Is this health anxiety !!! Apologies for the essay but just looking for answers
Posted , 5 users are following.
i am a 29 year old extremely active and in shape guy who usually shrugs off any injuries, illness or negative thoughts. However i have descended into an extreme downward spiral. It all started three months back with a sense of heaviness in both arms that then became a trembling , jolting and twitching in multiple places. Arms, hands, legs, feet, head and brain zaps. Being in lockdown working from home and living on my own i have spent hours in silence every day becoming more and more occupied with the sensations and to a point where i was googling a diagnosing myself with terrible neurological conditions day and night . I did break down massively one night as i had zero sleep for all these very very real physical pains and symptoms of jolts and trembling was convinced this was something like a degenerative fatal disease or brain issue. I visited a walk in centre where a doctor examined me and outright said your the wrong age , no warning signs ,showing full strength, no muscle wasting and very good neurological function. He told me to worry less get out and restart exercise and sent me for complete bloods to rule everything out. which came back as normal.
But the last two month i still cant shake that there is something terrible wrong with me. oddly since I saw the doctor my jolts and twitching has all but gone. Yet not had that long vanished and my extremely heavy arms (forearms, hands) has returned in both forearms this comes and goes sporadically and to varying degrees . This occurs in both arms at exactly the same time from midway up the bicep to fingers but predominantly in my forearms and it makes me feel so down/tired and in pain i just lay on the sofa and try to fight the feelings. I do try to be logical and look to reality that i still have grip strength and dexterity during these episodes but pain is somreal it makes me feel overall nausea and body tired this comes in waves more so in the evening but also occurs during the day . This is going to sound crazy but on top of that I also have waves or episodes of burping often almost empty burps. This is followed by stiff / Tight throat / neck muscles. Often sore to touch like a ball in throat hard to swallow saliva but not difficult to swallow water or food. Waves/ episodes Bloating stomach pain particularly after eating and in the morning . Often bloating around the abdomen
All these symptoms come and go constantly I try so hard to ignore them or not google or worry or panic but i cant seem to do it . I feel like i am getting better and then blam the extreme heavy pins and needles in my arms comes back and its like a base ball bat of fear, doom, sickness hitting me over and over again.
Sorry for this being so long but just so trapped with months on my own and no one to share or tbh wanting to tell i wondered if anyone has felt this way or has any answers.
0 likes, 7 replies
jan34534 tom14575
Edited
I am so sorry you are going through this! I know how scary it can be. I have been where you are and I was in my mid-20s when I got all of the strange symptoms such as muscle twitching all over, weakness, floaters in my eyes, numbness and tingling in my arms and legs, weakness , head pressure , Stiff muscles, pain in neck and shoulders and back and a host of other symptoms! My dad took me to a neurologist who told me everything is fine and I need to go take a vacation. My testing was normal. That was a long time ago. There really was no diagnosis except for stress and anxiety
so I did realize that I have had long-term major anxiety and stress and I figured that what happened was it got so bad that it was like the straw that broke the camels back. My body just broke down. Our bodies can only take so much stress. My symptoms continued for several months before they lightened up. didn’t go away completely but they were not as strong and I didn’t have all of the symptoms
. I just wanted to let you know that I am now in my 50s , i’m still here and I am well. I never had any scary disease it was all brought on by stress. I will admit that when I do get stressed out some of the symptoms will come back such as muscle twitching but it doesn’t scare me anymore because I know it’s harmless.
this is probably what’s going on with you also.
No symptoms of anxiety are going to hurt you. and don’t worry about neurological diseases. My neurologist told me that the muscle wasting diseases do not start with a sensory feeling such as twitching. He’s also a top rated neurologist so that made me feel a lot better. The normal twitching is called benign fasciculation’s which is what athletes get a lot with how they use their muscles. remember, stress can cause all of the symptoms that you have and plenty more! It’s a nasty condition to have .
think about what in your life could be causing you stress and anxiety. Family? School? Work? Relationships? Sometimes we have underlying anxiety we are not even aware of.
think about online counseling. It’s always great to talk to somebody who is supportive and can help! I do this once a week.
