Simmo
27-11-12, 14:47
I shall apologise in advance for the length of the post.
My name is Allan and I'd like to say hi everyone. My life has turned upside down the past few months. I have a great job which I've been off on the sick since sept,was dating a lovely lady who I've pushed away, have no money worries,although my grandmother sadly passed away in September.
I'm a 31 Y/O male who hasn't really had any prolonged problems with anxiety before.
I did however have a period of two months in which my grandfather passed away and where I had a couple of panic attacks(I was 15) but I had put that down to the obvious grieving process I was going through.
Over the past three months I have had a myriad of crazy symptoms which my doctor puts down to severe anxiety/depression ,atypical pneumonia and a viral infection and feels nothing like what I went through with my grandad dying.
As much as I'd like to believe the doctors I can't help googling all my symptoms and trying to piece the jigsaw puzzle together myself.
It started with a really bad head cold along with ice cold sweaty feet which I was dealing with fine until my vision went blurry,this brought on a bit of panic and I went to wash my face with some cold water.
As I dried my face my nose started to bleed quite badly.I freaked out and went to a&e.
They treated me for Atypical pneumonia gave me a course of anti-biotics and sent me on my way and told me to schedule an appointment at my docs the following day.
Over the next few weeks my doc tested my blood for std's,hep b,hep c,malaria ,diabetes,thyroid and on and on.
All come back negative. Routine bloods was also ok.
Over the next couple of weeks I was ok but still not 100% and started getting tension headaches and pins needles on my forehead and scalp and pain in my my stomach all of which would come and go apart from constant tinnitus which changes pitch when I move my jaw.My ears have mucus behind them but I can't get rid of it and my ears feel full,doc checked,no infection.
Prescribed nasal steroid spray.
I then started having muscle spasms and twitching along with pins and needles down my spine and the back of my legs,trembling fingers,chest pain,joint pain and jaw ache, so at this point I go to the docs and I say I want an mri as I'm thinking I have ms.
Doctor tells me I don't have ms and prescribes amitripylene 10 mg.
I then thought ok i will go private and get an mri which I had had to go see another private GP first who also thought it was just down to anxiety but to put my mind at ease he will refer me for an mri.
That was a Thursday evening and on the way home from the docs I get the craziest headache with shooting pains behind my right eye and popping noises which sound like popping candy(I let my father listen to my head and he can hear it too), which freaks me right out,at this point I've not taken the amitriptylene as I don't want to rely on drugs being young an all.
Gets home and takes a migraleve and two ibrufen and my head is in chaos can't even sit down and I decide to take the amitripylene which does take the edge off.
For the next few days I'm think thinking I have a tumour as the pain is constant and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.i have the mri Monday and got results Tuesday as soon as my results come back clear my headaches have disappeared along with the pins and needles!!
Still have the mad head popping although its definitely nowhere as bad as it was and I stopped the amitripylene because I felt worse on them.
This is when I do think that it must be more than just co-incidence but the story goes on haha!
last week I went to a&e again when my left hand felt weak and my heart felt like it was being stabbed and my heart rate was all over the shop ranging from 50 to 130 bpm for the few days running upto it(resting rate)....ECG was normal,felt like a right ****!
So that brings me to the present day where I'm still getting shooting pains,tremors,difficulty swallowing,metallic taste in mouth,acid reflux,stomach pain,tinnitus and occasional joint pain.sensitivity to light,feel dizzy now and again ,night sweats and my feet are like ice until i go to bed and they are fine. Also my lymph nodes have been swollen for the past month also. My sleep is terrible,forgot to mention I'm going for a sleep study as my ex always said I used to stop breathing in my sleep now and again.
I don't know where to go next,I feel exhausted and I don't know whether to keep pursuing something that might just all be in my head!
Should I trust the doctors I've seen and start taking the citalopram the doc has given me?
