lots of symptoms, help??

[berry-nice]

Hi everyone, happy new year!

For the past couple of years ive been suffering from panic attacks / anxiety / slight depression..
The more worrying one is the strange feelings i get in my head. I get a numbness in one side of my face which leads to neck ache on the same side. My shoulder on that side is also really tense. As with the head pains, i get a full/tight feeling on the top of my head and sometimes electric shock feelings every now and again. I feel as though i cant function and find it difficult to swallow and pull on my hair a bit, or wear a hairband to relieve the pressure.. my eyes also feel pressured and dry-which may be because im on the computer all day at work?? i sometimes get a clicking sound in the temple but i do this myself-a habit i guess.

Im one of those people- i think the worst of everything.. i thought i had a brain tumour, going to have a brain haemhorrage, meningitis, heart attack, stroke, going mental, scared of dying.. etc. And to be honest before my first panic attack i was perfectly fine, I started to feel a little better over the summer period and as soon as it goes all dull and miserable over winter, and with all the stress the symptoms seem to come back and get worse.. its making work a living nightmare! :(

Other symtoms i get are indigestion kind of symtoms where you cant breath..tight chest, pins and needles/ heavy arms and legs, feeling dizzy and faint, i sometimes think im going to faint but never actually do. I get quite fidgety when im having these panic attacks.. playing with my hair alot and my toes kind of curl up and go tight..?

If anyone else has had any would be good to hear, and im more than happy to talk to anyone about theres too
Thanks so much!!

~*Rachel*~

[existential crisis]

Rachel,

Join the club! A few months ago that was an average day for me hun! Feel free to add me to MSN if you want to chat or PM me. You definately arent alone in this and most members of this site will have had at least a handful of what you are describing. The good news is though that you can recover with the right treatment combined with a bit of work on your part as well. The tight headband feelings sound like a tension headache and the numbness usually comes with panicking too. As for your eyes, I reckon being on the computer doesnt help. I had the really dry eyes, like there was grit in them or something, and I found that whenever I was on the computer too long it made it worse! You also have to bear in mind that the tiniest twinge can seem like an illness in itself when your anxious too! As for the change in season, I think a lot of people get a bit more down when the nights start drawing in - all that cold, windy rainy weather hardly makes you feel like going out and having fun does it?! And as for the fainting thing, I totally understand that! I went to the docs about a million times with that and had loads of blood tests! I was convinced it was leukaemia or something awful like that! I used to want to hold on to things when I was walking down the street because I was convinced that I was gonna fall over and make a complete tit out of myself! Anxiety is a right bugger, isnt it?! Sorry to hear your feeling so rough though. Take Care. Clare. xxx

*I think, therefore I am.*

[chellebelle]

Hey Racheal, reading your post kind of freaked me out coz it sounds identical to my experiences! I get really bad headaches as a result of panic (I can say that now because I'm not panicking but if I were I would be saying I have headaches because of...you guessed it - brain tumour, heamhorrage, anyeursym etc.) If I were to list my major symptoms they would be identical to yours - I have had 3 CT scans which have shown up clear, my doctor says I have more reason to be scared of flying panda's than of dying as a result of my headaches, which helps alot, though all reason of course goes out the window when I'm anxious!

My parents and boyfriend are all able to instantaneously tell when I'm panicking because I put my hair in a ponytail and pull it tight every 10 seconds...it's a dead[Oops!] giveaway! When I have the head pain that you're talking about I feel like not enough oxygen is getting to my head, the floor feels unsteady and I am always sure I am going to pass out (like you though I never have). I'm really sorry that you have these awful symptoms, but selfishly, I'm sort of happy to hear that someone else has the same experiences as I have...it makes it all seem less threatening. Sorry about the long post, should have PM'd you, but I hadn't realised I'd written so much.

Would love to stay in touch, PM me if you'd like

Much sympathy,
Chelle

P.S (Something I find helps the head sensations is having a hot wheat bag on the areas that feel the worst - have you tried that?)

"This too, shall pass"

[berry-nice]

Thanks for replying both of you! I'm so happy i'm not the only one (unfortunately for us all..)! And as Chelle said, as soon as i start to panic I put my hair in a band too and pull on it alot! That's so strange! + Thanks for the tips! The floor seems unsteady when i have my headaches too.. i'll look at myself in the mirror and try to balance myself but it feels as though i'm going to fall over! Also when i panic, same as you-i feel like there is something majorly wrong with me, and it's real scary! I try and snap myself out of it but once it gets on my mind there's no stopping it! I wake up with the heachaches and they're there almost constanly throughout the day! I'm finding it difficult to get to sleep as there's all these things on my mind! How often are your heachaches?

Clare also mentioned about holding onto things when walking down the street.. argh! I feel sometimes as though my legs are about the give way! Anxiety is definitely a bugger, for sure..! How long do your symtoms last?

It's so nice to talk to people who know what i'm talking about! My parents seem to look at me as though I'm going crazy sometimes.. so I don't really talk to them much about it unless i've had a really bad day! It's nice to come on here and let it all out i guess!

I'd love to talk to both of you on msn if you have it?
Lots of love & hope you're both ok?
Thankyou!! X x x

~*Rachel*~

[existential crisis]

Berry,

My symptoms lasted a couple of months - but I think that was because I just didn't know how to deal with them! If you want to add me to msn then that's cool - matildaworm@hotmail.com. Clare. xxx

*I think, therefore I am.*

[Meg]

Too many different symptoms
getting worse...
CAN IT REALLY BE??


Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?