HI All

I suffered from anxiety for a while before knowing there was a name for it, and treatment. I just thought I was messed up or weird, something like that. A few things actually trigger it to the point its more than anxiety its full blown phobia which leads to a death trap anxiety attack. Those triggers I can basically avoid like the plague, most of the time. Its loud noises (I know, weird). I can avoid 4th of July fireworks, I can not have balloons at my parties, I can avoid firing ranges. Ok, I mostly have these situations under control, and have xanax for when I have to be around things like balloons at birthday parties, and stuff like that.

Other times it either comes on for no reason, or no apparent reason, or I just learn at that moment of a new trigger I have.
-In the car, someone else driving, the radio is on and cars are all around and the heater in the car is blowing and all of a sudden I am like full blown freaking out, then once I breathe deeply and attempt to locate med jar, I assess the situation, ok that music was awful and added to my irritation which set off attack....cant really avoid all music right?

-At night laying in bed, all of a sudden I begin to think of my son (adhd, having hard time in school, etc) and I carry this worry to the absolute extreme and I play out the worst case senario of what can/will happen in his school in the near future, or what his day is currently like, and I am freaking out so badly and my heart is racing, I have to take xanax or ativan to sleep, but then I am groggy in the AM so I battle the intense attack with maybe tiredness the next morning.....the pills usually win.

I began this because I read a few posts and noticed some people say the anxiety comes at night in bed or is worse then, and I realized mostly the same for me. What is this about? Could it be because I am so crazy busy all day and my otherwise wicked fast racing mind is occupied by the daily events so I cant think about anxiety provoking things during the day, so when I get to bed nothing else is going on so I am 'free' to worry?
Or could it be the day's events play over and cause the spill of anxiety?
When I got diagnosed with adhd I was warned to be careful because the concerta could make the anxiety worse, but luckily it hasnt, I dont worry and panic ALL DAY like I used to....


Interesting.

-A

HI All




-At night laying in bed, all of a sudden I begin to think of my son (adhd, having hard time in school, etc) and I carry this worry to the absolute extreme and I play out the worst case senario of what can/will happen in his school in the near future, or what his day is currently like, and I am freaking out so badly and my heart is racing, I have to take xanax or ativan to sleep, but then I am groggy in the AM so I battle the intense attack with maybe tiredness the next morning.....the pills usually win.

I began this because I read a few posts and noticed some people say the anxiety comes at night in bed or is worse then, and I realized mostly the same for me. What is this about? Could it be because I am so crazy busy all day and my otherwise wicked fast racing mind is occupied by the daily events so I cant think about anxiety provoking things during the day, so when I get to bed nothing else is going on so I am 'free' to worry?
Or could it be the day's events play over and cause the spill of anxiety?


-A
I think you are on to something here. The day is over your not running around, working, cleaning, answering the phone etc. It's awful trying to get to sleep with anxiety raging. When that happens to me I get doubly anxious because all I can think of is what a wreck I'm going to be in the morning.

Yeah I hear ya about the anxiety getting worse when dwelling on the fact that I will be useless in the morning for lack of sleep. I have ambien for insomnia and I usually take it but if I try not to so I dont get dependant on it, I cant sleep from the intense anxiety, then the window of opportunity is gone because you cant take ambien unless you can "commit to 8 hrs of sleep" so then I am basically stuck. I have laid in bed until 4, 5 in the morning wide awake, anxious and fretful. Then to have to be up at 7.

Thanks for replying,
-A

-At night laying in bed, all of a sudden I begin to think of my son (adhd, having hard time in school, etc) and I carry this worry to the absolute extreme and I play out the worst case senario of what can/will happen in his school in the near future, or what his day is currently like, and I am freaking out so badly and my heart is racing, I have to take xanax or ativan to sleep, but then I am groggy in the AM so I battle the intense attack with maybe tiredness the next morning.....the pills usually win.


I had my first panic attack when I was fighting with the school system over helping my daughter who is profoundly hearing impaired. I had a long talk with her 6th grade teacher who said things like "It wouldn't be fair to the other kids if we treated her differently, bla bla, blah blah blah.....What kind of teacher would I be if let her repeat that book report ......" I dunno, a GOOD ONE?

Then I spoke to a school board member who got back to me saying "It's like being the the mother of a criminal, you just don't know what your daughter is capable of!" WTF?? She was getting tired of trying to listen etc. and putting her head down on the desk. She has no behavior problems at all.

