Anxiety. Odd things that it does to you.

[Beaverdam]

Ive had a terrible flare of anxiety which has manifested beyond the norm of panic attacks, night sweats etc.

I now have twitching and odd bursts of pain in my lower arms, lower legs, hand and feet. Doctor has done every type of blood tests and they are all normal. My anxiety has been horrific and somehow it has manifested into the above.

What is the weirdest thing anxiety has done to you?

Left arm pain.
Left chest pain.
( I've been to A&E many times)
Flashing lights in eyes.
Electric shock feeling in arms and shoulders.
Left leg cramps
Laryngospasm- scary as hell.

I hear you @Mumma1984 . I thought I was getting better but have been all twitchy again the last few days. I'm worried that I'm going to end up back at square one. No one who hasn't been through it understands.

@weeblefeet what does your doc say?

Just that the medication can take a while, blah, blah, eat healthily, exercise, all the usual that I am trying to do. Going to go back at half term

I'm on citalopram 20mg

@weeblefeet do you accept it's anxiety or still think it's MS or something?

I go super hot, then cold from my head to my toes. My head goes all staticy and I can't hear close up noises only back ground ones which deafen me. My left arm aches then goes numb and I feel like I'm gonna pass out. My skin burns if someone touches me and I hand flap (I am high functioning autistic though) then I cry, not bawling but silent tears. Happened today in Morrison's, first time in years felt like a right idiot in the soap aisle. Then thought I'd lost my card when I'd already put it in the card machine. Hate anxiety with a passion!

With me it's anxiety, the medication has definitely been helping up until this week and I'm nowhere near as bad as I was

I get dizziness (feel like I’m on a rocking boat 24/7), burning sensations, blurry vision, pains in joints, muscle twitches and cramps everywhere but especially in my legs, cheek sometimes feels numb, also sometimes feel like have something stuck in throat. IBS symptoms bother me every day too (usually so bloated with trapped gas) and I sometimes get night sweats. Oh and palpitations.

Had every possible test you can think of and also had a full brain and spine MRI to rule out MS and a couple of tests done on my heart. Everything is always normal (apart from being anemic which I’m taking iron for now).

I’m convinced my contraceptive pill isn’t helping matters and aggravating all my symptoms.

In my case when it's really bad I feel sick and have to sit down as I feel lightheaded. Have been actually sick too.

@Ellabella989 sounds similar to my stuff, did the doc suggest the MRI? Do you struggle to accept anxiety?

@Mumma1984 yes the doctor was concerned it was MS because of numb cheek and constant dizziness so he refererred me to a neurologist to do the MRI.
I used to not be able to accept it was just anxiety but I believe it now and am working to deal with it x

@Ellabella989 I had only brain mri I wonder if I should request spine, what did your neurologist say? Mine said he wouldn't normally do an mri for my symptoms but I was crying my eyes out so he said to put my mind at ease he would :(

My MRI came back completely normal. Neurologist didn’t think there was anything wrong with me as he did a few reflex type tests beforehand. Think he only did the MRI because my GP had requested it, otherwise he wouldn’t have wanted to bother.
I was 100% certain I had MS but apparently it’s almost unheard of to get a normal result from a brain MRI and to have it. He said it was something like 1 in 10000 chance. Since I’ve accepted its anxiety and been doing everything I need to do to sort it out my symptoms are slowly disappearing

@Mumma1984 i get tingling in my extremities which then becomes paralysis. It also affects my lips so I can't speak.
The first time it happened I thought I was having a stroke and got rushed to hospital.
When it's not so bad I don't get the tingling but I can never swallow properly. I end up drinking loads of water to prove to myself I can swallow

I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia with similar symptoms, it's worth looking at similar. It also flares up when I am cold though.

The past couple of weeks have been awful for me, the worst was the stomach pains and cramps. These cramps then spread to my bladder leading to need to pee constantly and some dribbling, I had a dipstick urine test come back clear.

I took a valium a couple of days ago and my physical symptoms cleared up.

@Ellabella989 isn't it strange that the internet says they are all the symptoms and people's stories seem to indicate that's how it started for them yet neuros are happy with a reflex test and chatting and don't seem to want to do the scan to prove it, it's really confusing :( did they check your vit D? They did mine and said it was a bit low but basically most people in the UK's is. I just don't know how I'll get over this obsession with MS and me having it - there's literally only 100,000 people with it in the UK, like more with HIV but why do I feel like people who have it keep popping up everywhere!

Hot flushes, pins and needles in hands and feet, extreme tiredness, diarrhoea, shaking hands. Horrible thing.

Huge sympathy to all on this thread. Anxiety can be beyond hideous.

@Mumma1984, I've had similar anxiety, and exactly the same obsession as you have in the past. 20 years down the line, I've accepted that it's probably anxiety, but... that I CAN NEVER BE SURE. This, to my mind, is the key. You can't be sure, so rather than trying to be you have to learn to live with it. Let's say for a moment that you do have MS - would you be wanting it to be "ruining your happiness and spending time with your kids and family" then? Or making the best of each day? Speak to some people who actually do have MS. I know some pretty inspiring ones, myself. I know this sounds simplistic, but this way of thinking is what saved me from constantly ruining my life with worry.

Name change for me, I’m on day 4 of fluoxetine for stress and mainly Anxiety and I’m struggling. I feel dreadful, shaking, sickly jumpy. Can anyone tell me if it’s normal?

@imreallytrying I haven’t been on meds personally but I know people who have and the first 2-3 weeks can be Hell on them (feeling really sick and insomnia etc) but then it calms down and you feel great again.

I get really itchy arms, to the point I've burst blood vessels in the inside of my elbow from scratching so much.

Interesting that a few of us here are obsessed with thinking we have ms or mnd. I have been thinking this is the start of it too. Its been consuming all my time and i dont want to try for another baby incase i have it. Twitching is much better today and i just keeo telling myself it must be anxiety.

I keep telling myself that nobody is promised a tomorrow. We couod get cancer next week, hit by a car tomorrow etc and it seems to calm me down.

Anxiety is an evil thing and it effects so many people. Its so sad.

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, tingling in fingers, shivering etc.

When it all passes I am exhausted and hungry. I have the most amazing jaw and abdomen muscles from all the clenching.

@SqueezyKetchupBottle I think your right that's why I need my CBT to hurry up, to start thinking like a normal person! My mum always says don't worry about something until it happens !