anxiety and panic sufferer

[lisalocket71]

hi im new to this forum my names lisa ive suffered from high anxiety last bad bout was back in 2009 mine seems to stem from a build of things happeneing in my life then i start to get the usual anxiety symptoms,tingling,burning skin sensations,palpatations,muscle weakness,insomnia,no energy,heavy pressure heads,dry mouth,going to toilet frequently i could go on but i think u get the jist of it,it was very hard for me to take in that the doctor said it was just anxiety i thought i had sumthing serious and it just spiralled out of control.i would obsess and do internet searching and that made me worse so anxiety got worse tightness of chest etc,i lost loads of weight and couldnt deal with everyday life i was off work couldnt do things with my son it took over my life?now it has returned with avengence i got different symptoms this time like a woozy head feeling which was horrible very strange feeling so i thought the worse yet again told the docs it must be sumthing bad as i didnt av this last time,he said that it was a very common symptom of anxiety much to my surprise thought he was just fobbing me off i then began to search for answers which made me worse,i had to ambulance call outs to two panic attacks couldnt go to work again the woozy head eventually let up and i thought i was on the mend,i went for a routine eye exam which everything was fine with very healthy&slight perscription change,ive always worried about me eyes coz anxiety last time caused them to be dry which is painful,anyway i was sitting down watching tv a couple of days after eye exam when i saw a squiggly pattern out corner of my eye which was annoying so panicked&went to eye casualty she said everything looked fine it could of bin your eyelid flicker but u cudnt feel it,as days passed i kept fretting about it i kepted avin flashes of light and seeeing like dots so i went back,they had a good look at the back and said it was the viterous jelly at the back had come away slightly and can tug causing flashes,i felt abit beta till i read the leaflet that other things cud happen but its rare but that just frightnened me and i was just waiting for it to happen making myself a nervous wreck,i went back around 4times in two weeks saying that its got worse seeing colours&patterns etc,she had a look and said all was good that it isnt my eyes its to do with the brain could me migraines then i said i do suffer with anxiety and i panic thinking the worse,she said i need to get on with me life and address the problem,told my gp and she said anxiety can cause all these things with your eyes she had another patient with similar things but cause they werent bothered abut it they went,i think cause im obsessing about it my anxiety is making it worse and my mind is programmed to see these as i am letting it take over and anxiety just manifests itself in you as we all no,im now taking anti depressants as i didnt no what else to do i was goin out of my mind worrying i dont no if there helping i just feel weird this is my second week,just want my life back so i can be a proper mum&partner as they mean the world to me,sorry for long post.

[30something]

The visual disturbances could be optic migraines. when I had my first bout of anxiety in my twenties I had a few episodes of visual disturbances with no headache that evolved flashing lights and objects that looked like the camouflage from the movie predator that would slowly move across my eyes and still be there even when I closed my eyes. I saw a neurologist over it. I was told It's nothing to worry about and that stress and anxiety causes those types of migraines. I got on antidepressants and eventually the optic migraines stopped as well as the rest of my symptoms which matched a lot of yours. I have since gone almost a decade without severe anxiety. I just recently started having problems with it again and like you my symptoms are different this time around. I find myself thinking I got some terrible disease again as the muscle weakness thing is a new symptom to me and like you I've made the mistake of looking up symptoms on the web. BAD IDEA!
Just keep taking the antidepressants and you'll start to get you're bearings back. Remember that they can take as long as 6-8 weeks for some people so hang in there And remember that you're not alone.