To think I’m dying? Any doctors around? 🙏

[Garret]

Got worse over a couple of weeks. Tiredness. Squishy tummy and no appetite. Aches and pains. Buzzing sensations all over. Back and neck pain. Joints hurting and clicking. Muscles twitching and hurting. Feeling wobbly. Now struggling to walk because of muscle burning pains. Anxiety and panic.

GP is totally unconcerned. Checked me over and said I haven’t lost muscle strength, range of movement, tone or sensation. Took some blood to test for vitamin deficiencies (I often have these but never felt like this before). Told me to address my anxiety and referred me to the psychiatric nurse.

I’m hysterical. Imagining I have some awful disease. How can the GP not be worried when I have such severe symptoms? Please help me if you can.

Have you been tested for type 2 diabetes?

Yes my blood sugar is fine.

I am surprised that the drs dont do anything when you say there is some high inflammation marker,

Hi, I have lurked for many years but feel compelled to post having seen your message. I am not remotely medically qualified but can only say that your symptoms sound similar to those my mum experienced. You mentioned you have psoriasis -psoriatic arthritis can develop very quickly and can be hard to diagnose. It was only once we pushed for a referral to rhematology that a name was given to her brain fog and random swellings around her body.

Copy and paste from the NHS website below states that 1 in 3 people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis - so maybe ask your gp if they have considered this. Someone medically qualified can then rule it out - but worth asking the basic question.

Almost 1 in 3 people with psoriasis also have psoriatic arthritis.
It tends to develop 5 to 10 years after psoriasis is diagnosed, although some people may have problems with their joints before they notice any skin-related symptoms.
Like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis is thought to happen as a result of the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissue.
But it's not clear why some people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis and others do not.

Are you generally anxious or low in mood, OP? What's the rest of your life like? I'm wondering if you've tried to address the anxiety before, and what helps you when you're stressed? I think the advice to step away from the internet and perhaps spend some time outside or with friends is wise.

This all sounds exactly like my anxiety symptoms. Have you tried an SSRI for your anxiety? Makes a huge difference for me.

Thank you. I don’t have any swelling, just pain. I will ask about psoriatic arthritis though.

Yes I am generally anxious and depressed. Having a very hard time the last couple of years. Then bereavements and a breast cancer scare. Maybe that’s triggered all of this, I don’t know.

Do you apply or take steroids for the psoriasis?
Why do you take Propranolol?
What are your "unrelated conditions" and what drugs do you take for each one?
Are there any other pills or supplements you take, besides the iron & answers to above questions?

That’s what my doctor keeps saying. But I’m in so much pain I can’t type with my hands or walk more than 100m. I’m sceptical that anxiety would cause something so bad.

Are you eating and drinking sufficient quantities and regularly?
are you taking the calcium and iron at the same time as day as the calcium will stop the iron being absorbed

Until I suffered with anxiety after a bereavement following by the divorce from hell, I had no idea it cause cause such a huge range of physical symptoms. It was a friend who mentioned it sounded like anxiety and they were right. Here’s a list of the symptoms (it was about 17 years ago so I might be missing some:
Numbness in my checks, lips and tip of nose and top of head
pins and needles and weakness in my legs and arms. Feeling like my legs were going to collapse from under me when I walked.
Pain in the small of my back like I’d been kicked.
Confusion and total inability to concentrate or make sense of information
Extra heartbeat and palpitations
Shaking hands
Racing thoughts stopping me sleeping.

Generally feeling weak
weight loss
nausea

It was totally so frightening and incapacitating. Since then I’ve never underestimated what the mind can do to the body.

They gave me propanalol last week because I was shitting myself about the weakness aches and buzzing.

I have food allergies and intolerances, I’m not medicated. Steroid cream for psoriasis but haven’t used it for a while. I’m only taking iron and calcium + Vit d as prescribed.

ME and fibromyalgia can be triggered by stress or trauma. You've had bereavements and a cancer scare, those things are pretty stressful.

That’s terrifying. Yes they keep saying it’s all anxiety. I can’t believe it. I mean I’m unable to walk and use my hands. Anxiety, really?

Are you on statins?

No.

Taking iron tablets makes me feel totally shit. Numbness and tingling appear to be side effects, as is loss of appetite. Any chance the iron is exacerbating your symptoms? Switch to spatone or floradix. I will never take iron pills again, I felt that bad .

https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/iron-supplement-oral-route-parenteral-route/side-effects/drg-20070148

Agree with this. I had most of these symptoms and others too, dizziness, ringing in my ears, feeling like I couldn't take a full breath, muscle twitching, patches of numbness and tingling on my feet and legs. Anxiety can totally mess up your body.

Im sorry you are not going to get a diagnosis from a bunch of non medically trained women on the internet. You say you rarely go to the Dr but then say you had a breast cancer scare, what happened with that?
Because two people you have died with totally unrelated illnesses dense mean you will die.
Your blood test results don't show anything remarkable other than maybe the ECR which shows inflammation. To put this into context mine is over 100, but no signs of anything.
My advice would just be a second opinion. but, tbh it sounds like it's your anxiety at play here, rather than being about to die.

@HeatherMoores you beat me too it- statins gave me chronically weird weak legs- and very quickly. I stopped them pretty smartish- but am aware my cholesterol although lower than it was is still too high- honestly I thought my legs would seize up at about the 5 week point.

Yes agree but it’s the ‘muscle burning pains’ that doesn’t fit?

My sister attended gym club when she was a child and ended up in hospital with a weird foot injury which the drs couldn't solve. It was anxiety-induced due to her being afraid of the rather domineering coach. There's no limit to what your mind can do to you.

@Garret I don't think your doctor can know whether it's peri or not. You're 47 and have bad anxiety. Anxiety is an absolutely classic symptom of the perimenopause. Regular periods do not rule it out.

Anxiety can cause a huge range of very severe physical symptoms. Do you think the people on here are lying to you about this?

It could be something other than peri or even a combination of issues but what have you got to lose trying HRT?Ask to see a different GP.

What do you do, OP? I mean as a job/volunteering/being a SAHM/anything at all.

I ask specifically because if you don't do anything other than worry about your health, all these symptoms will become magnified in your mind. Most people have a job or something really pressing to do, which means that they can't dwell on their health. Most people's test of whether they're really ill is that they are unable to go to work or take care of their children (I'd probably have had to be dead not to do either of those things), but if you don't have anything else to do, you're going to focus on it all the more.

Anyone who had endless blood tests etc would find something wrong with them. But most people don't have the time to do the tests, never mind think about what they might show.

I was going to suggest fibromyalgia too. It's usually caused by trauma and can come on quite suddenly.