Odd breathing, suction when swallowing, weightless yet weak

[boroam]

Hey, this is my first post here, looks like a nice community.
I'm hoping somebody can reassure me that these are symptoms simplt brought on by stress & anxiety, rather than me relating them to every deadly disease on wikipedia.

I've had a slight health anxiety since I got Bell's Palsy, which means a few years - but it's never effected me at all.

Over the past week though, I feel like I've been losing my mind over health anxiety, It's on my mind 24/7 and has seriously impacted my sleeping/eating habits.

For the past 6 months, I've had bouts of excessive acid stuck in my chest that I could feel crawling up & hurting my upper back, which would keep spouting into my throat - I always cured it by bending over with my mouth open - the disgustingly sweet acid would then practically drip out, or would shoot into my mouth with every swallow & burp, and would also send burning pains down my arms and make my eyes red & sore - always brought on during stressful periods, I never gave it deep thought and assumed it was bile, it also seemed to severely slow down my need to use the toilet. but I forgot about it once it was over every time.

Last week, it happened again, though a bit different, rather than simply being an uncomfortable crawling sensation, I felt a strange, ice cold pressure sensation from the bottom of my stomach to my throat & my stomach which came in waves, extremely uncomfortable - at the same time, I felt very spaced out and couldn't bring myself to do anything, completely spaced out. I then had the acid coming into my throat, I managed to get a fair bit of it outm yet the cold pressure just got worse, I felt like it was a heart attack due to the pressure, even though it was coming from the belly - I ended up lying on the floor spaced out for some time, doing anything took a lot time to get the motivation to do, I think it was my first panic attack - Feeling certain I as about to die, thinking my breathing was slow, yet feeling too detached from the world to call for help. Itpassed after 5 hours, got to sleep, woke up feeling fine.

However, since then,I've become a paranoid mess, havng 6+ hour panic attacks every day, and still feeling totally wrong outside of them, I've been unablle to do anything except focus on the symptoms, I've experienced sopme sort of derealization - feeling as though the outside world isn't even there, not caring about anything outside of the present, so my focus on the symptoms this week have impacted my life greatly and negatively. I tell myself it's all simply anxiety & obsessing over it, yet it all feels so real & crippling. I've also gotten some sort of phobia over swallowing (symptoms will explain why)

Anyways, off the personal stuff and onto the symptoms:

Jaw:

1. My jaw feels overly loose, and simply feels wrong, like it doesn't fit or move how it used to, no pain, no stiffness, just that it often seems to change position and open in different ways - a sudden hypermobility.Mu jaw used to click and crunch, yet now seems to move in either way as much as I want wihout any sound or feeling/
   
2. I swear I've gotten some sort ridges on either of my cheeks, and occasional bruising - I've been told that it looks the same as before though. yet to me it really does feel like my jaw has moved to the right slightly,
   
3. Relaxing my jaw appears to amplify some of the symptoms below.

Throat/swallowing/neck

1. I no longer burp, even if I know I need to, I feel incapable of it, as though the muscle to do so is too weak. instead it seems to leak into my mouth in tiny, hot bubbles which I have to breathe out
2. Often, when I swallow, I'll feel like my body is being pulled downwards, ar other times I'll feel suction on the right side of my mouth, weird, I know, yet I'm sure my jaw/tongue will feel stuck slightly to the right, like there's suction there.
   the above seems to get worse with every swallow, until it feels like my throat is sticking together, closing mouth & holding nose closed, and blowing seems to get it back to normal
3. When swallowing and looking in a mirror, I'll notice a large, slow moving lump on my right side.
4. The hard, disc shaped part of the throat right above the chest is very painful to touch
5. Neck seems swollen on both sides of it, some sort of muscle on the sides of the neck has grown in size

Breathing/lungs:

1. I may breath in, yet feel & see my lungs filling slowly & growing, like they're filling up at a fraction the speed I breathe in. When breathing out, the air escapes instantly, or vice versa. (Heavily effected by jaw/shoulder) position
2. - Occasional sharp. Dry, raw pain in the back, right of the throat when breathing in, Followed by the sensation of my windpipe closing for a second
3. Spine clicking with deep breaths
4. Difficulty with deep breaths as distended stomach/belly feels like it's putting pressure on lungs
5. In some positons, breathing seems to move my neck forward and breathing out moves it back
6. Able to breathe out a lot more air than I breathe in

Muscles/posture

1. I've felt very numb weightless & light, not feeling parts of my bodfy until I concentrate on them. occasionally noticing that, for example, my foot and all its toes were completely tensed up only when looking at them
   
2. With the above, I still feel like my muscles are very weak despite effortless movement - for example, while walking, I'll experience force in my chest, almost like water swirling about as you walk,
   
3. Shoulders/neck/jaw muscles seem completely untensed & limp, shoulders feel droopy, neck feels painful to hold up, and jaw is overly relaxed, which feels like it's falling towards my neck & causing tremor sensations in body until I tense it
   
4. -Knees feel wobbly and weak
   
5. Experience I strange, slight motor sound that I'm unaware of until it goes silent - seems to be caused when using muscles, and becomes very noticeable when my jaw is relaxed.
   
