Physical symptoms as we age w/anxiety

AlaskanAmber · Post by **AlaskanAmber** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:57 pm

Hey all, I am just putting this out there, and seeing if anyone has noticed anything similar.

Once I learned what 'anxiety' was I learned self help tools to deal, and I've had good weeks and hard weeks, I've had a myriad of symptoms, started when I was a kid with worrying myself sick, then in my 20's obsessive scary thoughts, uncontrollable shaking, panic attacks to name a few, then when that disappeared, then it was weird pains in the head, tension headaches with sharp pains, chest pains, after MULITPLE ER, Dr's visits, and ekg, stress test, heart halter moniter, etc. It all came back to stress, even when I had chest pain, and numbness in my face and down my left arm, all stress.
I"m learning as we age, the stress and anxiety show up differently, now i've got body aches, tingling, burning, more numbness in my tongue, stiffness in my neck, blurry vision at times, heavy chest after exercise. hard to breathe
So i'm not FEELING stressed though I could cry at the drop of a at&t commercial.
I moved onto 'health anxiety' do i have ms? fibromyalgia? cancer? tumor?

And now after all these years I'm still having great weeks, and then bad weeks where I have to review the program, call a friend, use LOTS of positive talk.

For example yesterday I felt terrible, all kinds of WeIRD body symptoms, muscle weakness, tingling etc, I was upset, and my symptoms freak me out,they'd been coming on frequently for weeks, and finally I talked to a fellow anxiety friend, and after talking, she reminded me how were all just "hypersenstive people", everyone has the same thoughts we do, they just let them go much faster, while we obsess.

Everyone including healthy people, have the same physical symptoms, and they brush it off, and when you don't focus on the symptom it goes away or decreases immensly.
while we focus on symptoms and it gets more intense and worse!

So today, I did it, when I started to feel my symptoms coming on, I used positive self talk, even though I was a bit cheessy, "im okay, I'm fine, it's not a disease, find somthing to do" and here it is evening time, and I have ZERO symptoms! or at least im feeling good and not paying much mind to them.

If your still with me reading this email, GOd bless you, my point is this,
we all have ups and downs in this ride of life, and even though you may be a veteran at this, we all need reminding, and new symptoms may crop up, sometimes my anxiety will build over months and will finally hit me when life is calm. Anyone notice that? So that's where I am.
A veteran anxiety girl, with a myriad of symptoms, and still learning new tools all the time, yet I wouldn't trade it. Everyone hang in there, we're all smart, creative, sensitive, intelligent people who just feel more, think more and worry more than most, however we can love MORE too. When we don't use it to make ourselves sick, we can be amazing friends, spouses,parents, teachers, doctors, coaches etc.
Please leave feedback I'd love to hear everyones story, Godbless I'll pray we all have a peaceful nite!

"Cast all your anxietys on him, because he cares for you" 1 peter 5;5 ( i think)

ellkay · Post by **ellkay** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:48 am

I know its been a while since you posted this but I just wanted to say that I can really relate. Especially the part where things will be stressful for a while and then when things are calm it really hits you. That happens to me all of the time. That gives me relief to know I am not the only one.

Right now I am going through some medical issues with my thyroid and of course everything in my body is aching, hurting or doing something so of course I have throat cancer, lung cancer and might have a heart attack at any moment.

I know exactly how you feel....

Ms. Hopeful · Post by **Ms. Hopeful** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:26 am

AlaskanAmber, thanks for your post. I just now saw it and it helped me. I can so relate to what you said. I am 43 now and dealing with perimenopause (officially - I've been checked

) and it introduces a whole new meaning to anxiety, heart palpitations, etc. In fact, I was just in the ER this morning after waking up with chest pain, heart palps, and a few other symptoms.

Of course, everything checked out ok. In fact, the ER dr., bless his heart, walked in, sat down, and said, "Hi, what's different this time from the other 15 times you've been here?" I didn't know if I wanted to smack him or hug him! He really was understanding and even sat and talked with me awhile after all the tests were run.

Hang in there - I know I'm leaning on the Lord more than ever!!!

RichL · Post by **RichL** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:48 am

Yes. I can tell you that mine have "evolved" over time. 8 years ago, it was just straight-up panicky anxiety. Mostly thought processes, and fear of meetings, travel, etc.

Now, though I've been through the program, I find that my mind still wants to find something to latch onto for the sake of promoting anxiety. And as I age, it becomes much more physical symptoms - i.e. ectopic heart beats, thyroid problems? cancer? tumor? I will find myself being freaked out about it for some time until I figure out, wait a sec, this is nothing new. Same old story just with a new approach.

It is remarkable how persistent anxiety can be, and how it can evolve and adapt, and then be able to sneak up on you unawares....

barbgavon · Post by **barbgavon** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:30 am

Yes everyone is affected with aches and pains as they get older and the worry of a heart attack or other issues may send them to ER. I went about a month ago. I had heavy chest pain for days then pain down one arm then another. As I was in ER (because my husband tried and I didn't listen then a friend said, "Barb,are you WAITING to have a heart attack/?) Actually,I figured if I still had it 3 days I would have been dead. Well, the Dr. not knowing what to say it was said it was probably acid reflux. No!! It was anxiety.

My husband has really been on the bandwagon about every ache and pain, acid reflux, hietal hernia and on and on. He's now reading everything he can find on the internet and wanting to order ev. vitamin and now books. He was never into reading all this stuff before. Dear God, not only do I have to deal with my own anxiety I have to deal with his which ends up a vicious cycle. Yea..it's fun getting OLD!! Well, what's the other alternative?? So lets keep on keepin' on. Keep encouraging each other. Continue with our program and reading helpful info on these forums.

God bless you all and may we all be at peace...if not today, then tomorrow?? WE CAN DO THIS PEOPLE!!

skywoman · Post by **skywoman** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:57 pm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline.../htm/_no_50_no_0.htm
This is a great tutorial about menopause and what to expect and how to deal with some of the hot flushes
This site helped me know what to expect. I just now say oh its my hormones. I am allowed to be abit off today and it won't kill me and this too shall pass.

barbgavon · Post by **barbgavon** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:57 pm

That really was a great help skywoman.Thanks a lot. I had a hysterectomy in my late 30's and went into menopause a few yrs.later because I still have one ovarie. I'd been on estrogen for almost 20 yrs. and tried to go off several times. I finally am off for over a month but I struggle more than ever with hot flashes or more now hot/cold. I hate it. When does it ever end? My aunt was on for so long the doctors made her go off. She was 70 and had to go back on cuz she thought she'd go crazy. She's finally off but she's over 80!!! Oh,the joys of being a woman

poet BTG · Post by **poet BTG** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 12:07 pm

Happy Thanksgiving for all you in the US. I'm finally on the site where I need to be. I finally woke up to the fact that all these trips to er have been anxiety causing my bp to go up (they never do find anything to cause my bp to be up) so this time I am staying with the program and actually making it work for me - thanks to all of you for the posts - they are very helpful