Surely this can’t be anxiety???

[Charlie2505]

This started in February. I was walking to work, felt dizzy, heart racing, tight chest, left arm numb. Sat down, tried to recoup. 3 hours later, I was in the ED, convinced I was having a heart attack. Blood test, lung X-ray, ECG, blood pressure. All normal, they said I had a panic attack.

May, I had a routine Pap smear, high grade, pre-cancerous cells found, operation to have them removed. Anxiety level 100, consulting Dr Google every day, consistently worrying that they were going to find cancer. The symptoms started again (not related to high grade cells) - dizziness when I was walking, neck pain, headaches, brain fog, fatigues numbness and tingling down my left arm, twitching in my thumbs, cramp in my feet. But the dizziness and the floating sensations were debilitating; I couldn’t leave the house. I went to the GP; I had:

Blood tests (full suite), brain MRI, full body CT scan, mammogram, breast ultrasound, cardio gram, ultrasound of my heart, lung tests, heart stress tests. All normal. This latest for months but the symptoms slowly went away, and I had a period of a few months without any symptoms. Then we hit September and I’m diagnosed with a very mild case of Colitis. The symptoms returned (not at all related to Colitis). Since then I’ve been experiencing; dizziness when moving, tingling in my arms and legs, confusion, muddling my words, fatigue, severe brain fog, lack of coordination, feeling like my legs and hands don’t work properly, neck pain, double vision in the mornings, eye pain, headaches. I have had the following tests:
Another MRI brain
Another round of blood tests
Pelvic ultrasound
Lumbar spine MRI
Neck X-ray

All have come back normal and my GP has prescribed me with an SSRI and referred me to a psychologist. I’ve been taking the medication for a week and haven’t noticed any difference in my symptoms. I’m having an MRI of my neck / cervical spine tomorrow...


I have convinced myself I have MS or another neurological disease. My boyfriend has now banned me from googling my symptoms. Surely all of these symptoms can’t be from anxiety, I get them everyday, even when I’m just chilling at home and completely fine! Is anyone else experiencing anything like this???

[Ggrand]

Hello Dear Charlie,

A very warm welcome to our forums....

I am so sorry that your struggling so much with health anxiety?...

When I read Dr. Google my first reaction was oh no...Dr google isn’t at all a good place to constantly visit. and I’m so pleased that your boyfriend has banned you from not seeking your diagnosis from them...,

Please Dear Charlie, it’s hard I know honey...but if you can try hard to put your faith and belief into you professional Drs...They only want the best for you..They have and still are giving you all these tests to rule out anything sinister..

With the prescribed meds.,they generally take around 6-8 weeks until you feel any benefit from them....Talking to a psychologist hopefully will help these anxiety attacks by finding out the cause of them....

Anxiety / panic attacks can come at any time..whether your sitting and relaxing or your worrying about something.,.They don’t care when they pop up to trouble us..When they do happen deep breathing while counting..in for 4 ..hold for 3 then out for 5..this type of breathing helps us to relax and distracts us by taking our mind off what we are feeling by concentrating on our counting and breathing...

Your not alone lovely Charlie...Talk here anytime you feel up to it..

My kindest and most caring thoughts..

Grandy..

[Katyonthehamsterwheel]

Hey Charlie

Anxiety is a complicated little beasty. I thought I might direct you to a thread on the forums, which is about the symptoms that people experience with anxiety:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety/what-physical-feelings-of-anxiety-do-you-get-/page/16#qyMuoHHzvGGEbv8AAOnT_A

What is first of note, is that there are 16 pages. It seems to manifest in so many different ways. Yesterday I had a panic attack when a woman in a beauty shop sprayed a product on my hand. I don't know what my brain thought was happening, but I"m quite sure the woman wasn't spraying me with some deadly concoction.

Our brains are mysterious, and sometimes we need to tell them we're ok, and sometimes we need help to work out how to do that. (And yes, I've definitely convinced myself I had MS before. I don't!). Take care and keep chatting here.

[Guest_342]

Dear Charlie,

I've experienced this! I had my first panic attack about 4 years ago. They don't happen very often but, when they do, they are frightening. The first time I was asleep. It was about midnight and I jolted up like from a bad dream. My heart was pounding and I had a sudden feeling of major dread and that I would die. I went to my partner at the time and said that I think something is wrong and then I began crying out of panic. My little fingers and the ones next to them began tingling and curling up involuntarily (turns out it was due to hyperventilation). I asked to call an ambulance. I thought, what if I am suffering from meningococcal and I loose my limbs? What if it's MND? If it's a heart attack, I won't get to say good bye to my family. Gosh, what a catastrophe I was building my mind.

The paramedics did an ECG and found nothing. In the months following that, it happened a few more times, mainly at night. But then started happening in the day, at work - all of a sudden my heart raced and I felt this out of body experience, which I can't describe very well. I organised an appointment with a cardio surgeon and he did a stress test where I had to run on a treadmill. All healthy.

I now know how to recognise a panic attack and I think I have the confidence to dismiss something as a panic attack and could likely tell the difference if something more serious happens. The experience is still scary but I can generally now settle myself down more quickly.

I used to have severe health anxiety - with every partner I'd obsessively get multiple STD blood tests, convinced I had contracted a deadly virus. I have at times convinced myself I must have ovarian cancer because I was sure I could feel an ongoing dull pain. I was sure I was doomed to get asbestosis because I have one likely minor exposure to it as a kid. My cat scratched me - maybe I should ask my GP about the risk of rabies - even though my cat cannot give me rabies. And the list goes on!

Now that you have all the test results, maybe you could try to feel comfortable with your GP's professional opinion that you are fine?

Looking back, I personally found the experience of constant worry about my health exhausting and adding zero value (and often negative value) to my life. It prevented me from living in the moment.

Also, I have been taking similar medicine to what you describe - the positive effects of it took longer than a week. Give it time and chat to your GP if you are worried.

Best wishes!

[Guest_1643]

hey Charlie!

i've experiened this... as i was reading i saw a part of me in ur post... i'm also very keen on getting tests and second opinions for concerns and googling things.... i feel so silly saying out loud the things my mind concocts but generally i'm obsesssed with it sometimes... how i've got some sort of issue caused by something stupid i did... i ask the doctor a million times......

I hope u go okay with the psychologist and start feeling a bit better soon 🙂

I wouldn't be able to say if what you're going through is anxiety or not... but i think it's okay to just keep that in mind and be curious about it -that it could be anxiety. Maybe, maybe not, see what you learn as you speak to professionals and others like us - which u've so bravely done here.

Keep an open mind...
It's taken me years to admit it but I have anxiety... sometimes i puff up my worries to something bigger than they are.
Obsessively.

Just understanding that about myself was freeing and I've learnt to let go a lot of things I obsessed about. I've learnt to just tone it down a notch.

What do u think of ur boyfriend's advice about not googling symptoms? To be honest I think it's a decent idea. there comes a point where google isn't our friend anymore and we also will only focus on the most alarming parts.