Physical symptoms of constant worrying?

[Gemlw25]

Hi everyone,

I've been suffering with really bad health anxiety for the past 2 months and the symptoms I've been experiencing are getting worse. They are:



Getting hot easily
Brain and body zaps (may be to do with SSRI withdrawal)
Achy, tingly feeling in calves - sometimes shaky, especially if I get out of the bath (bath wasn't even hot)
Cold feet and hands
Stomach is completely ruined - nausea, discomfort, constant burping, loose stools, watery feeling in stomach in the morning
Feeling awful in the morning
Constantly tired
Lower back pain

I'm also suffering from labyrinthitis which is causing me to feel more anxious too. When I went to the doctors last week he said my blood pressure was low, I didn't know if this meant low as in healthy or abnormally low although he did say everything's normal and nothing to worry about. He got me to stand up and took my blood pressure again to which he said good, all normal. At the time I was feeling incredibly hot and quite faint.

The feelings in my legs are the most frightening and I'm really scared I've got MS or some poor circulation disease. I'm driving myself mad!!!

Can this all really be caused by excessive worrying? My health and symptoms are on my mind 24/7, even when I try to take my mind off of them the fear is still there, creeping up on me.

Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated!!

Gemma x

[Darwin73]

Hi Gemma

I just wondered whether you had blood tests done because a lot of your symptoms stand out to me as possibly thyroid related (I experienced them myself and I’ve had thyroid problems for 20years), which is very easily treatable. Whilst some of them could be anxiety related, I would want to rule out thyroid and vitamin deficiency probs first because these can make you feel really low and anxious and yet are simple to rectify. Some of your symptoms could also be related to SSRI withdrawal.

Hope you are soon feeling better

[Gemlw25]

Hello,

The thought has crossed my mind regarding thyroid problems but I don't know too much about it. It's not anything serious is it? I had blood tests for it when I was 14 but came back negative. I've also lost a bit of weight recently without really doing anything, could only put it down to cutting out alcohol as I used to drink a lot of wine which made me very bloated.

[Fishmanpa]

Have a read of THIS. (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/symptoms) While a physical condition can cause symptoms, anxiety can and does cause everything you mentioned. If it's been several years since your last check up, a visit to the doctor would be common sense. Once you get the all clear, treating your anxiety will also treat the physical symptoms associated with it.

Positive thoughts

[yeti]

I also had massive neurological symptoms when coming off meds. I felt tingling and burning skin all through out my body but especially lags and arms. I also had very wierd feeling in my left knee, almost feeling like all the nerves in it were overstimulated and it was ready to jump. I felt as though my left hand and leg were extremely heavy and that I couldn’t lift them . Numbness and tingling in my face including my eyes lol..... What a mess that was..:: I thought I had Ms and the rest of the bad stuff.:::. ITS been 2 months now and every single symptom left .... hang in there ; it will pass

[Ben1989]

Yeti, did your knee symptom remain for the two months? (i.e. was there when waking up etc)

[daisyflower]

Nothing sounds worrying to me and anxiety can cause all those symptoms.

I think everyone feels weird and tingly after a bath? I had a really hot bath this morning and while I was in it, started to feel extremely nauseous. I then stood up and had that black out thing and couldn't see. I had to go lie on the bed and the room was spinning and felt like I was going to throw up. It's pretty normal to feel awful after a hot bath!

As for stomach issues, of course anxiety can cause them. That's where the phrase 'worried sick' comes from and why you say 'he s**t himself' if someone was scared. My stomach has been an absolute mess since January, when I got bad pelvic pain and then convinced myself I had ovarian cancer for 7 months. I have off an on nausea, constant loose stools and lots of abdominal discomfort/burping. I'm hoping it goes away eventually when I accept it's anxiety.

[Beckybecks]

Hi Gemma, I too suffer from health anxiety and have done for years. I think I've probably had all of those symptoms you mentioned and many more. When I'm anxious I get new symptoms almost every day.
I found the best thing was to research anxiety symptoms and get an explanation for these physical symptoms.
I never google the symptoms as that's just asking for trouble!
But doing a search on this forum or asking Google for the symptom in relation to anxiety helps.
I've had many tests over the years because I was always convinced it was something else.

Also I think we tend to focus on a particular symptom and our mind just magnifies the symptom/pain/tingling or whatever it is until we convince ourselves it's something sinister.

Distraction helps. And more often than not the symptom disappears while your mind is occupied.

And remember that even normal people get symptoms, they just deal with them in a different way, whereas we've trained our minds to overreact.

[Deltazv1]

Sounds a lot like hypothyroidism, but it can also be anxiety. I also have the leg vibrations/Shaky feeling. I have all over body twitching too and a cold water drop sensation on my skin.