My Symptoms - Chronic Anxiety?

[Irene]

I'm posting this on behalf of my mother in the hopes others who have Chronic Anxiety and the symptoms I note below may be able to offer some helpful advice or words.

She has been through seven months of hell so far and is fast losing ground with herself in her struggle and is harboring thoughts of self harm and that her situation is impossible, incurable and hopeless. Struggling to keep her spirits up and in the right frame of mind is a struggle every day.

She has had all manner of tests under the sun and recently saw a neurologist, which as far as the doctors concerned ruled out any physical cause and they are now referring her to a psychologist after easter and believe it may be chronic anxiety or something similar but we still dont know for sure. They think it may have been a trauma caused by a fall at work, and a reaction to Fentanyl and Morphine and all the other drugs she was on that may have caused her mind to reach its limit and be unable to take anymore.

Her Symptoms
Chronic Exfruciatingly Intense burning sensation in Chest, Abdomen, Stomach, Arms, Throat, Hands and Face (lower part).

Pins and Needles sensation in both feet
Terrific pain in left side of back under bottom of Rib Cage (has a fatty lump there so this one may be unrelated)
Loss of Appetite
Weight Loss
Inability to function because of burning, feelings of hopelessness, suicide, everything is impossible in her mind at the moment, indeed "I cant" and "I tried" are the responses to almost everything.
She has fears and worries about everything, not eating, taking her tablets, what the tablets will do, her weight loss, how she is affecting me and my father the list goes on..she worries all the time, and tries desperately hard to convince herself despite our best efforts that this is something she cannot or does not have the strength to beat.

Bad Pain over right eyeball
Inability to sleep for long
Numbness in fingers and toes that comes and goes.
Inability to get comfortable or concentrate on anything

Some days she is better some days she is worse, but every bad day she has puts us right back to square one and my fear is that we are running out of time before she follows up on the threats of suicide she keeps stating, which is not my mother speaking.

She does almost nothing anymore, jsut lays in bed all day dreading one oment to the next, theres no reall reason she should be in bed hiding away in her room but apart from the occasional venture out of her room for a few minutes she always comes scampering back there.

My father is also starting to lose patience and is struggling to cope, at the moment I (who is 32) is currently the only one keeping things together.

Can anyone offer any advice, suggestions or even confirm if a chronic sufferer of anxiety too that these symptoms sound familiar as I still think she has doubts that her problem is psychological though myself I am fairly sure it is.

[trac67]

Hi Irene,

Welcome to the forum, you will get a lot of good advice here for your mum.

Read through the following links all about symptoms and coping and see if they help at all :

Common Symptoms of Panic Attacks, Anxiety, Phobias and OCD.

Strategies for coping
Some of my symptoms and explinations.
very strange panic attack symptoms
Actute Anxiety,given ZISPIN ???? HELP
bowels
Since the dentist
You can overcome this!
What to Say when you Talk to Yourself!
THE FINAL STEP TO RECOVERY

Take care

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'

[wendy]

Hi Irene

Firstly your mum is so lucky to have someone such as yourself to care and be so active in helping her, As a sufferer myself I can only imagine how wearing it must be for a carer

This does most definatley from my own experiences sound like anxiety related symtpoms, I didnt realise just how physical anxiety symptoms are and they are so exhausting and worrying

Could you maybe direct your mum to have a look on this site, I am reasonably new member and cant begin to express how much the people on this site have helped me, just in knowing you are not alone makes a huge difference as does knowing the many symptoms of anxiety and the fact that many people on here have recovered or are making a good recovery helps with the depression and low mood feelings, it may seem like a never ending battle at the moment but with the right support your mum will get over this

Take Care

Wendy xx

[Irene]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Hi Irene

Firstly your mum is so lucky to have someone such as yourself to care and be so active in helping her, As a sufferer myself I can only imagine how wearing it must be for a carer

This does most definatley from my own experiences sound like anxiety related symtpoms, I didnt realise just how physical anxiety symptoms are and they are so exhausting and worrying

Could you maybe direct your mum to have a look on this site, I am reasonably new member and cant begin to express how much the people on this site have helped me, just in knowing you are not alone makes a huge difference as does knowing the many symptoms of anxiety and the fact that many people on here have recovered or are making a good recovery helps with the depression and low mood feelings, it may seem like a never ending battle at the moment but with the right support your mum will get over this

Take Care

Wendy xx

<div align="right">Originally posted by wendy - 13 April 2006 : 21:10:48</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

Hi Wendy,

thanks for the kind words she's my mother doing any less for her after all she has done for me over the years wouldn't be right. Not to mention I only have one mum and am not quite ready to let her go yet

I registered here for her in her name as that is kind of what I was hoping to get her to do. If she can talk to and see that other people have and do have the same symptoms and have suffered as she has then she will hopefully see it isnt as hopeless as she currently convinces herself. Especially in regard to the burning in the chest she is convinced she is the only one who has had this and because of that, that is why she cannot handle it. but if I can find someone who has had the burning and coped who can speak to her then she will hopefully see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

My dad tries his best but he isnt the msot emotional in touch of people anyway and I know he has been struggling to make sense of it lately, but he fails to see that by getting frustrated and short with my mother over her condition that it only adds to her burden and worsens her symptoms.. so things are pretty tense a lot of the time, though for whatever reason I seem able to cope where he can't.

