ITS NOT ANXIETY!!!!

[cassiefromlondon]

I'm going to write all the symptoms I've been suffering with daily for over a year now. I've had bloods done about three months ago and I was low on folic acid which I'm now nearly finished a course of 5mg tabs a day. I had an echocardiogram last December which came back fine. I can't cope with this anymore. It's actually scaring me now. I'm calling the doctor again tomorrow and will probably be fobbed off again. I just want to feel normal again. I'm trying to look after my severely autistic son full time and I'm finding it hard because I feel so unwell

Completely spaced out.. not with it at all
Face keeps going numb
Throbbing head
Blurred vision/even with glasses
Thumping heart beat
Feeling faint
Feeling very weak
Inside body tremors
Slurring my speech
Dribbling when trying to talk.
No energy at all
Extreme tiredness
Can hear whooshing in my ears
Dizziness severe
Can’t focus/memory loss
Breathless
Legs giving way (no strength)
No Appetite recently
Stomach cramps/dioraha
NOT ANXIETY!!!!!!!!!

Scented products make me feel like this at times. Try eliminating synthetic scents from cleaning products and lotions and detergent and see if it helps. They have so many chemicals in them. It took me years to figure out the link.

Ask to talk to a different doctor. I would want a second opinion. Hope you feel better soon x

We're you tested for hypothyroidism?

Could it be long Covid?
One thing to check is if there is any possibility of low level carbon monoxide poisoning. Are you exposed to a gas range or gas heater?
The neurological symptoms are especially concerning.
Take your list with you to the doctor. I hope you get the help you need.

Y had most of these symptoms (minus the dribbling) last year with hyperthyroidism. Have they checked your TSH level as well as T3 and T4? Also, what’s your level of B12? The range considered “normal” in the U.K. is actually very low and deficiency often goes hand in hand with folate/folic acid deficiency.

Did they check your b12 levels?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamin-b12-or-folate-deficiency-anaemia/symptoms/ a lot of symptoms match!

Is there a reason why it can't be anxiety/mental health related? Anxiety isn't something that is just in your head. It causes actual physical changes in the body. It causes inflamation. Raising children is stressful enough without the added issues that come with severe autism.

I'm someone who internalises stress. By that I mean I don't "feel" stressed, but my body does. My psoriasis flares up. My IBS flares up. My blood pressure is constantly high. I have a scary volume of palpitations. Nausea. Muscle spasms. Heartburn. Random stabbing pains in my stomach. Cluster headaches. Chronically tired and exhausted, yet I can't sleep, except when I do I can't wake up. I wake up feeling like I'm shaking on the inside.

I took a ton of drugs and supplements to try to correct all the things in my blood results that were a bit off. My results are all perfect now. But I still feel like this. My GP told me to go for walks (🙄). I asked for beta-blockers. They actually have helped reduce the intensity of the heart symptoms, although not the frequency. I think improving vitamin D levels helps a little too. Magnesium too, but sometimes that upsets the stomach more. Can't win eh.

Get a copy of your blood results and look at the things that are normal but at the lower end. Some people will still feel "off" even when the labs say the level is fine. The thyroid is a good example of this. I know it is frustrating. You feel how you feel, and even if it is psychosomatic (the physical manifestation of a mental factor) it still should be taken seriously. Stress kills.

Is your slurring speech noticeable to others?

Thanks for your replies.
I have started to suffer with extreme panic attacks, but that's been after all these symptoms started. I'm too scared to fall asleep incase I don't wake up.
My son is non verbal and I'm a lone parent. He wouldn't know what to do and nobody would check on me for a few days.
I started HRT because I had it in my head it was perimenopause symptoms. They put me on evarol sequi just over a month ago, but I felt like everything got worse so I ripped the patch off.
I feel like I'm dying and I'm so scared.
I really don't know what else I can say to the doctors to make them take me seriously.
I haven't been checked for the things mentioned in the posts above.
Just full blood count and echocardiogram because of my heart palpitations/ectopic beats.
I feel unbearably unwell

@MyCosyRaven No not been noticed by family. I tell them it happens but it's not every time I speak.

@cassI ask because I wondered if you felt like you were slurring, but its not bad enough for anyone else to notice. Or if it is bad enough for others to notice, but they just have not heard it.
If the latter, would be worth videoing it.
Be aware that you may have a few simple things going on, but with all the symptoms together it makes it hard to diagnose. For example, you could have tinnitus, and thyroid disease. Or you could have a medical condition with other symptoms caused by lifestyle e.g. too much caffeine, use of nasal decongestants, or herbal medicine.

Also if you are dribbling, its worth talking to a dentist. Is it bad enough that other people see you dribbling?
You talk about your legs giving way - what do you mean?

Okay so the reason I asked is that I developed hypothyroidism when I was in my late 30s and I had a lot of your symptoms. Honestly I thought I was just getting old and things were breaking down. I even went part-time. It was only when I was 40 (and using private health insurance) that a consultant suggested my results were inconclusive but to give try levothyroxine a try. It changed everything. I'm not saying that's what you've got but it's worth asking your GP to investigate. I hope you find answers.

Not sure how helpful this is but you sound like you’re gripped with extreme exhaustion, extreme stress, extreme worry. Totally different from anxiety. Very very real. I had many of these symptoms at a time when I was utterly alone and carrying a huge responsibility alone (not a child, other stuff). It was more than I thought I could bear. I couldn’t sleep, didn’t eat properly, everything inside me shut down but also my senses became hyper sensitive at the same time. I wasn’t depressed, wasn’t anxious - I was terrified for a long period of time. I was on edge but catatonic-esque at the same time. I was a lot younger than you sound like you are.

Nearly all of those symptoms can be cause by so many possible things.

Easy ones to check:
Any kind of deficiency. Get full bloods done.
Start taking multivitamins and liquid iron in case any way.

Thyroid test is worth doing.

Long Covid / ME/CFS following a viral or other infection is also a possibility

Slurred speech / some of the other things could be neurological. Can you video some of what happens so you have evidence to show GP?

@cassiefromlondon just checking if you're the lady that posts a bit about this thinking she has cancer?

The symptom you describe could be attributable to lots of things. Alot of the symptoms are very like POTS and some impairment of the autonomic system. That can be caused by lots of things.

Also POTS is closely related to something called Mast Cell Activation. Both these conditions can vary in their intensity.

Mine started abruptly (POTS and MCAD) and was accompanied by anxiety because these conditions can impact your whole system potentially and you can feel like you are dying.

Thank you to everyone that has suggested different things I can ask the doctor to check for. I really appreciate it

@Tittat50 No I don't think it's cancer.
Thank you for replying I will Google POTS

Multiple Sclerosis?

I have a friend who was diagnosed and she has had some bizarre symptoms.

I have Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease, I felt very similar in the early days to what you’re describing.

I was going to say thyroid like others, and if not thyroid a different auto-immune issue. I would definitely look into auto-immune diseases and see which could fit. They are often linked as well, so my wife has Hashimotos and now also has adrenal insufficiency.

Check thyroid. When I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism I could barely string a sentence together. However don't be completely closed of to it being anxiety as anxiety can also have an extremely physical effect on your body.

I would think you need thyroid, parathyroid and b12 tests as well as discuss migraines with your GP.

I had all of this with ME. Including the intense and prolonged panic attacks.
It was horrible.

I would be asking for a 9am cortisol blood test I think