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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Gary34 on April 8, 2008, at 13:39:21
I recently started taking Omega-3 for anxiety. It was recommended that I take 3g a day. 1g before breakfast, lunch and supper.
I did this for 8 days and I noticed that I was less anxious. Great.
Day 9 I suddenly started to feel "different" for lack of a better word. I felt heightened anxiety doing normally non-anxious things like working or watching hockey. I am normally anxiety-free on my couch and in my cubicle. It continued to progress and get worse every day until day 13, i had to leave work becuase I was in a constant haze and I was distracted and going up and down with mood swings. One minute I felt spectacular, the next I felt dread.
They were 300mg EPA, 200mg DHA and it was a local natural health food company here in Canada. (Adrien Gagnon)
I stopped taking the Omega-3 supplements and I have gradually started to feel better but its not gone 3 days later and it still affects my moods, but only in the afternoon and I might have possibly linked it to after exercise as well. (when i'm tired?)
Reading about Omega-3 on the web, you'd think it was the best thing since sliced bread but I don't know. Its the only change I made in the last 2 weeks. Nothing else.
Questions:
(1) Could Omega-3 have caused this heightened (terrible) anxiety?
(2) If so, how long until I get all of this out of my system. I can't function like this.
(3) What is the proper way to take Omega-3 for anxiety.
Posted by Gary34 on April 11, 2008, at 20:04:34
In reply to Omega-3 Issues, posted by Gary34 on April 8, 2008, at 13:39:21
I know nobody responded to this but I thought I would include a follow-up.
On Wednesday, after my anxiety continued to get worse, I found myself just about fainting while at work. I was light-headed all morning and I called my wife, told her I felt light-headed. She called me back a few minutes later saying that i should go to the hospital because it might be a stroke or a blood clot or something. Well, that tipped me over and I felt woozy and I told a co-worker who put me on a couch and I thought I was going to die.
They took me to the hospital and after 8 hours of waiting, they basically told me I had a panic attack on top of an 8-day long anxiety attack. When I'm anxious, I pee a lot. well, yesteday I must have peed 20 times while at the hospital.
I have been excused from work for 2 weeks on short-term disability and we're organizing ourself to figure out how to deal with my current non-stop panic.
Except that today, everything seemed to be fine. The anxiety is just about back to normal. (pre Omega-3)
Everyone is telling me that I just burned out but I just don't see it. The Omega-3's made me light-headed and they somehow made me feel more anxious all the time. And since stopping for 5 days now, I can feel myself gradually turning into the old me again.
Its not 100% yet because maybe I'm just not as worried anymore but these "pangs" that I talked about above are jsut about gone. I didn't even need any Ativan today or anything to get through the day (I needed 3 in the 2 prior days).
All I can say is ramp up those Omega-3's and make sure you are buying quality.
This is the end of the thread.
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