Anxiety and/or Chronic Fatigue?

Mental health
1

Hi everyone,

I am new to this/any health forum and am looking to share experiences and perhaps pick a few brains on Anxiety and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I definitely have anxiety and am now wondering if I also have CFS. Or maybe something else?

Brief list of symptoms...

Fatigue (groggy & heavy type tiredness)

Brain Fog

Feeling detached and 'spaced out'

Muscle weakness (especially in extremities and legs)

Sensitive to light and sound

Sometimes feels like I have flu or a bad virus (although I know I haven't)

Feels like I sometimes have a lump in my throat

Light headed

Light dizziness

Easily tired out

There are a few more general symptoms, but the more I read my lengthy list of symptoms, the worse I feel! Ha ha :-D

Brief History...

I have had anxiety issues on and off for many years and also hormone induced migraines. This year the migraines are definitely worse and so too is the anxiety. I had an 8 day brutal migraine early/mid September, followed by 8 days of severe brain fog/fuzzy head. I haven't been the same since. I'm also wondering if my symptoms are migraine related? I've had 2 full blood tests done and 2 urine samples taken. All came back normal/clear and healthy. I've also been to see an ENT consultant and he has ruled out an inner ear virus. He also checked my throat and balance. I had a full eye examination last week and my eyes are in great shape. I have an MRI booked next week and am also waiting an app have an ECG recorder fitted for 48 hours. I have not yet seen a neurologist or anyone else. My Doctor is saying it is all down to anxiety.

Is anybody experiencing anything similar? I feel more anxious not knowing what is happening to my own body!

Any replies/advice would be greatly appreciated... x

2

Sounds really miserable for you,. you could try some stress relieving excersise like yoga, and even meditation to balance your thoughts. My daughter had Chronic Fatique, with similar symptons and a homeopath helped enormously. Wait until your results are complete and then find someone who is registered and whom you feel able to talk to.

Good luck, these things do pass.

3

Hi Amanda,

Thank you so much for your reply! At least knowing someone can identify with my symptoms helps me feel I am not going mad! I have recently downloaded a couple really good meditation apps which I listen to on my iphone. They do actually help me switch off and relax for a while. I also have a few books on mindful meditation and understanding/getting through anxiety. I recently consulted a brilliant nutritional naturopath who successfully helped me with an unrelated issue a few years ago. We are in the process of working out a plan and I have an app with her tomorrow. It is great to hear your daughter had good success healing the natural way too. I do hope she is still doing well! I think my symptoms are so broad and general, they could be related to many things. A process of elimination first I thought, hence booking myself in for various tests. Do you know much about anxiety too? Thanks again for your support and advice........ greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

4

Hello!

I have similar things as you do... including some hormonal issues (estrogen excess my entire life) which comes with migraines. I also suffer from anxiety from a young age and it seems to come in waves.

I recently had uncontrollable crying bouts for no reason, I would be shopping with my boyfriend and just start crying out of no where and literally could not figure out why..

I didnt go to work for 3 days because my anxiety was so bad I would debate for hours whether or not to go. Here I am a month later and I am fine. Still anxiety bouts but no more crying.

I also get mega tired even though I sleep like a rock for 7-8 hours a night, seriously I sleep like it was an olympic sport.. i fall asleep in 2 minutes or less.

I too get light headed, spacey, sleepy (could seriously fall asleep any place at any moment), sensitivity to light not particularly sound but when too many people talk at once i tend to space out or get mega irritated.

I do meditate and do yoga which is usually enough along with breathing exercises but sometimes it is just not enough. I was prescribed adivan but it made me even more sleepy, so I only take it if my anxiety is bad enough that my heart is racing and get nausea.

Its not fun but I here you sister! Get your naturopath to talk to you about possible thyroid problems/ adrenal fatigue. I too see one and they suspect this, we are working on the same things smile. Some thyroid dysfunction does not show up in tests.

