Posted by lucy2005 on May 6, 2005, at 21:43:05
Hello. I am new to this. I am a 37 year old woman who is a recovered alcoholic - 1 and a half years sober. Into my first few mos of sobriety I began having awful panic attacks - including tinitus, numbness in ears and face, shaking and feeling like I would pass out. I previously had times in my life when I had anxiety attacks, which I guess partially led me to years of alcohol abuse, but the symptoms had never been this extreme or varied. I found out that I had hypothyroid and after months on Levoyxyl felt a bit better with most of the symptoms but the anxiety persisted, and I began to get daily headaches. The headaches feel as though there is a deep stinging sensation in my brain, it occurs in different areas of the head - I get other headaches sometimes too, but these are the most bothersome. They are nothing like migraines from what I understand, but yesterday when I was stressed out I saw an aura, which I guess some see before a migraine - no significant headache followed though, I just felt like I was going to faint and it prompted a huge panic attack, heart pounding and shaking all over. I was able to talk myself through it, but it scared me. The "aura" was like seeing funny wiggly lines floating throught the air in front of me. That was the first time that ever happened. I am very much into holistic approaches - I have never been a pill popper, although have occassionally taken a Zanax when the anxiety gets unbearable, esp. when having to fly or go to the doc., or if I absolutely can't sleep. Mostly I take holistic stuff to help me sleep and it works pretty well. I usually take Calms Forte - also valerian. I don't want to use the Zanax too much because I don't need to be addicted to something else, plus I can only take one pill each day for a couple of days, any more days than that and I get the headaches even worse when I stop. I went to the doc. today about the headaches and aura and stuff and she wants to put me on Effexor. I have been really fighting being on an anti-anxiety med., especially since I guess it's for depression as well and I'm not depressed. I want to stay holistic, but what I'm doing is not enough and my daily quality of life is suffering, I am consumed by these feelings and it's hard to foucs and live my life normally. My doc. said the Effexor could be temporary, but I read on the Net that the withdrawals can be horrific - plus I'm concerned about side effects (trying to learn more about what both of these include). Anyway, any feedback would be great. Thanks!
poster:lucy2005
thread:494726
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050504/msgs/494726.html