Physical Symtoms of Anxiety-hypochondriasis
Kelly 22, I can totally relate to the symptoms you have written about having. Lately I have had a horrible time dealing with panic & anxiety. I have been on med. for about 4 years now & for the first few that I was on med. my symptoms almost completly dissappeared. Recently, in this past month my med. seemed to not be working at all and I began to feel as if I was going to die or something awful was going to happen to me everyday. My symptoms include 'Tightness" in the front of my head, tingling in my back & neck, muscle twitching, severe dizziness and the worst one of all the feeling of not "feeling" like myself. I didn't know there was a name for it. It is so hard going throughout the day feeling so disconnected. I just want to run to the dr some times and have them do more tests to make certain nothing horrible is wrong. I was diagnosed as having a slightly bulged disk a few years ago, however, they said it was nothing to worry about. I wonder sometimes if the tingling feeling may result from that. Thank you for describing your symptoms because it makes me feel as if I am not so alone in this.
My symptoms are nausea,cant eat, IBS,I get a weird feeling down both arms ,My blood pressure goes up i know because i take it too many times when i have a panick attack,I get restless get like a burst of energy cant sit still ,heartpalpitations, hot flashes, just out of it i get very quiet i dont like to talk to anyone ..
A silver - A bulging disc can definately cause tingling but so can hyperventilating, which is what we do when were anxious and panicking. When I blew out my discs a few years back, my arm started out numb, then painful, then finally went to tingling. I continue to have disc/spine issues and normally it causes shooting pains now. I get alot of relief by going to a chiropractor and doing traction at home. Icing the area of the spine that's causing the issues also give temporary relief. Good luck.
A Silver, a lot of my anxiety/panic symptoms are of the neurological variety - tingling, etc. Scares the hell out of me.
Have you tried seeing a chiropractor for your bulging disc? In my obsessive shotgun blast of working on myself (I'm starting the program, started Paxil, been to the doc many times, and the ER), I also went to a chiro. Turns out I have what's called a sublaxation in my neck and back. This basically means that my spine is not straight which can cause pressure on nerves.
I have been to the chiro now for 7 adjustments total. I can tell you that I feel better each time I go. I don't believe it's all of what I am dealing with (I know I have anxiety issues), but I believe it has helped me. I am going to continue to go.
Perhaps you could go see one and see what he/she says. My insurance covered the xrays the chiro did, so it wasn't that expensive to understand what he could do for me.
I hope you feel better.
Let us know. God bless!
Have you tried seeing a chiropractor for your bulging disc? In my obsessive shotgun blast of working on myself (I'm starting the program, started Paxil, been to the doc many times, and the ER), I also went to a chiro. Turns out I have what's called a sublaxation in my neck and back. This basically means that my spine is not straight which can cause pressure on nerves.
I have been to the chiro now for 7 adjustments total. I can tell you that I feel better each time I go. I don't believe it's all of what I am dealing with (I know I have anxiety issues), but I believe it has helped me. I am going to continue to go.
Perhaps you could go see one and see what he/she says. My insurance covered the xrays the chiro did, so it wasn't that expensive to understand what he could do for me.
I hope you feel better.
Let us know. God bless!-
Charlie Brown
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:56 pm
My main symptom is chest tightness/sensation. I have anxiety, mild asthma, costochondritis, and larynx reflux. Chest tightness is a symptom for all of these. So when I get tightness/sensation I am left wondering which ailment is it or is it a combo deal 
. Since asthma is the most immediate threat, I will take a puff of Albuterol even if my breathing feels fine. A .25 mg tab of Xanax--more if needed--is also a remedy. What adds to this confusion is sometimes the tightness/sensation will disappear with just the Abluterol, just the Xanax, or with both Albuterol and Xanax.
The chest tightness/sensation is not cardiac-related (though my mind occasionally fears this still.) I have had stress tests done over the past two years, wore a heart montior in a halter overnight, had a nuclear stress test done last December (the cardio said my heart is the healthiest he's seen in 2 years), and ER tests (blood, chest-xrays, EKG.) Everything, everything was/is normal.