I managed to find xanax and it saved my life. Driving in a van for work with 5-7 boys who are hearing impaired/visually impaired and arguing also makes me crazy.

I take a .5 xanax at bedtime and read a bookk until I fall asleep to head off the anxiety at night. Now on good days, that is the only xanax I take. When I was going through all her problems at school, I could take as many as 8 of the .5 xanax (throughout the day) and not slow down at all. Oh, I also lost my hair when I had panic attacks. It grew back though when things settled down.

It's good that the concerta is helping. You need a good support system for you and for your son. Talk to the principal, the special ed person will help IF THEY ARE COMPETENT. I have found it is about 50/50 for good special ed teachers. They are awful or they are great. We have a gread group in Montana called PLUK (parents lets unite for kids). They will talk on the phone and come to the IEP's. (individual education program) I took my sister and my mom, and eventually my lawyer to IEP meetings.

So there can be a lot of conflict. I felt like Daniel in the Lion's Den, and the hearing loss is medically very apparent. She is 20 now and in college, where the disabilities coordinator is incompetent. FRUSTRATING!!!

Good luck, feel free to PM me if you like. I can be part of your support system! :p

Thanks Jeannebug, it is quite frustrating dealing with the school systems. I live in a town that actually has a half way decent special ed dept, compared to where we lived last year anyway. Its mostly like trying to get them to understand each childs uniqueness. My son has severe adhd and is unable to be medicated due to terribly unpleasant side effects from them. So he presents quite differently than a child with adhd who IS medicated will present.
Therefore when in conversation with various school personnel, no one wants to hear me or listen to what I am saying about my child in particular, they have all the answers because they have "plenty of kids in the school with adhd". They cannot or will not grasp the fact that medicated vs unmedicated might as well be a different disorder for all intents and purposes in the school.

I am 2 weeks away from becoming a Special Education Advocate in my state. I know all the insides and outsides of the laws here. The struggle isn't knowing the laws, its getting the districts to obey them. Time is on their side, they come to work each day, go home, repeat again tomorrow. They can go through the motions of trying to help, or looking like they are giving it their all, but at the end of the day they go home. Us as parents, this is our life, we can't sit around and wait on bureaucracy, we have a little person who's life depends on us, and its crunch time...thats how I look at it.

SO I keep it together all day, am quite a force to be reckoned with in the school in my fight for his rights and accommodations, etc, then night comes and it can all sink in and I get all the anxiety that I should have been feeling all day but didn't because I was running on pure natural adrenaline....

Thanks for your input and willingness to help. I will indeed take you up on your offer to chat privately. Having another person who truly understands what you face each day helps tremendously....
-A

-In the car, someone else driving, the radio is on and cars are all around and the heater in the car is blowing and all of a sudden I am like full blown freaking out, then once I breathe deeply and attempt to locate med jar, I assess the situation, ok that music was awful and added to my irritation which set off attack....cant really avoid all music right?

I began this because I read a few posts and noticed some people say the anxiety comes at night in bed or is worse then, and I realized mostly the same for me. What is this about? Could it be because I am so crazy busy all day and my otherwise wicked fast racing mind is occupied by the daily events so I cant think about anxiety provoking things during the day, so when I get to bed nothing else is going on so I am 'free' to worry?
-A
About anxiety at night.... I think you hit the nail on the head with the 'wicked fast racing mind' with nothing to focus on. My mind just spins after my head hits the pillow, and while I don't automatically focus on anxieties, when thoughts keep looping around they will eventually snag on the areas that cause you the most concern. I think of it like a little asteroid zipping around the solar system, slingshotting in and out of orbit like in a pinball machine... eventually it will wind up stuck orbitting around the greatest mass. Which, emotionally speaking, are your greatest concerns.

So you find yourself worrying the problems like worrying a sore tooth, and.... guess what. Adrenaline spurts, palms start sweating.... if you were sleepy before, you certainly aren't now. Add to this a vivid and creative imagination and possiblty some stimulation hunger from your wicked fast and slightly bored brain, and you have the whole worst case scenario playing thru your mind, from the reasonable to the absurd, whole imaginary conversations you would only have in your dreams. Sound familiar? Hope so, because I'd love to hear that other people do this too.

