad anxiety? I'm really looking for an answer. (Also I have totally stopped the caffeine and excess sugar intake) any advice is helpful, thank you.
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Hi. Of course a 'sugar' rush or/and a heap of caff. can produce the 'rabbit in the headlights', phased, heart flutters you're feeling. But only for very brief periods. Your levels calm, neither can be retained in your body and a bit of an 'o.d.' if you like, of either won't do long-term or permanent damage. You've identified it correctly as anxiety attacks, but what's that all about? Basically your body is going into 'threat response' mode, kitting-up for 'fight or flight'. It's wired in us from our somewhat more feral past, and can still save our lives...in a fire for instance. Now your threat isn't a physical one, but to your ancient and deep 'mammalian' mind and nervous-system it's all the same, the response is identical. You need to work at identifying the thoughts and/or situations which 'trigger' your alert response and defuse them. Then the disturbing feelings will cease. Bit deeper than too many energy drinks, but a common and natural enough event and nothing to freak-out over. Specially now you're holding all the cards. You're in control...sort it out mate!!
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It's not a caffeine thing. You could drink an ocean's worth of those drinks a day and it would not make you have intense anxiety. There is ZERO correlation.
It's a mental-health issue which doesn't mean you are crazy. It hits randomly and like a hurricane becoming progressively worse the longer it isn't treated.
What you need is to see your GP immediately and get referred to a psychiatrist who can give you the right treatment and medication to keep it in check.
In the event you can't even function normally in a day due to it skip the above and visit a hospital ER and explain that you can't function due to paralyzing anxiety. They will have a psychiatrist on call you can assess it and start treatment if needed.
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Although this may sound normal, it may exacerbate. Relax, people will go through this at some points of their lives. Anyway, try sparing a moment for yourself and diagnose your entire life starting from the second this anxiety began until now. Details by details.
Since you don't have any medical issues related to this, perhaps it's time for you to ruminate on your mind involving the way you think, your perception towards the surrounding world or your history. Before the anxiety struck, how was your life? What kind of event that has triggered the problem ? Examinations? Stress? Problems with people? Sometimes, the dominant factor that leads to this may be a portion of your history which has affected you in a big, big scale.
Then, my advice for you is to change your thoughts slowly towards positivity. Eschew pessimism, or hatred or any negative words. If you're interested, you could read motivational books and mingle with righteous buddies or so forth. Trust me, psychological/mental thoughts affect the physiological actions of your body. It's also good that you've started to do exercises and apply good nutrition. However, say that your mind is not directly involved in the disorder, then maybe 80% of the cause goes back to what you've eaten or drank.
Practice relaxation techniques consistently, and be optimistic. Be exceptionally conscious of what you're consuming daily and manage stress. You know yourself best.
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