is my horrendously bad blurred vision anxiety?

Mental health
1

Hi all, i've just turned 21, and for about 6 months now i think i have had anxiety. ive never really had it before, but i moved to university and in freshers after about a week of constant drinking alcohol, i woke up one night feeling as if i was on drugs! i woke up shaking and sweating and felt like i couldnt breathe. its been 6 months since then, and i dont feel so much anxious thoughts, but i have ALL the physical symptoms. 

I've had every single test there is to do and theres nothing wrong with me apparently but i definetly know that something is not right, does anybody else feel like this; 

- constantly feel as if im not in my own body, and that i am trapped, like someone else is living my life for me

- constant blurred vision, which literally never goes away, as if im trapped behind my eyes, and theres black spots everywhere, cant describe it well! its as though im wearing clear glasses but theres a fuzzy film over it.. (this is my worst symptom, its horrible)

- feel dizzy as if im going to faint constantly 

- tight jaw

- general tingling just all over my body, like i am really aware of my blood pumping through my body and can feel it travelling 

- numb teeth!! and tongue

- constantly ill, and always tired, sleep all the time

- chest feels really heavy

- feel like my heart is working really hard

(all of this is constant, it doesnt get worse or better with anything in particular) 

but i dont feel anxious thoughts, i just have all these physcial  symptoms!! 

does anybody else have these too? alcohol makes it worse, even while im drinking it, the anxiety doesnt seem to go away i feel worse when i drink alchol actually i feel really light headed.

ive been like this for a while now and im finally accepting there isnt anything wrong with me and that it must just be anxiety, 6 months later after MRI, HEART SCAN, ECG, ECHOGRAM, 3 BLOOD TESTS, £700 ON A PRIVATE DOCTOR!! the lot 

ive been prescribed citalopram, BUT i dont feel depressed AT ALL, im really happy, i just feel as if im not in my body and can barely see!!! lol, can someone please reply and let me know if there physical symptoms are as bad as this and if their eyes are just as bad as mine ?? THANK YOU 

2

I had all of those symptoms a while back, and there was nothing wrong with me either! I've stopped with those symptoms now which helps me realise that thy were just anxiety!

Sorry about the quick reply I am at work lol.

I have new symptoms now that I'm worrying about but I had ALL of those before and now they've gone away!

Blurred vision can be from dry eyes too! I found that I sleep with a slit of my eyes open and thy get dry!

Try to forget about the symptoms and hopefully they will go away like mine did <3

3

Jade, sorry to hear of your problems.

I'm afraid that depression and anxiety go hand in hand.

Your symptoms do denote a classic anxiety problem.

Citalopram is an anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drug, so maybe it is worth you trying it.

It does take a while to kick-in which maybe you should allow yourself.

If the symptoms persist I would recommend a trip back to your GP to have the matter investigated further.

Best wishes

Rod

4

First of all try not to drink a lot of alcohol. It will only add to your problems not make them go away. Secondly, have you been to an Opticians. They have equipment that can see the back of your eye and what is going on. Go to somewhere reputable preferably NOT Specsavers, try Boots. Finally, go back to your Doctor (See Optician first) Personally I think you are suffering from severe anxiety but you just don't think so or realise it. How much sleep do you get? If you get a broken nights sleep ask your doctor for something to help, something non-addictive for just a couple of weeks. Hopefully if you see an Optician and then see your doctor again you might get some helpful treatment.

5

Jade, how were you before you started Uni.

We're you at home with family.? If your symptoms are new to you,

could it be that deep down your feeling insecure and it's manifesting in this way ie physical symptoms can you get help through Uni. They usually have something in place. £700 could buy you a good therapist for a while!

Just my thoughts, I hope you sort it. I think you will.best wishes.

6

Thank you so much for replying!!!

ive had it for about 6 months now and if anything they are getting worse. its my blurred vision, did you ever have that? its constantly as if im not really here, i feel as if im dead or something!! 

i dont feel as if im amxious though?? iim fairly confident, ive got a good set of friends, a really good family, good uni course, i just dont understand why i have all these symptoms?? 

and its not like it comes and goes, its just ALWAYS there. sad 

thank you for taking the time to reply i really appreciate it xxxx

7

Thank you for replying, i will try it and see how it goes. 

ive had all the tests there possibly are, and apparently im completely healthy. i just need to accept i have anxiety even though i really dont believe i do ! 

8

thank you for replying !

ive stopped drinking alcohol as it made it worse. yeah i went to specsavers! and they couldnt find anything wrong at all. 

