Am I experiencing anxiety?

[harley01]

Hey guys! I am a new member. I'm a 27 year old male. Really freaked out and am looking for help. Let me tell you my story. About a month ago I woke up with my heart racing and feeling like I was going to pass out. I had a metallic taste in my mouth, weak, shaking, dizzy, pins and needles, and fatigue. My girlfriend rushed me to the ER, they did a CT scan was clear and told me it was inner ear. They said vertigo. Even tho room wasn't spinning.

They gave me Mclizine and Ativan to get me by. I went through attacks like this daily, but Ativan worked and I went back to normal about 15min after taking it.

ENT doctor said I was perfectly fine, but due to the symptoms he recommended an MRI. Still dealing with the symptoms and taking the Ativan, I ended up having an MRI, MRA, and EEG. All 100% clear. At this point I started having facial weakness, throat feeling tight/weak, and my abs also feeling weak. I ended up in the hospital and saw a Nuero. He did another MRI of the brain and cervical spine. Even a ton of autoimmune panels, full heart work up, thyroid, etc. All clear. He said I have anxiety... he switched me to Klonopin. Symptoms still come and go and some last for days and up to a week. The medication does work, but trying not to use it unless I have to.

Some days my arms are weak, some times it's my legs or face or throat. I've started salivating much more. Sometimes I itch. I feel clumsy/forgetful. I have lots of eye floaters, flashes of lights in vision. I get tremors, pins and needles, horrible metallic taste in mouth, and even my rectum twitches (gross I know.) or other muscles, and sometimes it feels like my kidneys hurt, and I even had a kidney stone during all of this as well (never had one before, but it's gone now)

It's genuinely scary... and before this I was a pretty healthy guy. It's like life has done a 180.

Am I dealing with anxiety? Sorry for the book of a post, but I am wanting to reach out to those who've been there.

Thank you for reading!

[gypsylee]

Hi Harley and welcome :)

Had you been under much stress prior to this?

Someone posted a similar story in the Welcome section and it sounded like a stroke to me but I think she had tests which said otherwise. I've never really had such full-on symptoms - just heart palpitations, insomnia and racing thoughts. Anyway, just wondering what happened in your life before this?

Hang in there,
Gypsy x

[harley01]

Hi Harley and welcome :)

Had you been under much stress prior to this?

Someone posted a similar story in the Welcome section and it sounded like a stroke to me but I think she had tests which said otherwise. I've never really had such full-on symptoms - just heart palpitations, insomnia and racing thoughts. Anyway, just wondering what happened in your life before this?

Hang in there,
Gypsy x


My job is pretty stressful. There was talk of downsizing our dept, but so far that has worked out. I've always been a little anxious, but nothing like this... this has become dehibilitating!

[gypsylee]

I'd be really interested in talking to doctors about how many of these cases they see (people with serious physical symptoms with no explanation other than anxiety). As I say - I read a post in the last few days like this and god knows how many in my time on this forum. I mean, I've heard that if you're in Emergency and you have facial weakness they rush you to the front of the queue because it's indicative of stroke. But please don't let that freak you out.. If you've had all those tests then trust them. The other thing that points to it being "just" anxiety is the Ativan and Klonopin work.

Anyway, I was interested in how much stress you've been under because I've got a theory that things are getting so stressful with things like work/finances, that people like yourself - who otherwise cope pretty well with stress - are being affected. I've always had an oversensitive nervous system and would probably have been described as "very anxious" from the get go.

But yeah, I'm thinking maybe the stuff at work was enough to cause your nervous system to "break down". Even though it's worked out so far (the downsizing), these things can build and build subconsciously until they kind of explode on the surface. It does sound very debilitating and scary, especially if you were "normal" and healthy beforehand.

One thing that I've found surprisingly helpful with anxiety is deep/diaphragmatic breathing. I read up on how it works and it basically tells the parasympathetic nervous system to do its job (the part that slows things down). It has all sorts of other health benefits so that's something you could try.

:)

[harley01]

I'd be really interested in talking to doctors about how many of these cases they see (people with serious physical symptoms with no explanation other than anxiety). As I say - I read a post in the last few days like this and god knows how many in my time on this forum. I mean, I've heard that if you're in Emergency and you have facial weakness they rush you to the front of the queue because it's indicative of stroke. But please don't let that freak you out.. If you've had all those tests then trust them. The other thing that points to it being "just" anxiety is the Ativan and Klonopin work.

Anyway, I was interested in how much stress you've been under because I've got a theory that things are getting so stressful with things like work/finances, that people like yourself - who otherwise cope pretty well with stress - are being affected. I've always had an oversensitive nervous system and would probably have been described as "very anxious" from the get go.

But yeah, I'm thinking maybe the stuff at work was enough to cause your nervous system to "break down". Even though it's worked out so far (the downsizing), these things can build and build subconsciously until they kind of explode on the surface. It does sound very debilitating and scary, especially if you were "normal" and healthy beforehand.

One thing that I've found surprisingly helpful with anxiety is deep/diaphragmatic breathing. I read up on how it works and it basically tells the parasympathetic nervous system to do its job (the part that slows things down). It has all sorts of other health benefits so that's something you could try.

:)

Definitely not a stroke, I was checked out by a very good heart doctor. I wasn't impressed with the nuero, but he did check me for stroke, MS, etc

I just wasn't sure if anyone else has had these symptoms? Additionally I forgot to mention the nausea and diarrhea.

[gypsylee]

Check this out: http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?1200-Anxiety-Symptoms-The-List

[harley01]

Is it normal to have at least some of the symptoms daily? Especially for a whole month?

[DWB]

Hello harley01, welcome to the site. I'm rather new here myself, but by no means am I new to anxiety & panic attacks. I've been having them for the past 35+ years. Sometimes they seem to go away for a while, then come back with a vengeance. My first advice to you is, check your diet. Meaning pay attention to what you are eating every day, as well as multivitamins and supplements. Multivitamins CAN affect people by causing anxiety & panic attacks.

"Certain vitamins such as B-complex are stimulatory and will cause anxiety and even panic attacks in some people. Minerals such as copper, manganese and others are also stimulatory. Certain herbs such as ginseng and eluthero are also somewhat stimulatory and can cause anxiety."

If you do take multivitamins or supplements, I would suggest reading up on the matter, Google it, there's lots of info about it on some trusted sites. Hope you feel better soon.

[RossySoonDone]

Anxiety can cause a number of different sensations, some more severe then what you're facing. If it is anxiety, which it sounds like to me it may be, there is nothing unhealthy about you and you are still your healthy self! Get a proper diagnosis for anxiety and aim to cure yourself, all the other weird feelings will also dissapear

[fixmybrokenmind]

Anxiety can be really complicated and it is not unlikely that your side effect profile is being caused by high anxiety. However with side effects like that, I would definitely keep an eye on it.

Klonopin and benzo's can be very addicting, but they do work very well. Make sure you don't get into the habit of taking them daily as withdrawl can be terrible from what I hear!

[RossySoonDone]

Anxiety can be really complicated and it is not unlikely that your side effect profile is being caused by high anxiety. However with side effects like that, I would definitely keep an eye on it.

Klonopin and benzo's can be very addicting, but they do work very well. Make sure you don't get into the habit of taking them daily as withdrawl can be terrible from what I hear!

I don't personally advocate taking any drug, but thats just me - whether they "work well" or not. Cocaine works well too but I'd steer clear from that also. It'll only cause you more problems down the road.