Too many symptoms for it to be anxiety

[sial72]

Hi everyone
For years, on and off, I've been having a lot of physical symptoms, for a period of time I would for example have stomach ache and worry about colon cancer until I would get tested and when all is clear the symptoms "magically" disappear, then after some time I would have period problems...you get the idea.
BUT, since october I seem to have loads, and I mean loads of different symptoms daily. Stiffness, sweating, panic attacks, pain in legs, difficulty walking, then in neck, then eyes...dizziness, nausea, weakness...anxiety before bm, pain after bm...
And I keep thinking that anxiety can't possibly cause all this but on the other hand I can't think of any illness that causes such a variety of symptoms. Convinced I must have something neurological or autoinmune...
Anyone else with quite so many symptoms and that vary not only on a day to day basis but sometime hour to hour? I'm getting very down about always feeling so ill.
Thanks in advance

[jojo2316]

Anxiety certainly CAN cause all those symptoms- but only a doctor can tell for sure....

[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.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[ankietyjoe]

Anxiety can cause hundreds, if not thousands of symptoms. You can have them one at a time or 20-30 at a time.

The thing to understand about anxiety is that it intercepts your central nervous system, and reduces and/or shuts down a lot of the normal bodily processes. Even having your digestion compromised can make you feel awful in dozens of different ways, and digestion is often the first thing that starts to alter when you're stressed or anxious.

During the approximate decade period I suffered with bad anxiety, I probably experienced 200-300 different symptoms. Sometimes constantly, sometimes for just an hour or two.

[sial72]

Thanks for your replies!! I go from thinking it has got to be anxiety because I have had all this on and off for years, to then thinking NO, I have never come across anybody with such debilitating symptoms from "just" anxiety, so I then think of all the illnesses it could be and I'm just terrified. Even though I make a very big effort to ignore it I know it's at the back of my mind 24/7 :(

---------- Post added at 18:59 ---------- Previous post was at 18:54 ----------

Ankietyjoe, when you say that during a decade you suffered from all this, do you mean you don't any longer? If so, any tips that helped you would be VERY much appreciated

[ankietyjoe]

I have never come across anybody with such debilitating symptoms from "just" anxiety, so I then think of all the illnesses it could be and I'm just terrified. Even though I make a very big effort to ignore it I know it's at the back of my mind 24/7 :(





Half the people here will have experienced exactly the same thing, and more.




Ankietyjoe, when you say that during a decade you suffered from all this, do you mean you don't any longer? If so, any tips that helped you would be VERY much appreciated

I don't suffer anxiety at all any more, I don't have panic attacks and I rarely feel anxiety at all, that's gone more than 95%. When I do feel it a little bit, I let it go.

One of the main things to do is acceptance, letting the symptoms go and NOT (under any circumstances) googling or researching your own symptoms. If you start googling 'neck pain', you WILL eventually come across cancer (or something equally sinister). If you google, you will never, ever recover. There is no way around this.

The other magic bullet for me was meditation. Daily practice for months and months, and the understanding that meditation isn't a quick fix relaxation technique. Meditation is the thing that beat my anxiety. I have never taken medication.

[sial72]

Thank you so much for your reply, it's very helpful. I will definitely look into doing meditation then.
One last question, I try to never Google any longer other than writting Nomorepanic followedby the symptom. Even though I'm very grateful to this site and the people who kindly reply to me, I think deep down it doesn't do me good either, this reassurance seeking becomes obsessive and I seem to spend every spare minute on here and it makes me feel more relaxed but it's almost as if I'm hooked. So I will look into meditation.
Thanks again!

[pulisa]

I think you need to be very careful with what you read on here when you are trying to manage HA, sial, and also how you use this board. I think it's a very sensible decision to look into meditation and ways in which you can help yourself ie never going anywhere near Google in any shape or form or any of the health websites. It's a no-win situation.

I'm sorry to hear that you are feeling ill-anxiety symptoms can be so diverse and wide-ranging. As Joe says, most of us on here have been where you are now.

[ankietyjoe]

Thank you so much for your reply, it's very helpful. I will definitely look into doing meditation then.
One last question, I try to never Google any longer other than writting Nomorepanic followedby the symptom. Even though I'm very grateful to this site and the people who kindly reply to me, I think deep down it doesn't do me good either, this reassurance seeking becomes obsessive and I seem to spend every spare minute on here and it makes me feel more relaxed but it's almost as if I'm hooked. So I will look into meditation.
Thanks again!

I think this site is very useful when it comes to dealing with your anxiety, and how to cope with the anxiety and/or panic. If you're asking for reassurance about medical symptoms, then I can't see a value in it at all. As you rightly point out you become hooked on the reassurance.

When you start looking into meditation, I would suggest starting with vipassana, which means seeing things as they really are. It generally works by focusing on your breathing. One critical thing that took me a while to learn is that actually succeeding in sustained focus isn't actually the goal, the goal is the practice of re-focusing when your mind wanders....and it WILL wander. Failing to focus is absolutely not a problem, and this is where a lot of people tend to think they can't do it.

[sial72]

I didn't know there were different kinds, I know a woman who teaches mindfulness, again, not sure if this is meditation. So I will ask around and get started on something. Thank you again

[ankietyjoe]

Mindfulness is a meditative was of undertaking day to day tasks, and can be used in conjunction with more formal meditation practice.

For example, if you sit and eat an apple....the normal way to do this might be to eat the apple whilst checking your social media feed and writing a shopping list.

The mindful way of doing it would be to sit and eat the apple, and only sit and eat the apple. It's about observing doing that one thing, and focusing on the sensations involved in doing that one thing.

It sounds simple, and maybe even pointless, but it is in fact a very powerful tool that will train your brain over time to not subconsciously react to every stimulus it receives.

[sial72]

Anketyjoe thank you very much for getting back to me. I have asked this woman I know about the mindfulness and she does an 8 week course which I would love to try but I can't because of work and it takes place 60kms from where I live, in Barcelona, so I will have to look for one locally. Would you say something online might be useful or is it much better in.person?8

[ankietyjoe]

I discovered and learned everything online, or from books. I can't say which one is more effective, but my way DID work! :)

I actually started off with a book by Mark Williams simply called Mindfulness, he also has plenty of videos on Youtube which may be another good place to start.

[sial72]

Thank you very much