Desperately need some help with severe fear of brain aneurysms (health anxiety)

Mental health
1

Hi, I could really use some help, some ideas what I could do to ease this, maybe some mental support.. I have suffered from anxiety for a really long time, and this year I've suffered especially from health anxiety literally all year. I'm sorry this is so long, but I feel like I have to mention all the aspects of why I have this fear in the first place..

Lately my health anxiety has got so severe that I fear all day every day and I feel like all I can do is try to look for help in every possible place. My worst fear, the one keeping me rather incapable of functioning and really messing up my life, are brain aneurysms. I'm 26 years old and I don't have them in my family as far as I know, but the reason for my anxiety are these really weird feelings I've had in my head for about a month now, things I've never felt before.

At first I felt really bad tiredness everyday for 1-2 weeks, no matter how I slept I would just keep dozing off during the day. I saw a doctor about it, had blood tests done and they came back normal. Next I started feeling pressure in my head, a sensation kind of like there was an internal pressure building up in there. At times it seemed to be worse when I lied down, like someone opened some a "faucet" of pressure and started filling my head with it when I lied down. I could almost imagine the sound of it filling up. But at times it would also appear when upright. Then the pressure feeling lessened and instead I started feeling a strong sensation of weight in my head, like my head was pulling me directly downwards, or like gravity of the earth was pulling me down. I could still walk without falling, but I preferred to sit or lay down because it was so uncomfortable. This too, would at times also seem to worsen when lying down. I ended up at the hospital for this, because I was uncomfortable standing for more than a couple of minutes. At this point I didn't have a lot of headaches yet, the doctor couldn't tell what it could be and gave me some medication to relax muscles, in case my tense neck/shoulder muscles were causing it. It did seem to ease the tension I had felt in my shoulders and upper back, but it didn't help at all to the head pressure / weight sensation.

And then finally came the headaches. Now I've had headaches every day for about a week, always starting the moment I wake up and may either stay bad all day, or ease towards the evening, and start again next morning. (I don't typically get a lot of headaches, I had another period of daily headaches a few months back for about 2 weeks.) One night I woke up a few hours after going to bed to feeling insanely heavy, the heaviest I have felt so far. Still managed to sleep a bit but woke up soon after to a headache that felt like tension headache, but more intense. Then it kept getting more and more intense during the day, no painkillers helped me, so I ended up at the hospital again. I said I was anxious about it and asked for a brain scan, they did a CT scan and the doctor said it was normal and that I just have a tension headache, then gave me some more powerful painkillers. Now, I find it hard to believe in tension headaches because I've had them before and it's never been like this. During this headache there were moments I could momentarily see my heartbeat in my vision and I was frightened. Painkillers have always helped me before, and I've always thought tension headaches rather worsen towards the evening while mine is always the opposite. I'm also really puzzled with the other head sensations I've had.

Okay, so my CT scan was clear, but now I'm just scared that the CT didn't show an aneurysm that hasn't ruptured yet but that is perhaps showing symptoms that it's going to, and I'm absolutely horrified about this. The next day after my hospital visit, the intense headache subsided after about 30 hours and it was gone for the rest of the day. This morning, however once again I had a mild headache waking up, it has just been milder today. I still saw a bit of slight "flickering" or pulsating in my vision in time with my heart when I woke up, and occasionally I feel like I see really quick bright flashes in the edges of my vision, or black spots. I did have a routine eye exam recently for a glasses prescription (only a very slightly worsened vision in both eyes apparently, although I feel like my left eye is slightly blurrier than my right one.) and they didn't say anything was amiss there. I also have occasional mild pains in my left eye also kind of scaring me because I know eye pain could be a symptom of aneurysms.. And I also have other left-sided issues that come and go but they're almost always left-sided, like numbness in fingers, heaviness in the arm, tightness in the left side of the neck (still mobile though) and sometimes I feel a noticeable pulse above the left ear especially with headphones on (but almost never on the right side).

What should I do? I feel like doctors I've talked to just don't seem to take my symptoms very seriously, they have done a basic neurological exam (twice, two different doctors) checking for reflexes and things like that, and I've described my symptoms as well as I could, and they did the CT and I've also had an EKG to rule out heart arrhythmias. Apparently all of those were normal, but I still can't get over my fear.

