Anxiety and physical pains - health anxiety??
Posted , 4 users are following.
so.. this is a long one! and I'm really not sure I will find anyone the same because it seems insane even to myself but here goes.... I gave birth to my son almost 7 weeks ago (second child). a few days after having him I felt completely exhausted and a bit run down, as anyone would I imagine, but I panicked that I had an infection (complicated birth) went to hospital, everything checked out fine. I still wasn't convinced, multiple trips and everything was still fine but I still felt rubbish with keep going extremely light headed, feeling sick, dizziness, couldn't concentrate, it was horrible! maybe that was all anxiety from worry? don't know! anyway, a week after i started getting chest pains, so bad that i thought i was dying.. worst thing to do, straight to google! big mistake! chest pains started again this time feeling it in my shoulder arm and neck.. twinges in the jaw - did I put the pains there because I read them? anyway.. 2 ambulances out within a week, every time everything checked out fine.. I've had multiple doctor trips.. again all fine. I've had multiple ECGS, loads of different blood tests multiple times, chest xrays and a ct scan on my lungs. all clear!! since I've had the chest pains I've had extra symptoms over the weeks since.. now this is a list! pains in arms, which can be pulling or shooting pains, leg and feet cramps, niggling pains in neck, jaw, electric shock type pains in different areas of my body, mainly my belly. my main is chest pains, heavy / pressured feelings - sometimes shooting pains but I can get them in various other places too. burning sensations in random areas, belly aches, feeling sick, lightheaded, lack of concentration sometimes. so many different things!! the chest is more or less constant, and I do feel in a constant state of worry.. I wake up every morning and my first thought is how am I going to feel today so I feel shaky inside which then makes me start feeling sick. I get headaches too sometimes, the chest pain is more or less constant - doctor did say I may also have costochondritis which isnt going to help but again I dont feel convinced because surely I'd be in complete agony all the time and doesn't always hurt when pushed. I've been referred for CBT and hopefully that's going to start soon and I've also now been given diazepam because I was too scared to take anything else.. I started taking them only yesterday, they've made me feel a bit drowsy but today I'm still anxious because I don't like the pains again. The pains aren't always all together either, they can be random, different days for different feelings, but the chest is every day. this basically sums it all up but I'm sure I've actually probably missed stuff.. my latest is itchy patches randomly over my body. Can all this really be anxiety, my doctor thinks I've put the physical symptoms in my head from keep googling and panicking about different illnesses that aren't there! sorry for the long post! oh and sometimes I feel like I need to catch my breath, is that panic? and last few days I can sometimes physically feel my heart pounding and I hate that! 😦
0 likes, 6 replies
Nae8723 sophies77
Posted
ive been having shoot pains in legs and tingling. i have health anxiety as well.
sophies77 Nae8723
Posted
its horrible isn't it.. I just dont believe that anxiety can physically cause so many different symptoms.
Potatoghost sophies77
Posted
hey sophie sorry to hear what you are going through you sound like you've just been hit by a truck tbh x being a male obviously I don't know what it's like to give birth but I can imagine your body is in shock and so is your mind from all of those horrible symptoms.
I'll say that although I don't have a lot of your physical symptoms I do have some that are debilitating so you must be going through hell.
here's the thing anxiety can cause an awful amount of things you wouldn't believe
I wouldnt have if my ADs pooped out and stopped working x
I get
palpitations
hard to breath
muscle twinges
muscle aches
foggy head where I cant concentrate
the chest tightness and pain is definitely anxiety because you might not realise when you are anxious you dont breath properly and it can cause dizzyness chest pains tight chest the lot.
google is not your friend so as hard as it might be try your best not to google because your mind will literally give yourself that exact symptom you read about.
you are definitely suffering from anxiety just from what you have written but anyone going through what you have will be feeling anxious.
a bit of a double edged sword but there is a list I have of exactly some of the things anxiety can cause and its shocking how much there is on it. I am happy to send it to you. it might put your mind at ease knowing that there is a lot anxiety can cause but I don't want to worry you if you see something and get that symptom if that makes sense. and make you feel like oh no! I have that too! that's the last thing you need right now. but it has a lot on there so I'm happy to message you and send it if you like.
diazipam will make you drowsy and slow your mind down it's great but it wint cure everything.
also beta blockers are great for some of the physical symptoms you have.
it will stop the
shaking
dizzyness
palpitations
tight chest but wont help the mental symptoms of worry. that are completely safe as long as you aren't asthmatic and can help a lot.
I feel for you I really do x
Potatoghost
Posted
also the fact that you have had a lot of tests back and everything is fine leads me to think it is likely anxiety rather than anything else. plus the fact that CBT has been offered shows that anxiety is definitely a factor here. wether its casing your symptoms or not. likely that it is you are obviously worried about it all. bless you.
sophies77 Potatoghost
Posted
thank you so much for your reply, its nice to hear a bit of reassurance from someone else who suffers the same thing. it's the chest pains that scare me most, I can feel absolutely fine (so I think) and then I get a shooting pain and it all starts again.
you can send me the list of the anxiety symptoms you get if you like, I probably already get them. I seem to have everything else.
i was prescribed beatablockers but scared to take them - I've got in my head it will slow my heart too much and I'll die. this is what my problem is, I'm convinced something bad is wrong with me and I'll just die because somethings been missed and I'll leave my family behind. it's horrible 😦
Potatoghost sophies77
Posted
hi hi x I sent you that info in a private message as it cant be posted publicly x hope it helps