Could this really be anxiety?

[snowwhite]

Hello everyone,

A while back, I posted on pain in my left leg, it had started on dec. 18th, with swollen knee joints and pain behind the knee, once THAT was over it took over my entire left leg...shooting pains, deep MUSCLE aches, you name it...very scary.

BUT NOW............. that the leg thing (which took about 6 wks to die down) I seem to have developed this weird pain/ache in my left lower abdomen .. also, it feels like menstrual cramps right above the pubic hair line, which I never used to get. I am 54, and in perimenopause, and although that alone can cause INSANE horrible symptoms which I have been so very fortunate to have... this almost doesn't feel like that... so I'm wondering if it could be anxiety, because I've been under lots of stress over the last few years, and I know that the anxiety I deal with can cause so many crazy symptoms!

The lower left abdominal "pains", which is really almost a deep dull ache (especially closer to the hairline) is driving me crazy because it NEVER leaves, sometimes it just gets worse, but it's always there. ... ALSO, it feels as if I cannot urinate enough.... the lower abdominal "sling" muscle that holds all the abdominal organs up (which of course passes right under the abdomen, right above the hair line) may be the culprit, due to anxiety....or hormones. It feels insanely tight, so when I need to use the bathroom (to urinate) it's feels very FULL and almost "hard" down in the lower left abdomen (right above the hairline) ... as if something is "in there", ...there can also be a feeling of needing to urinate yet, you don't end up "going" very much at all ........

So......I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has had this ... could this be anxiety?..... I know anxiety DOES affect our muscles.....

thanks everyone!

---------- Post added at 01:00 ---------- Previous post was at 00:46 ----------

oopss...... I should have included some more history here.... for about 5 days last week, all the muscles (or at least I THINK it was muscular) up inside my lower abdomen were tender and I had to be so careful when sitting down because it would hurt up inside me...it was as if you'd been tightening all your abdominal muscles in there for a long time, so that when you'd try to relax them, it would hurt .....thank God that has gotten better over the last few days! .... I was also thinking maybe PELVIC FLOOR DYSFUNCTION ... that HAS to be affected by anxiety!

[Mindful]

I would pop to the doctors and just ask them, yeh anxiety can show up in all kinds of ways, anywhere in the body but a trip to the doc to just get him-her to feel the tum might be a good idea. x

[snowwhite]

Hi ... thank you for responding. Well, saw the dr. and did blood work, urinalysis, and a CT scan .... he also pressed around on the left side of my abdomen, but of course naturally, that day the pain was minimal ...but I had told him all the symptoms anyway ...

so, here we go ........ apparently from the CT scan, everythng is "fine", I saw the report myself, and the chief radiologist (an M.D.) wrote down that the CT scan was "negative", and that he himself saw now etiology for the "patients" discomfort! HHHHMMMMM.............now, my dr. did inform me that I DID have a UTI, ok, well, fine...I kind of felt that way. So, he gave me Cipro, 500mgs. a pill, which he wants me to take twice a day, but it's TEARING ME UP on the inside, this is horrible!........... now, as far as the lower left sided pain, well, apparently according to him, he thinks I have a very mild case of either diverticulosis, or diverticulitis, so he gave me Flagyl, another antibiotic, 500 mgs. each, 3 a day! ..... so, I feel absolutley terrible right now! But my question is, if my CT scan showed NOTHING, I mean, the M.D. head of radiology wrote down that he "couldn't see any etiology for the patients discomefort, CT scan neg."...then, where in the world is my dr. getting the "diverticulosis", or "diverticulitis" diagnosis from?.....ok, so it would HAVE to be then, from just my symptoms ....
BUT, he can't really make a proper diagnosis of that just from my symptoms, I mean, dont you usually have to do a colonoscopy, or barium enema, or some other lovely test for that?

I did research on the internet, and it looks like a CT scan, with idodine contrast (which I had) would INDEED be able to pick up the diverticulitis.....yet, the report, which he gave me a copy of, said everything looked fine, and that the could find no reason for my discomfort, at least according to the CT scan. I don't get it.

Now, my dr. is a nice guy, he really is. So, when he sat down with me to discuss what he thought was happening, which included the CT scan, he told me that I DID have a UTI (which he was postitive about from the urinalysis, but at least that IS a positive test).....and that I DID have this diverticulitis crapola, but a VERY mild case ............ in other words, he was as certain about the diverticulitis, or diverticulosis (whichever), as he was about the UTI, but the UTI had more definate backing, which was the urinalysis. UGH!

I don't know if i'm explaining this correctly, but the diagnosis of diverticula has no "real" basis, other than my symptoms (bec. it didn't show up on the scan)....and with no other "real" test for your intestines, such as barium enema, or colonoscopy, how would he really know? I am taking both antibiotics, just in case.....and that's another thing..... IF this diverticulitis or whatever is SO MILD, why is he giving me antibiotics for it? woudln't that indicate that he THINKS there's an infection? Well, to ME, that woudln't be to mild! And from what I've read, a CT scan with contrast CAN pick up even a MILD case of diverticulitis, so did the radiologist just "forget" to put that down on the report? I DON'T THINK SO!

I'm sitting here at 6:00 AM, bec. about an hr. ago, I took the Flagyl for the intestinal "thing" i supposedly have .... it's making feel sick, but the cipro is worse! Yet, I still have this awful, pain/ache in the lower left side .... it's around the descending colon area, which is fairly low on the left, and it puts this awful pressure feeling down on my pubic bone, it feels as if "something" swells up in there, it's gross! It ALSO feels as if there's some kind of RAW open "sore" in there, and yet, the CT scan, didn't pick this up?

I noticed however, that when this awful disgusting ache started in last night again, that I took xanax, and then I had to take the Cipro ..... but what I noticed was, that this awful ache down on the left, sort of slowly disappeared ..... hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm, and taht was WITHOUT any painkiller, which I've had to keep taking for that pain...so, I'm thinking, ANXIETY? That would be incredible?

Okay, well, I'm done......... I jsut took xanax again, to see if that'll do the trick again, that might be a clue as to what this REALLY is on the lower left side ......... I would greatly appreciate any info. on this matter, and maybe some personal stories of anyone with this diverticular thing........ bec. in reality, it may be anxiety.....

thanks to all!