Could these kind of symptoms potentially have to do with an unruptured, growing aneurysm? Does it sound like I shouldn't worry about this or should I still keep insisting for more tests, or what else should I do to ease this awful fear? I feel like I really don't want to bother them constantly and feel like a nuisance, but I just can't seem to get a peace of mind. All I keep thinking about is how I'd like some kind of MRI to have a better look at the veins, to be more sure. Am I just freaking out about nothing? What could I do to emotionally feel more at ease, because I know that even if I did ask for a MRI or something, even if they agreed to it (they might not if they don't see a reason for it), it would take time because there's a waiting list and I need some help in the meantime anyway so I won't completely lose my mind over this..

2

jen, I do completely understand where you’re coming from. I have been down that path thinking the same thing about myself. My father did actually have a brain aneurysm. my symptoms began in my 20s and I want you to know that I am in my 50s now and doing well. However I had all of your symptoms including intense pressure, I had visual disturbances in black spots, I had tiredness and weakness and just an overall horrible weird feeling in my head, foggy, numbness tingling, dizziness, headaches and yes the head pressure gets very intense! i’ve had heaviness, blurred vision. You name it I had it! And this wasn’t just for a week or two this went on for months and months.
In fact even today if I’m anxious I get a few of those symptoms but not to the degree I had them. so I did end up getting an MRI of the brain, MRA of the brain, actually several times over a few years . Because of my anxiety and fearful thinking. . Everything came out normal including bloodwork, EEG, and whatever else I had done.
you May not believe it but every one of my symptoms was due to long-term stress and anxiety! stress and anxiety can absolutely cause all of these symptoms. I am living proof. My symptoms were so intense I was thinking I had something really serious just like you are thinking. I was so weak one day I couldn’t get off the couch. Constant headaches, constant floaters and flashes in my eyes, muscle twitching and tingling in my arms and legs.
the doctors don’t seem too concerned about about you because they know what to look for it when it comes to certain conditions like aneurysms. You could go get an MRI and MRA to ease your mind but I would bet anything it would be perfectly normal. after my test were normal. I had to sit and think about my life and about all the stress and anxiety I went through since childhood. All of that built up over the years and when I got in my 20s my body just broke down and I got all the symptoms that lasted quite a while intensely. The body and mind can only take so much stress before it breaks down.
what you need to do now is to relax your mind as best you can. The odds of you having an aneurysm are quite low. if you’ve had this weird head sensations for over a month now, and it was serious, you would have known by now . i’ve had weird sensations just like yours on and off for 30 years! But I know it’s just my anxiety
Think of what in your life is causing you anxiety besides this. School? Work? Relationships? you can make an appointment for an MRI if you like but in the meantime stressing about this is only going to make everything worse. It’s going to increase your symptoms. Go for a walk outside, take a nice hot bath and listen to some soothing music or meditations on YouTube.another thing you can do is talk to a counselor about how you’re feeling. It really helps to talk to somebody else who can help! Either in person or virtual appointment. don’t keep all this bottled up inside . do you things with friends or family that make you smile and laugh. Go to the cider mill, or anything that’s enjoyable.
FEAR can eat you up alive! It’s just not worth it and it’s not going to help. remember that 99.9% of the things we fear do not ever happen. Keep yourself busy. make the appointment for the test if you want and do these things in the meantime. you’re gonna be just fine! :heart:

3

I wanted to add that one thing that has really really helped me with my symptoms is yoga. I never thought I would do yoga but I started doing some from YouTube, the beginner yoga and it has really relaxed every part of my body. Not just my body but my mind, my stress level is down, symptoms ease off
it’s been found that yoga is actually healing in what it does to the entire body. And mind. Just thought I would mention that.

