so the past few months, I’ve noticed my anxiety has really spiked during certain periods. sometimes I would get a sudden spurge of anxiety then I would feel my body getting really hot (once I’ve seen my temp go up to 37.8C), I would start sweating, it feels like the room was getting smaller and I would have a hard time breathing. A para counsellor suggested I may have generalized anxiety disorder but I didn’t really believe. But recently things have gotten worse. For no reason and out of nowhere, my anxiety spikes even when the current situation is calm. I would start panting really bad and my chest would start hurting like the stabbing kind of pain. I don’t really know how to explain this to my psychiatrist cause they don’t seem to believe my problems all the time. I’m afraid they may blame things on my bpd but even with anti psychotics, I still get a sudden spike in anxiety at random.
Hi @focusedwildflower9156, thank you for sharing. What you have described sounds really distressing and I want to say first that your experiences are real and worth being taken seriously.
The sudden spike in anxiety, with physical symptoms like chest tightness, difficulty breathing, sweating, alongside with the feeling like room getting smaller is concerning and worth bringing it up to your psychiatrist. Having BPD doesn’t mean your anxiety symptoms are automatically explained by it, and psychiatrist should be able to recognise that there may be more than one thing going on at the same time.
It might be helpful to keep a brief log of these episodes before your next appointment. For example, noting the time, what you were doing, what you felt physically, and how long it lasted. Having this kind of concrete record can be harder to dismiss than a verbal description, and it also helps distinguish whether there are a pattern or triggers. If you feel your psychiatrist consistently doesn’t take your concerns seriously, it’s also okay to tell them directly about how you felt. You deserve to feel heard in this.
In the meantime, before your appointment, sharing this resource where you can explore on some strategies that you can tap on to manage when the anxiety spikes: Try A Free Mental Health Self-Assessment Tool (Tests & Quizzes) | mindline.sg