advertisement
Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
CroLifter
Newly Joined
CroLifter has no updates.
 
Member Since: Jun 2019
Location: Croatia
Posts: 1
3 yr Member
Question Jun 29, 2019 at 03:45 PM
  #1
Greetings everyone,

Let me introduce myself. Male, 22 years old, throughout my childhood i had bouts of anxiety and hypochondria, as in i was afraid to drink water or eat because i was frightened i would suffocate etc. I uswd to obsess with death when i was a kid too. But i was generally fine throughout my teen and young adult years, except for occasional fits of rage that i managed to overcome as i finished puberty.

So, at the beginning of march i have started a steroid cycle consisting of 500mg of testosterone enanthate per week. Things were going fine until about 3 weeks in i crashed my estrogen. My heartbeat went up significantly during the day and i felt really nervous. Also experienced tightness in my chest which i obviously thought was some kind of heart problem (i later found out it was all connected to anxiety and panic) and of course went to the ER. Pulse was hanging around 100-110 and blood pressure was elevated, 140/90, but the docs said that of course it is elevated due to fast heartbeat.
I told them about steroids and they said that high levels of testosterone stimulate my nervous system causing it to go into overdrive.

I seemed to calm down after the ER visit but problems started again when i introduced masteron (drostanolone enanthate), a dht like steroid, very similar to dihydrotestosterone. I experienced bad panic attacks to the point where i eventually lowered my dose to 200mg per week of masteron. I would walk down the street, experience what seemed like a sudden clamp on my chest, shortness of breath and extreme panic mode. I tried to stay cool the whole time but it was still rough. I couldnt sit at the table to eat for example. I just felt the need to get up and start racing back and forth. I felt threatened from within.

Testosterone was constantly at 500mg per week. And generally i was fine, ocasionally i would have panic attack (chest would feel tight and i would get this fear thwt i am about to die) and i did feel nervous often (it is the kind of nervousness where you constantly feel that something bad is going to happen to you, a heart attack or something like that).

Fast forward till now, i am a month off from the cycle and back on my normal Testosteron Replacement Therapy dose of 125mg of testosterone enanthate per week. The problem is that i still have bouts of anxiety and panic, just like i did when i was blasting high testosterone.

I still get this feeling that something bad is about to happen to me, i get tightness in my chest and feel the need to get up and start walking, i simply cant stay relaxed, lying down or sitting when this happens. I have to get up and start walking.

And i seem to obsess over my ability to breathe lol.

From time to time i need to take an aromatase inhibitor, exemestane, to keep my estrogen down, wven on trt replacement dose.
My anxiety and panic seem to INCREASE after i take aromatase inhibitor, even though this is necessary to prevent health problems stemming from high estrogen like water retention, high blood pressure, erectyle dysfunction etc.

So, my question to you is, is there a certain hormone or a chemical which would trigger panic attacks and this extreme hypochondria-like nervousness?
Adrenaline?
Cortisol?
Depletion of serotonin in the brain (steroids can do that)?
I can feel those panic attacks coming out of the blue, i have absolutely no control over them. It is clear that steroids did something to my brain chemistry.

I have to say that this is very atypical, most people who use these amounts of androgens do not experience anything like this. In fact, most feel like supermen. And at the beginning, and at timmes when panic was absent, i felt really good, especially at the beginning. Sense of well-being, high libido strength going up...everything was there.

I must say that valeriana and passiflora tea did help me relax before sleep during the time i had the worst episodes of panic. I am also about to start taking ashwagandha again, it seemed to help me with stress before.
Anything else i could try?
I am not going to take benzos or whatever they are called.

Edit: Now when i think about it, my mother is susceptible to panic attacks. A lot of times when she gets upset, she starts panicking that something is happening to her and that we need to call an ambulance. So this is definitely in my genes.

Cliffs:
-started a steroid cycle, testosterone at 500mg per week

-felt great in the beginning

-3 weeks in started exleriencing anxiety and panic attakcs out of nowhere
-been to the ER twice, ECG came up fine, bloodwork was fine except my hematocrit kept rising which i solved by donating blood

-i stopped high dose testosterone and returned to a dose which puts my testosterone levels in normal range but i still experience panic attacks out of nowhere and general sense of uneasiness, nervousness, hypochondria

-had high prolactin at the end of the cycle

So i am thinking that maybe i have a serotonin deficiency? Steroid can cause serotonin depletion.

The problem is that i cant fathom how can testosterone cause this type of panic?

And yeah, steroids, i know what you are thinking. But it is what it is, the damage has been done. And panic attacks are not going away.
Today i experienced another one at the gym. It seems that stressfull situation (working ou puts stress on our bodies, stress hormones are released) seem to agitate my panic. Also caffeine, i have troubles after drinking green tea. As a matter of fact, i am lying in bed right now in a mild state of panic, thst mild state of panic is constantly here.

The worst of all is, i cant explain it.

Can anyone shed some life on this situation? How can testosterone spark panic attacks and uneasiness? Especially when i was feeling so good in the beginning.
CroLifter is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Thanks for this!
Skeezyks

advertisement
Skeezyks
Disreputable Old Troll
 
Skeezyks's Avatar
Skeezyks has no updates.
 
Member Since: Oct 2015
Location: The Star of the North
Posts: 32,762 (SuperPoster!)
8 yr Member
17.4k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Smile Jul 03, 2019 at 12:50 PM
  #2
Hello CroLifter: I don't know anything about what you are experiencing. Perhaps there will be some other members, here on PC, who will have some insights they can share. I noticed this is your first post here on PC, though. So... welcome to Psych Central. The anxiety, panic & phobias forum, here on PC, may also be of interest to you:

https://psychcentralforums.com/anxie...c-and-phobias/

You might also check out the Men-Focused Support forum:

https://psychcentralforums.com/men-focused-support/

Based on what you wrote, it sounds as though this is more of a medical condition. However here are links to 5 articles, from Psych Central's archives, that offer tips for coping with panic attacks including 1 that discusses treatments for panic disorder:

How to Halt and Minimize Panic Attacks

5 Tips to Stop Panic Attacks in Their Tracks

5 Simple Exercises for Managing Anxiety

https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-more...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/pan...der-treatment/

I hope you find PC to be of benefit.

__________________
"I may be older but I am not wise / I'm still a child's grown-up disguise / and I never can tell you what you want to know / You will find out as you go." (from: "A Nightengale's Lullaby" - Julie Last)
Skeezyks is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
sarahsweets
Threadtastic Postaholic
 
sarahsweets's Avatar
sarahsweets has no updates.
 
Member Since: Dec 2018
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 6,006 (SuperPoster!)
5 yr Member
192 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Jul 09, 2019 at 12:18 AM
  #3
Are these treatments supervised by a doctor?

__________________
"I carried a watermelon?"

President of the no F's given society.
sarahsweets is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:35 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® — Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.



 

My Support Forums

My Support Forums is the online community that was originally begun as the Psych Central Forums in 2001. It now runs as an independent self-help support group community for mental health, personality, and psychological issues and is overseen by a group of dedicated, caring volunteers from around the world.

 

Helplines and Lifelines

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.