4

Hi Jen, I’m so sorry you’re going through this! This sounds almost identical to what I was experiencing a year ago. I was hit with severe anxiety and panic attacks out of nowhere and I had the intense head pressure (sometimes felt like my head was going to explode), severe fatigue (could barely get out of bed most days), heavy head (Had trouble holding my head up at work), dizziness, severe migraines, felt like I was going to faint all the time, thought I was dying. Like you, I thought there’s no way this can be caused from anxiety. Surely, I have a brain tumor or brain aneurysm. So I got an MRI and all came back fine, blood tests all normal. So, I came to the conclusion that anxiety can do some pretty crazy things to your body! The first thing I’d suggest is to read up on anxiety and the effects it can have on your body. It may ease your mind knowing that anxiety can definitely cause all of those symptoms. I’m not sure if you’re on medication but Sertraline helped to ease a lot of my symptoms. I’d look into trying a different medication if you’re currently taking any. Third, practicing breathing has helped me a lot with panic attacks. Try breathing in through your nose for 4 seconds (make sure your belly is rising), hold for 4 seconds, then out through your mouth for 6 seconds. Guided meditation is another good practice.
Since you’ve had all of your tests, I would rule out the brain aneurysm. Trust me, I still worry sometimes that the docs missed something too but that’s just my anxiety talking. I would try your best to rule that out and have faith that it would’ve shown up on the CT scan if anything was there. All the best to you! :folded_hands::heart:

5

It sounds to me like you’re having migraines.

6

jen
All you are describing sounds very similar to what i went through and it was all caused by anxiety.
There is nothing wrong with taking a course of meds for anxiety under your doctors supervision of course. They take a while to kick in but once they do all these symptoms will disappear and you will get some peace to learn how to manage your anxiety without drugs.
some people will disagree but for me this helped enormously .
i am currently after three years of being off drugs having a relapse and going to have a chat to my doctor about going back on meds again as the reoccurence of these anxiety symptoms is limiting the quality of my life and impacting on my relationship with family and friends.

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Hey everyone, thank you so much for your comments and your experiences, it does make me feel a little bit more at ease to hear these kind of symptoms could just be due to my anxiety and not necessarily anything more dangerous. I’m still going to try to get myself into an MRI, hopefully just for a final peace of mind regarding this. It could take a while to get in though so I’m trying to manage my anxiety in the meantime. My headaches have recently been pretty mild which is good, but I have some aches and burning in my left eye as well as in certain spots on the left side of my head and today the left side of my neck is very tense and painful making it hard to move my head to the left. These things aren’t exactly easing my anxiety, but I’m just hoping it’s caused by some tension or a knot in the neck/shoulder area rather than something in the head..

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hi im going through the same at the minute i have sufferd tension headaches in the past and all bloods ct scan etc came back normal but for a couple of weeks now ive been stressed worrying over covid family issues etc so for about a week now ive had tension headaches nausea tinnitus feel like my neck is aching even my scalp is sore to touch i ended up in a&e yesterday as i felt so much pressure all over my head my bp was high they took bloods which came back normal but they said with my symptoms i didnt need a ct scan or anything and sent me home but today i feel worse with worry that something is wrong with my head ive been through this before and i wont settle until i get a scan so scared though

9

Hi, your situation does sound similar to mine, and I can understand the worry part, I’ve been very scared about this as well (which is probably pretty obvious in my original post.) However, in case this makes you feel any better, I can tell you how my situation has proceeded.

I couldn’t get over my fear, so two days ago I was visiting a doctor again, this time I went to ask for a referral to an MRI. She hesitated at first, but in the end she wrote me one because I said I was very anxious about it and wanted to have a peace of mind. But she seemed very confident that my problem is not in my brain, after I explained the same symptoms I mentioned in the original post above. I told her I had a CT scan and she said it should show if there’s anything more serious going on. (You said you had a CT scan as well so maybe this could be a bit comforting to you too) She also checked my eyes and said that more serious things would increase pressure in the brain, and it would show inside the eyes and my eyes were fine. She suspected it has to do with muscle tension or something anxiety-related, and also emphasized that in my place she would at least wait a while and try physical therapy before rushing into MRI. If she was any concerned it was brain-related she really wouldn’t say that.

So I’ve felt a little better after that and guess what, I’ve also had less symptoms since I got over the worst anxiety. And now I’m contemplating whether I’m still going to the MRI now that I have a referral, because it’s super expensive and I’m feeling a bit better now.. But I might still go, knowing myself it could still bug me in the end if I don’t. If I do, I can come back here for a final update about the results.

Obviously every situation is different, and I’m not telling anyone NOT to get properly examined if you have anything you feel concerned about. But I just want to say that so far it does seem like it’s possible for anxiety to show up in all these weird ways.