I have been dealing with a multitude of symptoms over the last month. Constant muscle twitching, body tremors and trembling, fatigue, brain fog, chest pains, back pains, headaches, migraines, stomach is always growling, heart palpitations, dizzy/nauseousness and overall feeling of weakness and malaise.
This has all come about 6 months after I weaned myself off of Paxil 40mg, which I was on for about 8 years. Of course when I tell any doctor this, they chalk it all up to anxiety/depression/withdrawal. I have had blood, thyroid, urine, and EKG testing done which all comes back good. I have seen many doctors and cannot get them to order any additional testing such as an MRI or CAT scan to rule out anything else that may be causing these symptoms. Of course I fear the worst as far as what may be wrong with me and constantly google my symptoms and diagnose myself with the worst of the worst diseases and cancers.
I just cannot accept that all of these symptoms can possibly be anxiety induced. I have since been put back on Paxil 40mg after trying Zoloft for a few weeks and didn't seem to make much progress. But I don't feel this will help me and I will still think something else is at play. How do you convince yourself that your symptoms are anxiety induced?
Hi it's very difficult I can hardly believe my symptoms are due to anxiety I don't know your situation but if your so frightened is it possible for you to go private and have the tests done that can put your mind at rest xx
Hi, I wish I had the anwsers but our minds are very powerful devices and it is so difficult to tell our subconscious that there is no problem. Am so tired of going through each day with head pressure, dizziness and loss of balance. Sigh....
Going through.. baring it the only way to know it not bad as feared and def knowledge help.
What help is that you can re train your emotions to react differently. It a habit reactions down in body gut not listening to your present thought. Just don't react! Learning v experiences and begin practical about it helped courage back normally not fully but fears become much small. Learned behaviour of mum. Not easy but can be done. Great patience is need as anxiety love impatient.
I honestly think that going that route might be the only way to be honest. The only problem with that is I feel like I'm just chasing a horrible diagnosis. Which I don't want to have of course. But I can't seem to find any other way to cope with it all.
All those symptoms CAN be "only" anxiety as you put it. You need to be in therapy/counseling and on medication for anxiety...in my opinion paxil and zoloft are NOT the best for this, talk to your doctor about other options. I have been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks for over 20 years and I am currently struggling with being stuck in a cycle of what if they missed something, what if, what if, what if??? It is what anxiety does. It is like a drunk driver in your body, it tells your body to react a certain way and your bodies only job is to listen to your brain even if your brain is wrong. Therapy/counseling will really help you with trying to accept this is all your anxiety. If you are getting your medication from your primary care doctor you also might want to consider seeing a psychiatrist, since they are more familiar with anxiety and treating it. Best of Luck!!!
Hi there is probably nothing wrong but it's better to know than worrying yourself to death go and get checked out having some peace of mind is worth everything xxxx
I suffer from severe health anxiety, have done for a few years now, I’ve never been able to convince myself that my pains is just a symptom on anxiety, I’ve been to doctors numerous amount of times due to chest pains, dizziness, breathlessness and so on, all doctors that I’ve seen and even a&e say it’s all anxiety which I’ve always found it hard to believe.
I’ve been searching for the answer to your question for quite some time and cannot seem to find it.
I’ve got my name down on a referral waiting list for CBT , I’m hoping this could help me find an answer and help me to change my way of thinking because this anxiety is really controlling my life.
Also I have been offered medication from my doctor and have always refused, Iv always believed that I can do this on my own without medication. I wouldn’t recommend medication, just my opinion.