My father died 3 months after a heart attack at 77. I think this "did a number" on me. I am 43.
Two other physical scenarios that get the anixety up are concentrating briefly on my heart beating and swallowing sensations. Sometimes my anxiety will suddenly peak at briefly thinking about my heart beating regularly. This is obviously a connection to my father and my own cardio worries. The swallowing sensations (thanks to acid reflux
) sometimes makes me worry I will choke. I have had several actual choking episodes in the past two years. One in a restaurant but it was not from food but drinking coffee and laughing too much. I also had several nocturnal choking episodes thanks again to the reflux. It was these night-time chokes that lead the diagnosis of larynx reflux.
. Since asthma is the most immediate threat, I will take a puff of Albuterol even if my breathing feels fine. A .25 mg tab of Xanax--more if needed--is also a remedy. What adds to this confusion is sometimes the tightness/sensation will disappear with just the Abluterol, just the Xanax, or with both Albuterol and Xanax. The chest tightness/sensation is not cardiac-related (though my mind occasionally fears this still.) I have had stress tests done over the past two years, wore a heart montior in a halter overnight, had a nuclear stress test done last December (the cardio said my heart is the healthiest he's seen in 2 years), and ER tests (blood, chest-xrays, EKG.) Everything, everything was/is normal.
My father died 3 months after a heart attack at 77. I think this "did a number" on me. I am 43.
Two other physical scenarios that get the anixety up are concentrating briefly on my heart beating and swallowing sensations. Sometimes my anxiety will suddenly peak at briefly thinking about my heart beating regularly. This is obviously a connection to my father and my own cardio worries. The swallowing sensations (thanks to acid reflux
) sometimes makes me worry I will choke. I have had several actual choking episodes in the past two years. One in a restaurant but it was not from food but drinking coffee and laughing too much. I also had several nocturnal choking episodes thanks again to the reflux. It was these night-time chokes that lead the diagnosis of larynx reflux.Charlie Brown, you and I could be the same. Besides my tingling, etc., I have chest tightness, and worries on my swallowing. I also have asthma (since I was a kid). I do find that a .25 Xanax helps there.
I have had all the same heart-related tests as you in the last 1 1/2 months and my heart is just fine. My family has a history of heart disease, so I think this is why I obsess on it even when docs tell me that my heart is healthy.
The swallowing thing really bothers me too. I focus intently on it, "Is it right? Do I have something in there?". Before I know it, I work myself up to believe I do.
Thank God for this program and for Xanax. I just hope I can get off the Xanax before long. I would like to do this med-free. All the best to you.
I have had all the same heart-related tests as you in the last 1 1/2 months and my heart is just fine. My family has a history of heart disease, so I think this is why I obsess on it even when docs tell me that my heart is healthy.
The swallowing thing really bothers me too. I focus intently on it, "Is it right? Do I have something in there?". Before I know it, I work myself up to believe I do.
Thank God for this program and for Xanax. I just hope I can get off the Xanax before long. I would like to do this med-free. All the best to you.
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Charlie Brown
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:56 pm
OK - Tammy and I are twins. I have her exact list of symptoms.
I also have the bad heartburn that causes me to think I am having a heart attack.
The PMS is unbearable but I have found that if I let myself have a good cry when it happens ( I want to cry for no reason when my hormones act up so it is easy ) it really helps. It is as though I am getting it all out and I feel more relaxed.
My biggest "symptom" if I can call it that is the fact that I always have every muscle in my body tensed. If I could only stop doing that I could sleep and relax. I was on muscle relaxants for years but now that age has caught up and I need the blood pressure and blood sugar meds I had to stop taking the relaxants. Ativan and Prozac are helps but not enough to relax me. I try to pay attention and make myself relax the muscles but when I am doing anything I don't pay attention so I get the terrible tension headache and back/neck aches.
