REC
05-21-2016, 10:55 AM
Hi all
I am new to the forum and have found browsing really helpful but would now really like to hear your opinion on something. Apologies in advance for the very long post but I wanted to give my full situation to enable you to make a better judgement...
At the end of April I had about a week of feeling faint, pain behind my left eye and extreme fatigue. A full blood count, ECG and MRI were fine (I live in the UAE where these tests are routine!) and the symptoms seemed to go after having 3 days off work before the weekend. The doctor concluded it was a virus. However, my mum (who lives back in the UK) thought that maybe I had anxiety. Initially, I didn't think this was possible as I wasn't particularly worried about anything. However, now in retrospect, and due to current symptoms, I'm wondering if she might have been right. I've been having odd thoughts and behaviour over the last year - I moved to the UAE in August 2015 after a hectic year where I got married and I'd say my thoughts started a few months later - I'll elaborate on my current symptoms later.
Firstly, I have become extremely bad with flying. I feel sick in the day before take off, have a pounding chest and nausea at take off and during turbulence. Usually a few drinks calms me down - which I know isn't the best cure!
Secondly, since witnessing the aftermath of a man being hit by a car outside my building, I worry daily that my husband will be hit as he crosses the busy road to go to the shop every day whilst I'm at work. If he doesn't answer his phone I get really panicked. In addition, my mum went on holiday last month on her own and was out of contact for the full week (she was in Cuba where she couldn't get internet) but at the time I was convinced she had died in grizzly circumstances. I haven't shared either of these worries with anyone.
Finally, I've got a lot of worries about my health, which leads me on to current symptoms. For the last week, my vision has been blurry, I have tingling and twitching in my legs, shaky hands and a numb patch on my left cheek, intermittently. Incidentally I am experiencing these as I type, so they seem to worsen the more I think about it. As before, my day to day state of mind has been generally good. I do not enjoy my job (I teach in a school I hate) but do not really dwell or worry too much about it. I am currently applying for a visa to move to Australia (which is a positive change) although the process in fairly stressful and involves a lot of waiting around.
The thing that worries me is that all of these symptoms are also indicative of MS... I keep telling myself that the MRI would have shown any neurological problems but also remember that the doctor literally just scrolled quickly through the images whilst I sat there. Am I going mad? Do these sound like anxiety symptoms without an actual panic attack?
My father died unexpectedly when I was 15 (10 years ago) and again, with hindsight, I don't think I grieved properly. I do recall having what might be classed as panic attacks if I couldn't get hold of my mum or if I heard and type of screaming but haven't experienced a panic attack as such recently.
Thank you for reading this if you got all the way through! Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Rachel
I am new to the forum and have found browsing really helpful but would now really like to hear your opinion on something. Apologies in advance for the very long post but I wanted to give my full situation to enable you to make a better judgement...
At the end of April I had about a week of feeling faint, pain behind my left eye and extreme fatigue. A full blood count, ECG and MRI were fine (I live in the UAE where these tests are routine!) and the symptoms seemed to go after having 3 days off work before the weekend. The doctor concluded it was a virus. However, my mum (who lives back in the UK) thought that maybe I had anxiety. Initially, I didn't think this was possible as I wasn't particularly worried about anything. However, now in retrospect, and due to current symptoms, I'm wondering if she might have been right. I've been having odd thoughts and behaviour over the last year - I moved to the UAE in August 2015 after a hectic year where I got married and I'd say my thoughts started a few months later - I'll elaborate on my current symptoms later.
Firstly, I have become extremely bad with flying. I feel sick in the day before take off, have a pounding chest and nausea at take off and during turbulence. Usually a few drinks calms me down - which I know isn't the best cure!
Secondly, since witnessing the aftermath of a man being hit by a car outside my building, I worry daily that my husband will be hit as he crosses the busy road to go to the shop every day whilst I'm at work. If he doesn't answer his phone I get really panicked. In addition, my mum went on holiday last month on her own and was out of contact for the full week (she was in Cuba where she couldn't get internet) but at the time I was convinced she had died in grizzly circumstances. I haven't shared either of these worries with anyone.
Finally, I've got a lot of worries about my health, which leads me on to current symptoms. For the last week, my vision has been blurry, I have tingling and twitching in my legs, shaky hands and a numb patch on my left cheek, intermittently. Incidentally I am experiencing these as I type, so they seem to worsen the more I think about it. As before, my day to day state of mind has been generally good. I do not enjoy my job (I teach in a school I hate) but do not really dwell or worry too much about it. I am currently applying for a visa to move to Australia (which is a positive change) although the process in fairly stressful and involves a lot of waiting around.
The thing that worries me is that all of these symptoms are also indicative of MS... I keep telling myself that the MRI would have shown any neurological problems but also remember that the doctor literally just scrolled quickly through the images whilst I sat there. Am I going mad? Do these sound like anxiety symptoms without an actual panic attack?
My father died unexpectedly when I was 15 (10 years ago) and again, with hindsight, I don't think I grieved properly. I do recall having what might be classed as panic attacks if I couldn't get hold of my mum or if I heard and type of screaming but haven't experienced a panic attack as such recently.
Thank you for reading this if you got all the way through! Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Rachel