Uneven pupils, anxiety symptoms, really worried.........

[zenith2]

Can anyone please tell me if they are experiencing similar problems as I am worrying myself so much over this I am making myself feel quite ill.........I posted for the first time last week as I am quite new to this forum.

I have been experiencing tingling / pins&needles in my right hand little finger and side of hand for about 4 weeks, and also tight muscle pain in lower back which is very tender to touch. Also down right leg & foot I get pins & needles sometimes . In the last week or so I have noticed that my right eye pupil is often bigger than the left - mostly in dim light, and in bright day light they are both the same. I also have right sided face pain in sinus area of cheek, also round my eye - this feels like pressure. I do have a maxillary sinus polyp in this sinus as had an MRI scan in May to look at my sinuses but they told me it shouldn't cause me too much problem. I have seen about 4 different doctors at the practice, and they all say anxiety is the cause of everything and that my eyes look fine. I know they don't and even my daughter told me one was a bit bigger than other. I got myself so worked up the other night that decided to go to casualty as the tingling etc was worse , or so it seemed to be. They checked my eyes and reflexes on legs & arms etc and said everything seemed fine. My GP reluctantly referred me to a neurologist but I don't think I will get an appointment until January. I am turning into a nervous wreck with worry and stress, I always have worried about my health but never to this extent before. I also have tight scalp, neck pains, a bit of depression, lack of interest in things I used to enjoy, and can't stop checking my symptoms on internet which I know is bad to do, but no doctors seem to listen to me - please can someone tell me if this sounds like their experience too - the large pupil on the same side as all the aches, pains and tingling - I am so scared that I am even considering going private to get checked properly..............so worried I have a brain tumour or MS...........

[northstar]

hi zenith, did you do any of the things that we reccommened to you in your last post? look into counselling or cognitive behaviour therapy or diet? there are lots of things you can do to help yourself out of this but you have to be willing to put in the effort. your health worries are quite common with anxiety, but you need to do something about it not just ask others for confirmation of your symptoms. i hope this doesn't sound harsh, i just want to be upfront and honest. perhaps it might help if you reread some of the replies to your other post and starting putting some things into action. i hope you're feeling better soon :)

[zenith2]

Thanks for your reply, yes I have looked into the therapy........I have an appointment with a psychologist in 2 weeks time for an initial assessment, and then I will have to wait for an appointment after this whenever there is one available. I do recognise now that I need some help, but it does help if I know other people on this forum have experienced similar problems, particularly with the eye thing. I'm sorry if people think I am ranting and moaning all the time, I do realise that everyone else has problems too. Thanks for all your advice, I appreciate it............

[idreamofskiba]

Woah, it's as if I had written that myself. I'm going through the exact same feelings you are! I can't get in for an MRI until the end of November, and I'm freaked out about MS. The only thing I haven't worried about, though, is my pinky finger and side of my hand going numb (which is the worst numb feeling I get - so it's weird that it bothers me the least.) Do you lean on your elbow a lot? If it's your pinky and side of your hand, it could just be your ulnar nerve. Hope you get feeling better.

[northstar]

Thanks for your reply, yes I have looked into the therapy........I have an appointment with a psychologist in 2 weeks time for an initial assessment, and then I will have to wait for an appointment after this whenever there is one available. I do recognise now that I need some help, but it does help if I know other people on this forum have experienced similar problems, particularly with the eye thing. I'm sorry if people think I am ranting and moaning all the time, I do realise that everyone else has problems too. Thanks for all your advice, I appreciate it............



hi again zenith, i'm afraid you misunderstood what i was trying to say, i wasn't trying to scold you or accuse you of moaning :) venting is just what this board is for, everyone needs to do it! i know exactly how you feel, i've been through it myself and come out ok on the other side.

