# anxiety symptoms?



## 22896 (Aug 19, 2006)

Hello! I have had IBS for almost 20 years. I recently had a hysterectomy and thought everything went fine. About 3 weeks after the surgery, I started having difficulty breathing and some chest pain. I was even hyperventalating and having some tingling feeling in my face and hands. I had panic attacks a few times several years ago after my son was born, but they said it was just a hormonal thing and I haven't had them since. Anyway, since I also have asthma, I went to see my family doc and get my medication adjusted and he said it wasn't asthma. He was concerned about a blood clot in my lung since I had just had the surgery. I went for blood work, chest x-ray and cat scan of my lungs. I had an allergic reaction to the dye they used for the scan, but they didn't find anything else. I called the doc that did my surgery the next day and by then was having such a hard time breathing that my chest hurt. He sent me to the ER for a full cardiac work-up (x-rays, ekg, blood gas ...) and everyting came out fine. I went to his office the next day and he gave me some ativan to try to calm me down. I was really upset by this point - I am trying to get my life back after the surgery and now this breathing problem. The ativan helps to keep my from hyperventalating but the difficulty getting a good breathe is still there.To sum this all up. I still have to breathe though my mounth pretty hard to get a good breath. My left arm is usually always numb or tingling. Physical activity makes it worse, but I also wake up at night unable to breathe. Is this just anxiety? It doesn't feel like it to me and I don't have anything to be upset about. My stomach has finally calmed down since the surgery and other then this breathing thing, I feel pretty darn great. I was told no lung problem and no heart problems. Anyone help?


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## Noremacam (Sep 12, 2006)

hyperventilating can be a normal reaction to anxiety. The tingling you have in your extremities is likely caused by lack of oxygen because you are breathing very _inefficiently_.Because you have asthma and other symptoms it was a great idea that you got a checkup.From what I'm reading it seems to be anxiety related(likely triggered from IBS).Be EXTREMELY careful with Ativan. I got to the point where I had to take it every day and it was very very difficult to ween off of it. I would get very shaky when I hadn't taken it, and I started craving it to get day by day. No matter what your doc tells you, consider it a temporary solution while you find a permanent one. Message me and I'll tell you how I solved my panic disorder before I had IBS, and how I manage my new anxiety triggered by IBS. If you can look online, you'll find various sites where people taking ativan have gotten addicted and are suing because of the incredible stress of weening off of it.If you find yourself hyperventilating, what you should do is simply find a stopping point in whatever you're doing, and do some breathing exercises. Start by breathing in 3 seconds and exhaling for 6 seconds. Do this over and over again. This will slow your heart down and help you relax. Breathing in slow increases your heart rate, while breating out slow decreases it - that's why you breathe out twice as long.Practice relaxing different parts of your body. Start with the top of your head. Close your eyes and imagine the top of your head steadily getting more and more relaxed. I often imagine a "warm cloud" just comfortably massaging my head. When you accomplish that, move down to your jaw, shoulders chest, arms, thighs, knees, feet, etc. Take as long as you want to do so. Practice this a few times, even when you're not having anxiety. I find practicing this technique makes it much more effective. If you're working, and you have to slow down, do so. Trying to keep up your pace will only increase your anxiety, and eventually you won't be able to work at all. At least, that's my experience.Panic/anxiety is easy to manage when you know how, but I'm learning to deal with it again because now I have IBS and rather than having a mental trigger for my anxiety, it's more of a physical trigger; so I'm learning to manage it all over again. I hope this helps you out.Lastly, you might want to consider an iron supplement. If you have IBS-C, you'll have to be careful when you take it, as iron supplements can increase constipation. Iron increases your oxygen absorption in your blood and can significantly increase your stamina. Lastly, I know nothing about asthma; don't know how/if it relates to anxiety, so keep that in mind.


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