eblis32
07-31-2015, 12:26 PM
I am finally joining this forum after suffering yesterday from my very first and very terrifying, intense panic attack.
My story pretty much started a few months ago back in late March. I was getting ready to leave one job for a completely new kind of job.
A week before I started my new job, I helped move some heavy furniture around. Days later, I was feeling pain that would come and go near my left arm and
chest area and I also felt like I was coming on with a slight cold. I was working, and started to feel like I couldn't catch my breath. I couldn't breathe well. That, coupled with the weird pain around my chest and arm, forced me to call my boss and tell her that I needed to head straight to the Dr. Being that I'm only 30, and hearing the story about me moving the furniture a few days ago, the Dr. told me that I probably pulled or injured something, and felt that it was entirely muscular.
I went home that day, lack of appetite, still feeling odd, still not sure if he was right. Fast forward two days later, and I'm walking through an IKEA with my
husband and toddler. I start to feel like I can't breathe right. I feel out of breath, very off, and dizzy. I feel my left arm weak and feel my fingers curling up involuntarily. I end up going to the emergency room that day.
They do an EKG, blood work, chest xray, CT scan of head and neck. Dr. assumes because of my arm weakness that I may have some kind of neuropathy, and to follow up with a nuerologist. That night,
I also experience muscle twitching in my leg. I go to a neurologist, who runs more bloodwork, schedules me for an EMG and a nerve conduction study. The only thing that was found was mild carpal tunnel, and a slightly
elevated ANA (1:40). I had also gone that week back to another GP (my old trusted GP), and she runs more tests, suggesting it's probably a virus and maybe I
just need to let it run its course. She tests me for some more things, including mono. Mono test is negative. The following week, I feel so weak. I start to feel random pains
in random places (fingers, near my joints, jaw, arms, legs, feet) lasting no more than a few seconds to a minute. Shooting pains up my arms when I try to pick up my toddler. I feel like
climbing up the stairs is difficult. I have no appetite and start to feel like small food particles getting stuck at the back of my throat when I swallow, which leads to me avoiding certain foods altogether. I
start waking up with a feeling of doom, and run to the bathroom every morning to puke whatever contents I had in my empty stomach, dry heaving mostly.
I panic that I have something seriously wrong with me like cancer, and no one has found it yet. I go back to another GP (my last GP is on vacation). He tells me that I have
psychosomatic stress disorder and that I need to go see a psychiatrist or psychologist. He orders me to see an ENT for my swallowing problem, and also to check with a rheumatologist
to investigate the slightly elevated ANA. He also tests me for Lyme disease, which ends up coming back negative. I try to calm myself down, thinking maybe he's right. I need to do everything to get myself
on a healthy track. I start to try and force myself to eat healthy. I start taking vitamins, including extra magnesium. A week of doing this and I start to feel better, even though I'm still having trouble swallowing
and I still have no appetite whatsoever. One morning I wake up to shower and wash my hair, and I notice my arm feels weak. I start to panic. I start getting twitches of random pain throughout
my body all day long. I am upset that everything is back. I go see the rheumatologist who asks me a bunch of questions about my symptoms, and tells me there is really nothing she could do for me because she does
not think I have an autoimmune problem, and that plenty of healthy people have such a low titer ANA. She tests my vitamin D level to see if maybe that could be causing my strange symptoms. The test comes back a 27, on the low side, but not terribly low.
I start taking vitamin D 2000 ui as suggested. I go to an ENT about my swallowing problem, and he looks down my throat, says it looks swollen, and prescribes me acid reflux medication.
I never had any issues with reflux in the past so this is puzzling to me. I start to take my medication for reflux, and slowly my swallowing issues start returning to almost normal (it took about a month atleast!).
Fast forward to last week, I had an endoscopy done to see what's going on in my stomach and what may be causing the reflux, and he tells me I have mild gastritis and a minor hiatal hernia. Biopsy was negative. This past week
I've been feeling tiny bouts of slight dizziness and light headedness, which I attributed maybe to some remnants of the propofol sedative they used during the endoscopy.
And yesterday... walking through a Walmart, we were with my eldest son, shopping for school supplies. I start to feel like I can't breathe right again. This makes me focus more on my breathing
and it's almost like I forgot how to breathe. I get light headed as we are finishing up. I walk into the car and feel tingly all over (my face, arms, legs). I start to feel a strange pressure and a feeling like this is it,
I am dying. I yell at my husband to pull over, call 911. My hands start to cramp up into a position, and I can't move my fingers, I can't breathe. The paramedics arrive, and the paramedic knew immediately
that I was hyperventilating from my hands cramping up like that. He started to try to calm me down, telling me that it's a normal reaction to hyperventilation. That even if I were to pass out, my body will reset itself. He stayed there to talk me through it.
I started breathing better, and calming down very slowly. I decided it was okay and I didn't need them to take me to the hospital. I went home to rest. I am starting to finally put all
the puzzle pieces together now, and attribute all my weird symptoms and now panic attack to the stress and anxiety i've been feeling. I had no idea that anxiety could be so physical.
I am just now starting to accept it. I did go see a psychologist once during these past few months, but I never went again after the first visit, but now I'm thinking I should. Now that I
know it's all anxiety, I am ready to take it head on. The scariest part for me is just all the real physical symptoms of it, and sometimes I wonder what if the doctors missed something. This is so long, and
i'm not sure who would read everything here, but I am here now, and I accept it as anxiety. I know I have quite a journey ahead of me..Anyways, Hello all.