Anyway If I can find someoen who has had the chronic burning sensation (and the other sysmptoms too) whom she can discuss it with and make sense of it all via this community that would be great as right now shes not in a good headplace and is effectively keeping herself in her bed in her room most days, which in itself doesnt help her any.

Mark
(Irenes son)

[nell1965]

Mark
I can understand how your mum feels as i have been in that very dark place just a few months back and i had a lot of symptoms similiar to your mum particularly the burning and the pins and needles it is simply awful when you feel so low and so scared about what is happening to you, she needs proper help from someone trained in dealing with anxiety disorders and to echo what wendy said she is lucky to have a supportive son as i was to have supportive parents (im 40),i myself and many others on here would be happy to help you and your mother.


I just want my life back
nell
x

[Irene]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Mark
I can understand how your mum feels as i have been in that very dark place just a few months back and i had a lot of symptoms similiar to your mum particularly the burning and the pins and needles it is simply awful when you feel so low and so scared about what is happening to you, she needs proper help from someone trained in dealing with anxiety disorders and to echo what wendy said she is lucky to have a supportive son as i was to have supportive parents (im 40),i myself and many others on here would be happy to help you and your mother.


I just want my life back
nell
x

<div align="right">Originally posted by nell1965 - 14 April 2006 : 14:05:42</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

please can you tell me was the burning horrific in your chest and abdomen all i want to do is stop it I cant cope with it another day as soon as I open my eyes its horrific my husband is also in tears as he dont know how to handle it any more with me its like having neat acid poured through my body please can you let me know.

Irene

[honeybee3939]

Hi Irene

Im sorry to hear you are having such a bad time, it does sound to me also you are suffering Chronic Anxiety, I remember been there my self and thinking there was no way out of it. Its sounds like the Trauma you had with the fall made your anxiety a lot worse. I hope by reading this it may help you understand I truly hope it does.
I have suffered with Anxiety for 10 years I have always been a worrier, 5 years ago I was admitted to hospital with a huge abscess which had grown to the size of a rugby ball in my stomach, I had developed Septicaemia was put on drugs morphine etc, the Trauma of it all made me go to rock bottom.
When I came out of hospital I felt terrible (the hospital discharged me saying I was fine) the abscess had been taken away and I couldn’t understand why I felt so ill, I had all the same symptoms as you, every part of my body hurt so bad, chest pains, stomach pains, head pains, dizzy, you name it I had it! even the thought of getting out of bed was a challenge I thought if I got out of bed I would surely die. This went on for 6 months, I spent 6 months in bed afraid to leave my room as I was convinced I was dying, my family and friends took it in turns to sit in the bedroom with me as I just didn’t want to be left alone I couldn’t even stand up, the only time I left my bedroom was to go to the toilet and even going to the toilet was a challenge I had to get there on my hands and knees as my body seemed to have given up. Some days in that 6 month period I did feel a little better but I still didn’t leave my bedroom, it wasn’t until the doctor said to me that I cant be seriously ill or I wouldn’t feel a little better one day and then the next day be dieing again, I realised how true this must be, and realised its got to be a physiological problem.
Eventually I did get help, at the time I thought no one could help me get out of this, but with medication and a lot of help I started to get better. I am just hoping by you reading this it may relate to you, and want you to realise things can get better. A year after me suffering so bad I went to night school and earned a degree in Health and Social Care so it just goes to show how you can get better.

I truly hope by writing this it may help you, and relate to some of your symptoms we are all here to help.

Love to you

Andrea
xxx

[Irene]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Hi Irene

Im sorry to hear you are having such a bad time, it does sound to me also you are suffering Chronic Anxiety, I remember been there my self and thinking there was no way out of it. Its sounds like the Trauma you had with the fall made your anxiety a lot worse. I hope by reading this it may help you understand I truly hope it does.
I have suffered with Anxiety for 10 years I have always been a worrier, 5 years ago I was admitted to hospital with a huge abscess which had grown to the size of a rugby ball in my stomach, I had developed Septicaemia was put on drugs morphine etc, the Trauma of it all made me go to rock bottom.
When I came out of hospital I felt terrible (the hospital discharged me saying I was fine) the abscess had been taken away and I couldn’t understand why I felt so ill, I had all the same symptoms as you, every part of my body hurt so bad, chest pains, stomach pains, head pains, dizzy, you name it I had it! even the thought of getting out of bed was a challenge I thought if I got out of bed I would surely die. This went on for 6 months, I spent 6 months in bed afraid to leave my room as I was convinced I was dying, my family and friends took it in turns to sit in the bedroom with me as I just didn’t want to be left alone I couldn’t even stand up, the only time I left my bedroom was to go to the toilet and even going to the toilet was a challenge I had to get there on my hands and knees as my body seemed to have given up. Some days in that 6 month period I did feel a little better but I still didn’t leave my bedroom, it wasn’t until the doctor said to me that I cant be seriously ill or I wouldn’t feel a little better one day and then the next day be dieing again, I realised how true this must be, and realised its got to be a physiological problem.
Eventually I did get help, at the time I thought no one could help me get out of this, but with medication and a lot of help I started to get better. I am just hoping by you reading this it may relate to you, and want you to realise things can get better. A year after me suffering so bad I went to night school and earned a degree in Health and Social Care so it just goes to show how you can get better.