Also, please don’t Google your symptoms! That’s the worst thing people can do because you can actually develop the symptoms you are reading about. You’re not going to find your specific diagnosis on that site because nothing will pertain to you. All it does is make everything worse. you need to really take care of yourself, listen to some relaxing meditations for anxiety on YouTube, listen to somebody called the anxiety Guy. Do you things that relax your mind. Find things to do to stay busy so you don’t think so much. Do things that make you laugh and smile. Mental attitude is everything! We are here for you and take care. ❤
tom14575 jan34534
Posted
thanks so much for your reply and advice !! it means so much to know that others have experienced the same and there is a way out of this very real pain. I will try with the mindfullness and meditation
marla57360 jan34534
Edited
I did the same thing like you did in my late 30s. I swear I had an awful dreadful muscular neuro disease. He was so patient with me . My age played a factor for one and my sex. He told me anxiety will upset every nerve in your system and cause tremors and twitches. I still did not believe him because I felt wierd sensations in my legs and arms and feet. He told me early signs of major nasty disease dont present the above symptoms. He made me balance on each leg for 30 seconds, do 10 squats without touchging the ground to get up and hop on each foot for 30 seconds. He said even in early stage muscular neuro diseases most people cant do that, so I try to do those excersizes when i get anxious. THis was probably 15 years ago. Now at 53, I still worry about crazy diseases like this because of my age and my recent symptoms.. I have had a headache on and off for a month, tingling all over and like brain fog or pressure. Sometimes I feel like I am off balance but nothing major. I am still trying to do my exercises to keep calm and have to go see my neruo on March 12. I went and seen him 2 weeks ago and not only did he not even check me out , I asked him about balance and neuro diseases and he told me to balance on my feet again. whichi I did . He said he sees nothing wrong and didnt even toucch me or send me for a scan. So,i am going to pray what you say and what my dr says is accurate, so I can try to get this controlled. The best to all of us and TY for sharing your experinece,
emma93903 tom14575
Edited
hi tom its a horrible i know ive been suffering since december its got to the point now i dont have a life i sit on my bed all day as im scared to move about as it kicks it all off i also have really bad neck problems its always twitching sometimes really bad but my biggest problem is my stomach i get really bad acid and pain spasms in my tummy that walk me up all night so im now scared to lay down i have been to a&e 3 times and doctors a few times ive had a Camera in the tummy and that revealed that I had a hernia and Gastritis I’ve had loads of blood tests and a CT scan and it’s revealed nothing is actually making me think I’m going crazy I’ll lose my breath severely with it I’ll get heart racing in the mornings if I try and walk I’ve lost over 4 stone in weight it’s just a nightmare and I keep getting told by one doctor that I have anxiety but it’s accepting it when you’re in so much pain that it’s anxiety that’s my biggest problem its all so scary and real Today I tried to move around and ignore it and it all kicked off so I’m back to square one again its so sad living like this I’ve tried antidepressants they just make me have really bad side-effects the doctors have also give me tablets for my stomach which I also have side-effects to my body don’t do well with medication I’ll try gels for my neck hot baths nothing seems to help i hope we get some relief soon
tom14575 emma93903
Edited
Hi Emma ! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I’m so sorry to hear you are suffering so much. I hope you can get through this and be back to your positive self . I have started to take CBD oil (just this week, so too early to tell about the benefits) but this might be worth a look at as an alternative for antidepressants.
I cannot agree more with the difficulty in accepting that this is anxiety. I have moments often in the afternoon in daylight when I’m occupied and my symptoms are in a low phase that I think this is ok I am ok this is probably anxiety. But at any moment when my arms & hands are so heavy weak, trembling and genuinely very painful all day and my throat is like I’m being strangled with heavy nausea thrown in for good measure that my logical brain is refusing to accept anxiety. It’s this circle of symptoms and pain that are so very real I honestly feel that it must be something terrible wrong with me. And the advice of “well you aren’t the right age for this condition or you arent exhibiting the weakness or physiological deficits, bloods are fine” etc etc do nothing to calm me. Because the pain exists !!!!!! The struggle of knowing your body knowing you are not a hypochondriac .. in the past have broken so many bones, had viruses, head trauma, heart murmur all of which I didn’t even blink at. But this is so different this is constant months of physical pain that won’t go and won’t leave my brain alone thinking it’s fatal. That’s what makes the responses on this page 1000 times better than any docs advice. To know that there is people out there like me who have had are having their lives destroyed by the mental torture and very real physical pain but sharing the symptoms and struggles we can get through this together.
I’m seeing another doctor tomorrow I will update
tom14575 emma93903
Posted
Hi Emma ! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I’m so sorry to hear you are suffering so much. I hope you can get through this and be back to your positive self . I have started to take C-B-D oil (just this week, so too early to tell about the benefits) but this might be worth a look at as an alternative for antidepressants.
I cannot agree more with the difficulty in accepting that this is anxiety. I have moments often in the afternoon in daylight when I’m occupied and my symptoms are in a low phase that I think this is ok I am ok this is probably anxiety. But at any moment when my arms & hands are so heavy weak, trembling and genuinely very painful all day and my throat is like I’m being strangled with heavy nausea thrown in for good measure that my logical brain is refusing to accept anxiety. It’s this circle of symptoms and pain that are so very real I honestly feel that it must be something terrible wrong with me. And the advice of “well you aren’t the right age for this condition or you arent exhibiting the weakness or physiological deficits, bloods are fine” etc etc do nothing to calm me. Because the pain exists !!!!!! The struggle of knowing your body knowing you are not a hypochondriac .. in the past have broken so many bones, had viruses, head trauma, heart murmur all of which I didn’t even blink at. But this is so different this is constant months of physical pain that won’t go and won’t leave my brain alone thinking it’s fatal. That’s what makes the responses on this page so helpful . To know that there is people out there like me who have had are having their lives destroyed by the mental torture and very real physical pain but sharing the symptoms and struggles we can get through this together.
I’m seeing another doctor tomorrow I will update
emma93903 tom14575
Edited
thanks for that tom its so stressful coming to terms with it all yesterday i thought to myself im not going to let this bet me so i got up and dat in the garden i was so scared i lasted 20 mins and i felt like could not breath like i was being suffocated then spent the rest of the day in my room with anxiety and panic my arms feel heavy and weak so do my legs my skin goes cold to i also have a gi doctor calling me tomorrow about my hernia he is also looking at my ct scan again but i dont think he will see anything different but its hard to think anxiety can make you feel so unwell sending hugs