Read this if you're experiencing dizziness, burning pains, heart trouble, hearing problems, tirednes

Hi,

I'm writing this to see if it can help anyone who has been told that they have 'anxiety' or 'stress' - based on diagnosis of physical symptoms.

All this started when I was 21, one night. I felt weird, like I was going to die and even contemplated calling the ambulance. I woke up dizzy and then the fun started! It's been coming and going now ever since... Burning arms and legs, dizziness, heart trouble, muted hearing, shaky, sensetive to light, tired, trouble concentrating. I've had all the tests - nothing.

I've been told 'it's just anxiety'. Man, I wish you could let the doc experience your symptoms for 5 minutes. They'd totally freak out! I've been doing my own research however and it has helped me a little to understand the very physical aspects of anxiety that I'm yet to really read about anywhere in conjunction with it. I wish the docs had told me this as I am a man of science and like to know cause and effect. I could be wrong with this but it might help others to understand their symptoms - and even help them get rid of them, or at least some.

The fight or flight response is a series of physiological / chemical responses that happen in the brain and body to start a chain of events based on a genuine threat. Adrenaline, cortisol, epinephrine release, nerves firing, increased heart rate, muscles tightening. All of this causing body temp to rise and a whole host of other processes to become disturbed (the body focuses on limbs, brain, heart - this could explain digestive issues, skin problems, burning sensations, heart palps, breathing difficulties, etc).

For me, this has gotten stuck in the 'on' position. This means that I'm constantly under physical and mental stress - even if I'm not stressing about anything. That makes you tired, dizzy, irritable, in pain and constantly worried about what the hell is going on. You can easily become stuck in a cycle of feeling physically under stress (because you are) and stressing as a result of the stress! The underlying triggers would be subjective and unique to the individual (social anxiety, adhd, virus/cold, stress) but once the symptoms start due to a prolongued period of fight/flight or an initial panic attack it's a tough cycle to break.

I'd be feeling perfectly fine one minute and then out of the blue I'd notice how dizzy I was, how tired my arms were etc. For me the diziness is the hardest part. It's a sensation I could only link to how I felt when younger after crying (you know how you would cry, then feel out of it for a minute). That's the same kind of dizziness for me, which would make sense if it were cognitive issues.

I have also made a link to Dopamine for the burning limb sensations, as it's associated not only with anxiety/depression but also RLS - which perfectly describes my symptoms. I'm still researching this however so I could be totally wrong.

Another bizzarre and more recent issue is muffled hearing. This comes and goes too suggesting that it's not permanent damage. I think I may be on to something new scientifically here too, although I again could be talking nonsense. 'Reversible hearing loss' is a protective mechanism that the body has in response to loud noises (google it). I think for me this mechanism has become a part of my anxiety response and the body performs the protective function as a saftey net - another part of anxiety disorder. This is likely not a problem for most, but for me it is and I'm curious to know if anyone has experienced anything similar. There is no research on this and I can only link the sensation to previous past experiences of going to a loud gig - and experiencing hearing loss the morning after. Intersting stuff anyway.

Anyway, I'm always wary of the web and the fact that 'everyone's an expert' so don't take my word for anything. I've simply spent long enough looking up neurological disorders, CFS, auto-immune disease, alleriges, food intolerances etc so finally started looking for scientific answers for physical symptoms of anxiety. I can't believe I didn't see the link between how something mental can cause symptoms so physical.

Hope this helps and would love to get some conversation going on this!

Again, I'm no expert so please take with a pinch of salt and do your own research. 

If we can understand this, maybe we can kick it's ass once and for all!

Best

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