Anxiety or health concern? Please help!

[RedBeard]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the boards, so this is my first post. I'm trying to find out if I legitimately have a health issue or if this is my anxiety taking over. This is effecting my social life and my ability to concentrate at work. I keep thinking I have a horrible disease! I've always suffered from anxiety but the only time it really flares up is when something becomes health related.

In the last three weeks I have noticed the following symptoms:

• Tremors - mainly in left hand & only noticeable when I hold my hands out
• Muscle twitches
• Internal vibrations - fluctuates

I apologize ahead of time if this is confusing. I've recently seen two doctors. My family doctor who is not covered by my insurance, referred me to a neurologist. Problem is, we knew this would be expensive so I decided to go through my insurance. The doctor covered by my insurance thought my symptoms were either a side effect of the medication I was taking Celexa OR an essential tremor.

Following the doctor's visit, I felt a great sense of relief! THEN four days later I'm back to square one... I find myself hyper-aware of my body, movements, twitches, etc. Through out the day I hold my hands out to see if I'm shaking; when I go to bed I count the number of twitches. Has anyone ever encountered this?

The Doctor switched my prescription from Celexa over to Zoloft and increased the dosage. Is it possible for stress/anxiety to manifest itself and show up in the form of these symptoms? In the last three months I've gone through a break up and interviewed for a job (which I did not get). I honestly didn't feel like these affected me, but maybe they did?

I'm supposed to follow up with the doctor in a month, but it's driving me bonkers! I'm tempted to seek the referral to the neurologist just to clear my mind! Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated!

[alankay]

Red, in a word, yes. The recent changes(job and break up) you've been through and the fact that you were anxious in the past makes me pretty sure all this is anxiety. Anxiety always gets worse when under more stresses. I don't think a neurologist is the specialist to see as you are anxious and these body/muscle movements are a result of that but still as he's close enough as a speciaclity he should be able to give an opinion as to if it's anxiety or not. Many don't know this but psychiatrists are also part neurologist(they call it "P and N"). There is significant overlap between Neurology and Psychiatry). I bet he will refer you to a psychiatrist or even a GP that is well trained and experienced with anxiety. These days many younger GP's are good with anxiety as awareness is much higher to the actual incidence of anxiety among the general population. Ask the neurologist about Lyrica(pregabalin) which is a treatment for general anxiety disorder(GAD) and not a benzo so there little/no risk of dependence. He might give you a small rx for a benzo which will calm you down until you get to the right doc for you. Still an SSRI at the right dose might be the best long term med for you. PM me any time. Alankay.

[RedBeard]

Red, in a word, yes. The recent changes(job and break up) you've been through and the fact that you were anxious in the past makes me pretty sure all this is anxiety. Anxiety always gets worse when under more stresses. I don't think a neurologist is the specialist to see as you are anxious and these body/muscle movements are a result of that but still as he's close enough as a speciaclity he should be able to give an opinion as to if it's anxiety or not. Many don't know this but psychiatrists are also part neurologist(they call it "P and N"). There is significant overlap between Neurology and Psychiatry). I bet he will refer you to a psychiatrist or even a GP that is well trained and experienced with anxiety. These days many younger GP's are good with anxiety as awareness is much higher to the actual incidence of anxiety among the general population. Ask the neurologist about Lyrica(pregabalin) which is a treatment for general anxiety disorder(GAD) and not a benzo so there little/no risk of dependence. He might give you a small rx for a benzo which will calm you down until you get to the right doc for you. Still an SSRI at the right dose might be the best long term med for you. PM me any time. Alankay.

Thanks for the quick response! My doctor prescribed me some Clonazepam .5mg, which I take whenever I feel like a panic attack is coming on. Lately though, I've been using them when I notice myself overly obsessing about my hand tremors or twitches. Problem is, Clonazepam turns me into a zombie and makes it difficult to function at work. It's like a double edge sword! On top of that, I think the Zoloft is making me tired and I'm having to turn to coffee or energy drinks, which make the tremors worse. Ugh :/

[MainerMikeBrown]

Meditating may help calm you down, RedBeard.

Many who start meditating give up on it, as they get nothing out of it at first. They don't realize that it can take a month or two for meditating to start working.

Another reason some people give up on it is because anyone with anxiety issues wants to get better now-not one or two months from now. But patience and persistance can pay off.