Newbie here: How long do the physical symptoms last continuously?

The extreme irony of my situation is my first isolated panic attack was on an airplane to San Francisco a few years ago...I'm a paratrooper. No other signs or symptoms until the past month.

From the experienced ones here: what's the longest period you have had continuous symptoms?

I'm going on over a month with either constant muscular pain, weakness, stiffness, throat tightness, jaw tightness, trouble swallowing, numbness, tingling, pins and needles which has put me in a loop of hypochondria and anxiety due to thinking I have something more serious. I have not been diagnosed with anything yet, including anxiety disorder. Even when I feel relaxed these symptoms persist, and they will subside for a night or a few hours then come back.

Any thoughts or advice...

First you need to accept the pains are stemming from anxiety. The next step would be to undertake CBT to help change the way you think and stop worry from feeding your anxiety which keeps you on edge and then in turn creates more symptoms due to your brain constantly believing itself to be in a state of danger.

I've been experiencing daily symptoms and pains every hour of every day for 18 months. Distraction is a big help, but until you realize it's caused by anxiety then it's hard to accept it and then progress. Recovery will take quite a while to do. your brain has been wired to think in this irrational and paranoid state and CBT will help you to steer away from the anxious mindset and back to thinking in a calmer and collected state.

Ed

Hey

Firstly - go see a doctor and get checked out... just in case.

Assuming it is 100% anxiety disorder then physical symptom longevity varies greatly amongst us anxious folk, as do the symptoms themselves.

I guess it depends on how anxious you are, or at least how easy your fight or flight response is activated.

Fight or flight can become all too easily triggered... daily, perhaps even hourly, and when this occurs... pains will invariably ensue.

But seriously, go get a diagnosis rather than continue worrying without knowing...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mdbyrne

The extreme irony of my situation is my first isolated panic attack was on an airplane to San Francisco a few years ago...I'm a paratrooper. No other signs or symptoms until the past month.

From the experienced ones here: what's the longest period you have had continuous symptoms?

I'm going on over a month with either constant muscular pain, weakness, stiffness, throat tightness, jaw tightness, trouble swallowing, numbness, tingling, pins and needles which has put me in a loop of hypochondria and anxiety due to thinking I have something more serious. I have not been diagnosed with anything yet, including anxiety disorder. Even when I feel relaxed these symptoms persist, and they will subside for a night or a few hours then come back.

Any thoughts or advice...

---

Hi!

I too am feeling my anxiety symptoms for over a month now. Tiredness, dizziness and such. See....the thing is the more we feel these physical symptoms, the more anxious we get and like us being hypochondriac, we don't relax. Our nerves, our muscles and our brain are working too much and it stresses our body some more. And like me being anxious all the time for a month now, my body doesn't have the chance to relax one bit. So, I feel rundown all the time.

Try meditation or tai chi or something to relax your mind. And if it bothers you some more, maybe a visit to a general practitioner won't hurt.

You are not alone!

Cheers

my physical symptoms are still here.. however, I dont care about them and they aren't as frequently occurring.

best of luck.

Tristan D. Ayoubi

IMO Go to a doctor first for tests and blood panels, etc. not only will you be making sure it's not anything serious, but knowing that helps SO much when our brain starts going "your having a heart attack!!" And you can remind it "No, I'm not!! I had 12 EKG's and 26 blood tests to prove it!!" (A little humor there :) I wasn't convinced until after my 3rd ER visit and every test done known to man except a spinal tap) it really does help knowing. If there's something wrong, docs will find it, if they find nothing, then you can start your journey of re-wiring your brain to stop telling you crazy shit and just chill! :)

Thanks for the responses everyone. Went to see my doctor. They are ordering a CT scan just to make sure that I'm don't have onset of something more serious like ALS or MS. They ran blood test didn't see anything there.
I get the CT on Oct. 24th we'll see what happens. Also see a counselor for the first time next week.

I just feel so, weak, not my usual self. Can't eat, can't sleep. Very lethargic. Can't exercise without pain or tingling. Trouble swallowing and I feel like I have excess saliva. I'm hoping it's just my brain.

Sending you lots of positive thoughts and good wishes!

UPDATE: Alright well, two MRIs, CT scan and blood test all completed. All tests were not conclusive for anything, except a slight bulging disc in my neck and some fluid filled nodules on my thyroid. They said my sugar, cholesterol and other misc. blood levels are perfect on all accounts. I have had constant physical symptoms since August. There has been little reprieve, a couple of days here and a few there at most, even when I don't feel particularly stressed. The weakness in the legs is gone today and not as frequent as a few months ago. The back pain remains at least in the background, flares up depending on the day. Now I'm getting short bursts of electrical shocks in the lower body. I'm also getting allodynia in my legs at random times, it comes and goes. I have only been able to see a counselor once since October. They asked about taking anxiety medication and I refused. I think I'll accept next time. I have partially accepted that this is all a result of anxiety. My health phobia is manageable for now. Still have fears about this all being MS. I try to stay away from Googling symptoms but when the strange new thing pops up I can't help it even though it only helps to confirm my worst fears. Ugh. I think this is all a result of facing mortality after the years of being young and invincible.

[QUOTE=mdbyrne;80421]UPDATE: Alright well, two MRIs, CT scan and blood test all completed. All tests were not conclusive for anything, except a slight bulging disc in my neck and some fluid filled nodules on my thyroid. They said my sugar, cholesterol and other misc. blood levels are perfect on all accounts. I have had constant physical symptoms since August. There has been little reprieve, a couple of days here and a few there at most, even when I don't feel particularly stressed. The weakness in the legs is gone today and not as frequent as a few months ago. The back pain remains at least in the background, flares up depending on the day. Now I'm getting short bursts of electrical shocks in the lower body. I'm also getting allodynia in my legs at random times, it comes and goes. I have only been able to see a counselor once since October. They asked about taking anxiety medication and I refused. I think I'll accept next time. I have partially accepted that this is all a result of anxiety. My health phobia is manageable for now. Still have fears about this all being MS. I try to stay away from Googling symptoms but when the strange new thing pops up I can't help it even though it only helps to confirm my worst fears. Ugh. I think this is all a result of facing mortality after the years of being young and invincible.[/QU

mdbyrne,
I have had similar symptoms. I have been though all the testing and they have found nothing. I do have some neck/back issues for which I am seeing a chiropractor. I thought I must have ALS or MS too, which are both scary diseases! Although MS is a lot more treatable and not necessarily fatal. I also am not on any meds yet, because I refused. I am starting to think I might have to because its just exhausting dealing with these symptoms everyday. I definitely think that you should stop asking Dr Google about your symptoms because often the worst possible diseases are the ones that pop up (trust me, I've been there) I still don't know if what I have is anxiety, I haven't actually been dx'd with it, but that's what a few doctors have suggested. And seeing as they cant find anything else wrong with me, this is the only answer for right now.