Is this really Anxiety?

[Gav0019]

Hi all,

I want to start out by saying i'm 31 and never had any prior history of anxiety or health issues, I have been fortunate to have been healthy for the past 31 years. I'm usually a calm person and don't let things annoy or stress me but this all changed 3 months ago when I was sitting in work and suddenly got heart palpitations, I wasnt doing anything stressful when suddenly my heart was beating so fast.I went to the emergency room, they did some tests and drew blood, again everything was normal. Over the next few weeks I had a long list of symptoms that appeared to be constant and never really went away, ranging from dizziness, headaches, numb left foot, ringing in ears, internal shaking, muscle twitches, pins and needles etc. I eventually got a full ultrasound of my heart done and no issues found. Since then most of my physical symptoms evolved around my feet and hands, numb left or right foot that would come and go, tingling in my legs and feet, random muscle pains in my arms, shoulder, back etc, headaches and a general sense of just not being well. I went to the doctor and 2 different neurologists, I have had possibly every blood test there is and they all came back negative. I had a Brain MRI and a spine MRI, again they came back negative. I have nerve tests, both large and small nerve tests and again all negative.over the past number of weeks my main problem is still my feet, I just dont feel right when im walking, something is off and its never the same thing, sometimes its my left foot and sometimes its my right, paired with weird sensations in my hands and off an on burning and cold toes (they feel slippy or something)I have read alot of these forums about how people have anxiety attacks which create symptoms and its a constant cycle. But unless I am misunderstanding, these symptoms fade when the anxiety fades. For me though, I dont' feel anxious at all and yet the symptoms have been constant ever since that day I had palpitations 3 months ago, Now I will admit I am always thinking about the symptoms and what they could be as they are a constant annoyance but even recently over the past number of weeks I have accepted that none of these symptoms add up, they change so much and vary, with the main theme being my feet and yet none of this will go away. Is it possible this is really just anxiety or should I go back to the doctor? I have nothing else in my life that annoying me or stressing me, I feel unwell.
Thanks
Gavin

[White_Rose]

Dear Gavin

Welcome to the forum. So good you have asked for help.

Having said that I am as mystified as your doctors. As I started to read your post I thought it sounded like a panic attack. They come out of the blue and have symptoms such as heart palpitations and can include dizziness and headaches plus internal shaking, muscle twitches. These are very general effects and rarely last beyond about 20 minutes although you can be left feeling shaky. But your collection of symptoms do not sound like this.

Panic attacks can manifest themselves without an apparent cause. I believe there is always a reason even though we cannot pinpoint this. Anxiety is similar. You say none of this will go away.

"I have nothing else in my life that annoying me or stressing me". If this is indeed related to anxiety then there is most likely a reason. It could be that the original occurrence has made you concerned, which is understandable, and constantly reviewing it has contributed to your current situation.

I have had similar events and for me it was very scary. It included chest pains and has done so every time. At first I did not know what was happening and thought I was having a heart attack and would die. This is a common thought and I wonder what you were thinking about at the time and while the palpitations were happening. Even when I knew what was happening I still thought I was dying, at least until I learned how to handle it. Our primitive brain takes over at this point and what we do, see, or feel is part of the flight, fright, or freeze reaction.

Anxiety can be a serious problem and not "just anxiety". I see you wrote I'm usually a calm person and don't let things annoy or stress me. One possibility is that your self control has been too tight and eventually the body cannot cope. It's a possibility you may care to think about, but not to the extent of having palpitations again.

If this is anxiety a visit to your doctor would be in order. How do you manage stressful events? Do you push them down and ignore them? Eventually the pressure builds up and the volcano erupts. Dealing with life's stressors by taking some positive action is different.

I'm sorry I cannot offer a definitive answer. My best guess is anxiety for whatever reason resulting in a panic attack. Although I have not heard of symptoms such as your feet I believe the body will try to attract our attention in many different ways. This ongoing niggle could be just that.

Mary

[Gav0019]

Thank you Mary for taking the time to respond, it is reassuring to know that this could actually be anxiety.

I feel stuck at the moment, the doctors keep telling me its anxiety yet the symptoms are constant and with so many of them they rarely want to listen more than a few minutes. Numb and tingling feet with headaches and muscle pain are strange symptoms to have!

At this point I feel like the palpitations are a red herring, I had them once or twice back at the start 3 months ago but since then I haven't had any since. Maybe too much coffee on that particular day.

Its the other symptoms, which don't add up or make any medical sense, given how they have presented themselves, yet my body is holding on to them.

I will continue reading through the forums to see how others cope.

[White_Rose]

Hello Gavin

Anxiety can do many strange things to our bodies. Palpitations, or rapid heartbeat, is a common part of anxiety attacks. Your brain believes you are in danger and sends all the signals to your muscles, releasing adrenalin, your digestion shuts down to divert extra sugar etc to the muscles and you have been primed to fight or run away. Even freezing is part of the defence system. This is what is happening. It worked very well for our ancestors and we still have that knowledge in our DNA. Hardly surprising it becomes our default path under stress.

Maybe in some future time we will lose that capacity and be able to manage ourselves rationally. As I said the primitive brain at the base of the skull takes over. I used to see a psychiatrist who called it the Amygdala Hijack. Very apt.

