Losing control

[andirubes]

Ok.  Does anyone ever feel like this?  I have been having a hard time for about 2 months now...seemed like all of my issues really picked up right AFTER I finished a stressful semester.  My symptoms were all of a sudden weakness in knees while at the mall, then sensitive to light and a feeling of not being real, and others don't look real either.  I kinda panicked and left the mall.  I have felt like this ever since, and is worse when I know people are coming over, and it is hard for me to leave the house.  I couldn't even handle the sound of Xmas gifts being opened...it just seemed to overwhelm me.  So, now my next thing is ANY stress...even the stress of my husband coming home a 2 minutes late, or my neighbors being loud, I feel like I can't handle it!  I feel like I'm gonna snap and pass out or be put in a mental institute!  I don't feel like crying, I just feel like I'm gonna lose it.  Is this a nervous breakdown?  I don't know what's going on!  Can anxiety last this long and produce ALL these symptoms?  I get so shaky, and my knees feel horrible when i walk, and now my arms feel shaky, too.  Almost like how you feel if you don't eat for a while (even though I eat regular meals and snacks).  I have had this feeling mostly in stores before, but never just at home! 
I just had a CBC done and the bloodwork was fine.  I also visited my Neuro for ocular migraines that I get and he told me it was anxiety...although he didn't schedule any tests.  I have had MRIs like 2 years ago and all was clear. I'm so afraid that there's something there that isn't detectible...or that I'm going nuts.  Does anyone ever feel like this?  What do I do?  I have my first appt. with a psychiatrist on Thursday, since I think I need medication.  I take .5 mg ativan before i NEED to leave the house, but try hard not to take it every day, and even hate taking that although it's a very low dose.  It allows me to leave the house and function, although I feel my symptoms are still there but are just masked. 
Please help

[Ocean8]

I know EXACTLY how you feel! Right down to the sensitivity of sound!  Gift opening.......been there!  EVERYTHING is just overwhelming and you have no control over it.  The grocery store was always super scary for me.  I di finally figure that one out.  I'd shop with my little one so the I look at it was I proable was all ready anxious for who knows what reason, there's lots of decisions to make there, didn't want the little one to act up, had an attack there once before and paranoid of having another, what if it happened again while in line........I'd have to leave all my stuff and the trip would of been wasted.....that's embarrassing while there but also to tell the hubby, what if all the food was on the belt and it happened...even worse since then I'm tied there, or if I dropped when they were loading the carrage again....what would happen to the little one when I passed out.     I had SO many what ifs passed off of fear.  It threw my body into a tail spin.  When I go now it is more stressful as I have 2 kids but I stay focused and remind myself to do so.  If I stay focused there is no time for the what ifs.  I'm OK now but it took a long time.  Once in awhile a wave a nausea will pass over and I'll remind myself I'll be done in a short time and my mind is acting up.  I can honestly say all your sensations are anxiety induced......even if you have NOTHING to be anxious about.  I still think mine are half hormonally induced.  Try to keep your mind focused on a task....over and over repeat it to yourself.  Breath deep but not too fast.  Your the first one I've heard mention the sound sensitivity.......I have had this forever (maybe because my eyesite is SO bad that sense is naturally heightened) but when anxious the sound of the light switch being flicked on is loud and if a younging screams it sends me trough the roof!  It's hard because you can't control your senses.  It just helps to understand what happens when your andrelien is up.  Your ready to fight so your senses are ready to defend.  If a bear was after you, you'd be glad your sense of sound was so elevated.  You just don't need it to happen when home or at the store.  Then the more it bothers you the more anxious you get and the cycle continues.  Also. don't be surprised it happens AFTER a stressfull time.  Your coping mechanisms get fried and you can finally let down your guard and the anxiety is creeping in.  Believe your doctors (I did all the same routes as you) and work on controlling how your body reacts to the andrelion release and yes lots of it is a mind thing but it DOES NOT mean your going insane but you just need to get the upper hand of it.  Read Pan's post, they have helped me to stay focused.  Know it's Anxiety and learn what Anxiety does so you can work on your reactions to you.  Why does it have such a strong hold on you now than ever before?????? I struggle with this one...I like have definitive answers and I don't for this.....harmones, life in general has changed...I do have more stress now....two young kids and with that comes tons of responsibility and there is no time to be selfish and enjoy what I like....so more stress.  I wish you the best and truly will overcome and not pass out and dye from it:)

[Pan]

