Murr
10-16-2015, 07:16 AM
Hi there, everybody. It's been a while since I joined a forum, but I'm looking forward to contributing here. So I guess I'll start off with a little about me (I'll try to keep this brief-ish).
I'm a 27 year old artist/illustrator that lives in the USA with my fiance. I've always been more of an introvert, but am perfectly capable of interacting with people when in social or professional situations - something I've gotten much better at since becoming self-employed. Things started to change for me around late July last year, when I suddenly started feeling very ill. Over the course of a couple weeks, I suddenly had all these crazy physical symptoms in all different body systems and felt really scared. Over the next few months, I had a variety of medical tests done which, thankfully, all came out clear. Though at the time, every "all clear" that came back just made me a wreck because it seemed to me that there was something seriously wrong with that none of my doctors could figure out.
Eventually, we landed on the possibility of anxiety/depression/hypochondria causing all of this and I was prescribed 50 mg of Sertraline and directed to seek counseling, which I have continued for about 7 months now. I'm very thankful that the most debilitating symptoms I was experiencing (nausea, dizziness, insomnia, etc.) have long since faded away. However, even though I definitely feel like I'm in a bit better place emotionally than I was (last year was a pretty TERRIBLE year for my fiance and me), I still struggle daily with physical annoyances that just won't seem to go away, and that I just can't seem to get used to. Muscles all over my body twitch randomly, my skin feels like its crawling, and I feel an almost constant tightness in my chest that makes breathing SEEM like its harder to do, though I have never passed out. I'm able to exercise rigorously every day, so I know my body is working just fine. But it's these persistent symptoms that still plague my mind and I feel obsessed with them. It's like, they don't keep me from doing anything that I really want to do in my daily life, but I can't stop thinking about them, questioning them, trying to figure them out, etc. It's maddening.
I've not seen a psychiatrist or anything yet, but that may be next on the list of things to try.
Anyway, that's the brief version of me. I look forward to being a part of the community here, and perhaps meeting some others who are going through similar experiences. Thanks for having me!
I'm a 27 year old artist/illustrator that lives in the USA with my fiance. I've always been more of an introvert, but am perfectly capable of interacting with people when in social or professional situations - something I've gotten much better at since becoming self-employed. Things started to change for me around late July last year, when I suddenly started feeling very ill. Over the course of a couple weeks, I suddenly had all these crazy physical symptoms in all different body systems and felt really scared. Over the next few months, I had a variety of medical tests done which, thankfully, all came out clear. Though at the time, every "all clear" that came back just made me a wreck because it seemed to me that there was something seriously wrong with that none of my doctors could figure out.
Eventually, we landed on the possibility of anxiety/depression/hypochondria causing all of this and I was prescribed 50 mg of Sertraline and directed to seek counseling, which I have continued for about 7 months now. I'm very thankful that the most debilitating symptoms I was experiencing (nausea, dizziness, insomnia, etc.) have long since faded away. However, even though I definitely feel like I'm in a bit better place emotionally than I was (last year was a pretty TERRIBLE year for my fiance and me), I still struggle daily with physical annoyances that just won't seem to go away, and that I just can't seem to get used to. Muscles all over my body twitch randomly, my skin feels like its crawling, and I feel an almost constant tightness in my chest that makes breathing SEEM like its harder to do, though I have never passed out. I'm able to exercise rigorously every day, so I know my body is working just fine. But it's these persistent symptoms that still plague my mind and I feel obsessed with them. It's like, they don't keep me from doing anything that I really want to do in my daily life, but I can't stop thinking about them, questioning them, trying to figure them out, etc. It's maddening.
I've not seen a psychiatrist or anything yet, but that may be next on the list of things to try.
Anyway, that's the brief version of me. I look forward to being a part of the community here, and perhaps meeting some others who are going through similar experiences. Thanks for having me!