My story pretty much started a few months ago back in late March. I was getting ready to leave one job for a completely new kind of job.
A week before I started my new job, I helped move some heavy furniture around. Days later, I was feeling pain that would come and go near my left arm and
chest area and I also felt like I was coming on with a slight cold. I was working, and started to feel like I couldn't catch my breath. I couldn't breathe well. That, coupled with the weird pain around my chest and arm, forced me to call my boss and tell her that I needed to head straight to the Dr. Being that I'm only 30, and hearing the story about me moving the furniture a few days ago, the Dr. told me that I probably pulled or injured something, and felt that it was entirely muscular.
I went home that day, lack of appetite, still feeling odd, still not sure if he was right. Fast forward two days later, and I'm walking through an IKEA with my
husband and toddler. I start to feel like I can't breathe right. I feel out of breath, very off, and dizzy. I feel my left arm weak and feel my fingers curling up involuntarily. I end up going to the emergency room that day.
They do an EKG, blood work, chest xray, CT scan of head and neck. Dr. assumes because of my arm weakness that I may have some kind of neuropathy, and to follow up with a nuerologist. That night,
I also experience muscle twitching in my leg. I go to a neurologist, who runs more bloodwork, schedules me for an EMG and a nerve conduction study. The only thing that was found was mild carpal tunnel, and a slightly
elevated ANA (1:40). I had also gone that week back to another GP (my old trusted GP), and she runs more tests, suggesting it's probably a virus and maybe I
just need to let it run its course. She tests me for some more things, including mono. Mono test is negative. The following week, I feel so weak. I start to feel random pains
in random places (fingers, near my joints, jaw, arms, legs, feet) lasting no more than a few seconds to a minute. Shooting pains up my arms when I try to pick up my toddler. I feel like
climbing up the stairs is difficult. I have no appetite and start to feel like small food particles getting stuck at the back of my throat when I swallow, which leads to me avoiding certain foods altogether. I
start waking up with a feeling of doom, and run to the bathroom every morning to puke whatever contents I had in my empty stomach, dry heaving mostly.
I panic that I have something seriously wrong with me like cancer, and no one has found it yet. I go back to another GP (my last GP is on vacation). He tells me that I have
psychosomatic stress disorder and that I need to go see a psychiatrist or psychologist. He orders me to see an ENT for my swallowing problem, and also to check with a rheumatologist
to investigate the slightly elevated ANA. He also tests me for Lyme disease, which ends up coming back negative. I try to calm myself down, thinking maybe he's right. I need to do everything to get myself
on a healthy track. I start to try and force myself to eat healthy. I start taking vitamins, including extra magnesium. A week of doing this and I start to feel better, even though I'm still having trouble swallowing
and I still have no appetite whatsoever. One morning I wake up to shower and wash my hair, and I notice my arm feels weak. I start to panic. I start getting twitches of random pain throughout
my body all day long. I am upset that everything is back. I go see the rheumatologist who asks me a bunch of questions about my symptoms, and tells me there is really nothing she could do for me because she does
not think I have an autoimmune problem, and that plenty of healthy people have such a low titer ANA. She tests my vitamin D level to see if maybe that could be causing my strange symptoms. The test comes back a 27, on the low side, but not terribly low.
I start taking vitamin D 2000 ui as suggested. I go to an ENT about my swallowing problem, and he looks down my throat, says it looks swollen, and prescribes me acid reflux medication.
I never had any issues with reflux in the past so this is puzzling to me. I start to take my medication for reflux, and slowly my swallowing issues start returning to almost normal (it took about a month atleast!).
Fast forward to last week, I had an endoscopy done to see what's going on in my stomach and what may be causing the reflux, and he tells me I have mild gastritis and a minor hiatal hernia. Biopsy was negative. This past week
I've been feeling tiny bouts of slight dizziness and light headedness, which I attributed maybe to some remnants of the propofol sedative they used during the endoscopy.
And yesterday... walking through a Walmart, we were with my eldest son, shopping for school supplies. I start to feel like I can't breathe right again. This makes me focus more on my breathing
and it's almost like I forgot how to breathe. I get light headed as we are finishing up. I walk into the car and feel tingly all over (my face, arms, legs). I start to feel a strange pressure and a feeling like this is it,
I am dying. I yell at my husband to pull over, call 911. My hands start to cramp up into a position, and I can't move my fingers, I can't breathe. The paramedics arrive, and the paramedic knew immediately
that I was hyperventilating from my hands cramping up like that. He started to try to calm me down, telling me that it's a normal reaction to hyperventilation. That even if I were to pass out, my body will reset itself. He stayed there to talk me through it.
I started breathing better, and calming down very slowly. I decided it was okay and I didn't need them to take me to the hospital. I went home to rest. I am starting to finally put all
the puzzle pieces together now, and attribute all my weird symptoms and now panic attack to the stress and anxiety i've been feeling. I had no idea that anxiety could be so physical.
I am just now starting to accept it. I did go see a psychologist once during these past few months, but I never went again after the first visit, but now I'm thinking I should. Now that I
know it's all anxiety, I am ready to take it head on. The scariest part for me is just all the real physical symptoms of it, and sometimes I wonder what if the doctors missed something. This is so long, and
i'm not sure who would read everything here, but I am here now, and I accept it as anxiety. I know I have quite a journey ahead of me..Anyways, Hello all.