Ok.  Does anyone ever feel like this?  I have been having a hard time for about 2 months now...seemed like all of my issues really picked up right AFTER I finished a stressful semester.  My symptoms were all of a sudden weakness in knees while at the mall, then sensitive to light and a feeling of not being real, and others don't look real either.  I kinda panicked and left the mall.  I have felt like this ever since, and is worse when I know people are coming over, and it is hard for me to leave the house.  I couldn't even handle the sound of Xmas gifts being opened...it just seemed to overwhelm me.  So, now my next thing is ANY stress...even the stress of my husband coming home a 2 minutes late, or my neighbors being loud, I feel like I can't handle it!  I feel like I'm gonna snap and pass out or be put in a mental institute!  I don't feel like crying, I just feel like I'm gonna lose it.  Is this a nervous breakdown?  I don't know what's going on!  Can anxiety last this long and produce ALL these symptoms?  I get so shaky, and my knees feel horrible when i walk, and now my arms feel shaky, too.  Almost like how you feel if you don't eat for a while (even though I eat regular meals and snacks).  I have had this feeling mostly in stores before, but never just at home! 
I just had a CBC done and the bloodwork was fine.  I also visited my Neuro for ocular migraines that I get and he told me it was anxiety...although he didn't schedule any tests.  I have had MRIs like 2 years ago and all was clear. I'm so afraid that there's something there that isn't detectible...or that I'm going nuts.  Does anyone ever feel like this?  What do I do?  I have my first appt. with a psychiatrist on Thursday, since I think I need medication.  I take .5 mg ativan before i NEED to leave the house, but try hard not to take it every day, and even hate taking that although it's a very low dose.  It allows me to leave the house and function, although I feel my symptoms are still there but are just masked. 
Please help

This is a classic anxiety presentation.  From how it started to how you currently feel are all explainable by your body and mind reacting differently to external stimuli.  There are untold reasons why an increased anxiety threshold will cause problems for your CNS and it could help you a huge amount to look into this subject.

Look into and learn about anxiety and its effects.....do not be tempted to look into other things your currently tired and confused mind may think is wrong with you....you are suffering from a tired CNS and you need to understand and believe this and then give yourself the time to recover.

The noise sensitivity is a killer I know.....when someone sounds their car horn in the street I actually want to kill them.  Any noise drives me insane and I know this is just a part of my CNS being hypersensitive and stressed.

You will be fine but do not force a recovery or place any timescales on it....accept and relax and things will start to click into place when your mind and body are ready.

[theunrealme]

Your posts could have been written by me. I have felt those exact things  except more sesitivity to light than sound. I am so much better now than say a year ago when all this anxiety stuff was so new to me. I cant turn off my anxiety, but I can tell myself when a symtom appears that, "it'll go away, this is only temporary, I've been here before and I know I'll be fine"  Your not alone, that's the one thing that keeps me coming on this website. When something just doesnt feel right, I'll come on here and relate to others who are suffering and then I dont feel like I'm going crazy or that my family should commit me, or that I'm goiing to pass out in this store and what will happen to my 2 kids? These thoughts are there sometimes but not like they were last year. I guess, it really does get better. It cant really get any worse? I've been there in the throughs of my anxiety hell and I'm 95% better today than last year.   exercise, distraction, cbt really ishelping me.             Dont feel alone, I've been there and I know what your going through, it will get better. Just believe in that.                 dianna

[andirubes]

Thank you all for your replies!  I feel better that you have some of the same things...so I know I"m not really going crazy anyway!  I guess the thing that bothers me most is that it's been almost a month with these symptoms.  My Grad school classes start up again this week, so maybe just getting back into that mode will help...even though it's still class and still nerve-wracking, but it seemed like I was better during all the stress of school rather than after.  The major thing Im worried about though is that I am a new instructor for a technology college, so I'm afraid of how I'll be able to handle that on top of all these issues I'm having now.  I used to be "on the go" ALL the time!  I always had social anxiety, but no one knew, cuz I hid it, and knew what it was, and so I was fine with it. If I was bored in the middle of the night and coulsn't sleep, I would get up and go to walmart--even if I had work the next day!  Now I can't do things on a whim like that, but I'm hoping someday I'll get there again.  I just didn't know the extent of how anxiety can affect someone until it happened to me.  I feel like I'm taking the right step in seeing a psychiatrist (which I have never done, so I'm scared of course) for an eval...and from there she said she can recommend me to a therapist (I know most people work the other way around, but this psychaitrist is someone recommended by a friend). 
At least I'm not alone with this.  Thanks so much.