Anxiety -

[Debi]

Lindsay, I'm right there with you on the exercise. I know intellectually that it's good for me. But even if I could figure out the time after putting in an hour and half in the AM and again in the PM on meds and the vest, working, cooking, handling some house stuff, being with my family, the truth is that neither my spririt nor my body are willing. So kudos to the cfers who can manage it, but I just can't. I really hate when people who don't have a chronic illness lecture me on how easy it is to eat right or exercise. So, don't even begin to try to wait until you can figure out if exercise will "fix" the anxiety. I say find a quick way to attack it now with some meds if the doctor thinks they will help, and then you can start thinking of a longer term solution later. I just hate the thought of you trying to tough it out.

I'm glad you were able to open up to your mom, even if that's not what you planned. And am even happier that she is being supportive. By the way, other than your doctor and anyone close you choose to share it with, there's really no way and no reason you need to worry about others knowing. Other than my husband and a dear friend no one has a clue about my anxiety.

Debi

 

[coltsfan715]

I wanted to add a big thank you to Sue, Amy, Diane, Debi and DietRootBeer. It was a big comfort to read everyone's post today. I am just relieved I am not the only one that experiences this - I know everyone has some anxiety, but it has just given me a very isolated feeling. Also at times in recent weeks has made me feel as though I am going insane. I really needed to hear from people that had experience with this problem today and get some different ideas of how to handle it.

I also spoke with a friend of mine about it tonight. She used to be a therapist. I didn't really get into all of it with her (a tad unethical since she is my best friend). I just mentioned I had been having these really severe anxiety attacks and that I thought I needed to see someone about them. She said several of the things that you guys have mentioned. I told her about us getting the treadmill tonight and she said that it was great and she thought I would see some improvement as I got exercise. She also mentioned the meditation CDs, getting up and doing something if it is really bad. She then told me too that it gets worse the more tired you are and she recommended that I take some naps in the coming days that way I can catch up on some lost sleep. She said that it can require so much energy from a person to get past/over an anxiety attack that when you are tired you can not effectively break the cycle in your mind because you just don't have the energy to fight the feelings. I have a feeling I am going to sleep good tonight - now that I have gotten some of this off my chest and it is not weighing on my mind as much. I will be talking to the nurse tomorrow and will let you know as I know more.

Amy thank you for the info. I really do appreciate it.

Diane, Thank you for sharing your experience. I thought it was odd that you mentioned OCD in your post because I have a cousin that is diagnosed with severe OCD ad my family has often wondered if I had some characteristics of that.

Debi, Thank you also for sharing your experience with me.

The replies you all have given have really helped me out a great deal today. You have no idea. I have been able to open up and talk about this today to pretty much everyone and I haven't been embarassed and/or felt like an oddball. I realized (even though I knew it wasn't unusual - from reading stuff on the boards) that it is more common than I thought and that if you guys were able to get help/assistance for it then I would be able to as well. I was starting to feel a bit hopeless like I would have to feel sedated on something (like xanax) like I was the last time the doc tried giving me meds for anxiety(though I will mention those attacks were nothing like these - they actually ended up being what I think was gallbladder attacks that were misdiagnosed as anxiety but that is a different story). I thought that would be the only way to handle it because I have not dealt with anything like this before the past few months. Thank you again guys - from the bottom of my heart thank you. You all have bee a great help.

Lindsey

 

[anonymous]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>goingup</b></i>

hello, let me start off by saying that  anybody who says that
they DON'T HAVE TIME for exercise is just fooling themselves and in
my opinion, VERY LAZY!  you have to make time... for example,
i will share my daily routine with you... 3 to 4 times a week, i
get up at 5:30 a.m to walk my dog, and yes it is still dark out,
but oh well.... i then go to work at 8 a.m, then get off at 5 p.m
... now mind you i get a hour lunch so every day i walk 30 minutes,
then eat for 30 minutes.... i get home around 5:40 p.m. and about 5
or 6 days a week jump on my road bike and take off.... so please
don't say you have no time, you just aren't motivated to get out of
your warm bed......<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/sun.gif" border="0">

i accidently hit send, but i was not ready .... now, about the anxiety thing, i am a very neurotic and paranoid person, but wouldn't even consider taking narcotics, so i resort to essential oils, etc.... and speaking of dreams, i am going a little off topic here but i habe been having a reoccuring dream the last two years or so that i amstuck in my room and there are no windows or doors, then after about 30 seconds i am actually sitting up in my b ed and snap out of it and my heart is just racing... i don't dream that every night, but often and it is sooooo scary, also i dream a lot of me choking on toothpicks, and pills, any experts on this site who can break it down for me? lol, by the way i do not have c/f, but my 24 year old bro does... thx 4 reading.
</end quote></div>


Wow! I am not really sure how to respond to your post, but given you don't have CF or chronic lung disease I don't think you quite understand what it is like. If you have CF, you would also have approximately another 2-3 hours, more in some cases, of nebulizers and therapys to do. So add that into your schedule and take something out. Next, think about when you don't feel well or are sick, you probably will need some extra sleep, etc. So go ahead and add that extra time for another hour or so of sleep a day. Next, you need to eat 4000 calories a day, so add some time to be eating constantly. As far as motivation, how motivated are you to do your exercise when you are not feeling well. Finally, if you have a chronic illness you may have some mental issues from time to time and be dealing with depression, anxiety, fatigue, etc. How might this effect your motivation. Okay? Yes, anyone can be lazy and unmotivated at times, but please don't compare yourself with someone with CF. Thanks.

 

[NoExcuses]

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[letsrockcfem]

You rule Lindsey!!
I'm glad I can relate to somebody about this. It isn't easy. I think I may do what happened to you today and finally just tell people...Good luck and I'll keep you posted about how mine goes.

I'm gonna go do the IronMan now...hahaha not,
Em