Anxiety attacks

[Dragonfly111]

Hi,
I have been diagnosed with lower leg lymphedemia and am on Day 4 of physical therapy treatments. I am having a terrible time with anxiety and having anxiety attacks since I started them. I also have had a sick stomach and not feeling myself. I am guessing all of the "junk" draining from my legs has an effect on my body. Does anyone agree? I started drinking water steadily during the day yesterday and that really seemed to help me feel better. My other question would be do any of you suffer from anxiety from this and are you taking anything for it? I am not sure if it is the pressure on my legs or just the overall idea that I am not handling well. I would really appreciate your help on this. Thanks. Wendy

[Cassie]

Welcome, Wendy!
I sure hear you about the anxiety with treatment. It's a tough diagnosis and a lot of very weird treatment, with lots to learn before we can feel like we're in control again. Sending you cyber-((((hugs!)))) that I hope will at least let you know you're not alone!

Besides drinking plenty of water (which is a great idea and will certainly help--keep it up!) you can also pause throughout the day and take a few deep, abdominal breaths. As though you were blowing soap bubbles, y'know? (In fact, go ahead and get a bottle of bubble soap if you'd like, and blow a few throughout the day. ) The deep breaths help to stimulate the biggest lymph vessel in your body, which runs past your diaphragm and gets an extra boost whenever you breathe deeply. But deep breathing also helps calm you, so it does double duty.

I too found lymphedema wrapping anxiety-producing at first -- we sure aren't used to lugging around a Michelin-man limb! What helped me was to distract myself as much as possible with absorbing things I liked to do -- in my case Sudoku and crossword puzzles and funny rented movies. Hopefully the anxeity will pass as you learn to deal with the LE yourself and take charge of your own self-care. For me the anxiety made it hard to concentrate, so I kept a list of questions to ask my therapist and wrote down the answers she gave me so I could remember later. I took my husband with me to therapy, too, to help me hear and remember everything I had to learn.

Prayers, Wendy, for calm and for at least a few moments of real delight every day, in spite of it all!
Cassie

[Dragonfly111]

Dear Cassie,
Thank you so much for responding. I appreciate all of your tips and encouragement. I discovered that my theapist was wrapping a bit too tight and she let up on the pressure. It certainly helped. One week down and three to go. I will try to keep busy and stay focused on happy things.
Thanks again and good luck with your situation.
Wendy

[Cassie]

Way to go, Wendy! Hang in there -- it gets better! But it does feel like forever, so do check in here whenever you can and let us know how it's going.
Onward!
Cassie

[Clarra]

I suffer from social anxiety and used to have anxiety attacks. I talked to my doctor and he prescribed my a medicine that has helped my with my anxiety. I would talk with your doctor and see if he can prescribe you some medicine to help with it. Much like depression medicine, anxiety medicine can work for one person and not the next. So if it doesn't work, don't be afraid to tell your doctor and see if you can try something different. -Clarra, Health Insurance Researcher and Advisor