Hi,
I'm Betty, a 62 year old RN living in New York. I have always been healthy, no chronic health issues. The most serious issue I ever had was cholecystitis. I had my gall bladder removed in 1994 and never had any other problems afterwards.
I am not an anxious person, or I never was. I have had stress at times in my life, but nothing really unusual and I have never noted physical reactions to stress at all.
This past year has been the first time ever I have been sick with something that affected me for more than a few days. I developed acute, then chronic sinusitis in the spring, and didn't clear it until November. This was very frightening to me and very anxiety-producing. I had this image of myself as super-healthy, and then I was sick for half a year. I had a lot of anxiety about why I got so sick and why I wasn't getting better. Sinusitis, it turns out, is very debilitating. I had an atypical presentation--no facial pain. Long story short, it appears this sinusitis was caused by LPR, or Laryngpharageal Reflux, or LPR, known as silent reflux for its lack of classic symptoms of GERD. Due to my telling the ENT I did not have and have never had GERD when she asked, my sinusitis treatment was wrong from the start, and this caused the long period of not getting better. Once an allergist told me she thought I had LPR (I was shocked the ENT did not know about this), and I was treated for that, the sinusitis and all the other symptoms (constant burning throat and ears and cough due to the feeling of mucous stuck in the back of my throat) went away. I was shocked I had any kind of reflux. I can eat anything and have an "iron stomach". After a couple of weeks on Nexium I felt so much better. I stopped the Nexium and within a short time the symptoms started to return. I am now, reluctantly, back on the Nexium.
The past year was stressful not only due to being so sick, but also because of some health issues with one of my grandchildren, and the stress of his parents, particularly his mother (my oldest daughter) and its affect on me. I was already so worried because of my illness and what it could mean, and I was very worried about my daughter and grandson. My daughter is the anxious type (so is her father-my ex) and I found that being around her made me very anxious, almost as if I was "catching" the anxiety. I was spending a lot of time helping out during the time when we were all trying to figure out what the issue was exactly with my grandson, who is five. (he's ok now!) I know this was a lot of stress and I know stress can cause physical issues but I had never experienced that myself. When you are used to your body reacting a certain way for over 60 years and then something changes, it's very hard to accept that anxiety could be causing anything physical. Why would it if it never did before? But I am trying to accept that and not always be looking for a medical cause. I'm a nurse, and though I have never been a hypochondriac, far from it, I do know a lot about medical issues. Maybe that helps things, maybe it hurts. I'm not sure. I think it helps, overall.
Recently, within the past few months, and getting much worse in the last month, I have been getting really itchy skin, especially my forearms, neck and face, and in the middle of my upper back. I've never had this before. I also feel as if a hair is brushing against my skin, like when you get a hair caught in your glasses and it brushes against your face--exactly like that. When it started it was on my nose. I took my glasses off expecting to see the hair caught in the frame, but there was nothing there. I was kind of upset. I could feel the hair, but yet, it wasn't there. It lasted throughout the day, and was gone the next day, but it came back, and when it came back it wasn't just my nose, and it wasn't just a hair. I felt this sensation on other parts of my face, my neck, my arms, even occasionally on my leg. I can feel it right now as I type, on my left cheek. I know know there's nothing there, so I try not to touch it, hoping that will interrupt some kind of feedback loop. Last week this sensation was joined by a feeling of bugs biting me. If you've ever been in Florida and have been bitten by "no-see-ums", that's exactly what it felt like. Mostly on my arms.
I have googled of course and all I can come up with is "formication". I'm not sure that's what it is, but it sure sounds like it. I suppose it could be the Nexium, but somehow I don't think so. I don't think it's neuropathy. I haven't had thyroid labs done since last April, but I have never had thyroid issues.
So I'm stressed about this. I'm trying not to be, but I find myself worrying about it many times during the day. Some days it's worse than others. I don't feel it much when I'm up and moving around, mostly when sitting. Oh , and I get the itches on my head too.
My family history is pretty decent, with three of four grandparents living into their nineties. My father, who was never sick in his life, died within three weeks of his first symptom, of cholangiocarcinoma, cancer of the bile ducts. So that was a shock, but that was a decade ago. He was almost 80. My mother is in her eighties and has significant renal failure due to high blood pressure that she ignored for most of her life. I have no high blood pressure or an other chronic issue. This is the first time I have been worried about my health in my life.
I keep finding references to the formication being caused by anxiety, and I'm not disputing that , but my gut feeling is that anxiety is not the cause. I sort of hope I'm wrong. It's hard to find people with the same symptoms from anything other than anxiety. I'm hoping someone here can relate!
Thanks for listening!
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