Kitchen Burn - Tingling and SOO MUCH ANXIETY FROM THIS

[cskrone]

I am a 26 year old male and I have been dealing with anxiety for many years. I have been off all medications for 2 years but recently have began taking .25 Xanax as needed to cope with anxiety from a minor kitchen burn.

I burned my hand in the kitchen by picking up a hot pan for like 2 seconds. My entire hand felt like it was on fire for a few minutes and I ran it under cold water. Since then, my palm (where I burned) turned numb and all feeling came back within 6 weeks. BUT, I have minor scar tissue on my palm now and when I grip things, it indents a bit. I feel persistent tingling in my palm (where the scar tissue is). I had nerve conduction tests with a neurologist and showed NO nerve damage but he said it seems like the symptoms of ulner nerve compression. My dermatologist feels the same and said for me not to worry about this at all. I am prone to pyschosomatic illnesses (dizziness, knee pain, hand pain, headaches) and am wondering if this could be ALL in my head or if there is some validity to this tingling after 4 months. This is really affecting my functioning and any help would be greatly appreicated.

I am about to go to physical therapy for this next week but I'm getting mixed signals and don't want to go and spend tons of money if this is another manifestation of my anxiety.

I've been dealing with it for 4 months and the past 2 weeks I am fearful that I am falling into a depression. I am working but barely holding it together and am having angry/irritible thoughts that are bothersome.

Please let me know what you think! :shock:

[palow]

Deep down you know it is all psychosomatic but with anxiety you cannot use reason and logic to make it go away. You will probably end up going to physiotherapy just to make your fear go away. This is subconscious programming and if you have to accept it, you'll be better off than fighting it.

There are two ways to deal with your fear. You can distract yourself or you can dive headlong into your fear. The fear is fake anyway. If you dive into it enough times, it will go away because your subconscious will reprogram. Same thing with distraction. If you find enough things to distract yourself every time your anxiety hits, your subconscious will reprogram.

If you want to try an anxiety program from the internet, the Linden Method uses distraction and other major ones like Panic Away and Anxiety Lie uses the exposure therapy method of facing your fears head on. I used the Linden Method to cure my GAD. There's some more info on my website.

Patrick

[lawandorder]

I agree with palow, accepting this will help you a lot. The worst symptom you have is a tingling sensation. Because of the anxiety, every time you feel a tingling sensation, you think theres something wrong.
I get anxiety about going crazy, so if theres a consistent noise (like a fridge running) that has been going on for the time i've been in the room, suddenly stops, i get a jolt of anxiety. The change in environment despite how small, triggers that thought 'is this it..' Don't even get the chance to challenge it.
Whats the worst thing about having a tingling sensation on ur palm? It's nothing, atleast you have a hand. atleast it's not cancer.
How can a tingle impair your functioning? It can't. The anxiety is, because you're letting it. Stop indulging in it. Your hand is fine, and just because you think it isn't, that doesn't make it true.
Start practicing getting used to the tingle and believing that NOTHING is wrong, and hey who knows, it might go away.
take it easy everythings fine
cheers

[cskrone]

Thanks for the advice guys! The problem here is that it's very hard to ACCEPT that it's not a real problem BUT I know in my heart that it's probably just a somatic form of anxiety.

There is a scar where I burned my palm that's very small but it indents a tiny bit and when I close my hand the indentation gets larger and goes into my palm. Part of me thinks this is the reason behind the tingling.

But, doctors say it's just scar tissue and can't be causing it :)

When I had knee pain last year, I went from doctor to doctor and they all said it was nothing to worry about yet I read books "Cure your Knee Pain" etc. for the pain didn't stop for 8 months UNTIL I went for a long run and it VANISHED.

I also had eye irritation/allergies for 2 years that wouldn't go away despite a lot of eye drops etc that just vanished.

Hand tendonitis that I though HAD to be from my desk cutting off circulation to my hand when I typed that vanished too :)

I think that this is how my anxiety presents itself but it's difficult to accept. I am seeing a naturpathic clinic here in New York today that specializes in using amino acids to treat depression/anxiety today and am going to get on the full vitamin/amino acid/omega 3 therapy + discuss getting on a stricter diet as well and continue with therapy as well. I wan't to beat this :) !!!

Thanks for your help guys.