6. My right shoulder seems further away from my neck than my left shoulder

Nerves
- Cheeks, bottom of head at back and bottom of jaw completely numb to heat/cold, ice on such areas causes no sensation.
- Shoulders and neck feel slightlly numb to certain sensations - such as pressure.
- Tingling, usually at the bottom of my jaw & my right foot.
- Cold, unpleasant tugging sensation from under my ears to my hands (usually right side)
- When lying down, I experience the sensation of a tremor in both my legs
- A heater blowing on my right arm causes a burning sensation in my jaw

Heart:

1. Only issue here is that it seems to stay at the same speed regardless of exertion, just slow, unnoticeable throbs.

ears:
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1. Whistling/roaring/siren sounds, as well; as the previously mentioned "motor" noise when moving arms and so forth
2. Feel unbalanced, like world is swaying when sitting down, or like I'm falling. Possible middle ear issue.

Stomach:

1. Reduced amount of food, yet stomach still seems to bloat easily.
2. Stomach has made a large, howling sound, like a vaccum cleaner.
3. Distended right below chest, with the skin around it being very cold

Psychological

1. Difficulty sleeping as my eyelids seem to be constantly shaking and body muscles won't stop twitching/spasming
2. Lost all motivation, feel as though the outside world is non-existent, and like I'm in a bubble seperated from everyone, causing me to simply not care to, or avoid social stuff.
3. Unable to focus on anything without mind wandering to symptoms, can watch an entire TV show and take nothing in.
4. Spaced out and taking overly long to do simple tasks such as finding an item

Miscellaneous:

1. my nose/throat/etc seem devoid of mucous
2. No gag reflex
3. I don't sweat while awake, yet generally wake up soaked in sweat
4. If I manage to burp, my hands gain a temporary rash & redness
5. Hardly eating yet putting on a lot weight
6. Severe social anxiety

Sorry for too much much typing, but I just wanted to be indepth, this whole obsessive ordeal has left me in a pickle, and anything to ease & relax my mind would mean a lot to me. So iof you can relate, please post.

Thanks for reading.

[mary3]

Hi a lot of these symtoms are symptoms of anxiety. When you are feeling extremely anxious and when you have suffered from anxiety for a while your nerve endings are just hyper sensitive (so says Dr Claire Weekes in her book self help for your nerves, please read it, it explains it better than i could!).

Have you been to the doctors for a check up? It sounds like you have problems with reflux and this can be treated with medication. And this could help alleviate a lot of the symptoms related to the acid, burning pains and the problems with swallowing.

The jaw problem could be linked to TMJ which can be caused by anxiety due to clenching your teeth tightly when your tense. I tend to do this most when im asleep and then wake up with severe jaw pain, my jaw has started to click and pop constantly, i feel it has caused sinus problems for myself and also i have read that it can cause ringing in your ears, and that if you have this problem for a while it can make your jaw feel loose. A good dentist can diagnose this and you can get a mouth guard to wear at night to help improve symptoms.

A lot of your symptoms sounds like the resul of excess adrenalin, such as the tremors and muscle twitches, i used to get these worse at night and my doctor told me it was because my muscles had been constantly tense and now my body was trying to relax to go to sleep. You say you are having very long panic attacks therefore your body will be producing lots of adrenalin for the 'flight or fight' and then this is not being used up so your body has to get rid of it in some way.

You do sound like you are going through a very hard time with your anxiety and panic and i know how you feel because despite symptoms being caused by anxiety they are very real which then causes more anxiety and panic and there starts the viscious circle.

Please go and speak to your GP and tell them all of your symptoms, maybe some can be attributed to some kind of treatable problem ie reflux, GERD, IBS, thyroid etc and once treated may make you feel better and more able to cope with the anxiety and panic side of things.

Hope you start to feel better soon. Wish i could be of better help x

[cattia]

Poor you! I know just how you feel, I have been in that state myself before and it is the most horrible feeling. Your anxiety sounds pretty bad and absolutley all those symptoms are most likley caused by it. I have had symptoms in pretty much every part of my body over the years and they have all been caused by obsessing and anxiety, even symptoms that I have never seen mentioned as possible anxiety symptoms, since once you start focusing on a part of the body or a sensation, it takes over your attention and becomes amplified, creating a viscious cycle. I agree that Claire Weeks book is a fantastic help and really goes into how to deal with troubling physical symptoms - definitely worth a read. When I was at my worst with anxiety in my early twenites, I actually felt I could not function at all, the only thing that was real to me was my symptoms and I was not able to get past them and focus on anything else. My anxiety was horrible and I felt like a zombie the whole time, I could not eat or sleep and I felt like I was in another world, I was so spaced out. I used medication to help me and it worked wonders for me but there are other ways of coping that some people prefer such as CBT and relaxation (I have also used these to good effect). I have also suffered from reflux in the past and the symptoms you describe sound like reflux to me. There are medicines called PPIs which your doctor can give you and these are very effective at treating reflux. I have only recently found this community and it seems that there are lots of very friendly and understanding people here so I am sure that you will find help and support that will encourage you.xx

[Cronauerangelakis]

My mother was diagnosed 7 years ago with odd breathing that was of no concern. Over the last several years she had complained of breathing problems and it got to the stage she was completely out of breath just going from the kitchen to the front door.Then we were in emergency then i contact Pembroke Pines Orthodontics and they treat my mother in such a great way and now she is perfect.