OP here. Trying to keep going. Still feel anxious and like something is medically wrong. Waiting for thyroid results. Hormones looked ok. Tons and tons of physical sensations are popping up, and a good friend has said that is anxiety.

Whatever it is I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I love to eat and can barely do so and have lost like 7 lbs... :-/

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PPs. I feel like I am dying. I will see my doc today. Maybe hormones are playing a part here? I just finished my period.

That's what panic attacks do. I found this book, and the other one, very helpful when I was going through severe anxiety. http://www.amazon.com/Nervous-Suffering-Signet-Claire-Weekes/dp/0451167236

OP here. Thanks to each and every one of you for the virtual support. My doc fit me in ASAP yesterday and ran a thyroid panel and hormone panel and a bunch of other labs.

I am having physical pain from super tight muscles/TMJ and combined with the anxiety she said feels like the "perfect storm" along with worrying about DC and life stresses.

PP it is a great thought about the xanax. I have taken a few over the past week (haven't taken any in months) and maybe it is contributing?

I know this may sound odd but I hope my tthyroiditis off. I want a "fixable" reason for falling apart :-/

It's PP again. Google "Xanax withdrawl." Basically, Xanax provides your body with calming chemicals so your body stops making them on it's own. After a few weeks, you need more and more of the drug to feel calm/normal, so you start getting "interdose" withdrawl symptoms, like the racing heart. It is one if the fastest acting benzos and people can easily get dependent on it. I will never touch that stuff again -- ever. I'm sure everyone reacts to it differently, but for whatever reason I was very sensitive to even a low dose.

OP, I had rebound "anxiety" after stopping Xanax. Not sure if you were taking it regularly with your child's Heath issues? It's a powerful drug that can have effects when you stop it. I took then to help me sleep (and a low dose too ) for 6 weeks and by the end was waking up with a racing heart and having anxiety that I never has in the first place! Took 2 terrible weeks to work itself out. Just throwing this out there, as I wasn't sure what was going on with me initially but later realized the racing heart was Xanax withdraw. Good luck!

Do you drink herbal teas?

OP, how are doing?

Did the Xanax work fast to reduce your heart rate? If so, it would more likely be anxiety. That it would awake you from your sleep would be unusual but not unheard of. If you didn't get fast relief from the Xanax, that would be a very good reason to strongly entertain other causes. Whatever the answer is be sure to tell your PCP--this is very valuable information for him/her.

For me there is no greater stresser than a child with health problems, particularly if they haven't been able to figure what's wrong or if the treatment takes a really long time to be effective. BTDT too many times to count. I have never experienced anxiety from this, however (as long as you don't count too much time on WebMD as anxiety!).

For better or for worse my experience leads me to be a bit skeptical about going straight to anxiety as causative of physical symptoms that come out of no where. (As distinguished from experiencing horrific things and immediately throwing up, fainting, or going through fight or flight.)

With this stress have you been taking good care of yourself in terms of eating, exercise, sleep, and avoiding drinking, excess caffeine etc.? FWIW, I don't think the crying is indicative of a MH problem yet. With your child's problems and what happened last night you are simply feeling overwhelmed and crying is your reaction to that. I have been overwhelmed many times with kid's health problems. Am not a crier so haven't had that happen. I find that if I can just figure out one next step to take the overwhelming feeling goes away.

For symptoms like these my checklist is look at meds first (including OTC) as possible causes. Then the environmental stuff like not enough sleep, poor diet etc. Then look at possible physical causes. This is the hard step because many doctors want to skip it (and you can't do it yourself) and go straight to the fourth step: consider mental health problems.

Certain vitamin deficiencies can cause this kind of anxiety.
Also - if your blood sugar drops it can cause a physical reaction (heart palpitations, etc) which can actually trigger anxiety. What had you eaten prior to bedtime?
Did you have caffeine, or chocolate?