Can physical symptoms come on suddenly?

[Chloe34517]

A few months ago, some of you can probably remember, I was convinced I was dying and felt so, so ill with so many symptoms. Luckily, I didn't die and the problem faded away and was overtaken by other stuff going on in my life. During that time when I was convinced, I had 3 ECG's, a 24hour heart monitor, an echocardiogram and some blood tests. For the past 2 months I haven't thought of death so much and was just struggling with other stuff, but on Wednesday afternoon I felt really ill, feeling sick, headachey, shivery etc. I put it down to the heat, as it's been really hot here in the UK, but since then I still feel so ill and am convinced again, more than ever, that I'm dying. I don't know if anxiety can create physical symptoms before the anxiety mentally even begins or if maybe I had a bug or if it is actually something more serious. In my head, I feel so sure that I'm going to die and sleeping is the worst because I feel like I'm risking my life whenever I let go and sleep. I keep feeling so sure that I won't wake up again. I'm exhausted and since Wednesday I'm so sleepy, all day everyday - yesterday I fell asleep when I was on a 10 minute car journey with my Mum! It's scary. My body is tired and going upstairs/moving takes so much energy and I just feel so weak. My arms hurt when I lift them and shaking a jar earlier took so much effort. The worst thing is the sicky feeling in my head, like a heaviness and pressure behind my eyes that makes me feel nauseous, dizzy and so ridiculously faint. I don't know if this is a bug, anxiety or something life threatening but it feels like way too much of a coincidence that I feel this way AND am so sure that I'll die in my sleep. I keep getting pains behind my eyes and in my chest too.

[Leanne1977]

Hi there I suffer from most of them symptoms and it is all just the awful anxiety out ov the blue to slap u in the face so my advice try and stay calm and wait till it passes hard to do I know but chin up xx

[dac0273]

Hi Chloe
Know just how you feel , it must be anxiety otherwise we both wouldn't be feeling same and on this site , although I'm too convinced it's real and I'm going to die at any moment . I get this pain behind my eyes pain in top of head as well as pressure , which obviously that means I'm going to die from a blood clot on the brain . Last week it was pains in my left arm then it wAs heart attack it's never ending xx

[ecw012]

Hi Chloe,

I've had this happen to me several times as well, and it really is the worst. I noticed you said that you hadn't been concerned for about 2 months because you were dealing with other stuff .... sometimes, unrelated things trigger my healthy anxiety out of the blue. I become most prone to these sorts of days, with physical symptoms showing up anywhere and everywhere, when I'm planning future things, especially if those things are exciting or positive or happy. It's a nightmare, haha.

Regardless, it sounds like your body is trying its best to compensate for your heightened level of anxiety. I get tired and shaky when I have these sorts of attacks because I worry all day and, when I sleep at night, it's never very restful. Builds up, for sure. And I'm familiar with the chest pangs and twitches and whatnot too - I've found that when I get worried about what might be going on with me healthwise, I get super tense. I asked my doctor, and she told me there is a long nerve that runs from your back to the front of your chest - when I got worried, I got so stressed that my back muscles were tense enough to cause this nerve to twinge. I was convinced I was having chest pain and a heart attack, but I was fine.

If I were you, I'd do my best to just relax. When I get hyper-focused on my physical symptoms, I try to make myself relax for a set period of time. I start with 30 seconds of time where I don't think about it, and I don't worry. I try to build it up to 20-30 min etc, and I've found it helps make headaches and shakiness and chest pains go away.

I wish you the best of luck with your symptoms - I completely understand that feeling and, while it's no fun, am sure that you're fine and healthy. Best of luck!

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your problem.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.