Can Anxiety cause all this??

[riley1392]

Hello Everyone, first time poster here. I have been reading through pages of posts and haven't come across any answers to my questions. However you all seem so helpful I thought I'd give it a shot:

Little background first...I have been dealing with anxiety and OCD since childhood, am now 35-male. Have a very busy life raising two kids with my wife and working full time as a middle school teacher.

I have been suffer from odd symptoms in what appears to be on and off cycles/rounds for the last couple of months.

Round 1: started June 13th. Symptoms this time were aches in thighs that appeared to migrate to the calves. Felt nauseous for a couple days off and on-however still had my appetite and never missed a meal/snack if that makes sense. A general feeling of fatigue and tiredness. Arms felt sore and weak, however I could still go about my day and workout if I wanted to, again if that makes sense. A feeling of being in La La land, kind of just a dazed feeling. The aches in legs lasted the longest of all symptoms and was the worst. Went to doc who ran basic blood that came back negative. He thinks it was just a virus of some sort. Felt better around 6/20

Round 2: Started 8/10. First symptom was nauseous, however I again still never missed a meal and was hungry at my normal meal times. Again had bad leg aches in thighs and calves, but not together-seemed to migrate. weakness/fatigue, at least perceived weakness in arms and legs, kinda felt like jello. Shortness of breath while doing basic activities. (went to pool with kids and swam 50 yards and felt like I was going to die, almost past out/blacked out). Also seemed irritable as well. hot flashes as well as brain fog and general feeling of tiredness. Also felt like I had constant butterflies in stomach. Went to new doctor who ran further test for things like common auto immune disease, viruses, metabolic and thyroid issues. All came back good. Felt better around 8/29

Round 3: Started on 9/29, oddly after I hurt my knee and was limping around for two days at work. Again stated with quad and hamstring soreness, but more sore when standing still as opposed to walking around. Again arms were tired and I just felt fatigued/jello like. Notice random body twitches all over my body at times(had this before all this started though-for years i feel like) as well as my left hand slightly cramping up one day. This time I felt dizzy at times as well, like when bending down to pick something up and standing back up. I did just get over a bad cold prior to this all starting again though. No shortness of breath this "round" or nauseous feeling. I'm currently still experiencing these symptoms. I should mention that I for the most part am able to do everything I can do when I feel "normal", like cut the grass and other chores, just takes me a little longer.

No problems sleeping but I do obsess about what it could be reading the internet to much. I've gone though times thinking it was MS, ALS, GBS, Lupus and others.

Went back again to the doc and he doesn't seemed to concerned. He mentioned RLS or a pinched nerve in back could be cause the leg pain. He did refer me to a auto immune specialist just in case he missed something, but he said it could have a 2-4 month wait to get it, so i'm thinking he's not to concerned. I apologize for the long post, but I wanted to give as much detail as possible, and I know I'm forgetting something. Any ideas out there? I'm getting tired of this and tired of feeling tired, and the brain fog is really annoying. Going to run errands with the kids if exhausting. I will say that whatever it is does seem to get slightly better in the evening this time around when I'm more relaxed.

Forgot to mention very slight tingling and numbness in arms and legs at times throughout this from time to time, more in round 1 and 2 though.

Thanks in advance for any help, just want to make sure its not anything to serious

Ri

[riley1392]

Anyone??

[riley1392]

Looking for any helpful advice please:

Still trying to figure out what is going on with me. Still have some of these symptoms, as well as some new ones. One new one that was bad for a couple days and has since calmed a bit is muscle twitching-mainly if calves and feet, but jumps about the body. Kinda got over my ALS scare as most often from what I've read that starts in one limb and presents different. Still somewhat concerned about MS, but doc says that most likely would have shown up on my spine MRI.

My question is could these symptoms be related to gluten sensitivity? Thank you in advance.

Ps: I do suffer from "brain fog" often

[Kathryn313]

Think it's really difficult for anyone to know, your doctor is best placed.

Either way you clearly have some anxiety, so how about trying some self care steps to tackle that whilst the other symptoms get looked at in a few weeks time.

Aware easier said than done.

[riley1392]

Think it's really difficult for anyone to know, your doctor is best placed.

Either way you clearly have some anxiety, so how about trying some self care steps to tackle that whilst the other symptoms get looked at in a few weeks time.

Aware easier said than done.

Thanks for the reply-I only think gluten because I have also been having some stomach issues as of late too. Going/getting less out as Normally and then having diarrhea which finally cleans me out. Sorry I know TMI

[Rey1989]

Ive had similar problems lately, going through a very stressful period of time, and all sorts of weird symptoms started happening, cramping, mudcle twitching, but the most annoying is the pain I feel on my hand, feels swollen. I think the majority of my symptoms are due to stress and anxiety, which leads me to think yours may very well be also. Youve had more tests than I have, so rest assured youre being looked after. The more we focus on our symptoms, the more we'll feel them, thats from my own experience. Hope this helps. Cheers!

[Nina102]

I think a lot of it could be caused by anxiety, yes. It probably didn't start that way, like the aches and pains in your legs could have been something minor like a electrolyte imbalance that corrected itself or just a cramp (perhaps from sleeping in a weird position without realizing it). This can easily trigger anxiety and give you more symptoms, especially when stuff like this happens out of the blue.

The same thing happened to me last month; woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible throbbing pain in my left thigh. Every time I stood up and walked around for a bit it would go away, but when I went to lie back down, the pain would start again. This only lasted a few nights, but it really scared me because everything I looked up was poor circulation and blood clots. Every doctor I've seen about it was stumped too, making my anxiety worse. One of my doctors said the same; it could be a virus or the shingles, and to keep an eye out for a rash. The day I came home from my family doctor that's when I got really sick but it only lasted for the day, which I think was anxiety due to the fact I never got the answer I wanted.

[emmegee]

Have you had a lyme test?

Also, in my experience anxiety can cause all sorts of symptoms.

There's a good forum post I read somewhere that lists 100 anxiety symptoms.

[riley1392]

Update- yep had a Lyme test, negative.

Legs still feel aching and jelly like...they just fatigue very easily on me, this was never the case before all this. I can still do everything, just feel more tired.

Am a week in to gluten free, thought maybe it was making a difference as last week my bm's were mostly normal and none of the horrible smelling gas I've been having. However just today the horrendous gas has returned as well as diarrhea this afternoon. What seems odd though is there was no stomach ache with it and this morning I had a completely normal bm.

Anyone else experience the leg and or stomach issues. I can't help but they are connected in some way.

I did have a MRI on my lower back and although there is some "issues" with disk degeneration, etc. the doc says it's not causing my leg issues.

My fear is still that of MS, even though the doc said he doesn't even think that at all-as something would have showed on the MRI. But couldn't it be brain lesions? I know I have to relax a bit. Thanks in advance :)

[Lakme]

In my experience, anxiety can cause a LOT of symptoms. The biggest problems with googling is that they don't list various symptoms that people with anxiety can experience, like severe neck pain among other things. Cortisol does a lot of unnecessary crap to your body, and if you don't control it, it can mess with your mind.