Seattle Doll, I didn't even tell my husband. I feel sorry for him. After the birth of my third child, the post partum depression was crippling, and was quickly followed by horrible anxiety attacks. I was afraid to go to sleep at night.
After the birth of my fourth child, I waited, but felt fine...for three years. Suddenly I was forty, dying of (cancer -lung, brain, ovarian, stomach, bone; several lung diseases; MS, Parkinson's and early onset Alzheimer's). I would drag him out of bed to rush me to the ER where they would x-ray me, sedate me and send me home. Poor guy, he is the one who needed the sedatives. It was 18 months of hell. Our family doctor never mentioned anxiety, he treated whatever symptom I presented. I had inhalers, allergy meds, sleeping pills, birth control pills. I think he gave me whatever he had in his desk drawer.
The attacks subsided as quickly as they came. I have not had one for 13 years when suddenly they came with such force I was afraid to get out of my chair, fall asleep or go to bed. I was certain I was having heart attacks, strokes, blood clots (and a few more). Out of the blue, I realized that since I wasn't dead, and I felt fine between my short bouts of impending death and life threatening illnesses, I was probably having an anxiety attack.
After checking with my doctor, I am glad I didn't start dragging the poor guy to the ER. Although he means well, he's not much help in getting through an attack, or working through this current condition. Because I am also working on a depression problem, my doctor put me on Wellbutrin and my husband is so thrilled with the results that he doesn't even notice my discomfort.
Maybe when this is history, or if it gets to be life altering to the point that I can no longer function enough to get by, I'll share. For now, one of us being anxiety free is good enough.