Oh anxiety - ain't it fun
P.S. hey Charlie my old friend. Long time no chat, hope you are doing well.
I also have the bad heartburn that causes me to think I am having a heart attack.
The PMS is unbearable but I have found that if I let myself have a good cry when it happens ( I want to cry for no reason when my hormones act up so it is easy ) it really helps. It is as though I am getting it all out and I feel more relaxed.
My biggest "symptom" if I can call it that is the fact that I always have every muscle in my body tensed. If I could only stop doing that I could sleep and relax. I was on muscle relaxants for years but now that age has caught up and I need the blood pressure and blood sugar meds I had to stop taking the relaxants. Ativan and Prozac are helps but not enough to relax me. I try to pay attention and make myself relax the muscles but when I am doing anything I don't pay attention so I get the terrible tension headache and back/neck aches.
Oh anxiety - ain't it fun
P.S. hey Charlie my old friend. Long time no chat, hope you are doing well.
Love and Light
Rene'
Rene'
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Charlie Brown
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:56 pm
Hey Dragonfly7518,
I had an instantaneous panic attack happen to me this past Sunday night. It started completely out of the blue, didn't feel anxious, was reading a magazine, eating ice cream and blam! Heart racing, blood pressure way up, ibs symptoms, jelly legs, etc. As I cycled, my BP went up and up, and ended up in the e.r., where they gave me benedryl, an anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea i.v., did two ekg's (one when the symptoms returned) and all was o.k. (thank goodness). Went home after a couple of hours-exhausted from the benedryl. I hadn't had any sort of panic attack for over 2 years and before that it had been a long, long time. I had them very often and badly (agoraphobia, too), in my early 20's and then one day they were gone. I had a bunch of heart related tests two years ago, since I have heart disease on both sides of my family, but everything came back fine (which I am very thankful for). I just freaked on Sunday and now in hindsight, wish I would have ridden it out at home, but the spike in BP scared me. The e.r. doc thinks it was all due to having a migraine earlier in the day, but since I've never had a panic attack with the migraine, I'm sure it's just general anxiety/stress that I've been stuffing and it just came out the only way it could. I see my doc on Monday and I may go back on anti-depressants, although I hate the "flat" feeling I had on them. I don't really want to waste any more money on heart related tests, especially when the ekg's were fine... So, I guess to answer your question-yes, they do come out of the blue, no warning sometimes and yes, it really sucks! And...a thank you to everyone-I'm new to this forum and I really appreciate knowing that I'm not alone.
I had an instantaneous panic attack happen to me this past Sunday night. It started completely out of the blue, didn't feel anxious, was reading a magazine, eating ice cream and blam! Heart racing, blood pressure way up, ibs symptoms, jelly legs, etc. As I cycled, my BP went up and up, and ended up in the e.r., where they gave me benedryl, an anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea i.v., did two ekg's (one when the symptoms returned) and all was o.k. (thank goodness). Went home after a couple of hours-exhausted from the benedryl. I hadn't had any sort of panic attack for over 2 years and before that it had been a long, long time. I had them very often and badly (agoraphobia, too), in my early 20's and then one day they were gone. I had a bunch of heart related tests two years ago, since I have heart disease on both sides of my family, but everything came back fine (which I am very thankful for). I just freaked on Sunday and now in hindsight, wish I would have ridden it out at home, but the spike in BP scared me. The e.r. doc thinks it was all due to having a migraine earlier in the day, but since I've never had a panic attack with the migraine, I'm sure it's just general anxiety/stress that I've been stuffing and it just came out the only way it could. I see my doc on Monday and I may go back on anti-depressants, although I hate the "flat" feeling I had on them. I don't really want to waste any more money on heart related tests, especially when the ekg's were fine... So, I guess to answer your question-yes, they do come out of the blue, no warning sometimes and yes, it really sucks! And...a thank you to everyone-I'm new to this forum and I really appreciate knowing that I'm not alone.