5

Hi Tessa,

A big thanks for your response :-) Yes it seems we are going through a very similar experience. I've always put any odd symptoms down to my anxiety. I'm only now exploring other causes, such as CFS. Honestly, sometimes after mooching on tinternet, I come away thinking I have every dreaded disease known to man!! Funny thing, I have never considered any hormonal issues. I've never had my hormone or vitamin levels checked. My GP is female and thinks it is anxiety related. She has never even mentioned anything hormonal.I've never felt this rough for so long with anxiety though. Admittedly when I think about it, this could be a build up of several months general anxiety, which has finally made my body tell me it's struggling to manage it? I'm also interested in your comment about adrenal fatigue. It's something my nutritional naturopath mentioned last week. I'll know more tomorrow when I speak with her. I think it's also worth me getting my hormone levels checked out too. I don't cry much though. How do you feel when your anxiety is particularly bad? Do you also get the muscle weakness, body like jelly feeling? Mine is worse in my fingers. toes and legs. I often feel shaky and weak too, then very tired. Not on an Olympic level like you though :-) My sleep is often disturbed. I'm also totally with you on the sound sensitive thing... if too many people are talking at once, I too become really irritated. It would be great if we could just switch our heads off for a rest sometimes eh?? How are you getting on just now? Have you ever been prescribed fluoxetine (Prozac) for your anxiety? Please also let me know how you get on with your Naturopath. Thanks again for finding the time to reply x

6

Hi, I too have suffered generalised anxiety from a young adult , now fifty years old, seven years ago I started with all the symptoms you mention. Brain fog, tingling pins and needles sensations in my head and severe muscle fatigue., flu like symptoms including ear pressure sensations . I could sleep for hours on end and at times felt as though I had jet lag and no control over falling asleep.  I had two young children at the time and felt unable to cope.

I had every medical test available with no results and a doctor after 6 months of this, then diagnosed CFS. Many other doctors did not recognise that CFS even existed.

I was devastated to hear that these symptoms could be with me anywhere between one year and life.

I read every book I could find on the subject, I also found a specialist who lectured and specialised in this area , he prescrbed the supplement Q10 and said that managing symtoms of anxiety would help too and in time I should feel better . He did ask me if my immune system had been comprimised in any way. 

It had been when I had been in hospital and been issued with an extraordinary amount of anti biotics. I was also told that many sufferers had at one time had Glandular fever. A simple blood test revealed that I had had this but never knew I had it at the time , it was probably something I thought was a bad cold.

Seven years on , I am dramatically better. However I have periods of fatique with a little flu like symptoms and heavy muscle weakness. Its managable though and I can acept I have periods of this every so often. I manage my symptoms by taking Q10 supplement. Evening primrose supplement and a good diet. I try not to overdo things and pace myself. I take care of myself as much as I can and rest for a while each afternoon , even twenty mins of quiet time sitting to relax. 

I also get a monthly B12 Injection which boosts my energy levels even though my bloods did not appear to be particularly low in B12.

I was very scared when I first got CFS and no one understood or could empathise with me , I always thought it would be easier to have a broken leg. 

I'm now not looking for why or how I got it. I accept it and manage it. I also manage my anxiety , still do not know if the two are linked , I really don'y know. I have both and I have a wonderful life and a healthy mind and body routine which I believe has helped enormously. (Excersise outwith the periods of  severe cronic fatique but importantly do what you can when it is mild or you are feeling well)

I sincerely hope that you are feeling much better and that it helps knowing that there are people like me that totally understand how frightening and frustrating

CFS is . You will get better, aceptance and positive determination are key.

take care.

7

Hi Carla,

I know this is quite an old thread now but after trawling the internet for an answer to my symptoms, yours seem to fit mine the best.

You mentioned you had a series of blood tests that all came back normal (as mine have too). After a whole 10 years of struggling with anxiety I'm looking for a cure now. It's always come in waves, lasting a week or two, the longest stint being when I first experienced anxiety 10 years ago which left me agoraphobic for 9 months. I got over that but it still showed it's ugly head every now and again. I could manage it knowing it would soon clear off in a week or two. It's a social anxiety usually, worrying about being out of my comfort zone.

This time is different. I lost my great nanny in May this year and I have felt horrendous ever since. I feel woozy and spacey (dream like), strange pressure feeling in my ears (like muffled but I can hear fine), forehead pressure headaches, heavy eyes (as if they're strained) and pressure on my nose (bridge area like sinus). I will suddenly come over with an extreme fatigue feeling throughout the day. I can't enjoy anything or concentrate properly! I feel exhausted!!

