How to handle anxiety in IB

Does anyone suffer from anxiety in IB? I recently have had a spell of it after I took something at a party and it made my heart race for a few hours, every so often now the last two weeks ill have some for a few hours and my stomach feels a little upset and butterflies or whatever. I went to the doctor and even made him do an EKG to confirm I was okay. He agreed to it but was somewhat annoyed I asked since he thought it was obviously an anxiety attack. 

If anyone else has trouble how do you handle it? I have heard simply working out a lot and fixing my sleep/ less coffee may make it go away. Working on that just pretty addicted to coffee. 

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just kratom but took a low dose and I had 3 espressos early that day and some vodka redbulls . Was told it acts as a stimulant in low doses. So since I had so much caffeine my heart was racing and must have already been nervous from stress at work so caused me to have an anxiety attack on top of that which made it long lasting. Least thats what my doctor told me. So i got really nervous and had it in my head I was gonna have a heart attack.

The last few weeks since I will occasionally start to get the feelings of an anxiety attack ( nausus heart feels like it fluttering and my stomach feels off) but its happening less and less. Probably just some left over nervousness from thinking I was going to die, should be past it soon. 

 
Most Helpful

Look into Beta-Blockers (Propranolol specifically). It isn't psychoactive, ie doesn't fuck you up, but completely halts the physical manifestations of an anxiety attack. All that sweaty hands, increasing heart rate, skin burning, voice shaking stuff that makes anxiety attacks particularly disruptive goes away pretty much completely for me. Because it's non-psychoactive and non-addictive, you're welcome to ask for it by name from your primary care provider and they'll be more than happy to write you a script. It's not like asking for Xanax. 

The other key to dealing with Anxiety or Panic Disorder is understanding that your mind is playing a trick on you and you are in absolutely no physical danger. Does it suck yes, but if you feel that rising, burning energy in your chest/stomach that signals an oncoming panic attack, don't fear it. Understand what side effects may occur (heart racing, face getting hot, hands shaky) but most importantly understand that all of these things are 100% harmless and despite it being uncomfortable for a few minutes, you will make it out unscathed. Soon enough you'll be able to handle bursts of stress or anxiety without spiraling yourself into a panic attack. 

One other thing that does wonders for me is just standing up and taking a walk. If you can try to walk around the block outside, the fresh air, serotonin boost from exercise and presence of people to help you in an emergency (even though one wont occur) does wonders. 

Cutting back on weekend drugs/alcohol fests also helps a lot. My anxiety spikes significantly on Mondays/Tuesdays if I spend Friday night - Sunday morning guzzling booze. 

 

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