Seeking Confirmation.

[Dallers]

Hi All. Just wanted to start by saying that as a mild sufferer of anxiety and being unable to understand why day by day for no reason at all I have a wave of tension that leaves me in agony and appears out of nowhere for no reason I have huge respect for you all and what you go through.

A bit of background about me I am late 20's and am very healthy, I do not eat sugar, drink, smoke and stick to a nutritious ketogenic lifestyle. I would say I do not deem myself to be in a bad situation in life, I have debt like everyone else and have quite strong OCD but my routine runs my life and socially I do distance myself and remain single because I find it keeps me stress and problem free (I use to be the complete opposite always fight and never flight, I guess I just got fed up with the problems and switched to flight instead). I think I have started to come to terms with the fact that I have anxiety mainly because I go through moments of panic and focus all my effort on a worry for no reason and then can release myself and be anxiety free for a short period of time only to return to the same state and I cannot understand why. I question if I do have anxiety which I suppose is a clear sign :) and also that I have this raging tension that builds up and leaves me in constant pain. I had a severe shoulder injury a few years back treated by a Physio but it went on for a good 18 months and I managed to fix my shoulder but since then I have been left with a phantom pain and tension that is a day by day issue in my life. It spans from my back to the neck and over my left side shoulder and down my arm, my right side is strong as an ox. My Physio confirms there is no injury and I have repaired the muscle loss, along with having full range of motion and the symptoms coming and going I fear that I am doing this to myself coming from an injury I had over a long period of time to now using it as a way to store my tension and stress.

I find that it ranges from pain to numbness and clicking/popping from tense muscles and tendons, my whole left side will feel tight and from my jaw and the left side of my face all the way down my neck, back, shoulder arm I can literally feel it tightening and the tension building when it gets bad. I wake up and for a few moments feel as if there is nothing wrong with me and then within minutes I feel the pain and discomfort coming on, as if my brain has recognised it is not there.... :/

It has been bad since Christmas and today on the way home I had enough I focused all my energy on relaxing myself and switching my brain away from thinking about the injury/pain and it passed and subsided. I am sitting here typing just left with severe aching and weakness but no pain or tension as if I have managed to relax the muscles and I feel normal again. I guess I am just seeking confirmation from another that might have something similar, do I continue to bug physio's and doctors to be told there is nothing wrong and be thrown injections and painkillers or do I need something different like acupuncture?

Working at a computer and sitting all day long can be brutal when this comes on and I find that exercising/stretching only alleviates the problem temporarily. I find it is worse at work and eases when at home which again points to it being a problem with me rather than my shoulder. I am very worried because my left side is so weak from the tightness and lack of use and this only makes my worry worse.

Thank you for listening and if anyone has any pointers on how I should approach to fix this problem I would be happy to listen. 2 years is long enough.

[raggamuffin]

Does the OCd breed stresses in itself? If the routine must be carried out daily I imagine you could become quite noticeably stressed if the day isn't meticulously carried out. I understand staying single to minimize stresws as it can certainly add to anxiety. Some people find relationships very beneficial but I found they added more stresses to my general state of mind.

What moments do you find yourself panicking most? Can you bring these momebnts to a head with techniques you've learned? Have yo uread much about anxiety, the fight or flight response, physical symptoms and why they occur etc? Have you ever considered therapy and or medication for OCD and the anxiety you've been experiencing?

Physio can certainly be helpful but also quite expensive. Yoga is free as is meditation and practice with either of these, or both can be of great releif to anxious and stressed people. If there's no injury and this has been confiremd then it's likely tro be anxiety based. The muscle aches and pains from anxiety are very real and can rang from mild to severe, stabbing to long lasting. That's the problem with anxiety, it's a great unknown when it comes to symp;toms and the more you worry about them the more they take hold of your day to day and can make things very difficult indeed.

There are muscle relxation exercises which have been helpful. It might be worth visiting a Dr to have checks on things like thyroid vfunction, vitamin levels etc. You say your diet is healthy so that's a big plus, but looking at other lifestyle changres etc could certainly improve matters i'm sure.
I wouldn't go down the route of pain killers and injections. It's difficult to remove anxiety related pains with such things unless they're very potent and even then they don't fix underlying issues. Work can be more uncomfortable with people and their anxiety. PC's, office lighting, lack of fresh air and general tension or stress from work can all add to negative feelings. Getting home is often a blessing for people, especially those with anxiety who might be in pain a lot of the time.

There's many useful stickies at the top of this forum, speak to a Dr, look into therapy, yoga and meditation and i'm sure you'll find what works best for you in reducing your anxiety.

Ed