Does this sound like anxiety ?

[Blizzarduk]

On Monday I fell asleep for about 30 mins in the afternoon, which is not that odd for me, as I catch up on lost sleep. Anyway, when I woke up I went on to my PC and started to type a email, all of a sudden I felt detached, I couldn't carry on typing, my hands felt like they didn't belong to my body. I lost all grip. My mouth started to shake a bit. I have felt similar before, and I am sure it is a panic attack. The odd thing is it usually happens after I wake up from a small sleep, like the last time it happened I was in a layby parked and fell asleep by mistake for 10 mins, when I woke up I was disorientated and I couldn't feel either of my arms (about 1 min after waking up, not straight away), even though I could control them. That lasted less then 10 mins though.

Anyway, my mother was making the main meal the day my latest "attack" happened, and at the worse possible time, during this strange sensation, she tells me the meal is ready. I try and keep myself together, as I have been through this before, fresh air and deep breathes. But I still wasn't back to normal and I tried to eat the meal but I couldn't work the knife and fork. On the odd occasion I managed to eat, I felt sick and not in the mood to eat at all. As the minutes went on I started to feel a bit better and my mouth stopped shaking and I could control my hands again.

The problem I have is that 5 days later my arms still feel a bit weak. They were fine pre-panic attack (or whatever it was), yet now they just don't feel right. They feel exactly as though I have been using weights for days non-stop, from the fore-arm to the fingers. Also when typing (like now) or gripping, I get pins and needles or odd sensations in the fingers.

Normally when I have a suspected panic attack I am back to normal within an hour, so this is very odd. I have a slight confusion feel with a detached from reality feeling. I look at items on say a wall and feel I wont be able to pick them up, but I am not sure why, I don't know if it is due to my light-headedness or arm/hand co-ordination. I can though pick up the items, it is just a thought that I can't. Like for instance I have a fax machine I am meant to set up, I normally do stuff like that with ease, but the thought of doing it now seems to fill me with a bit of dread or unease. I wish I knew if this feeling is due to my brain or arms. I kind of feel as though I need to be grounded, it is as though I am floating, sort of, a day dream.

While typing this my hands feel so tired and exauhsted. But it is a weird sort of tickly, sickly, feeling, as though butterflies in my arms/hands. As mentioned above, the closest I can compare is as though my arms have been working out non-stop. I know that no one can examine or diagnose someone via a web forum when such symptoms can mean many things, but given the above, does this sound like it could very likely be anxiety ? I don't feel all that anxious, but it may be sub concious. I have lots of weight I need to lose for an August wedding (about 8 stone is what family want me to lose in time) and a possible change of job soon. None of those are really playing on my mind consciously, but maybe subsconciously, but I am unsure why my "attacks" seem to happen when doing normal stuff like using a computer or driving.

Can anxiety really cause all the odd feelings in my arms and hands ? From weakness to numbness and pins and needles and strange temperature feelings when cold. I know lots of people with anxiety think they may have MS or a tumour, and I have to admit the thought of MS has occured to me due to the weird aches in both arms/hands. I presume tumours only affect one side of the body at a time, so I am not as worried about that (unless I hear I am wrong in my assumption).

Sorry to ramble on, this is just a really weird sensation that has lasted 5 days, when normally only lasts 30 minutes to an hour. Should I just ride it out, or is it worth seeing the doctor over ? Has anyone had the above symptoms and found they go after a week or so ?

Thanks for any help and advice, apologies if my writing is poor but I am not quite my usual proper self, or so to speak :)

Jon

[shaggy82]

Can anxiety really cause all the odd feelings in my arms and hands ? From weakness to numbness and pins and needles and strange temperature feelings when cold. I know lots of people with anxiety think they may have MS or a tumour, and I have to admit the thought of MS has occured to me due to the weird aches in both arms/hands. I presume tumours only affect one side of the body at a time, so I am not as worried about that (unless I hear I am wrong in my assumption).

I completely understand what you are saying:)
I cant say that you have anxiety, but i can really relate to your feelings. I have panic attacks, and GAD. But even on "good" days i still feel these things you describe. The thing i have found out, is that when my body and brain gets scared, the blood is pumped to the vital organs.. NOT to the arms.. (you dont need arms to run for your life). So i can be totally ok, and watch TV, and get numbness in my arms. I used to get more sensations like this but when i learned about it, i stopped it because i know what it is. Still.. the odd feelings sometimes comes anyway.

To me, personally, it sounds like anxiety. But thats only because i relate to your problems hehe

P.S. If you get worried about it, and stop exercise for instance, or you have poor blood sirculation from before, you might get these sensations faster.

P.S 2. the next time it happens: try to press your fingertip with your other arm. Count the seconds to when the color returns to normal. If its less than 2-3 seconds - everything is normal. If it takes looong time before the blood returns, it can be bad blood sirculation in your arms. (and thats not dangerous in it self either).

Hope i helped.

Good luck!

[Blizzarduk]

Thanks my friend, you helped a lot. My problems went away but have come back again. My problems went away when I started to suffer from gallbladder problems. So I presume this happened because my thoughts were diverted from my arms to my gallbladder (the gallbladder thing is real as I went yellow from a blockage so had a Ultrasound). But now the gallbladder pain has gone, my odd sensation feeling have come back. My arms have gone weak again and cold. I did the fingertip check and the blood did return within about a second, which I presume is a good thing. I do keep waking up though with a dead arm, which takes 8 to 10 mins to return to normal (well, it feels this long, may be less in reality). I may be lying on it though or again maybe it is an anxiety thing, I am unsure how much a brain can control such things when asleep.

Tonight I had a hot shower and was so cold when the water left my body, yet normally I am so steamy hot in the shower. Can anxiety cause cold sensations ?

Thanks again !!

[islander1]

Its all in your head, everything. Think positive, i know its hard to do because your brain is automatically wired to think negative, due to the chemical imbalance, however whenever you get those wierd feelings, all u gota do is say, "its all in my head" and "none of it is true" . Train your thought patterns, everyday, and you will be rewarded with the fruits of life.