I truly hope by writing this it may help you, and relate to some of your symptoms we are all here to help.

Love to you

Andrea
xxx


<div align="right">Originally posted by honeybee3939 - 14 April 2006 : 16:06:46</div id="right">
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dear andrea thank you for your reply Like you said it can get better but at the moment I cant even think straight as the burning in my chest and abdomen is so intense intense it is like somebody is pouring neat acid into my esophagus all the way down to my stomach in my arms it is like there are things crawling in these areas and I am unable to stop them I want to scream in pain all the time I cant sit still cant watch T V read or concentrait on anything I am in complete agony all the time I feel like I cant go on I just want the burning to stop I have lost so much weight I am like a bag of bones all my muscles have gone I cant concentrate on a thing even doing this I am doing it so quick its llike if I dont type it in quick I cant do it i am glad that you havee gotten over it though I feel constantly sick all the time as well so am unable to eat maybe one sllice of toast a day and two biscuits I just dont seem able to get it down.I al;so have to wait till after Easter sometime before I see the psychologist I dont know if I can.

Regards Irene.

[feege]

Dear Irene

I'm so sorry you are having such a terrible time. Well done for coming on to the site and talking about it and asking for help.

I think if you get used to the site and have a good look round at the pages Meg has put here for us all you will find a lot of help and support - it's going to be a battle to get yourself better from here and you will have to approach it from all angles. You have to first believe that whatever else is wrong with you the anxiety is making it all much much worse and really really can cause all of it.

Acid is produced in the stomach when you are anxious and this is a viscious circle - the more acid the more anxious. This is something I have suffered from for years and often feel that sensation of battery acid being poured down my throat and into my tummy and it spreads all across my chest and is agony. Are you getting any antacid treatments? Your GP can help with this and they seem to work very well for most people - even Zantac and Zoton which you can buy are amazingly helpful for some people. I don't know how far along this route you have gone with your GP?

You can beat this - you will get better. Read as many of the links that Tracy gave you below as possible and know for sure you most definitely are not alone, not mad and now a member of a club full of very special people who understand and will help you get back to your old self.

It will take time, it won't be easy or straightforward but you will do it.

good luck

with love xxxxxxx

Fee xxxxxx
www.like2like.com

Why live life anticipating the bad things when you could be anticipating the good?
Good and bad things WILL happen!

[Irene]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Dear Irene

I'm so sorry you are having such a terrible time. Well done for coming on to the site and talking about it and asking for help.

Acid is produced in the stomach when you are anxious and this is a viscious circle - the more acid the more anxious. This is something I have suffered from for years and often feel that sensation of battery acid being poured down my throat and into my tummy and it spreads all across my chest and is agony. Are you getting any antacid treatments? Your GP can help with this and they seem to work very well for most people - even Zantac and Zoton which you can buy are amazingly helpful for some people. I don't know how far along this route you have gone with your GP?

You can beat this - you will get better. Read as many of the links that Tracy gave you below as possible and know for sure you most definitely are not alone, not mad and now a member of a club full of very special people who understand and will help you get back to your old self.

It will take time, it won't be easy or straightforward but you will do it.

good luck

with love xxxxxxx

Fee xxxxxx
www.like2like.com

<div align="right">Originally posted by feege - 15 April 2006 : 01:43:47</div id="right">
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Dear Fee

Thank you for the kind words of support. The burning I refer to is like someone is pouring acid all over me it is excruciating, however it isnt acid in the stomach or any kind of reflux. Indeed I was tested for Acid reflux and it was found to be negative. The burning sensation I describe is one that makes my limbs feel like they are on fire and is by far the most horrendous and painful sensation I have ever felt in my entire life.

It must be caused psychologically as all the physiological tests have come back fine. Then there is the fact it started in my chest but over time moves and spread until now I feel it pretty much everywhere. Also it would be bad in a morning but let up of an evening wheras now it is constant from the time I open my eyes until the time I close them again. The pain is just so horrific I am desperate to find some way of making it stop and I do measn ANY, which in itself is frightening.

If this is my brain doing this to me I don't understand it as even when I relax it comes at me worse. I have hear and read that you need to go with it, accept it, relax but I cant do any of those things no matter how hard I try I cant get my head around it, if it would only let up for a little while.

Irene