Mystery episodes of dicomfort

[shadowofman]

Do you think it is possible to have a panic attack or an anxiety attack without intense feelings of anxiety? The patient just feels ill unexplainably and unexpectedly.

 

Symptoms include what can only be described as a constant "foggy mind". When at work or in another public place, occasional episodes of dizziness, nausea, trembling, and a feeling of impending fainting. Rarely resulting in an actual fainting spell.

 

Doctors have done some tests, and all seems normal so far. The patient openly expresses constant stress over feeling bad to the point where the negativity raises mental health red flags. There are very minor hypochondriac symptoms.

[dazzle22]

Absolutely. It is called 'free floating' anxiety, meaning the physical symptoms are separated in time from the thinking about something anxiety provoking. Many people end up in ERs being worked up for cardiac problems that end up being this.

 

It kind of is the mind's way of coping. You 'stuff' distressing feelings so you can cope at the time, and the 'release valve' goes off later.

[shadowofman]

Very nice. Hadn't heard of that before, but can FFA exist without a feeling of anxiety? The patient swears that it is a purely physical problem and not an anxiety, even though from the outside it appears to be psychological.

[dazzle22]

Oh absolutely! Have seen it many many times in patients. In medical school we are taught that stress and anxiety are usually the underlying cause of about 40 % of problems that are difficult to diagnose or pin down.

 

Think of it this way. Society stigmatizes anxiety unfortunately. People feel like it is a moral or personal failure, that if they were only stronger, they wouldn't feel. In reality, there often are genetic factors and really severe life stress that person is dealing with that anyone would buckle under about.

 

There is much less stigma attached to having a physical ailment. And depending on the person, stress tends to 'settle' in different parts of the body. Some people get headaches, some stress ulcers, some hives, etc. For example, ever had a 'broken heart'? It actually hurts over the heart, doesn't it?

 

Also, if a person is not 'psychologically ready' to confront whatever it is that is causing the anxiety, the body will cope by stuffing it into an organ system.

[TaraMaiden]

In a questionnaire conducted by the Lancet medical magazine, in the UK, Doctors were asked to assess how many problems coming into their surgeries, they felt unable to be able to help with, and why.

Of the doctors who replied, the recounted that after calculations, they felt unable to help a staggering 67% because they were all stress-related.

I have hunted through their articles and can't find it, but it was some time ago.

But I was horrified, because the figure struck me as incredibly high.

 

When I next visited my doctor I mentioned this to him.

Well, he explained. We're doctors. we're trained in Human Biology, not psychology. yet nowadays, that where most problems lie. As a mentally-generated issue, as opposed to a physical ailment.

Medicine has advanced to such an extent that we're becoming redundant, as Family doctors. We don't treat as many physical ailments as we used to, because they're now largely preventable.

But these have been superseded by stress-related conditions, which we're woefully inadequate in treating. Because we don't know how.

 

However, I happen to know - for sure, for definite, absolutely 100% certain - that Meditation can relieve, and in some places completely 'cure' mental stress conditions.

 

The patient should seriously consider giving this a go.

[dazzle22]

Totally agree. Most of the patients I have seen in such situations would be 'cured' if they would make some difficult life adjustments to decrease stress, like cut back their job hours, or get out of dead end relationships, and then do cardio 4 x wkly, and do yoga 4-5 x weekly.

 

But here is the rub. People don't WANT to hear that their problem is emotional. They come WANTING a PILL to make their problem go away without them having to do any of the hard stuff.....they often get angry when you tell them the above....