Extreme aches and pains (upper arm and legs), head pressure and dizziness. Is it anxiety ? worried!

This sounds very similar to what has happened to me!

Even the timescale. I've been suffering for what will be five weeks on Wednesday. Been told by 3 GP's, 2 Doctors at the Hospital and numerous NHS24 advisors that it's viral.

Only the most recent Doctor at A&E has said it's not viral. She reckons its Migraines and is arranging for me to see a headache specialist. She has also recommended I go back to my GP about my anxiety.

Hi

I have experienced pretty much the same as what you are describing.  Last Christmas 2014 I had a really bad cold, the worst I had for a very long time.  It went from a head cold, to a sore throat to a chesty cough to a tickly cough.  Couldnt get rid of it and it last about 3-4 weeks.  On new years day 2015 I basically had a massive panic attack, although at the time i didnt know that was what was happening to me, basically the overwhelming sensation that you are about to die together with a fever and intense dizziness.  Not room spinning dizziness but like you are being pulled down to the ground and a floating sensation.  Anyway went to the GP a few days later turned out i had a urinary infection.  1 year later and I am still experienceing the dizziness together with panic attacks which has lead to some depression.  i was seeing a ENT specialist for the first 5 months of the year, had a MRI, multiple blood tests the whole 9 yeards all back clear.  So bsically it has all been written off to a viral infection.  I have googled the hell out of researching and trying to find an answer and basically there isnt one other than Viral infection you just have to ride it out and it can take years.  One very interesting thing that I have been reading more and more of is the link between viral infections and dpression / anxiety and panic attacks.  It appears there is a clear link between the two especially if the viral infection is vestibular related.  I have gone down the road of more natural remedies like using st johns wort or 5HTP rather than antidpressents and keep reminding myself that what I am feeling it not real (the panic attacks), its a viral infection and I will get better over time.  I'm sorry of this is not quite what you want to hear but there doesnt seem to be a quick fix for these types of infections.  If everything else comes back clear than at least you know its not serious and need to give yourself time for your body to heal.

Take care and hope it all works out for you - you are not alone

I suffered for the last 11 years with the above and I think I can help.

(Tired, dizzy, burning skin, palpitations, tight chest, short breath, head pressure, stinging legs arms & face, lump in throat, weak, no sleep, digestive issues, cold limbs, sinus pressure - the list goes on really).

I'm a smart guy and not one to jump to conclusions but this really defeated me for a long time, with doctors being no help. The head pressure was unbearable and I was convinved there was something seriously wrong that was undetected.

I tried super healthy, vegan, gluten free, elimination diets, no drinking, no caffine and all that stuff. Tried loads. nothing. Ended up smoking weed to deal with it all, not good.

Finally I said to myself, OK let's just say this is anxiety. I started researching the stress response (you don't have to suffer from anxiety to have these physical problems).

After just 4 months of CBT, lots of research on the fight/flight response I'm now 90% better and I feel the best I have in years. It's insane. This time 5 months ago I was having episodes of deporsonalization and thinking of ending it all - because of these symptoms. 

I still get them, but now they last a minute or two rather than days, or weeks. It's crazy to believe that this can be caused your thought processes but it can (and when you start looking into it - it actually all makes perfect sense). I just wish the doctors had pointed me down the anxiety/stress route before. 

I'd recommend looking into it and also CBT. Basically I slowly started analysing my symptoms one by one and finding a link to the stress response (eg - stinging legs is simply the nerves firing and muscles prepping for fight/flight). Then I could stop worrying about them. It worked.

The best thing you can really do is breathe. Deep breath and let it go. (This is much easier to do now with an understanding of the physiology of it all, breathing did nothing at first).

I'm not saying that you aren't genuinely ill with something else - but I'm a pretty grounded 30yo guy and was convinced that I was ill, for over 10 years. I mean really ill. 

Like I said, now I've almost shed all the anxiety/stress and the  symptoms have subsided 90%!

If anyone wants to Skype then I'm happy to share my thoughts as I know how much this SUCKS. It nearly drove me to end it all. I feel I should help if I can. 

I'm no expert but I sersiouly learned a lot in the last few months and it really changed my life so much.

PM me if you wanna chat.

Tim

 

Hi, i want to share this with all who have GAD.

I have had the same symptoms for over 5 years. The first 2 years was really hard but i didn't have the muscle ache.

After lots of tests initially i was told i have anexiety, i didn't buy in to it and kept doing tests.

The first year was really bad and i had constant dizziness and palpitations all day every day. I couldn't lie down flat for a year and had few pillows under my head and back for sleeping. And i would jump up few times every night in panic. I sarted citalopram in the first year and also metapralol for palpitations. Gradually i learned to live with it and symptoms slowed down but never vanished.

One of the most difficult symptoms was the falling sensation in my head that would really scare me.

Like you i ended up in A&E over and over because i thought i am having heart attack.