I really dont feel like i have anxiety, like i know i do because everyones telling me, but im not scared or worried about anything ?! obviously now im scared about all these physical symptoms! but im happy, ive got a good set of friends, good family, good uni course, i just dont understand why my body is reacting ike this, and its not just sometimes its ALL the time it never goes away, i feel as if its not me living in my body anymore? 

id say i get about 6 hours sleep a night, not sure if thas enough, but i am constantly in bed, because im exhausted

thank you for the reply xxxxx

9

before i started uni i did have depression about two years ago, but then i was fine. ive always been a tiny bit shy, if i had to go on stage or something, or read to the class, but nothing major. and for some reason ive come to uni and for 6 months ive just been a mess!! have no idea why because i love it here and made amazing friends and love my course, i honestly have nothing to be anxious about but i have all the physical symptoms of anxiety!

i really dont think i am anxious, as in im not scared of anything, but I seem to have all the physical symptoms of anxiety constantly ! 

10

Blurred vision was the main symptom that freaked me out because it had the most sinister reasons when I googled it! I was terrified of a brain tumour or MS, but I didn't even need a brain scan or anything in the end as once I'd accepted it was anxiety the blurred vision stopped as bad, I still get it now! But not as often.

I also got dizziness but that seemed to go as soon as I accepted the anxiety and I also got the tingly feeling you got, I think that was due to adrenaline coursing through your body, amoungst many other symptoms

At the moment I have a painless swollen gland in the right side of my neck and I'm terrified of a tumour/luekemia, my right eye is twitching too so that's scaring me even more but when I used to get heart palpitations I went to a&e once and they kept checking with me that I wasn't getting upper back pain and then once I knew that was a symptom I strted getting upper back pain, I know my mind can be so tricksy, so I'm trying to ignore it!

I am the Same as you though I have everything I could want in my life and nobody apart from my husband knows about my anxiety and they cannot tell but I am jut terrified of dying for some reason :-/ xx

11

I get twitching in my eye too!

yessss i feel like im dying all the time, im 21 and think i wont wake up everytime i go to bed. with your blurred vision was it like fuzzy, as if you had just woken up, and rubbed your eyes?? 

do you reckon we'll ever get better? also i find it so weird how it just suddenly happened as well, no build up... 

what do you do to cope xx

12

Hi jade

If you were on meds when the blurred vision started then its a good idea to ask the doctor to change them as a side effect to med can be vision changes

13

hey tanya, no i havent been on any medication yet at all! it all started in freshers week when i was drinking alot of alcohol, but ive stopped and i still have terrible vision x

14

Have you had a blood test for vitamin b12.

15

Anxiety problems do not make anyone less of a person. 

Initially it can be a bit of a shock to the system and difficult to cope with, but I believe that the process of overcoming these difficulties makes us much stronger people.

The first part of the healing process is recognising that we are afflicted  with it, and certainly in my case was also the safeguard of devoping a silent mantra telling myself that I was no different to anyone else. The second part of the healing process is time and not expecting too much of oneself. 

16

I've had most of those symptoms... I haven't suffered with my eyes like you, but I have felt like I'm zoning out at inopportune times. 

 Confusingly anti-depressants aare not always used for depression - they can also be used for anxiety. 

Please remember that alcoohol is a depressant so will exacerbate any anxious feelings you have when you take it and afterwards. (I have stopped drinking for that very reason, as I was feeling so low, worried and paranoid afterwards). 

 

17

thanks for the reply!

how did your eyes feel??? mine is like a constant blurred vision, literally never ever goes away. its not as if i cant see clearly, i have perfect eye sight, but its as if something fuzzy is infront of my eyes!! i HATE it, it makes me feel as if im not really here and im dead or something ?!?! 

i stopped drinking for about 3 months to see if that would help, but none of my symptoms went away and it didnt change or help my anxiety at all, so i drank again for the first time last week and my anxiety is exactly the same as if i did drink or not rolleyes 

i still cant believe that my anxious thoughts has made my whole body like this constantly, and its not as if in the morning im better or worse, its just never ending physical symptoms!!! 

18

yeppp had all my bloods checked and theyre fine!! x

19

I've had floaters behind my eyes in the past, though not sure whether this was due to anxiety as believe other things can do this & I do wear glasses.

I've felt my eyes go "spaced out"...sort of out of focus, like I'm not quite there. That's been unsettling. But my eyes didn't feel any different in themselves.(Ie no pain or anything).

But nerves and anxiety can put your whole body on edge. It's like all your senses become extremely heightened, but not in a good way.

20

yes defo not in a good way at all! haha, its taken me ages to believe i have anxiety... because when i think of someone who has anxiety i think of someone who has panic attacks, whose scared in social situations, whose not an outgoing person... but before this all started i was genuinely fine, got anxious when i had to do presentations sometimes, but now i cosntantly have blurred vision, cant stop shaking, feel wired up all the time. so i must have anxiety but just not realise it?? 

hope you get better soon, thanks for the reply !! xx