somatisation

[Jessten]

has anyone been diagnosed with somatisation with their anxiety how did u go with diagnisis

[Shellz__22]

Hello

I have been diagnosed with what psychiatrist call Conversion Disorder and neurologists call Functional Neurological Disorder. Basically is very simple terms is that my brain runs a bit differently to most people and feelings of stress, anxiety and a build-up of any overwhelming feelings can lead to neurological symptoms.

My symptoms started in a time of great change and unknown for me - which I now know to be a trigger - it was January 2013 and I had just finished high school and would soon start university. I had no friends and for years had been repressing my feelings. I was at my part-time job when I noticed that I was getting a bit shaky, I thought that I was dehydrated so I called my mum and dad for a ride home. When they picked me up they noticed that it was not 'the shakes' that I was experiencing but that my hand was experiencing a fairly severe tremor. My mum took me to the hospital where I had an MRI and CATSCAN but they were normal. My blood was taken and I was told to consult my GP.

Long Story Short:

My tremor continued but would stop and then start again (not normal), I was referred to a neurologist and was tested for everything under the sun - some multiple times. Everything was normal and there were no explanations. This is when they started to talk about other things that may be causing it. I was very against this convinced that there was something very wrong with me, and there was, my mind was so overwhelmed and was shouting out for help and I kept trying to shove it into the overflowing box.

I was referred to a psychiatrist and have had three since my official diagnosis in 2014. I did not even start to fully accept until the end of 2016.

Throughout the last four years, I have had more symptoms including a change in sensation on one side, clawed hand, weakness and fatigue.

While my symptoms changed, came and went, I was not able to start getting better until we looked at the underlying problems (for me anxiety and stressing about change) and accepting that my mental health does contribute to my physical issues.

I call them 'episodes', at the start they lasted for months, go away and pop up again just when I thought I was in the clear. Now they last for days and I haven't had a full-blown symptom 'episode' in months.

I know there will be times in my life where the symptoms will come back but I know myself and the warning signs much better now and hopefully, it will never get as bad again.

Any more questions let me know.

[Jessten]

Thankyou that helps to know how anxiety does in fact affect physical symptoms. After a fall a few years ago my neck started to spasm and after every test under the sun and being told that there was nothing wrong yet the physios saying there was I accepted it. That was until my leg randomly started to tighten up and now i get stomach pains and tightness in my chest yet every test is normal. My gp is now saying that he thinks ally my random symptoms are from stress and my anxiety yet i struggle to accept it as when i feel stressed i don't have physical symptoms so i struggle to ace[t and understand how the body thinks its hurt when its not and i worry there will b a day when it is genuinely injured but it gets put down to anxiety