Weird symptoms, what should I do?

[Why94]

Hello. I'm Diego 23 years old, I'm new in this forum and new also in what I think is anxiety (I'm still trying to figure it out)
I will try to keep it simple.

Two months and a half ago I started having palpitations and feeling faint at work, I end up in ER where after an EKG they told me it was just stress or dehydration, after two days off I went back to work and ended in emergency again. This time the doctor booked me a holter monitor. I had to wait about 3 weeks for the visit and the results and those weeks where the worst of my life I think I experienced extreme anxiety, didn't feel to eat or go out or do anything because of the fear of having palpitations again. I was feeling dizzy, sick, and doomed.

After I got the results of the holter monitor (they where fine) I felt more relaxed and stopped having panic attacks but now after two weeks that I don't feel that I'm anxious I started having weird symptoms like numbness in my limbs, burning in my arms and back of my neck, chill sensations on the left side of my face, aches and pains ecc.

Just want to know if there is someone else that is having this same symptoms? What should I do?
I went to see my GP and she just told me that it was anxiety, but how can she know without doing any tests?
I too believe that this are side effects from my anxiety because it seems that if I ignore the symptoms or I keep my self busy they kind of disappear, It would like to verify that is not something else, after two months like this I start to feel desperate and I'm starting to think that I will be like this the rest of my life and that I'm doomed, it's not easy to ignore this symptoms and I'm scared to lose control and become crazy one day.
Any recommendations? What symptoms do you have? How long before you recovered from this? I will be always like this? What should I do?

[jess334]

Hi Diego,

Welcome to the Beyond Blue forums. It can be difficult to put your feelings down, so thanks for posting.

The symptoms of anxiety can easily be mistaken for more serious health problems. It is important to rule out any other issues though - if only for your own peace of mind. Maybe try speaking to your GP again and ask what tests you could do to rule out any other issues.

My anxiety symptoms are similar to what you have described: breathing difficulties, tingling feelings in my hands and lips, dizziness, and nausea.

Have you spoken to your GP about starting a mental health plan? You can get some subsidised psychologist visits through Medicare. Recovery is different for everyone, but having the right health professional in your corner will start you on your journey.

Please keep in touch, the forums are a great place to talk to people who have had similar experiences.

Jess

[mehmeh]

hey Diego. sorry to hear about you situation but maybe this will make you feel better.

I am your age too, my first experience with anxiety was a random panic attack which lasted for few seconds. thats when my hidden anxiety actually showed itself. Following that event i had chest pains in specific areas, shoulder and back pains. felt like someone is choking me. just like you my reaction was that its my heart and then i went to my GP and after he was done with questions and listening to my heart and lungs (no tests). he asked me "whats actually going on with you?". then later i went to my second appointment with another doctor and explained that i have a pinch near heart and followed by sharp pains and she did physical examination and checked my heart again (for a longer period) again no tests. i have the same symptoms as you, the burning sensation maybe a nerve compressed they send signals to the brain that something is wrong even though there is nothing. if you excersize and it doesn't hurt your chest then its not your heart. i have done no tests on my heart and my both GPs were pretty confident when they diagnosed me.

sense of doom is a very common cause of Anxiety and my friend you are not alone. Maybe know why you are going through this? i had difficulty in recent times which maybe lead to this road i was okay few weeks back, but now i google every small problem.difficulty period was few months but i kept ignoring as much as i could but then all of a sudden a panic attack hit. google this, this help me and might help you too this is what my doctor recommended me- Progressive muscle relaxation.

would love to hear an update from you.

[Why94]

Hello, and thanks for your answers. Sorry if I didn't answer before but I had no idea how to find my post haha.
Updating everything, I talked to my doctor and she offered me to see a specialist, I refused for the moment because I wanted to fight this by myself.
Overall I feel much better but I had to change completely lifestyle, I eat well, sleep well, go to the gym 4 times per wk and I quit my stressful job for the moment, let's say that I kind of "gain control" over it. However sometimes the symptoms come back especially the feeling of doom and a mild depression related to my thoughts of "is it really worth to live a life in this conditions?" Or "why me? Why I can't be like before?"

So basically I gain control over my panic attacks, I can calm myself down and avoid to go on panic mode. However sometimes I have this feeling of kind of being unsteady, or nauseous, I never lose balance or felt down is more like something in my brain it doesn't last longer but it feels like things are not how they should be maybe depersonalization? I don't know.

How is going your anxiety? Do you ever had this symptoms?

[jess334]

Hi Diego.

That's great that you have made some changes to your lifestyle. They all sound very healthy.

The symptoms you describe are very common with anxiety. I often wonder if life is worth living with anxiety. Now that I have a child though it's easy to answer that YES it is.

The one thing I have found in my 15 years of having anxiety, is that the more you try to control or avoid anxiety the more scared you become of becoming anxious which actually ends up making you more anxious. You might want to have a look at the book Happiness Trap by Russel Harris. It's got some really excellent strategies to deal with anxiety when it comes up.

Please don't feel that getting help from a specialist or medication makes you any 'less'. It is almost impossible to go through the mental health journey without help and support. Use every resource available to you. It can only help.

Kind thoughts,

Jess

[Why94]

Hello mehmeh, and thanks for your reply, it's nice to see that there are people like me with my age that have similar problems as mine (not that I'm happy that you have anxiety) but it kind of helps knowing that I'm not crazy or alone.

I know the phisical symptoms of anxiety suck, I don't have much experience on this but things that helped me out are going outdoors more ofthen, eating well, sleeping well and going to the gym.
Doing exercises especially helped me a lot, I could eliminate 70% of my phisical symptoms because even if my brain tells me that I'm weak or I have some fatal disease, that is gonna kill me, I prove to myself that is not like that because I embracing a healthy lifestyle . Also your body releases endorphins after exercises tath help your body to feel better.

Same as you my anxiety was triggered by some problems I have been going through, small problems that got accumulated and then boom.
I Google my symptoms to but now it's a few weeks that I ignore them and stop Googleing them, cope with them if you can, if the pain is unbearable the see your doctor, that's what I'm doing

Are you considering the idea of seeing a specialist? I think I will.
How are you doing? I hope well.


Kind regards.