gp?

[zippy]

Hi i have been posting alot lately with all my different symptoms. The one thats bothering me now is my right arm keeps feeling odd like its not my arm and my co ordination feels wrong sometimes. It feels prickly/tingly and numb/cold patches. My right leg keeps feeling numb/cold on the side and ankle. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this that lasts days/weeks and not just during a panic attack? I keep thinking something must be going on like ms or brain tumour so I did make an apt to see my gp this morning but i cancelled it to see if i can wait and go in a few weeks time if it hasn't gone. I am going to try and not go every week and see what happens.

[Jules147]

Lots of these anxiety symptoms last days or weeks. Remember that normal anxiety levels are 3/10 - where mine have been more or less since my CBT sessions last August/September. Your levels, as mine were before August, will vary between 6 and 8, occasionally hitting 10 if you have a panic attack. If your background anxiety levels are ready at 6 it is no wonder that you will experience some strange sensations in random parts of your body, some of which will seem to linger in one place more than in others, even when you feel relatively calm.

And of course, while you are aware of these sensations and fear them, you are not calm at all.

[zippy]

I know its catch 22 isnt it if your arm feels weak etc so your bound to be aware of it and so you think what is it so your never fully calm. I think some of mine is structural because my right side doesnt feel right and hurts from my shoulder to my hip/groin.

[Jules147]

Has it occured to you that those pains may be musculo-skeletal and the result of muscle tension and the tingling the result of hyperventilation and/or adrenaline? The tingling sensations can occur anywhere btw not just in your extremities.

When I was suffering my entire body could ache including my arms, shoulders, back, hips and legs, sometimes only certain muscles and sometimes only on one side; I was petrified of asymmetry. Even my sinuses ached at one point, presumably as a result of tension in my facial muscles. As for tingling, numbness etc this could occur on my face, around my eyes, neck, arms, torso or one random digit either at the tip or under the nail bed. Parts of me felt cold sometimes and sometimes warm. There was asymmetry with this too. I had jelly legs and arms, sometimes just one arm. Your first step towards recovery is not to be afraid of your symptoms. Consider them not a sign that something is physically wrong with you but that this is your body's physical reaction to how you feel emotionally. Physical manifestations of anxiety can be quite random, and usually defy reason and symmetry.

CBT was effective for me because I began to accept that if my mind was repaired my body would fix itself. It did.

When you learn to accept this, the tension - both physical and emotional, will begin to fade.

I can recommend a book - Self Help for your Nerves by Dr Claire Weekes. You can order it from this site. Your next GP visit should be one where you get him to check you over and run the routine tests if s/he hasn't already and refer you for CBT.

"Doc, I am suffering from anxiety and I want to be able to get on with my life. Can you refer me for CBT?"

[zippy]

I had a shiatsu massage yesterday and she said she could feel that my upper back/neck had blockages and were tight. I think my tingling etc is to do with my upper back on the right feeling sore because i am having shooting pains in my head on my right too.It does feel like its musculo-skeletal but nothing seems to be helping. I see my osteopath next wednesday so i will see what she says. It feels like my joints/muscles are inflammed or irritated.
My gp mentioned fibromyalgia about 2 years ago because i was aching all over deep in my bones but then it went until this last month.

[Elen]

Zippy have you read Jules147's advice?

They have been where you are now and have given you ideas as to why you could be feeling like this and some great pointers as to a way forward.

[Jules147]

Shooting pains on your head to the right?

I had those too.

Not any more though.

My physical symptoms faded when it finally dawned on me that my emotions were powerful enough to trigger these strong physical sensations.

Note I said "faded." The symptoms didn't just evaporate. It took a transitional period of days/weeks during which I didn't really care about them. A vicious cycle was replaced by a virtuous one. When you understand what your mind and body is doing, I mean REALLY understand, minor setbacks won't be able to take a hold of you.

[Worried_Male]

I know it's almost cliche to say this here, but it's your mind playing tricks on you.

HA can make things seem so real. For example i found this mole on my back that i thought was cancerous, it became very itchy, and started to burn. When i got it checked and turned out to be fine, it went totally back to normal the next day.

I was worried it was cancer and my mind made it real.

[Jules147]

I know it's almost cliche to say this here, but it's your mind playing tricks on you.

HA can make things seem so real. For example i found this mole on my back that i thought was cancerous, it became very itchy, and started to burn. When i got it checked and turned out to be fine, it went totally back to normal the next day.

I was worried it was cancer and my mind made it real.

In part because you were messing with it, it became itchy, right?

[Worried_Male]

In part because you were messing with it, it became itchy, right?

I just became obsessed with it, always poking and prodding it, checking in the mirror and asking relatives to look at it. I always had this weird tingly feeling there, which went as soon as i knew the mole was fine.

[Jules147]

I rest my case m'lud. ;)

Btw, I went through similar a few years ago with moles.