I believe other symptoms can be part of an anxiety attack. Numb and tingling legs and feet may be because your body cannot get the adrenalin to these parts for some reason, or perhaps is sending too much adrenalin. Probably would not show up on scans etc unless you were experiencing them at the time. Aches and pains are par for the course. If your muscles have tensed ready to deal with the danger and they are not called on to act, the tension stays which makes you ache and feel pain. It does go away but more slowly. So it appears to be unconnected to the panic attack

When I was having a lot of aches and pains for other reasons I was going to the physio quite regularly. He would work his magic but some of the pain still took several hours to go away even though he had released the muscle tension. Seeing a good physio may be useful especially if you see someone just after a panic attack. I'm sure they could explain the workings of the body much better than me. If it takes a couple of hours to lose the pain after physio just imagine how long it takes with no help plus the ongoing tension and worry.

Headaches are also a part of the reaction. Any muscle can be affected. I learned to spot an approaching panic attack which gave a me a couple of milliseconds to respond. Don't laugh, my ears started to burn. That sounds completely unconnected but every time it was a definite warning.

Your body holds onto what it has learned. Just as you learned to drive and had to think about everything you did at the start, now you drive on automatic pilot to a large extent because your body has learned what to do. Not a lot to do unless there is an emergency and you click into action.

Mary

[Robbie8888]

Hey gav yeah mate, A's confusing and scary it can be all of those symptoms I have had I went through all of that, I also had blurred vision witch was so bad and muscle twitching that went on for months I had the exact same tests ran on me and the only way I got all that to stop was containing my fear and it will eventually fade away and disappear

[White_Rose]

Hello Robbie

Welcome to the forum. Thank you for responding to Gavin. It is good when someone else has had the same symptoms and can say it will pass. Gavin I hope you feel more reassured.

It seems your body will simply let the various aches and pains go away. However, if this does not happen or down the track they start up again I suggest you see your doctor.

Robbie did you see a mental health person about your anxiety? I ask because I am interested to know if it helped. Do you know what you were afraid of? No need to tell us, I wondered if discovering the cause helped you.

Best wishes to both of you for recovery and continuing good health.

Mary

[Robbie8888]

Hello Mary 🙂 yes Idneed I am seeing a physiologist my symptoms started up when me and my wife split after I had researched my symptoms dr google convinced me that I was dying that made me so afraid but what really made me feel better and helped me contain my fears was running every test to rule out anything nasty. My physiologist also helped me out and gave me grounding exercises. Phycologist did help a lot also because he explained to me I was not alone the brain is a wonderful and yet an absolute terrifying thing so many more people experience the same. He also suggested me to go to group meetings about other people's battle with anxiety and seeing people have actually had the same symptoms also helped me contain my fears 🙂 I hope I answered your question Mary 🙂

[White_Rose]

Hello Robbie

I am sorry your marriage broke down after trying to get answers from Dr Google. It's not a good way to find out what's wrong. So much misinformation available. Even credible organisations can only discuss symptoms in general terms as it needs an individual consultation to decide what is amiss. The internet has many advantages but self diagnosis is not one of them.

I have found meeting others with the same problem as me has been reassuring. It immediately says I am not such an oddball after all. It's great your psychologist has been able to help you. When we get into a flap it is good to ground ourselves and after a few tries it does become so much easier. Once you know what's going on life does get better.

Gavin, how are you going? Excuse me giving a joint reply. Anxiety does not make sense I have found. As Robbie says, the brain is a wonderful thing but also terrifying. We often refer to the brain as a computer and I think this is more true than we realise. A computer can give an answer to almost anything but is not necessarily right. 2+2=4 is OK but if you meant to ask 2+3=? the computer cannot give a correct answer. Speaking to another human means that person can ask questions and clarify your meaning. Computer have not yet reached that stage of sophistication.

In the same way your brain will offer suggestions based on the knowledge contained there. A doctor has been given additional knowledge and taught how to ask questions. Or more importantly, knows which questions to ask. You have been told it's the anxiety that is causing you so much grief. Can you ask your GP to refer you to a psychologist? We all experience different symptoms for the same illness which does not always make sense. We have not yet reached the stage of not needing a human doctor.

Love to hear how you are going Gavin.

Mary

[SimonW]

Hi Gavin

Thanks for posting this. It could be me!

I didn't think I had anxiety either but I do carry a lot of stress with work and am having the odd day where I just can't do anything, very low motivation, don't want to talk to anyone. Then I feel guilty for not working hard and that feeds on itself.

But my symptoms are a bit like yours: mainly feet (tingling and burning, sometimes cold and wet feeling) but also occasionally in hands and face and ringing in ears. Comes and goes during the day and usually worse in the evenings but it's chronic, not just when I am feeling anxious.

Still have a few tests to go but the very experienced GP is not worried that it's a sign of something worse because they don't match the nasties but thinking about the symptoms feeds on itself - especially if you start searching online! (Note to self - stop!)

I am going to go and see a psychologist to come at it from the anxiety and mental side and also to try and get the joy back in my life. And try to forget about the symptoms. Basically, work on myself.

Simon

[SimonW]

How did go Gavin?