Anxiety Or Something Else?

prider90

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After 3 years of heavy lifting and use of caffeine based stimulants , I start having some sort of anxiety attacks. At the time, I didn't knew what is going on. I was diagnosed with panic disorder but not convinced that it was the correct diagnostic. Managed to recover in a couple of months.
Since then, every year I start to have weird symptoms out of nowhere:
- sudden bouts of extreme yawning
- restlessness body/legs
-faint feeling
-feel offbalance
-burning skin feeling on my upper back and neck. ( sometimes chills like I have a fever )
Lately with trouble sleeping with nightmares every night and cold hands/feet ALL THE TIME .
I thought is anxiety again so I took some valium to calm down but surprise...no effect: I just sleep after it and after I wake up I feel the same. I don't have classic panic attack symptoms like racing heart,sweating, trouble breathing. Blood pressure and pulse are normal even when I feel like this.
Hormone bloodwork showed slightly elevated cortisol & dhea levels. Tried to explain to the doctor that these symptoms makes me anxious not the other way around..
Forgot to mention I have a healthy diet and a non stressful job.
Maybe is a serotonin imbalance or adrenal fatigue ? I'm out of options here.
Might be a good ideea to try cyproheptadine since it lowers cortisol ? :)
Cheers !
 

InChristAlone

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Sounds like a serotonin imbalance which can cause panic attacks too. But it could be many things. Did you try cutting out the caffeine? That for me solved a lot of my issue.
 

Aymen

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Try not to drink coffee in the training days , try drinking coffee 3 times a week , drink coffee between 9-11 am .
 
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prider90

prider90

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i quit caffeine 3 years ago. Currently I can not lift ! I feel so bad the next day after doing weights but feeling fine If I do only cardio...
 

Aymen

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i quit caffeine 3 years ago. Currently I can not lift ! I feel so bad the next day after doing weights but feeling fine If I do only cardio...
maybe you are overtraining ?
i got insomnia many times before when i was drinking coffee in the training days and lift heavy weight compound movement , now i stopped lifting for 7 months , i just do sprints 1-2 times a week and some pullups and pushups and chinups 1-2 times a week .
 
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prider90

prider90

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I stopped working out this june. I can't workout. I feel extreme anxiety the next day. I can do only cardio.
 

Vinero

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Have you tried taking Thiamin (vitamin B1)? Heavy caffeine usage + carb heavy diet with refined sugar and refined starch like white rice can lead to Thiamin deficiency and can cause some of the symptoms you describe.
 

Vinero

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Sounds like a serotonin imbalance which can cause panic attacks too. But it could be many things. Did you try cutting out the caffeine? That for me solved a lot of my issue.
How do you make it through a day without caffeine? I feel like a zombie without it. I love caffeine, it truly is the best part of waking up in the morning.
 

InChristAlone

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How do you make it through a day without caffeine? I feel like a zombie without it. I love caffeine, it truly is the best part of waking up in the morning.
The zombie feeling is withdrawal. When you are completely off it for months there is no zombie feeling.
 

Cirion

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"Zombie feeling" is nothing more than waking up with little/no glucose and a less than ideal body temperature. IMO this is the hardest part about getting 100% better. I have little problems getting to 99 or even 100F during the day (Got to 100.6F yesterday after dinner) but I still have extreme difficulty waking up at 98.6 (and thus being refreshed). Overtraining is super easy to do if you're unhealthy. I basically can't weight lift at all anymore or my temps the next day suffer.

I was just reading in another post one other reason for unrefreshing sleep is lack of CO2 retention during the night. I think that's happening to me too.
 

Vinero

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Vinero

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"Zombie feeling" is nothing more than waking up with little/no glucose and a less than ideal body temperature. IMO this is the hardest part about getting 100% better. I have little problems getting to 99 or even 100F during the day (Got to 100.6F yesterday after dinner) but I still have extreme difficulty waking up at 98.6 (and thus being refreshed). Overtraining is super easy to do if you're unhealthy. I basically can't weight lift at all anymore or my temps the next day suffer.

I was just reading in another post one other reason for unrefreshing sleep is lack of CO2 retention during the night. I think that's happening to me too.
I can eat lots of glucose and sugar all day, but if I don't ingest any caffeine I will get the zombie feeling anyway. Caffeine is simply increasing the rate at which glucose is burned, imitating thyroid hormone.
 

InChristAlone

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But why go off it? Caffeine doesn't cause anxiety if taken after a meal with plenty of sugar. Your missing the increased pregnenolone and progesterone that caffeine ingestion causes. Both lower anxiety.
Caffeine Increases Pregnenolone & Progesterone In The Brain
I don't have anxiety anymore. Maybe if I mess up and eat something that disturbs my intestines but in general I don't need stimulants. I will sometimes have caffeine if I want to get a boat load of stuff done in a day. I don't like dependence to get back to baseline.
 

Cirion

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Hmm, probably some sleep issues I'd say for sure then. I can say for certainty the higher my quality of sleep was the night prior, the less I need caffeine. In the very rare occasion I wake up 100% refreshed, my need for caffeine is zero.. Also there is a sweet spot, any more than a cup or two seems to be detrimental in the long run for me. That third or fourth cup of coffee feels amazing in the moment but always dips into my energy reserves for the next day.
 

Vinero

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Hmm, probably some sleep issues I'd say for sure then. I can say for certainty the higher my quality of sleep was the night prior, the less I need caffeine. In the very rare occasion I wake up 100% refreshed, my need for caffeine is zero.. Also there is a sweet spot, any more than a cup or two seems to be detrimental in the long run for me. That third or fourth cup of coffee feels amazing in the moment but always dips into my energy reserves for the next day.
Caffeine works better when well rested. I love the feeling of waking up after 8 hours of sleep and then drink coffee. Makes my productivity skyrocket. I actually like learning new things when well caffeinated.
 

Vinero

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I don't have anxiety anymore. Maybe if I mess up and eat something that disturbs my intestines but in general I don't need stimulants. I will sometimes have caffeine if I want to get a boat load of stuff done in a day. I don't like dependence to get back to baseline.
I don't need any stimulant either, but caffeine is not really a stimulant. It simply increases the rate at which glucose is burned similar to thyroid hormone. Would you call thyroid a stimulant? Stimulants usually increase adrenaline or cortisol and caffeine does neither. Only dopamine but dopamine is actually inhibitory as people with parkinson (which is a dopamine deficiency) are shaking and trembling. Restoring dopamine levels calms the nerves down.
 
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prider90

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anxiety is a stimulant mate. Don't forget that.
edit: let's stay on the subject.
 

Vinero

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anxiety is a stimulant mate. Don't forget that.
edit: let's stay on the subject.
Well on topic: I recommend you take Thiamin (vitamin b1). A diet heavy in refined sugar, white rice, and caffeine depletes thiamin levels which can cause some of the symptoms you describe. Try taking a few hundred miligrams a day and see if you improve.
 

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