Sudden start of an anxiety disorder?

Yes. Have you seen a psychiatrist for an actual diagnosis? Did they check your blood sugar levels at the emergency doctor? Low blood sugar can be confused with anxiety disorder, as many of the symptoms are the same.

Here are my thoughts:

Have you been using any stimulant-containing supplements when you lift? Increased your caffeine intake?

Can you recall a trigger for the first event?

Have you had any other symptoms of anxiety?

The good news is that panic disorder and anxiety are fairly easily treated with anti-anxiety medications in the short-term, and with cognitive behavioral therapy in the long-term.

Even though you have been checked out in the Emergency Department, you should go to your primary care physician and get a thorough physical with lab draws. Other medical conditions (hyperthyroid, supraventricular tachycardia) can manifest as a panic attack. Your physician can also prescribe an anti-anxiety med to help as you sort things out.

Stop the caffeine pill before lifting, first and foremost.

Unless it is an FDA supplement, it may contain varying amounts of caffeine. Regardless of the amount, now that you are experiencing panic attacks, it will exacerbate your symptoms.

Yes. Went to the doctor and had various tests performed including a stress test.

Conclusion: Too much caffeine mixed with these stupid herbal supplements I used to take. The combo made me antsy, paranoid and nervous. I cut out the herbals and decreased the caffeine a little.

Have your throid checked as well. Too high or too low can result in depression or anxiety like symptoms. Low iron also can result in depression like symptoms. Go to your doc. Let him know what's going on. Let him run some tests.

Suppliments can also result in symptoms that look like anxiety or depression.

Sleep rhythem is also very important. A few nights of bad sleep, a stressor, and normal anxiety can become panic.

So keep everything in mind. Journel to see if there is a pattern. You may not notice it right away. If anything, this gives your doc somewhere to start.

However, if it is truly anxiety or depression. Both are treatable through therapy and/or medication. *Hugs*

I'm a psychotherapist in the UK :-)

See what the doctor says. Anxiety can be diet driven (such as caffeine and sugar), they could be emotional, it could be SAD, or a combination of everything. Or it may be something different. If I were you I would reduce caffeine slowly with the aim of eliminating it, substitute Protein for any man made sugar you are eating (Stop the sugar immediately) and try and get outside as much as possible. Also keep seeing the Doc. Anxiety often works on a feedback system in our head. We feel anxious (as a physical sensation) , our brain tries to work out whats up and gives us the worst possible thing to think about which is anxiety providing and off we go . The change in diet may help - also keeping a food log which records food and feelings can help. CBT is good in some cases because it can teach people to break the link between the physical sensation and the **** thoughts and memories that are attached to the feeling. Stuff like Transactional Analysis and Integrative Psychotherapy can really help to get to the bottom of any underlying psychological issues if food or CBT don't work. There are of course medications which can help you get though the day but I would seriously look at food and CBT even if you decide that meds are the way to go because the meds may remove the symptoms but will have side effects (they can be a god send) but they won't necessarily remove the root cause which the other methods can:-)

Good luck
Dave

I have always had anxiety. I work in the mental health field and my supervisor is an LCSW. He diagnosed me with anticipratory anxiety. I was taking Wellburin but didnt really think it was doing much good. Then out of the blue I started waking up in the middle of the night with racing heartbeat and cold sweats. My boss told me to get my *kitten* back on the Wellburin and it was probably helping more than I realized. Im not a med pusher but some people do need it. I think I am one of those people.

I have always had anxiety. I work in the mental health field and my supervisor is an LCSW. He diagnosed me with anticipratory anxiety. I was taking Wellburin but didnt really think it was doing much good. Then out of the blue I started waking up in the middle of the night with racing heartbeat and cold sweats. My boss told me to get my *kitten* back on the Wellburin and it was probably helping more than I realized. Im not a med pusher but some people do need it. I think I am one of those people.

I go to a mental health support group each week and the other day we were just talking about this topic. How this guy who was taking his medication forgot to take it and he noticed how it affected him when not taking his medication. It works and helps a lot and we don't really notice how much it helps us but it really does. It's quite amazing how a small tablet can change so much for us. I'm a medication person too. In my group we were told it isn't that something is wrong with us as such but it's just to help us for awhile, it makes us work better.

Although you don't take caffeine pills often or have much caffeine in your diet, please don't use them as they can hype you up. I have caffeine but I can control my anxiety a lot with medication so it doesn't affect me too much, however without meds it affects a lot more.

I'm a registered nurse and you certainly should see a primary care doctor to rule out any physical causes but before you load yourself up with drugs to artificially alter your brain chemistry , I recommend seeing an alternative health specialist, such as an acupuncturist or energy worker (reiki). I've tried both and have had some outstanding results. Some chiropractic may be able to assist as well. Feel free to message me if you want specifics.

Yes. Have you seen a psychiatrist for an actual diagnosis? Did they check your blood sugar levels at the emergency doctor? Low blood sugar can be confused with anxiety disorder, as many of the symptoms are the same.

also, low carb dieting (and the resulting low blood sugar levels) is known to trigger relapses in people who have anxiety disorders. I have to be careful of this because I have PTSD (yes this comes from experience as in too low levels of carbs = much more susceptable to PTSD triggers and also worsening of other symptoms, and I found this out from experience, not from being told... it's only after doing some research into it I found reporting of case studies of anxiety disorder relapses from low carb diets, followed by recovery on resuming a normal diet)

so OP if you're on a low carb diet, then that could be the culprit. I'm fine on 40% carb 30% fat 30% protein, and I'll up my carb intake if my activity levels are higher, just to be on the safe side.

Wow, that is really interesting. Thanks for posting this!