I'm not here to tell you what decisions to make but I would like you to know that medication for some people is the only answer. You do understand that anxiety is an actual disease and that there IS something wrong with you, well if you actually have anxiety anyway. And they make medication to help with the effects of what your brain is doing to your body. I have been doing this for over 20 years and I was anti-medication in the beginning, I still don't take anything I don't think I need or I don't feel any benefit from. That being said, the only time in the past 20 years I felt like a "normal" functioning adult was when I was on a combination of medications and in therapy. I went almost 3 years without seeing the inside of the hospital and didn't feel like I was having a heart attack or going to drop dead every single day. Do your research, find a medical team you can trust, ask your questions and voice your concerns, and in the end you have the final say so. I just want you to know that medication can be a lifesaver to some of us. Best of Luck!!!
I know this situation all too well. My health anxiety controls my every move, my every thought, and my entire life. I'll get chest pains, my body will feel weighed down, I'll get headaches and head pressure, and once in a while my stomach will attack me for no reason. I've gotten into the habit of googling my symptoms every time they happen, so I've convinced myself of everything from appendicitis to sepsis to brain cancer, even though I have been medically cleared over a dozen times since September of last year. Honestly the best strategy I can think of is finding a medicine that will stabilize you enough to think a bit more rationally, and combine this with good therapy or counseling that'll hopefully bring you back up to where you were. Medicine is sort of like a bandage, it's good for covering everything up but in order to actually fix the problem for good you need to confront the root of the problem. Best of luck to you, and I hope you feel better soon.
Hi. I can relate to the symptoms and signs that people with anxiety are frightened about. In fact, I joined the forum today to reassure myself that I am not the only one! For three months I've had those thoroughly unpleasant neurological-like feelings in my body - walking like I'm drunk, feeling like I'm going to fall over, feeling like I'm walking on ice, "crampy" and "coldie" feelings in my feet, feeling weak in my legs. Just this week I have had some odd and unpleasant feelings around my mouth/neck.
BUT! I have learned to trust my GP. I have told him all my symptoms. I have had my annual blood tests and he is completely unconcerned, which might sound bad but I know that if he thought I was really ill he would whip me off for tests, which I have done in the past too, all the way to a neurologist.
I try not to Google symptoms though I did Google "symptoms of anxiety" and found that they mimic "real" disease which reassured me.
I take Citalapram 20mg which I've been doing for a decade and I have also started seeing my psychologist again after a year's break. Like my GP, he thinks I am OK, "Catastrophising" is the word he uses as to describe the worrying about "what ifs".
I know it is hard but my advice is to trust your doctor and do not, as I did in the past, shop around for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th etc opinions, and/or referrals to specialists, if anything because your mind will never be at rest.
Well, I was on Paxil for 8 years and did notice a big difference for the better while I was on it. I definitely am not too keen on taking a bunch of medication either, but since I weaned myself off of it last October things fell apart fast for me. So I realize medication is something that I need to function in life.
I really don’t want to be on medication for the rest of my life, I’m going to give it one last shot and see if the cbt will help me , if not then it’s another trip to the doctors .
It can be a lifesaver but can also be your worst nightmare! I've never had an anti depressant/anti anxiety drug that hasn't made me feel worse, I've tried many and they had awful side affects to the point my doctor banned me from having them prescribed to me. Also these drugs are not a cure, they are antemporary fix, as soon as you stop taking them the effects stop working and you go back to being the same, and many have withdrawal symptoms. I don't like it when people push the use of drugs, the only thing that has truly ever worked for me is CBT because it literally trains you to control it and re wire your thoughts. The only drug that has ever made me feel slightly better is Diazepam, and that's useless because it's addictive and dangerous to use long term and isnt a proper option long term. It's good to keep an open mind and try whatever you feel is best, as medication can really work for some people, but personally I completely agree with you and really sympathise with how you feel.
The situation I am in now is that I want to believe that it is all anxiety induced and as much as I would love to go to specialists such as a neurologist to get checked out and additional testing done, I am very scared to. I'm am so afraid of getting a horrible diagnosis.
Dr. Google is the absolute worst doctor. I spent months in bed thinking I surely had so many diseases. I didn't of course, and the only way I trust that's true is that if all the diseases I was sure I had were real, I'd have been dead ten years ago.