tired of being a guinea pig, tired of feeling like this all the time.

[mbarger33]

In a month it will be a year since I had my first "panic attack" I was driving when all of a sudden my arms went numb, my heart went racing I couldn't breath, my vision started fading. Went to emergency and they admitted me right away EKG, 160/90, 4 vials of blood, x-ray. Heart and lungs were perfect, thyroid perfect, EKG perfect. Somehow I managed to give myself a self induced panic attack from taking a 24 hour allergy pill with a Rockstar energy drink something I have done for a good couple of years had finally caught up to me.


After having extreme chest pain and feeling weak and miserable for 3 months after my first episode I finally said enough is enough. Went to my doctor where I told her I had chest pains all day specifically left side.. I had a constant dull stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen right above my hip. She took an EKG and my heart had the same pattern it did when I was at emergency only this time it was beating normal and not at 160/90. My family has a history of heart disease so she sent me to have a stress test done for my heart. Because of my family history of colon cancer she sent me to get an abdominal ultra sound if that didn't show anything she would refer me to a gastrointestinal specialist. The ultra sound came back normal, so I went to see the gastrointestinal.. he said my age puts me at a lower risk and the fact that my mom and her brother had been checked and came out clean for cancers has put me at an even lower risk. He ordered a stool sample and a blood occult stool test. Everything came back normal.

"Nothing is wrong with you" I get told this every time.

But something happened to me last year, I went from a healthy out going 32 year old to an always feeling sick always feeling something is wrong 32 year old.

Left side chest pains
Palpitations
Down 20 lbs in a year.
Toilet issues
Anxiety
Panic
Stress.
Right flank above hip dull constant abdominal pain.

Just tired of it. I'm tired of not having a diagnosis, being told it's "general anxiety"

Last week an hour after lunch I got dizzy walking, broke out in a cold sweat. Legs felt weak. Nausea... swollen lymph node under right jaw with trouble swallowing.

Went to see my doctor she ran a few tests said nothing was wrong. Sent me home with allergy nasal spray.

I mean is this all anxiety? Is it really that simple? How can I have chest pains that go into my left shoulder and up my neck and be fine?

How can I have abdominal pain and have a abdominal ultra sound and show nothings wrong?

I felt I was getting a grip on this but now it feels like it's out of control again and I can't keep thinking the worst. I can't stop thinking they are missing something with the general anxiety label.

Just sick and tired of it. Tired if feeling sick and tired of being tired. And having pains all over the place with no diagnosis and no treatment.

Anyone else? Or can you relate?

[TofuMama]

Like many here, you're convinced you don't have anxiety and are instead suffering some undiagnosed illness, and yet medical practitioners who have dedicated their lives to their field are totally convinced you are well. They have seen thousands of cases, many anxiety, many serious events such as heart attacks, rhythm disturbances, so on. It's safe to assume that their judgment is sound, and it sounds that the tests they've done are more than enough to confirm your heart wellbeing.

When presenting with chest pain, there's only so many causes. Anxiety, heart problems, lung problems, muscular or skeletal problems. In the case of heart problems causing chest pain there is damage. You do not have heart caused chest pain without some form of change in enzyme, or electrical disturbance within your heart. On these tests coming out well (which apparently has now happened twice for you), your heart leading to chest pain is no longer viable. Lung problems, the same, an obstruction would be the cause, and they have seen no such thing on your x-ray. This is no longer viable. Muscular or skeletal? Well now. That might very well be the case. The first thing is that it is no such cause for anxiety, given that having painful ribs isn't going to have you dropping dead.

So it's narrowed down to muscular, skeletal, or anxiety. Maybe it's a bit of all of them. Stress can quite significantly affect your muscles. Ask anyone here. After multiple panic attacks, we all feel horribly sore.

You describe the anxiety as though it came from nowhere. A lot of people say this, but it's not often entirely true. People often have a preoccupation before their first major attack. Some concern that goes about with them in their daily life for a significant period of time.

Your anxiety issues remain the biggest cause for concern here. In a subtle way, posting here, you clearly feel your issue relates to health anxiety. You are seeking reassurance, because our words will comfort you. By knowing others suffer in the same way and yet have not had any major problem, you get confirmation that you're going to be fine.

Well, you're going to be fine.

For the longest time, my heart rate averaged 140 when out and about, I felt severely sick, very weak, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, lost huge amounts of weight, started pooping blood, chest pain constantly, breathlessness constantly, and having such extreme panic attacks I would end up screaming and shaking for a long time.

It's amazing what stress and anxiety can do to you because now I speak to you with very little concern. For now. It might very well be a problem later. But in the 5 years I've suffered with such a severe level of anxiety.. I've never come close to dying, nor have I been so dramatically physically unwell that I require hospitalization.

But our biggest problem will remain that if we continue to think that we're unwell, we will exhibit symptoms of our unwellness. And they will become worse and worse, as we reinforce them, until the point at which the symptoms are so severe that we question if we were ever really okay in the first place.

Your main issue you will have to address is learning to accept this as health anxiety. You've had more than enough tests to confirm your general wellbeing.

All the best.