things have been bad

[emma t]

hi all,

i'm really glad i've found this website, things have been really bad for the last 5 weeks and i have never felt so alone with the feelings and symtoms.

5 weeks ago i was sitting on my couch watching telly and all of a sudden i got a strange feeling in the centre of my chest, it went hot then cold and then a weird dull sensation and then pressure. i was so scared i ran up to A&E because i thought i was having a heart attack. in the last 5 weeks i've been to A&E 5 times. i've had chest pains, muscle under my right arm squeezing, incredibly stiff neck and skull crushing headaches, hot feeling in my face, pins and needles in my arms and hands, acid reflux, sharp shooting pains down the centre of my chest, abdominal pains, lower back pains and also constipation.

i've been back and forth to the doctors who have assured me this is all anxiety related, but it still is so hard to understand i can have such physical symtoms for something that is mind and feeling related.
even though i'm starting to realise that i need to relax it's so hard when these physical symtoms are constant.
i realise i am an incredibly anxious person who worries a lot, i really hope i can get to the bottom of this and get my life back again.

thanks for listening.

[kimmiepie]

I know exactly how you are feeling. I've been really bad the past couple of months. The chest pains have been so bad...left side pressure, traveling to underarm, shooting pains down left chest, arm and wrist...all sounds like a heart attack right? Then my b/p gets real low some days and I'm very dizzy upon standing and moving, breathless, fast h/b with skipped beats. I feel as I'm going crazy and my body is just going to give up. My doctor assures me it's just anxiety but it's so hard to get that through your head. Symptoms seem SO real and you think what happens if I ignore them as anxiety and something really bad happens. It's a vicious cycle. I wish I knew how to stop it.

Have you had any heart tests to ease your mind?

Oh edited to add that my doctor thinks I have adrenal exhaustion which is usually accompanied by hyper or hypo thyroidism. Even though the tests say normal, a lot of times the thyroid is off anyway...and both of these conditions can be fixed naturally. My doctor assures me that adrenal fatigue and exhaustion can cause a major increase in anxiety and overall feeling like crap so I'm hoping that this will help. Perhaps you could ask for an adrenal test. If you can't afford it there are labs online that send the kit to you for WAY cheaper and you send it back in. Just a thought.

[emma t]

hi kimmiepie,

thanks that is so helpful. i can't belive how similar that sounds to what i've been going through, i started feeling dizzy and faint on top of everything else about two weeks ago, i was so worried by it because my blood pressure was fine. i've had 4 ECG's and two sets of cardiac bloods taken. i've also had two other sets of blood taken for infection and inflamation, but every test i've had is completely normal. i even went and had a chest xray and abdominal ultrasound last week and the radiographer said my abdomin looks perfectly healthy.

the adrenal thing really does make sense, as i think it has been pumping through my system way too much over the last 5 weeks and i have been feeling so terrible, faint and dizzy sometimes feeling as though i could pass out there and then.

it's so comforting to know there are people out there going through the same thing.

i will get the adrenal thing checked out.

thanks so much

[kimmiepie]

Glad I could help.

It's good to see someone else with similar feelings as it makes me feel better.

FYI even if your adrenal test comes back normal you might want to check into taking some herbs or something gentle for them anyway. According to medical sources (I will search for the links later) as many as 80% of women have this condition and many don't even know it (ie the blood test doesn't show it). Also the saliva test is much more accurate.

:D

[DonCorleone9]

Hi Emma, first time there was anything wrong with me I was woken up with some insane head-rush, unbalance, breathlesness, and the hot then cold and then weird dull sensation coming from my heart that you so well described. Since then i've had all sorts; i've had plenty test on my heart and seen one of the best cardiologist in the country and he said my heart is fine. He tells me it's down to anxiety and I have had most of the syptoms described on this forum (new one today, throat swelled up thought i was going too choke, panic ended and I was fine.)
This is all so strange as I'm such a laid back person who dosn't tend to worry (maybe its different when coming to health obviously). Here's some helpful tips that can really help which was given too me and specifically cover health anxiety:
- Stop trying too prove there is nothing wrong with you. We all have too live with uncertainty

-Learn not too ask for reassurance as this makes it worse. Learn to reassure yourself

- Challenge your worrying thoughts. Identify distorted thinking such as "all or nothing thinking" (presuming worst case scenario as too prepare yourself if it is. e.g. i'l be thinking I have a serious heart problem or a cancer as you can see from this forum alot of people are doing that who are perfectly healthy), castastrophising or awfulising, jumping to conclusions.

-Stop avoiding things too do with illness such as hospitals or t.v. programs, learn too master your anxiety

-Stop behaving as you are ill, carry on as normal and keep active

-Stop finding out about illness and reading medical textbooks. throw away your books.

-Reduce background stress levels. Learn to relax more and bulid in more pleasurable activities in your life.

- It is not either physical or psychological but a combination of both.

-List 5 positive self-statements and reherse them when feeling pre-occupied

Hope this is a help, it helped me.
All the best

Nick Rutter

[emma t]

Hi Nick,

thanks so much for those tips, they are extremely helpful.
i've started to ignore my symtoms and already i'm feeling better.

another thing i've found helpful is setting small goals for myself, this takes my mind off of things that are making me anxious.

all the best

Emma