I'm sorry for the rant but I just need to know if anyone suffering from anxiety has felt the way I'm feeling or is it something that the doctors have missed.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
My name is Allan and I'd like to say hi everyone. My life has turned upside down the past few months. I have a great job which I've been off on the sick since sept,was dating a lovely lady who I've pushed away, have no money worries,although my grandmother sadly passed away in September.
I'm a 31 Y/O male who hasn't really had any prolonged problems with anxiety before.
I did however have a period of two months in which my grandfather passed away and where I had a couple of panic attacks(I was 15) but I had put that down to the obvious grieving process I was going through.
Over the past three months I have had a myriad of crazy symptoms which my doctor puts down to severe anxiety/depression ,atypical pneumonia and a viral infection and feels nothing like what I went through with my grandad dying.
As much as I'd like to believe the doctors I can't help googling all my symptoms and trying to piece the jigsaw puzzle together myself.
It started with a really bad head cold along with ice cold sweaty feet which I was dealing with fine until my vision went blurry,this brought on a bit of panic and I went to wash my face with some cold water.
As I dried my face my nose started to bleed quite badly.I freaked out and went to a&e.
They treated me for Atypical pneumonia gave me a course of anti-biotics and sent me on my way and told me to schedule an appointment at my docs the following day.
Over the next few weeks my doc tested my blood for std's,hep b,hep c,malaria ,diabetes,thyroid and on and on.
All come back negative. Routine bloods was also ok.
Over the next couple of weeks I was ok but still not 100% and started getting tension headaches and pins needles on my forehead and scalp and pain in my my stomach all of which would come and go apart from constant tinnitus which changes pitch when I move my jaw.My ears have mucus behind them but I can't get rid of it and my ears feel full,doc checked,no infection.
Prescribed nasal steroid spray.
I then started having muscle spasms and twitching along with pins and needles down my spine and the back of my legs,trembling fingers,chest pain,joint pain and jaw ache, so at this point I go to the docs and I say I want an mri as I'm thinking I have ms.
Doctor tells me I don't have ms and prescribes amitripylene 10 mg.
I then thought ok i will go private and get an mri which I had had to go see another private GP first who also thought it was just down to anxiety but to put my mind at ease he will refer me for an mri.
That was a Thursday evening and on the way home from the docs I get the craziest headache with shooting pains behind my right eye and popping noises which sound like popping candy(I let my father listen to my head and he can hear it too), which freaks me right out,at this point I've not taken the amitriptylene as I don't want to rely on drugs being young an all.
Gets home and takes a migraleve and two ibrufen and my head is in chaos can't even sit down and I decide to take the amitripylene which does take the edge off.
For the next few days I'm think thinking I have a tumour as the pain is constant and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.i have the mri Monday and got results Tuesday as soon as my results come back clear my headaches have disappeared along with the pins and needles!!
Still have the mad head popping although its definitely nowhere as bad as it was and I stopped the amitripylene because I felt worse on them.
This is when I do think that it must be more than just co-incidence but the story goes on haha!
last week I went to a&e again when my left hand felt weak and my heart felt like it was being stabbed and my heart rate was all over the shop ranging from 50 to 130 bpm for the few days running upto it(resting rate)....ECG was normal,felt like a right ****!
So that brings me to the present day where I'm still getting shooting pains,tremors,difficulty swallowing,metallic taste in mouth,acid reflux,stomach pain,tinnitus and occasional joint pain.sensitivity to light,feel dizzy now and again ,night sweats and my feet are like ice until i go to bed and they are fine. Also my lymph nodes have been swollen for the past month also. My sleep is terrible,forgot to mention I'm going for a sleep study as my ex always said I used to stop breathing in my sleep now and again.
I don't know where to go next,I feel exhausted and I don't know whether to keep pursuing something that might just all be in my head!
Should I trust the doctors I've seen and start taking the citalopram the doc has given me?
I'm sorry for the rant but I just need to know if anyone suffering from anxiety has felt the way I'm feeling or is it something that the doctors have missed.
Thanks for taking the time to read this