Just Looking for Some Support, Hugs, and Kind Words

[girlrock]

Hi all,

I apologize for the long-winded post but I just need to talk. It's been a while since I've posted about myself. I beat HA about 2 years ago now. But lately, I've been having some problems. I can assure you that they are not anxiety-induced (as I'm sure my GP would love to say). I'm currently just coming down from paroxetine 20mg to 10mg.

I'm really starting to think that I have MS, Spinal Stenosis, a pinched nerve..SOMETHING!! I've had lots of symptoms in the last few years but due to my beating HA and one of those conditions being not to google....I've really just learned to ignore them and not worry so much. Paroxetine probably has a great part in that as well.

Anyway the most memorable problems were: 1.) About 2 years ago I ended up in the ER for severe dizziness. The dizziness came in spells every few months and lasted 1-2 weeks each time. They eventually went away but I had many tests done and nothing was found to be wrong (except a true inner ear imbalance). 2.) About a year and a half ago I ended up in the ER due to a severe pinching pain in the top of my spine between my shoulder blades. The pain was so severe I cut a vacation short to come home and go to the ER. X-rays were taken and determined that my neck was spasming but they didn't know why. I was given muscle relaxers and told to rest, which I did for a good month. It eventually went away. 3.) A few weeks ago, right before Xmas...I started getting severe "electrical" pains in my right leg, especially my thigh. I chalked it up to sciatica and rested, it went away. 4.) Just a few days ago I started getting some awful heartburn which is unusual since I take a maintenance drug to prevent heartburn. I also began to get excruciating arm pain down my left arm. (This had happened to me a few times since November...only when I have heartburn but not every time when I have heartburn). Even after the heartburn subsided, the excruciating arm pain continued for hours. I was in tears. The next day, it had died down quite a bit but I could still feel slight pain. 5.) Today, I'm having an usual tingling and zapping sensation in that same arm. When I'm sitting still, it's fine. But as soon as I stand up to go upstairs to the bathroom or into the kitchen, I feel the electrical zaps in my arm and the tingling in my fingers and hand....also a bit of dizziness (like I'm getting faint).

I was to the doctor on 12/27 and told him about the leg pain at that time. He did some physical tests on me in the office to see if it was a disc problem (as I had suggested---I've had pretty bad scoliosis since about age 12). He said no disc problem.......gave the condition a name and basically said it was muscular and nothing to worry about.

I then wrote to a doctor on JustAnswers.com the other evening about the arm pain. I had read online that GERD can be felt even in the arms, jaw, and neck. My entire family and everyone I've told tell me that that is completely ridiculous and that heartburn is heartburn...in the chest/stomach region. The doctor on Just Answers said that it was not the GERD....that it sounds like a pinched nerve in my neck and that the pain in my arm could have aggravated the heartburn but the heartburn didn't cause the arm pain.

I'm worried because if I'm having problems in my RIGHT thigh, my upper and lower back, and my LEFT arm......it basically sounds like I'm falling apart. It can't be 1 pinched nerve or 1 herniated disc. It seems like something bigger to me. I'm really starting to think MS or Spinal Stenosis as I said before...maybe even Fibromyalgia? I don't know but all I know is that SOMETHING is wrong and it's not anxiety.

Oh yea.........did I mention that I lost my health insurance last year?? So I can't even go have the spinal MRI that I would LOVE to have!!! I always casted off MS because I've had 1 brain catscan and 1 brain MRI in the past few years and nothing was ever mentioned about "lesions"...however I read somewhere tonight (yes I googled)...that you could have spinal lesions. My spines never been looked at in a detailed image except for x-rays.

OK I'm finished ranting, feeling sorry for myself, and being sad. Thanks ahead of time for any support

[saintdee]

i suffer from alot of heartburn and stomach issues. the health anxiety plays its part with the symptoms, and i have to constantly tell myself this. i am struggling at the moment, but when i do struggle my anxiety goes through the roof and my IBS kicks in and adds ins two pence worth!

look we can all guess what we may or could have, but its just a guess. and this guess always strangley seems to be one of the worst things possible.

we are our own worse enemey!

[ChrisK]

I'm sorry to hear that you're going through all this, perhaps you should see a chiropractor ?

[sacrilegend]

Lots of hugs from me I have managed to get my anxiety down a heck of a lot in the last few months, but still continue to get loads of wierd physical symptoms. I got checked out at the emergency room once while the anxiety was still up and all was fine so try to stay away from the docs if what i am experiencing is in the realm of what i have experienced before with the anxiety but its really hard. I completely understand how you feel and know how horrid it must be for you right now. The only conclusion i can come to is that the anxiety has affected us to a point that we are now so in touch with every thing that goes on inside us, that it is now very magnified and we will experience our aches, pains and twinges at a much more heightened state? And i am myself guilty of the googling, a lot less than before but every now and then my fingers get the better of me. And then i regret it I am myself sitting up on the laptop when i should be getting a good nights sleep because i am getting pains in my heart area and in my arm. You are not alone. I wish you love and luck Xx

[sillygirl]

Lots of hugs from me too. I find I tend to fixate on things years apart too that aren't relevant anymore. Try to relax, lately when I've been able to the symptoms I'm worrying about go away. The lack of health insurance probably has you worried more too, since you're probalby thinking what if? The what if's kill everyone. We will all get through this. I try to tell myself to remember to breathe!

[girlrock]

Thanks everyone!!! I applied for health insurance last night so hopefully they will approve me and I can get some tests done to see if there really is a problem or if it's just in my head or whatever!! Hugs back to you all

[Magic]

hello girlrock, Sorry to hear about your health problems.If you can manage to get a MRI brain scan and a spine scan (all in one)then then they will be able to see if you have any lesions.Thats the best thing to do for MS,and its best not to look things on the internet for help,it will make you more anxious. I sincerely hope that your fears are unfounded X

[girlrock]

A new symptom today....I was knitting while visiting my grandmother and had my elbow on the arm of the chair while knitting. Then all of a sudden my left hand because to shake like I've never seen anything shake on my body before. It scared me initially so I didn't say anything...I dropped my elbow to my lap and continued knitting. It died down a little bit. As soon as I put my elbow back up on the arm of the chair...my hand began shaking uncontrollably again! My grandmother told me I better start taking care of those "nerve problems" (old people speak for "anxiety").

Still having the zaps and weird sensations but only in the later evenings! So strange! I've noticed it more on nights where we watch a movie and I'll pause to go upstairs to the bathroom. That's when I start feeling the zaps and a bit of dizziness but its more in waves.

UGHHHH!

Is my health anxiety relapsing or am I having a genuine problem???
Waiting to hear back about my health insurance and then I'm high-tailing it to the GP!!!