1. Community
  2. Mental health
  3. Anxiety Disorders

Health Anxiety, vision problems, hot flashes. Expert opinion needed!

Posted , 29 users are following.

sean63809
sean63809

My name is Sean and i'm a 34 year old male in fairly good shape (215 pounds). I run 2 miles per day. Last year was pretty stressful for me searching for a job, bills, new job, etc. I felt alot of stress and some anxiety but I always seemed to manage my emotions without loosing control, and I can shamefully admit that I medicated with alcohol most nights to take the edge off.

Well in October of 2014 I lost my grandfather who helped raise me so he was basically like my father. I took it kind of hard and wept for a day or so but THOUGHT I was over it because he doesn't have to suffer anymore. Well on December 17th I woke up with a slight hangover so I decided to take a BC powder for my headache.  I began feeling anxious which I attributed to the over consumption of alcohol so I took some bach rescue remedy and some Lithium Oratate which I heard is good for anxiety.

Well 15 minutes later I became very warm (hot flash) followed by a fast heart palpitation which landed me in the emergency room. I told the doctor the only medicine i'd been taking is Prevacid and amoxicillin from the dentist. I have continued to get palpitations, and hot flashes with new occuring symptoms ever since. I've been tested for everything under the sun from a MRI, MRA, Gall Bladder scans, Stool Test, Chest X-rays, heart echo, eye test, bone scans, blood word, etc. The only thing they have found is that my thyroid is in NORMAL range but on the hyperthyroid end 0.56 (0.34 being abnormal), my testosterone is in the NORMAL range but is on the low side 347 when it should be in the 600's. I was also low in Vitamin D 23 (with 30 being low) which I have been supplimenting for.

My symptoms have expanded over the last few months and now i'm experiencing the following, at different times:

Hot Flashes / excessive sweating

Heart palpitations

Extreme Anxiety

Eye Floaters

Weird vision/ unreality/ wierd head/brain numbness or pressure

Cold or tingling hand and feet

Muscle twitches in random areas

High frequency ringing in ears (only occured a few times)

Neck and upper back stiffness/ popping (No Pain)

Googling my symptoms has made everything WORST and pushed me to what now feels like a nervous breakdown.

Although I have tested negative for lyme disease, (Elisa/ and western blot), a guy from another website still insist that I have lyme disease.

I would love to hear from some of the more experienced anxiety sufferers to see if this is indeed health anxiety or something else.

Thanks, Sean

 

5 likes, 51 replies

51 Replies

Next
  • pf7
    pf7 sean63809

    Posted

    I feel your pain lastvyear was VERY stress full for me my father died of liver cancer (alcohol related), I got divorced, my son was diagnosed with autism, I had two surgeries for a hydrocele (and ensuing medical bills) that were successful but left my testicle 2 times its normal size (which pretty much eliminates any form of future realtionships for me) and I was homeless for a few months. During this time(around July) I started to get fatigued which is not normal as I am an avid gym goer and im in pretty good shape (I'm 37 years old) I thought I might bebover training as I had been doing doubles at the gym (strength in afternoon cardio at night) so I cut out a day or two at the gym.the fatigue never went away and in September I started getting major "brain fog", extrem thirst, joint pain, extreme hunger and anxiety attacks. I had blood work done it came back normal so I went to neuro she said she didn't think it was neurological ans sent me on my way so I went to endo she did blood work as well and it came back normal. Most recently I have started getting very itchy, my vision seems "off", brain fog is worse, I have muscle spasms in my quad and tricep,upper and lower back is always sore, pulsating tinnitus and I often wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I cant swallow which only makes my anxiety even worse. Im kind of at a loss what to do I cant afford to keep having tests done as I have a 2000 dollar deductible and so far all tests have come back normal.
    • rachel60225
      rachel60225 pf7

      Posted

      This was posted 2 years ago but I wanted to talk anyway. I am experiencing many of these same symptoms with no answers

      thus far. All the research I have done points to MS, fibromyalgia or the ever common panic or anxiety disorders. I don't believe this is panic or anxiety. I only started getting panic attacks after these symptoms developed. And my fear and trepidation over my health caused the panic and anxiety, not vice versa. I have

      been experiencing these symptoms for almost 2 years now. If

      you ever managed to get any answers or a firm diagnosis,

      please, please, please let me know. Thank you. I'm getting

      desperate.

  • ella14984
    ella14984 sean63809

    Posted

    Hi sean, what you're experiencing sounds alot like anxiety, its good that you've gone and got yourself checked out. Trust me do NOT google symptoms anymore, i google my symptoms every single day because anxiety effects with my daily life (bearing in mind that i'm only 14 years old) and it comes up with things like heart failure and stuff. None of the stuff you google is true which can worsen your anxiety. I think i have GAD but i havent been confirmed. If it helps to know what i get then i can list my symptoms for you to reassure: 

    - shallow breathing (feeling like i cant breathe and gasping for air) every day 

    - heart palpations 

    -heart beating extremely fast all the time 

    -chest pain and a tight feeling 

    -armpit pains 

    -shaking/trembly feelings 

    -sweating in cold and hot 

    -feeling dilusioned in my head and feeling weird like im here but im not 

    -trouble with staying asleep 

    - panic attacks

    I hope this helps and i hope you feel better soon, hopefully you get down to what you think it is to keep your mind at rest. 