My mind is constantly ticking, I google my symptoms and get on a tangent of reading from one thread to another. I've mentioned to my doctor about my worries of having a brain tumour (after stumbling across a thread about it when googling my symptoms), this anxiety seems to be very health related. My doctor has checked me over several times as well as doing lots of blood tests which were all normal. Although I'm suffering these symptoms pretty much all the time (evenings are better), they are increased around the time of my period so have been prescribed cerazette mini pill so will pleased to see if it eliminates the feeling increasing during my next period.

I hope you're feeling a bit better now, you mentioned you were due to have a scan. Did you get any kind of result from this? Xx 

8

Are all of your symptoms physical? Do you feel any dread/worry? x

9

I constantly worry sad xx

10

I think you are experiencing health anxiety at the moment but what triggered this?

In my opinion (which could be wrong) these things happen as a result of something else. For example a person could have had a traumatic event and been ill at the time; they could then go onto have a phobia of being sick. I hope that makes sense! What happened 10 years ago? x 

11

I'm still not 100% sure of what caused it 10 years ago apart from having my first ever panic attack in the exam hall during my GCSE's! Funny you should say about a phobia of being sick because I have that too, I'm better recently since having my little boy.

I've not had that many panic attacks as I believe the anxiety has avoided it eg. avoiding a situation that could cause one.

In 2009 I suffered a complicated pregnancy resulting in my daughter being stillborn but no anxiety was triggered here which confused me.

Anxiety was high all the way through my second pregnancy and has been health related since then really. Any sign of temperature with my little boy and we're at the doctors 😮

I witnessed quite a traumatic time while my nanny was dieing, she was your typical little old lady. Polite, speak if she was spoken to, mind her own business, a quiet little thing. She suddenly turned strange the day before she died (almost like dementia although she never had it) she was thrashing about everywhere, very restless, not making any sense but she knew who everyone was. (I think this where I get the worry of going mad from). We got her to hospital and 24 hours later she died of pneumonia and scepticemia. It was quick and sudden but I don't believe I'm experiencing bereavement as I don't think about her all the time (not in a heartless way) she was 94 and had a lovely long life and I'm pleased to know she's at rest now.

Are you an anxiety sufferer? Xx

12

I have anxiety and have had helth anxiety about mental illness at one point because during a painful breakup with an abusive partner, my bestfriend had a nervous breakdown and it became a worry that this could happen to me. Although you are avoiding the situations which cause anxiety, you are actually strengthening how anxious you are instead of facing the fear so that it can become nothing.  I know how hard it is to face the situations though!

Sometimes its really hard to find the trigger for the whole thing. Bereavement can show itself in many forms. Maybe you arnt thinking consciously but deep down you are dealing with it, which is manifesting itself as anxiety - worrying you are ill yourself, googling symptoms.

Could you reason with yourself that you are not ill, you are worrying as a result of your nanny's ill health and passing?

Coincidentally I started the pill because my anxiety increased the week before my period was due and its really helped.

Hope all tihs helps x 

 

13

I'm willing to try anything. I've looked in to bereavement and the process to overcome it can be up 12 months. It happens in stages, ie shock, disconnection (which could be the spacey foggy thing I've got) etc.

See that's the thing, if everyone googled the slightest symptom of any kind they're going to find the worst case! I then take that as gospel and believe I have it. 

As you know anxiety is a massive viscous circle so although the spacey foggy thing I'm experiencing along with fatigue and everything else are all anxiety symptoms, it doesn't stop me wondering if there is more to it! That's what I need to conquer, how did you get over the health anxiety? Xx

14

I had a really bad time with it. I once worked myself up so much that I had a flashback of abuse at the hand of my ex partner. With mine, I broke it down into smaller chunks. What was I actually scared of? It was loss of control so I could do excercises like worrying as much as possible about one worry, putting myself in anxiety triggering situations which all showed me that nothing would happen and I would not have a mental breakdown/go crazy. I also have a father who is very old school and took it upon himself to diagnose me with all sorts of mental illnesses I didnt have because he couldnt understand anxiety. Protesting it also showed me that deep down I didnt believe I was ill. Afterwards he agreed he didnt, but that was the only way to get me arguing that I was sane.

