How to stop being scared of sleeping over?

Please READ/Help. I am worried/scared?

• I am very scared/worried about my health right now. It all started when I had 2 panic attacks in Oct 2011 and went in to the ER for chest pain and they did an EKG and took a picture of my chest(I believe it was radiology) and everything was normal. The ER doctor told me its anxiety, and since then everything has gone downhill. My BP is my main concern it fluctuates constantly. My school doctor told me that it could be a life threatening tumor called pheochromocytoma and I could have Bipolar 2 and that the tumor is extremely rare but he doesnt think I have either. I am 22 years old. I dont feel like I have anxiety. I just feel calm but my BP isnt normal. I have sleep problems. I am just scared about all of this. Before all anxiety and my BP was normal range. My blood pressure fluctuations are pretty high. Like 138/80, 135/85, 150/91 and once it hit 155/97(but I never got that again as I can remember) My primary doc (not school) isnt too worried about it and says I am healthy but I think he still doesn't know why my BP is kind of high, I sometimes doubt that he might not know what going on and I feel paranoid. My school doc says that I just need to find a way to calm down and relax, she gave me zoloft but I am too scared to take it because of the tumor scare but sometimes I think she made an accurate diagnosis which kind of worries me and scares me and I cannot stop thinking about it. I was sleeping some what ok after the attack, until mid-march I suffered a huge panic attack/scare while looking up symptoms of my GERD about esophagus cancer (I think). My head felt hot and felt like something was leaking out from it and I had a burning sensation in my chest. After that my head was clouded up and I would get chest pains and then I had digestive problems. I started taking this herbal medication for about 3 weeks and I started to feel better so I stopped taking it when my head cleared up it helped my sleep a little bit. My body has completely changed from the inside. Sometimes I get random chest pains too , but I still don't feel "anxiety" or maybe anxiety has soaked into my body that I just don't "feel" it anymore. I wake up sometimes with my heart rate racing and feel shaky. I just feel like there's something wrong with me but I am scared. I also have GERD but lately I haven't felt it as much due to my appetite changing and no heart burn feeling. I experience burning type chest pains. I experienced hand tremors and I still have them time to time. I sometimes shake from my hands when holding a cell phone or sometimes laying my hands out. I am just scared about that tumor because its one of the many symptoms of the tumor. When ever I eat, I do not feel fullness. I do not have normal bowel movements. I am having sleep problems such as insomnia at times and unrefreshed sleep. In the past I have had problems sleeping where I would snore loudly and get up catching my breath so thats why my doctor requested a sleep study. I sleep on my side now but that issue has gotten better but I am still experiencing not good sleep. Also, I wake up a little earlier than usually sometimes when I used to before all of this anxiety. Also, no thyroid/diabetes problem. Sometimes I just dont feel like myself like I used to, I feel light headed at times and feel like im not inside myself. I am worried can this be anxiety related? or something serious? Anybody else experiencing this? I am just scared that how can something bad come from anxiety? How can my BP just change like that when I used to have NORMAL BP. Its making me scared. I have been experiencing weird symptoms that I have never experienced before... I just want my life back...I cant focus in school/life and I have trouble sleeping at night. The weird thing is that I feel calm, and NOT anxious but yet, I still do not feel right and my BP isn't normal. Could it be the amount of stress in my body? I am scared to go back to the doctor for my follow up. What sometimes worries me is that when I am calm I am where did the anxiety symptoms go when I have anxiety? And when I go check my BP while calm its high? All of this is just over whelming me. And everytime I hold something in my hand its shaky. Only thing that runs through my mind is I have something life threatening. I am just so scared...My body feels calm its just i DON'T KNOW why my BP is a little high and hand tremors.I also get random headaches and random chest burning pains. I am just worried, and I want to get my life back and go back to normal health and normal self. I cant focus in school and I cannot enjoy the things I used to do. I just want my life back before all of this anxiety started to happen but I cant thinking about something is wrong with me. I sometimes feel like the doctor is overlooking some of my symptoms... My main concern right now is: Appetite, Hand termors, BP, Sleep.

• Answer:

  Antidepressants can help with anxiety - assuming your doctor thinks it's a good idea. If you go that route remember that the anxiety will get worse for the first few weeks of taking them. If this happens, then it's a very good sign that the antidepressant will help your anxiety. You just have to stick it out - you will get relief if you wait it out. It's worth the wait. For now, just practice breathing slowly. Breathe slowly in from your mouth and exhale slowly out your nose.