what i meant was in your last thread you posted a pretty similar list of symptoms and lots of people responded to it with postitive messages of how to deal with it and ideas for you to look into. people here will purpously tell you to do your best to accept the symptoms and to get on with living despite them, the idea is to take your focus away from overanalysing your physical health and have you concentrate on methods that will help you feel better. right now you're feeling pretty low and blue, but there are lots of things that you can do that will help you feel a little better and also distract you from the cycle of health worries. the idea is to move towards a more positive and helpful mindset :)

it's fantastic that you have looked into therapy, i really hope you find it helpful, i know it worked miracles for me - i used to have the exact same worries as you, certain i had a brain tumour or cancer. i went to a psychotherapist for just over a year and it really helped me to break out of the worry cycle, it did take time though, so be aware you will have to work at it.

the real key for my discovery was nutrition, when i figured out that diet had a real effect on how i was feeling it was an amazing change. almost exactly a year ago now i went into a total anxious meltdown after a really stressful period and i never thought i would get better, i was suicidal and in an almost constant state of panic. yet these days i feel more myself than i ever have before and am actually calm and happy, so i know it is possible to recover from anxiety :)

so while you are waiting for the psych appointment let's look at the other things you can do:

take a vitamin B supplement (with magnesium if you can find one), or even just take a good multivitamin. a stressed out body burns through nutrients quickly, and people with anxiety are often low on vitamin B. it's very helpful to soothe a burned out nervous sysytem. make sure you ask your pharmacist if it's compatible with any meds you're on. oh and remember it'll turn your urine very very yellow so don't freak out! lol

getting daily exercise is very helpful for anxiety sufferers. it helps your body to create hormones that will have you feeling good naturally. it's also a great distraction method, it will keep you busy and keep your mind off worrying. get out and about for a brisk walk/jog in nature if you can. if that's not possible then go to a gym or get an exercise dvd to use in your own home.

eating healthy foods on a regular basis can help your blood sugars to stay stable and help you to feel a bit stronger. if you're not eating enough or if you're eating too many of the wrong kinds of foods then this will add to your anxiety. so avoid stimulants like tea, coffee, alcohol, sodas, sugar and refined carbohydrates. replace them with good healthy wholesome foods like brown bread instead of white and fruit & nuts as good snacks between meals. avoid overly processed foods and white flours. drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated and happy.

smoking can irritate anxiety, so if you're a smoker consider how it's going to affect your body.

you can also try joining a yoga class or meditation class. the exercise from yoga will be great for you, but you'll also find yourself learning breathing exercises and relaxation techniques that you can use in your own time if you're feeling panicked. some people say buy a yoga dvd, i say join a class as you'll have good supervision from a teacher and also you'll get out of your normal routine for a couple of hours, meet people and once again distraction will help with the anxiety :)

make sure you're getting a good nights rest as much as possible. a sleep deprived body is a stressed out unhappy one, it wont help your anxiety at all. so be kind to yourself and get some nice rest in.

do some things that you enjoy, be good to yourself :) book yourself a massage or go to the theatre! get creative and learn to cook something new or take a camera out and take pictures of the beautiful autumn! go shopping with your friends or have them over for a dinner party! get yourself doing positive, fun things that will take your mind off the health worries. be kind to yourself, do the things you love more often.

and above all stay away from google! lol. you need to stop analysing your symptoms and start concentrating on living. lots of people here will talk to you about acceptance. if you feel bad accept it, but don't let it stop you from living, you are the one in control, it is your body afterall :)

so, you have lots of tools to help yourself with, now you need to decide if you're gonna work at it and help yourself to get better. i'm always saying this on these boards so i'm sure people are sick of reading it but a therapist once said to me "if you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got". what she meant was if i continued to live life the way i was then i was never going to feel better, if we want things to change we have to put it into action ourselves because it's not going to happen automatically. that really stuck with me, it's like my life motto now lol. it really struck my boyfriend too, it made him think a lot about his own life.

like i said before it's really really great that you are taking steps towards getting better and going to see a therapist! if you use all these tools along with the therapy then hopefully you'll begin to feel much stronger soon. i wish you the best, please let us know how you're getting on and i hope that you are feeling good again soon :)

oh and here is a link to a great resource on anxiety issues, it's a myspace video account. i love these videos, it's so much easier to sit and watch one than look through a boring article! you don't need a myspace account to look through them though. there are 214 of them so i hope you'll find at least 1 of them helpful! lol http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... 223&page=0 (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.viewVideos&channelid=40586223&page=0)