Its a hard one because as you said you can self diagnose yourself with all sorts of things from Google. Firstly I wouldnt go on Google about anything other than health anxiety. From looking at those symptoms you will recognise that you believe you are ill even though health professonals are telling you otherwise. I'd also get some talking therapy, it sounds like you have been through so much and that might unearth and free yourself from some emotion/pain. 

xx

15

I was in the same boat with anxiety and I still get it at times but I've learned to manage it, it took quite some time because I refuse to take any medications. I'm left with extreme chronic fatigue and braing fog, tired eyes like strain n dull headache in eyes, full ears n head pressure at times, low concentration. I just did an adrenal test my naturopath ordered, hoping it will come back soon so we can start a plan to get better. I feel your pain, I had a health scare last year but everything came back normal even my brain mri. Still no answers! The best thing I did was just started one day trusting in Jesus n learning to manage it. I was having chronic breathing issues, but my lungs, heart n oxygen were all normal and I had irregular fast heart rate n palpitations..I still get these at times, but nothing like it was..it was every day all the time for months! Those have now started to regulate. My heart rate was 90-120 resting at the time and nice it's 60-85. 

16

I was in the same boat with anxiety and I still get it at times but I've learned to manage it, it took quite some time because I refuse to take any medications. I'm left with extreme chronic fatigue and braing fog, tired eyes like strain n dull headache in eyes, full ears n head pressure at times, low concentration. I just did an adrenal test my naturopath ordered, hoping it will come back soon so we can start a plan to get better. I feel your pain, I had a health scare last year but everything came back normal even my brain mri. Still no answers! The best thing I did was just started one day trusting in Jesus n learning to manage it. I was having chronic breathing issues, but my lungs, heart n oxygen were all normal and I had irregular fast heart rate n palpitations..I still get these at times, but nothing like it was..it was every day all the time for months! Those have now started to regulate. My heart rate was 90-120 resting at the time and now it's 60-85. 

 

17

We sound like we're suffering from the same symptoms Ljfaith77!! sad I am on medication but I do doubt them sometimes! One day I'd like to be med free, fingers crossed! One thing that I know does really help though is propranolol which is a beater blocker, some evenings I would just be sitting watching tv and feel racey and my heart rate had been 112 but didn't feel very anxious! 

Excuse my ignorance but what's a naturopath and adrenal test? I refuse to google much more as that's how I spiral the anxiety even more by reading the bad stuff!! Xx

18

Instead of seeing a medical Dr, I now see a naturopath, she helps with natural healing through foods and whole food vitamin supplements and herbs. We have adrenal glands that sit on top of our kidneys, with too much stress, unhealthy diet, toxins and such, they can burn out and notfunction properly which in turn can cause extreme fatigue and other things. An adrenal test can tell how the adrenal glands are functioning throughout the day, once the results come in she can make a plan around the results to get them to function correctly again. Through a naturopath and homeopathy, it's all natural so our bodies can learn to heal the way they were meant to in the first place. I went to so many places, I saw 2 doctors and an ENT and all my results came back normal. There is nothing Drs can help me with anymore and all they want us to throw me on medication and I will not do it. Now that I'm stuck with this and cant get out on my own I decided to see someone for natural healing. Praying this will work, even though it can take a lot of time and diet change. It's a slow process but what can I lose? My heart rate used to do that same thing, anxiety is a killer, so strange it can cause so many things and leave us a huge wreck and then it takes so much time to get back to normal. Praying for you all!

19

Good on you for dealing with it and well done smile once I crack the health anxiety I want to hit the social thing on the head too... My little boy will be 2 soon and I hate that I don't feel I can go to busy hustle bustle places, I've managed to avoid it so far with going to quieter places, opting for the park instead of an indoor play centre for example.

I have been having counselling for the last 6 weeks, although it should help with finding the cause of the anxiety it's not likely to help me deal with it and the symptoms. I spoke with a psychological wellbeing practitioner last week about some CBT, I've got an appointment next week so I'm going to put the counselling on hold for a bit. Xx

20

Do your chest sometimes feel tight/pressured/ feels like someone resting on your shoulders? I have your symptoms, plus more. Sometimes my chest feels full.