Can't Take Any Stress At All

[lieze]

Is this a POTS thing or a PTSD thing?

Can I learn to cope better?

Well now when there's any stress it gets my heart bad.

Like chest pain I mean I feel like I could have a heart attack or something.

Now you know my husband is bipolar and whether it's

related or not he says simply horrible things to me and it's

gone on for years.

I'm a group leader at a bipolar spouses group and somebody just wrote a very rude reply to me asking why I

write such garbage saying it's all my fault that my life has been stressed with my husband that I should have forced

him to do something. Well right away the crushing feeling happened oh I swear I thought the woman was gonna kill me-crazy I tell ya.

Another example the other night we had a tornado warning

and the sirens were going off I could hardly walk, heart sped up felt all weird.

I was able to calm myself down after just reading her rude crude remark I was tempted to just delete it but I won't.

I just will try not to read any more of what she writes

unless I get complaints.

Can I learn to control this heart thing?

And what about when I go home and subject to husband's mouth again?

Sure I could quit that forum all together if it is just too

stressful but there is stress in life like the tornado warning or like the time our carbon monoxide alarm went off.

Does anybody else experience the crushing sensation and have you worked past it?

One day at work for example a larger woman slid out of her wheelchair onto the floor on purpose and I had to go take a Xanax so that I could deal with the situation.

[abnel]

Hi Lieze, I really feel for you as I have something a bit similar but maybe not as severe. Any time something fairly stressful happens in my life, I get the tachy you describe, except rather than describing it as a chest crushing feeling I would describe it as a chest compression feeling that makes me feel incredibly weak in the core of my body. When I first got sick I would get this feeling at the slightest angry feeling (eg. even if someone cut me off at traffic lights!). I couldn't even have a normal argument with my husband without getting this, so I was a complete pushover and just let things slip by as I was too weak to argue. Now after the passage of time, my threshold for stress has increased a bit thankfully and it takes more for me to get this feeling, except when I am having a POTS flare up.

I have been having work issues lately that make me incredibly stressed, and that same awful chest compression, weakness came over me with increased tachy. The only thing that seems to help is to take Hawthorn tea which for me calms my palpitations, but doesn't get rid of the residual chest weakness and the anxiety which can last for hours after sometimes.

I hope you can find something that works for you soon.

[abnel]

I forgot to mention something else that works with that chest compression feeling - on occasion I hang in a doorway with both arms outstretched (like superwoman), suck your stomach in and lean into the doorway at an angle. It seems to alleviate some of the pressure in the chest cavity. I don't know why it works, but was recommended to me by an osteopath. You need to aim to hold the position for 10-20seconds. I usually only manage 10 at the most. Mabye not for all, but might help some...

[lieze]

Yeah I think that's the feeling.

Well I had gotten into it with my husband.

I was very hurt by him saying there was nothing wrong with me I was just a restrictive anorexic.

I was yelling back and hyperventilating and I got that feeling you described so well.

I had him get my bp monitor and my bp was 140/93 pulse 150. He walked away and left me alone and I thought Omg am I gonna have a heart attack?

Well I realized theway I was hyperventilating and crying it was physically stressing my body so I forced myself to stop and my vitals returned to normal but that feeling lingered.

I got up and walked around to wash off my face brush my teeth go potty and I actually felt

better so I thought you know that seems more like anxiety if it feels better to get up.

I have also gotten that feeling trying to discipline the kids when they are acting bad and I have to yell over and over to get them to stop.

I'm sorry you are feeling that too lotusflower and that you are having issues at work.

I wish people could just get along and life could be easy and stress free.

Sometimes like many others post here-it seems like it just never stops.

[radiohfan23]

I absolutely feel for you both as this is one of the worst parts of POTS. But you both describe it beautifully. Most of us experience this in that our bodies simply can't handle stress as they're supposed to. What happens is that our bodies (which are so much weaker to begin with) go into fight/flight on the tiniest of stresses (physical or emotional) and they get stuck in sympathetic mode. To the normal person their bodies will return to parasympathetic once they're out of danger and they're recover where as we don't. We get into this trap of overwhelming anxiety which is brought on by a dysfunctional autonomic system.

Please realize that this is a physiological dysfunction you're experiencing and it's not all in your head or anything like that. Unfortunately we all experience this due to our condition. The ability to handle or tolerate stress is very minimal because of POTS.

Things that help me:

- Take a benzo during episodes - there is nothing wrong with taking this medicine in my opinion. I met with a psychiatrist about this and was worried about addiction, but by taking a xanax low dosage as needed it is not addictive

- Expanding blood volume helps tremendously with the chest tightness. I had a bad episode and had to go to the ER and they gave me an IV which helped dramatically. Now when i get dehydrated i start to feel uneasy very quickly for no reason

- I take magnesium and B vitamins which seem to help also

You are not alone in this and it is not all in your head. Unfortunately there are mean people out there but that's their problem. They'll have to deal with that themselves and they don't have to endure what you do. Hang in there and please try and find some peace knowing that feeling like this is not your fault.