    • sean63809
      sean63809 ella14984

      Posted

      Thanks Ella14984 that makes me feel somewhat better. I also have sharp chest pains from time to time which I forgot to mention.

      patsfan5777 I hope we both find out a solution to our problems because things are getting unbearable. I do suspect that this is anxiety but i've ALWAYS been able to shake it with anxiety tricks i've acummilated over the years (welcoming the anxiety, etc), but this feels like another level that I wasn't prepared for.

      I'm sure that Google is to blame for alot of it. When I started using google for symptoms they were only chest pain, heart palpitations, and hot flashes. Now as you can see from my list I have accumilated quite a few more since then, which are probably all due to panic (fearing the worst). I believe the first 3 are due to a hormonal imbalance of some sort that my natural doctor is trying to get to the bottom of.

       

    • ella14984
      ella14984 sean63809

      Posted

      I completely agree, i think google is sometimes the big problem here, us people with anxiety tend to think of the worst things and believe the negative which makes us work ourselves up and question if there's something else that is really wrong! I hope you start to feel better soon,

      all the best! 

    • Pablobrown
      Pablobrown ella14984

      Posted

      Hell fire Ellie, someone of your age shouldn't be worrying about their health. When I was 14, I didn't have a care in the world.
    • ella14984
      ella14984 Pablobrown

      Posted

      I guess i can't help it, im just unlucky, im the only person i know experiencing this at my age but its because of a family trauma.
    • windy91233
      windy91233 ella14984

      Posted

      Hi Ella, I experienced it very young too. I'm 38 now, but I had hypochondria when I was in Jr, High. I was convinced I had a brain tumor and couldn't sleep because I would worry at night. I didn't tell my parents for a while, I was very lonely and scared. I still have GAD and hypochondria. I would actually feel pain from it as well. I have taken meds for over 20 years.

  • Pablobrown
    Pablobrown sean63809

    Posted

    I started off with a bad neck Sean,and by the time I'd finished googling I had ALS.

    1) Twitches (everywhere, but mainly my thumbs,fingers,biceps and thighs)

    2) vertigo

    3) hallucinations (red traces)

    4) insomnia

    5) numbness (face)

    6) Cramping (legs)

    7) loss of appetite

    8) Brain fog (I would mumble my words)

    This was all down to googling my symptoms.Ella is right,you sound like you've got GAD.

    • sean63809
      sean63809 Pablobrown

      Posted

      Wow we must be related lol. Well it's weird how you can worry yourself into acual bodily symptoms. If you would have asked me about anxiety 4 months ago I would have told you that anxiety can be beaten fairy easy (I beat it before thanks to an anxiety program) and it's easy to control with acceptance (don't fight it) and positive thinking....boy was I wrong.

      Now I see that there are different LEVELS of anxiety, some which affect the self conscious body. Not only do you need to concuer it mentally, your body (In itself) also has to be retrained not to be anxious.

    • Pablobrown
      Pablobrown sean63809

      Posted

      Meds never worked for me,took them for 3 months and got nowt from them. My anxiety from beginning to end (I say end,I mean when I felt normal,I still suffer slight bouts of anxiety,but they're getting less and less and they're very mild) lasted about 12 months,but there was a peroid of about 4 months where I was in a very dark place.Couldn't sleep,eat or keep still (due to the cramps in my legs). Are you getting a really bad butterfly sensation in your stomach? I started taking 3 One-A-Night Nytol tablets just to get 3 hours sleep. Anyhow Sean,that was 9 years,it can be beaten,but you've got to drum it into your head that your symptoms are all caused bu anxiety rather than some deadly disease.
    • sean63809
      sean63809 Pablobrown

      Posted

      Thanks Pablo,

      I would actually rather this whole experience be something benign as anxiety or maybe even a minor hormone imbalance and not anything else. I think the worst thing i've done was post a thread on a well know lyme disease forum trying to eliminate that possiblity (marking down my check list), and posting on their was the biggest mistake that I've made.

      Everyone has names like Lymeanator or Ms. Lymie lol, and they are all talking about how  Lyme complex is a LIFE time fight and their is NO CURE and that I DEFINATELY have it based on symptoms. I was told the two negative lyme test that I took were no good and that I still probably had it.

      They said things like you probably have Lyme bacteria in your eyes which is why you see the floaters, and the lyme disease has penetrated into your nervous system creating all the different symptoms you're experiencing including the anxiety. It affected me so much that I talked my doctor into prescribing me a month of doxycycline antibiotics and I actually just finished my second week of that (with no symptom improvements), but I do have 2 weeks of it left.

      I am going to stop surfing the web, and keep a positive mind frame from here on out.

       

    • Pablobrown
      Pablobrown sean63809

      Posted

      I remember checking out twitches on YT,and some guy who had ALS told another poster who was suffering from twitches that he could have ALS, because that's how his illness started. I felt sorry for the guy with ALS but I still told him he was bang out of order. Some people want to share their misery. I went the Dr convinced I had MS,she asked me why,and I told her my symptoms. She said an Elephant and mouse are both mammels,they both have 4 legs,2 eyes and a tail but they're nothing alike.I remember coming out of her surgery thinking,wow she's right,and it was at that point I started to get better.
    • sean63809
      sean63809 Pablobrown

      Posted

      Wow thanks man my ears have been dying to hear something positive.
Back to top
Next

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.