This is actually the aspect of my life that led me to discover my ADD. I stumbled across the article at http://add.about.com/od/forfamilymembers/a/hypermind.htm about hyperactive minds, and that's when I knew I had ADD.

I had to laugh about the car scenario--so familiar. I wouldn't consider myself a normally anxious person, BUT being in the car with the heater blowing loud radio (even from the car next lane) etc. etc. produces sensory overload faster than about anything else I know and I just want OUT of the situation ASAP. Arggh! Plus the heat makes it feel like I can't breathe, don't know if it's because I also have asthma or if that's just normal.

Therefore when in conversation with various school personnel, no one wants to hear me or listen to what I am saying about my child in particular, they have all the answers because they have "plenty of kids in the school with adhd". They cannot or will not grasp the fact that medicated vs unmedicated might as well be a different disorder for all intents and purposes in the school.

I am 2 weeks away from becoming a Special Education Advocate in my state. I know all the insides and outsides of the laws here. The struggle isn't knowing the laws, its getting the districts to obey them. Time is on their side, they come to work each day, go home, repeat again tomorrow. They can go through the motions of trying to help, or looking like they are giving it their all, but at the end of the day they go home. Us as parents, this is our life, we can't sit around and wait on bureaucracy, we have a little person who's life depends on us, and its crunch time...thats how I look at it.


Good for you becoming a special ed advocate! Kudos! I am also a force to be reconned with, but for some reason almost every teacher I have met thinks parent is a four letter word. They think are sooooo much smarter than we are (even though I have a master's degree and an IQ in excess of 140). Last year I told one of the teachers I was teaching chemistry and physics at the college and they thought I was kidding.

I agree that the law is on our side, but it is horribly difficult to get districts to follow them. Now I have a new label "helicopter parent" because my daughter still needs a strong advocate. She is advocating for herself for the most part, but it is hard for her to be forceful. For instance at college right now they can't seem to find a TV with captioning even though it has been the law since 1993!!! She has a tough when they show videos or DVD's w/o captions. Watching the movie, the interpreter and filling out a Q&A sheet simultaneously is not possible.

This is me venting. Thanks and good luck! You go girl!!!!! :)

Does anyone get really uptight-anxious before going to group meetings? I think I just figured out that this is why I stay up late before non-social events with groups of people. I am basically wonky about extended contact with people who don't know me and working with them all day! Taking my Xanax for sure!

Any ideas for coping and getting sleep and not worrying so much? Plus, the website I made had one important page crap out on me! Now I am behind in my work and that sucketh badly. What can I do? Nothing. Just go on and redo it tomorrow.

RADD

I worry way WAY too much! pdoc calls it general anxiety disorder. Don't take any meds for it though. Maybe I should...great, now I'll worry about that!

ok recently someone told me neck muscle strain can be due to anxiety, and i have had a problem with tensity in my neck( wich triggers painful muscle spasms in back) for a couple years. i looked up anxiety and found alot of the other symptoms pertained to me. Also, i think what triggered this possible axiety problem was when my dog died when i was nine (im 14 now) i felt very unprotected and scared when i was alone or at night in bed. i would repeatedly imagine kidnappers walking through my door with a gun or climbing up my window. For a year i slept in my sisters bed cause i would start crying being by myself
i was wondering if anxiety could possibly be comorbid with my add?
here are some of my symptoms

1. neck pain
2. very easily startled, my friends will come and tap me on teh shoulderi will legitimately scream
3. i am terrified of spiders, and when im in teh shower i always think that there is a giant spider outside the shower curtain adn i wont be able to escape cause the door opens towards teh shower so its like im trapped with teh ,assive spider
4. i feel real jittery when i am sitting still or laying down.
5. when i am in the hallways during school when i walk around i feel that people are staring at me and making fun of me. i get so anxious i shake and i flip out checking that my skirt isnt tucked up weird or their is food on my face, or something extremely embaraasing like that. i check the mirrors constantly not that im conceited, cause im so scared
5.i have trouble lying in bed trying to fall asleep because im thinking about everything that is going wrong in my life or will go wrong in the future
6. i also have this thing that when my dog is asleep i have to go wake her up to make sure she isnt dead
7.i worry about being on time excessively, like i will yell at my sisters and mom cause i am about to be 4 minutes late for work, i dont know why its so stressful for me

i dont really think i have panic attacks, although i feel like i get something similar but not as severe to it. Could i have anxiety without severe panic attacks?