Joe

[Victoria]

I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I am very familiar with the crushing feeling in the chest and being in fight or flight mode (adrenaline, anxiety). I don't even handle minor stress very well, but what you experienced was major IMO. Your body has no control over your reaction to outside stimuli. Please try to totally disregard what that very cruel person said to you and try not to dwell on it.

I'm getting a much better handle on this with my regimen of H-1 and H-2 blockers. But I'm not saying I don't still have episodes when I'm under a great deal of stress. The "storms" are much more manageable now that I'm aware of how to deal with it.

I will be keeping you in my thoughts.

[lieze]

Thanks a lot Joe for the recommendations.

I think dealing with the fear and anxiety is one of the toughest parts.

I am trying to talk to myself during these times and reassure myself.

Avoiding stress wherever we can is great but there are those things that just will pop up and get us.

[lieze]

Oh Victoria I'm letting it go just by choosing not to engage that person.

People that have been mistreated most of their lives can and do lash out at others. There is so much buried pain there.

I am just at a point where I have to pick and choose what I am going to spend my energy on and she is not it.

It just though made me think okay it's easy for me to not read any of her comments at all just so that I don't get upset, but life isn't that easy.

Stress will keep coming at us it's very much more complicated than just blocking a person and it got me thinking about how can I really work on this?

Staying hydrated is a great idea.

I know when some people do get to this threshold they do choose meds to help them cope.

It maybe something I need to look into in time once I get better nourished and back on my feet to see if i get a better handle on being able to cope.

[pat57]

I suggest, when your husband starts haranguing you, you make excuses to remove yourself.

There can be...........

"I've got something in my eye.

I forgot to buy milk.

I promised the neighbor I would get her mail today."

You get the idea.

He is tearing you down. Coping is facilitated by good boundaries.

good luck

[abnel]

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and confirming we're not alone in feeling this way.

I agree that dealing with stress is so much harder for us than just 'blocking' the negativity from our lives - if only it was that easy. While I'm still not very good at dealing with acute episodes of stress, one thing that has probably helped me long term is to simplify my life as much as possible and only do what really needs to be done emotionally, physically, spiritually. I sometimes feel as if I am living the life of a monk and it can be a lonely path to tread, but necessary.

I hope you get some quality time to yourself Lieze to rest and recuperate. I can only imagine how hard this must be due to the demands on your energy coming from your kids and your husband. Sending healing thoughts your way...

[potsgirl]

Lieze,

If you aren't taking anything to help you with your anxiety, I would check into that as soon as possible. I am on Paxil, and that's helped me immensely. You may need to go to a pyschiatrist to work with you on stabilizing your anxiety and to see which anti-anxiety drug might work the best for you. I've also heard that it can help with other POTS symptoms, too. I've been on Paxil for the last 10 years, and never had an issue with it. Trazodone can also be helpful, especially if you have problems sleeping...or Klonopin.

Hope you find something that works for you. I would try it as soon as is convenient for you!

Take care,

Jana

[Neshema1]

I agree abt the klonopin. Also clonidine for bp spikes. High bp and high norepinephrine (NE) will explain it. Have you had your NE levels tested? Could be hyperandernergic pots..seems to have secondary anxiety from bp & NE. not fun!

[Guest tearose]

I would suggest learning how to get into a meditative place of calm and avoiding drugs.

Drugs will stay in your system longer that the issue brining on your stress. Try to "catch" the moment and dissolve it before it builds to a high stress level.

hugs,

tearose

[lieze]

Yeah my norepinephrine was too high 800? but that was over a year ago.

I have spent a lot of time in time out since then so I'm not sure that my levels are consistently that high now.

I have learned to calm myself down to a certain extent and that has really helped.

[Neshema1]

I learned meditation & it helps to a point but there's too much

Stigma in this country about taking drugs ppl need. The reseach shows people don't get addicted to drugs they really need & I think it's a personal choice to live in pain or nOT. In those with sky high NE levels, it's not due to a character flaw or so something they can completely control. What was described in the original post was written by a person with medical reasons for debilitating stress. It's a shame psychiatrists, thus patients, tend not to know of the many underlying illnesses that can cause their " mental health" issues& don't even know how to test catecholamines. Then they prescribe meds without knowing the underlying cause. The patient doesn't know there is a reason they could benefit from a medicine & it may be a simple as severe vitamin D deficiency needing suppementation, which actually can lead to quite serious medical problems.

[ramakentesh]

Ofcourse if all POTS was caused by lack of exercise then how do you explain these types of frequently reported problems.

Sympathetic excess/parasympathetic withdrawal/elevated epinephrine to attempt to vasoconstrict through beta 1 receptors for abnormal vascular control. All make one jumpy and more prone to worry in my experience. Valarian works for me as do betas.