Anxiety Symptoms

[Rey1989]

Hello everybody,

I opened a thread a little while ago about MND anxiety, but this one is more so to talk about health anxiety physical symptoms. I am going to list the symptoms I have, and hopefully other people can comment about their symptoms, and how they are coping with them.

Currently I have:

-generalized twitching(feet, hands, arms, side of head, eyelid, calves, quadriceps, and some random ones on other places)
-muscle cramping, specially hamstring on right leg, and right arm
-shaky feeling around right arm and leg
-general aches
-sometimes my arms and legs feel tired, as if I worked out or something, or after working out mildly I have muscle soreness for days...

All of these symptoms make me feel I have some sort of motor disease, after googling the symptoms and reading horrible things. I'd just like to start a discussion about health anxiety symptoms, and how to cope with them, as it is controlling my life and affecting my relationship.

Thank you all!

---------- Post added at 16:33 ---------- Previous post was at 16:13 ----------

I forgot to add, yesterday and today I had a choking feeling, or pressure around my neck, which has subsided a lot today, but I felt like there was something stuck in my throat. I could eat or drink normally, just a feeling.

[Rey1989]

any comment would be much appreciated guys. Lets try to help each other

[Fishmanpa]

Rey,

All the symptoms you listed can be and are associated with HA/anxiety and being hyper-focused on every physical sensation. I think you know this.

Coping with it comes down to the individual and what works for them. There are pages and pages of threads and stickies at the top of the page that can point you in the right direction. The bottom line is that comes down to you. Therapy and/or meds to help rationalize your thoughts and calm the irrational ones are pretty much the standard. Mindfullness is often brought up as well as other meditations techniques as well as proper diet and exercise.

Take a look at some of the stickies at the top of the page, especially cpe's Get a Plan post (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=159331)... excellent stuff there!

Positive thoughts

[Porko91]

Hi mate, I've been experiencing some troubling symptoms aswell, I've posted on the ALS forum and got kicked off of it because I could not believe them when they said it's all anxiety and in my head, I've been to 4 different Doctors who have also said that it is severe anxiety! Started about 3 months ago, thought I had stepped on a syringe which made me think I may have contracted hiv, tests where done and It came back negative, for some reason about 3 weeks later my fiancé got sick (early hiv symptoms) and I went in a massive spiral, and that week I got an infected bursa sack in my knee, which somehow made me think I deffinety had hiv, that weekend I was driving with the fiancé mucking around and I was singing at the top of my lungs got hot and cold flushes and felt like I was going to black out, since that day my head has felt weird as if I have brain fog and my vision has been really bad like everything in my peripheral vision is shaky the next day I went to the movies and my legs felt really heavy as tho they weren't there, and very jerky. Since then I've had severe muscle twitches started in my right calf and a couple days later jumped to my left calf and over the last 2 weeks they have jumped to my arms mainly my biceps, the ones on my legs feel like small electric shocks/tingling and the occasional big twitches, they sometimes happened in both legs at the same time, which has gotten me extremely anxious, Also my legs feel awkward when I walk and feel clumsy and my arms feel really uncoordinated, and I occasionally see my nerves getting activated after I've used my hand, and now my right hand is stiff mainly my pointer finger, Also the last couple of days my tongue has felt real heavy as tho as it gets real tired but today it has been fine, and some nights I wake up with my tongue feeling numb/ the feeling that I burnt it on something on heart but that feeling goes away with in 30 seconds. I've been extremely fatigued for about 6 months prior to this aswell, I've also had severe anxiety about 2 years ago in regards to me having ms, had all the symptoms associated but everything was clear and since then every little thing I notice on my body gets noticed and I end up on google! This has literally drives me crazy, just wandering if my nervous system could be so stressed by anxiety which has caused me to make my legs and arms so sensitive to movement?

Sorry for the massive ramble !

---------- Post added at 12:29 ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 ----------

I've also been fairly shaky in my hands and legs.

[Rey1989]

Hey Porko, thank you for your reply. It does sound like a typical case of health anxiety to me, at this point I have almos convinced myself i dont have anything other than a severe case of health anxiety, and just like you, i find it hard to believe that something in your mind could cause such severe body-wide symptoms, but it seems like it does. I am going through a very stressful period of time in my life right now, which I atribute to be the cause of all my anxiety symptoms. Ive seen my GP, did blood work for multiple things, came back normal. He doesnt think seeing a neuro will be of much help since hes 100% sure my symptoms are caused by anxiety.

I am trying to move on, and start focusing much less on eveyy little thing my body does so I can start living again, its not easy, but it can be done.

Cheers!

---------- Post added at 08:32 ---------- Previous post was at 08:31 ----------

Also, thank you for your reply fishman! I am going trough as much info as possible to find an answer

---------- Post added at 09:46 ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 ----------

if there is 1 (ONE) thing that has been freaking me out the most lately is the feeling of stiffness on my right hand. It just feels heavy and slow and stiff, and when I go to clench my fist it feels like its swollen or something. Point is it feels different, when compared with my left hand. Has anybody have a similar symptom? can this one also be brushed off as health anxiety related? thank you in advance

[Fishmanpa]

Rey,

I'll say it again and again, I think you know this deep down. It's anxiety. You're hyper-focusing on every little sensation and your mind is playing tricks on you.

During the last several months dealing with the incredible stress of my wife's illness, I can write a page long list of the physical symptoms I've felt above and beyond the real physical physical symptoms/side effects I have from my heart issues and cancer. The stress amplified the real physical symptoms and I could go down the symptoms list and name a dozen or more I felt due to the stress... loss of appetite, headaches, stiff joints, muscle aches, twitching etc. etc. etc.

Ultimately it comes down to you taking the steps to treat your real illness... anxiety. Go to your GP, talk about this, get a referral for therapy, ask about meds and look into the resources of on-line help available such as CBT worksheets, mindfullness etc.

During this stressful time in my life, I took meds to better cope with the situation and employed techniques I learned from my own therapy sessions. It's really hard work and it doesn't always work but persistence and effort do eventually pay off.

Good luck and as always...

Positive thoughts

[ElleNicole]

I have these same symptoms! My right hamstring is really tight too. Doctor said that is what is causing my leg pain. However I'm having like a sharp pain that comes and goes and is sore on my left side right below my rib cage. Can having so much anxiety cause an ulcer? I also have acid reflux that I just started taking some medicine for.

[Rey1989]

I know stress and anxiety can have an effect on your gut, including the stomach, but I don't know about ulcers, however it is a possibility. Fishman, once again thank you for your input, I was just hoping to start a discussion with those that want to participate regarding their physical symptoms and how they are coping with them. I have seen my GP, he has referred me to a therapist, I am in the process of waiting, as I live in Canada and the health care system is free, which means I often times have to wait to see somebody else besides my GP. My right hand is visibly swollen, around my knuckles, I am going to go back to him next week, maybe I injured my hand without knowing? Thanks everybody for your input thus far.

Rey

[Fishmanpa]

Cool Rey... I'll back out. I've just been around here long enough to know that what you're doing by opening a discussion about symptoms (under the premise of managing and coping) is keeping your symptoms and worries in the forefront. While this site is a wonderful source of information and support, it also can feed your anxiety. Just some food for thought.

Good luck and as always...

Positive thoughts

[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 issue.

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.