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

[Velvet992]

Hi Gavin

I hope you're doing well I am currently going through a similar experience which started with numbing of the left side of my face that has progressed to chronic dizziness amongst other symtpoms (stomach issues, leg tingling/feeling of weakness) to name a few.

I had some tests when my face started and they found an aneurysm incidentally which wasn't the cause but since then has made me experience these other symptoms. I'm seeing a psychologist and she says I have health anxiety and I have started various mindfulness strategies it's only early days but they definitely aren't making things worse even if things aren't getting better yet.

You're not alone !

Alll the best

Velvet

[Ajones86]

Hey Gavin,

Signed up to reply to this. Been having the sam mad stuff also with numbness in back and stomach.

Whenever i search for face numbness it says MS... terrorfied.

What was the outcome for you?

Hope you reply.. im desperate!

[Charlie2505]

Hi Gavin,

As I was reading this, I said “oh my goodness, Gavin is me” to my partner.

Mine started in November 2019, on the treadmill; I felt dizzy and weak and had to stop. I sat in the changing rooms, had a banana, put it all down to low blood sugar.

A month later, in a spin class, same thing. This time the symptoms didn’t go, I felt dizzy and had a floating sensation when I was waking. My chest was tight and I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. Went to the ED. Lung X-ray, blood tests, ECG, blood pressure. All fine. The exact same thing happened in February, went to the ED, all fine.

May... I had a routine pap smear which found some abnormal, high grade, precancerous cells. I had a small operation to have them removed. I was severely anxious about this, it was the first time I had experienced any kind of health issue, I spent hours thinking about it, worrying and googling everything to do with cervical cancer. At this time, we were in lockdown and I was walking a lot, I started to notice that whenever I was walking I would feel dizzy and like I was floating. I also started to get headaches and some weird vision experiences.

I went to the GP, I had:

Blood tests - fine

Brain MRI - fine

Eye test - fine

Stress test heart - fine

Ultrasound heart - fine

Lung test - fine

I have suffered with anxiety before, and I started to wonder if that was happening. The symptoms seemed to calm down slightly and I just went back to life as normal.

September this year, I was diagnosed with a very mild form of Colitis. The other symptoms then slowly returned (not symptoms of Colitis whatsoever).
since September, I have had another brain MRI, more blood tests, a breast biopsy, another eye test, a lumbar spine MRI - all normal.

Currently my symptoms are - dizziness whenever I walk, thumb twitching, numbness and tingling in my face and neck, headaches, vision problems, weird coordination issues with my feet and hands like you described, pain in my neck and muscle cramping. My GP has started me on citalopram and with a psychologist as he thinks I have health anxiety probably bought on by my real (not life threatening) health issues. He won’t do anymore tests. I feel like I spend my entire life googling symptoms, at the doctors office, paying specialists and it’s ruining my life. Despite all my tests, I went to see another doctor today and asked for a spine MRI because I’ve convinced myself I have MS...

Could this really all be anxiety???

[Grace73]

Hi Gavin, I read your post and it made me think of my own situation. I feel so much for anyone suffering from inexplicable bodily sensations that initiate panic. There is a wonderful writer called Dr Claire Weekes who explains this situation so well. She has an audio book on Audible that goes for 1.5 hours and sounds very old fashioned (indeed her voice will make you chuckle..) but she has cured me and a lot of my friends. It is usually the strong and calm who do indeed experience this puzzling and frightening series of symptoms because we shoulder so much in our nervous system without knowing that we do. Try Dr Claire’s books and see what you think. Wishing you all the best with recovery 🙂

[Emmen]

Hi Gavin and everyone else,

Reading this thread just had me thinking of how we shouldn't forget that an initial health complaint can escalate into a range of anxiety symptoms (regardless of whether that initial health complaint was itself because of anxiety or something else). Unfortunately in this internet age, we tend to self-diagnose and Dr Google never diagnoses us with anxiety...it's always some kind of serious illness.

Dr Claire Weekes is definitely someone to read. Apart from that, I've personally found that mindfulness exercises a couple of times a day helps with the physical symptoms too.

Kindly,
M