I still did not accept i have anexiety because all symptoms were physical but believed that doctors can't find the peoblem. After 4.5 years my father passed and a few months ago i started to have severe panic attacked every few hours.. it was so bad that i couldn't function anymore. I was running Out of options so i thought if this is anexiety then i have to see a psychiatrist and that was the best decision. He explained to me scientifically why i was having physical symptoms and it all made sense. I asked him for a medication to stop the panic attackes so i can function again and he gave me Pregabalin. It worked instantly, after the second pill the panics stopped. So i accepted that i do have anexiety and went to see a therapist which has been helpful at some level.

So if you are feeling the same then here is my advice:

-Accept that you are having anexiety.

-see a psychiatrist

-exercise is the best treatment

-find the root cause

-understand your physical symptoms, read about Fight and Flight response in panic. You can read it here https://patient.info/health/panic-attack-and-panic-disorder it explains what your body goes through in panic and why you feel all the physical stuff.

I have been able to some how control some of it but have not recovered fully.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Shaggy

Emis Moderator comment: I have replaced the given link with a link to the equivalent article on our site.

Did u ever find out wit the cause to all this was

I am having the same problems

hi Amelia

how are u doing now? I came across this now and I feel everything in ur post. I was diagnosed with GAD..

have you overcome your feelings? I would like to know how things are now

I struggle with the same problem almost every day arms and leg pain and cramping stomach pain dizziness headaches dry throat burning sensation sometimes even diarrhea I need answers cause I'm tired of it and I just want my life back😔

To all.

I had this for 30 years (I'm 31 now). I would not have considered myself an anxious person, or stressed or particularly worried or anything like that. Yet, I had sooo many symptoms I was convinced something was seriously wrong, doctors had missed it etc. Anxiety can't be physical right? Think about stage fright. How does that horrible feeling happen? Mind goes blank, legs shake, feel sick... There you go, a direct physical response as a result of a mental process ("oh crap there's loads of people". Anxiety is extremely physical! We're not really built for 2016 as humans, as our primal fight/fight response is still there but is now activated by modern day stressors like work, overthinking things, social interactions / implications (yep, that's Facebook etc), too much choice and basic things like that. 

Over the last year of my 30s I began ticking symptoms off the list 1by1. Legs, arms, cramps, brain fog (my god the brain fog), fatigue, tight chest and the list goes on..and on...and on. For me, the tiniest little thought will trigger an immediate physical response in some way. Usually I can tell if there's something going on if I hold my hands out and they shake, even slightly (adrenaline from fight/flight). 

Anyways, I would highly recommend you do some learning on the fight/fight response. It took me months and months of horrible testing on my part (allergies, gluten, autoimmune disorders etc) before I accepted anxiety as I was so convinced it was something deadly (and so were my friends, who know me well).

The way I did it was to correlate my 'weird symptoms' with anxiety ones. What I mean is, I deliberately went into a situation that made me anxious (public speaking, new busy places I didn't know, even some social media circles) and I noted what I felt. You're going to match up at least a few, I guarantee it - then you can quit worrying about them.

For me that was the first steps to beating the hell outta this thing. I still get symptoms on a daily basis (not every day) but because I know it's anxiety I can just massage my neck, breath and chill out mentally and it's gone instantly. (I had brain forg for 10 years straight, now it goes in seconds. Wish I knew that years ago!). I also backtrack my thinking and there's usually something minor in there as the trigger "must remember to buy milk later" - yep that'll do it.

So, the more I get used to spotting thinking patterns and teaching my brain 'it's ok, no response needed thanks" (by breathing slow etc) the more it disappears entirely. 

Hope me this makes sense to people and helps someone because I know, trust me I know how hard it is. 2 times near suicide purely because of this and the doctors didn't help me one bit. Don't take meds if you can help it, they're a short term fix and I've seen friends lose it. I had a prescription for SSRI and now it's in a frame on my wall. I didn't take it - and I won. 

Good luck! PM me if you like but I'm not that active on here anymore. 

Tim X 

 

I am here to disclose what's actually happening to me since 20 days. I didn't had any bad habit even till 3 months ago but due to some fantasy I started smoking weed in my area which is not of high quality. Till now hardly I had smoke 10 to 15 times and the last time was on December,14th 2016. On that day I had an adverse effect of some kind of panic attack which caused high heart beat and took a bath straight away to get out of that. People here say that some insect repellent is sprayed on that weed to increase the weight. I didn't inform the right reasons to my parents and went for EEG test, CT scan, 2d echo pad test and ECG. My doctor saw it and all reports were normal. I'm still having heaviness in head and numbness in hands and legs. I had muscle spasm before. It's really like a torture and I'm unable to decide whether I'm facing anything else or an anxiety disorder.

I have experienced this horrible pain in my arms and legs like burning,been to the docs so many times but have now insisted on a second opinion as its gettjng so bad i cant do anythjng without hurting,going to the docs on monday for blood tests bht like you they come back ok and i have been wondering if this is anxiety causing this