Hi there..Im sorry to hear about how your feeling. I too have Anxiety. It is more on the GAD side, I didnt know what It was. All I knew is that something was causing all of these physical symptoms I was feeling. I went to 6 Different DR's thinking that someone will find something. I had a majority of tests done Blood work, EKG's, Ultrasounds, Echocardigram...Everything was normal. Finally I found a DR that would treat me for the anxiety..She prescribed me Zoloft which didnt work really well...So now IM on Paxil and it seems to be working. First bit of advice would be to go to the DR's to get all the necessary tests done to rule anything out. Then I would talk to them about an anti-depressant. It can also help with your physical symptoms as well. Good luck and keep me posted!!!!! =)

Glad to hear Paxil has worked for you.  I have actually had tons of tests over the past three years, bloodwork many times, many digestive system tests, even a fundoplication surgery.  Went to the Mayo Clinic for an evaluation because I have been so sick.  Only functional problems have been diagnosed.

I have tried a few antidepressants, Paxil, Luvox, Olanzapine, none of them helped my physical symptoms.  A doctor tells me they haven't worked as they aren't the right ones for me.

What kind of physical symptoms were you having?  How long?

I have had mostly nausea and visceral burning, but also nerve pain, and sore neck, etc. as well.

Some of my symtoms were
Body aches & pains (muscle & bone)
Headaches
dizziness
lethargic
weird ear pain/sounds
painful/stiff neck
nausea
IBS
feeling weak
chest pain/palpatations
I had these pains for a couple years buy they worstened within the last 6 months

Hope this makes you feel better. Medicine isnt for everyone so maybe you should try things like daily meditations, excersize, yoga, or maybe even acupuncture. Your not alone and if the tests say negative, then maybe you are ok. You can go to a specialist also. Take care.

im in the same boat as you guys. ive been feeling ill for over 4 months. ive been to the emergency room, have abdominal and pelvic cat scan, chest x-rays, b lood work, urine work and they found nothing, later i saw 2 more doctors, ive had a brain cat scan, thyroid ultrasound, colonoscopy and 2 more extensive blood tests. all came back normal, both doctors told me its anxiety and put me on lexapro, ive been on it for 7 weeks now and feel a tiny bit better but my physical symptoms are still there.

fatigeu
sleepyness
upper back pain
sore neck
dizziness
no enery
just feel generally weak and sick

all this is chronic, everyday. i though i was dying, being only 28 years old, i though i had cancver or something, maybe i do and they just could find it but i had so many tests my dostor told me to go see a shrink which pissed me off because im not trying to make up stories, i dont feel good and wanted a explanation, i still feel that anxiety can not cause suchg symptoms but what do i know.

jay,

You mentioned "shrink".  This is a total waste of time.  I've been suffering from severe panic attacks for 30 yrs.  All tests came back normal.  Meditations, deep breathing exercises, relaxing methods, therapy, meds, group therapy NOTHING helped.  I "begged" to see a shrink.  This shrink sat at his computer with his finger on the keyboard ready to shoot out a prescription for Xanx barely listening to me.  I was in and out in 3 minutes max.  FORGET the shrinks, lots of them need shrinks themselves.  Tranquelizers did not help me but made feel all worn out but the anxiety still came.  By accident I came across an advertisement about a book by "Dr. Claire Weeks", a Psychologist from Australia who dealt (she died in the meantime but her books are still selling)strictly with people like me and others suffering from panic attacks.  I read the book and ordered two more of her books, and she took ALMOST ALL THE FEAR out of me.  I have my anxiety attacks 99% under control.  There is still that 1% but nothing compared to as it was before.  

Here were/are my symptoms:

Severe anxiety which caused my blood pressure to rise
skipping heart every other beat
shortness of breath
nausea
feeling of impending death right here and now
racing heart
chills but not like when you have a fever
tingling in one of my cheeks
neck pain
pain between shoulder blades
lower back pain and severe stiffness
body aches
stomach pain
whole body aches like you have been run over by a truck
waking up at night with severe anxiety
tingling in the extremeties
frequent urination
a lump in my throat
sore scalp, or a burning sensation in the scalp

Sometimes I only got a few out of the above symptoms I have listed, and sometimes I had all of them combined. It was a nightmare to the point that I was afraid of leaving my house or drive my car.

Often the physical symptoms are a heightened awareness of normal things.  Like palpitations, everyone gets them from time to time but if you are anxious, not only do you get them more, you think they mean something really bad.  Sinuses, allergies, infections etc. can be the "cause" but the worry escalates them more.
I have had night sweats, sore upper back, lump in throat, a feeling of falling backwards (dizziness), nausea (esp in morning and before meals), an electric buzzing feeling, loss of appetite, gagging on food, weight loss (funnily enough).  
I found paxil worked well.  It didn't remove all symptoms but I cared about them less and some went away after a while and some I realised were normal but harmless.

Good luck.

hi i'll try to make it short-
well ive had anxiety disorder since this january. and i havent taken any medications (yet!)
i do get very dizzy or feel like im running out of breath whenever i get nervous, scared.etc
and Yes, is ometimes do feel like its not the stress or anxiety, but some brain issues,
anyhow, im trying to overcome these problems by myself, without taking medications.
i strongly believe that u should take some time and try to relax...or if it really really doesnt work, id advice u to take oriental herbal medi.s.
hope this helps :)

my phy.sypmotoms are:
Dizziness (motion sickness)
drowsy.
headache(not too often)
short of breath
lump in the throat.
and i sometimes feel the b lood rushing thro my head. whenever i get hot (nervous)

I have been Sick Since August 14th. Everyday all day! Started with feeling of something caught in throat, then 2 days later my right arm went weak. Since then I am short of breath everyday and feels like its getting worse. Weakness in arms thats gets worse as day goes on. Body Jerks, popping feeling under skin. Nech aches, headaches, etc.... I have had soooo many tests done. Emg,ekg,echo, blood, mri's catscans, chiropractor, all show nothing they are telling me its anxiety. All day every day! I have been on ativan and busiprone for 5 weeks and no Different. I know how frustrating this is.

I have taken Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutrin, and am currently on Cymbalta.  I was taking Celexa (all the others were in recent years) and stayed on it for a couple of monthes and it just wasn't working so my doc switched me to Cymbalta.  It really helps a lot.  It also has meds in it to help with chronic pain.  They have finally realized that the aches and pains that come hand-in-hand with depression are not all in our heads and are actually real.  They have finally decided to treat them to, not just the depression.   I am very pleased with the Cymbalta although it is like any other med, it may not be for everyone.

Wow ... reading all of this is really interesting. The ultimate quest to find out if what we are feeling is mental or physical. I am in the same boat. I am having imbalance problems while walking, some tingling sensations around the body, some eye pressure
and more. I've had blood work done, I've seen a cardiologist and an ENT, next is a neurologist on 11/13/06. Some web sites list almost all of the symptoms that are listed on this post, and I guess these symptoms can become a 24/7 problem from what they say ... but like the one person said on this post, "it's hard to believe it's all mental.

Don't ever feel embarrassed about your anxiety symptoms.  I know not even some doctors understand them.  Some people have physical illnesses and we have anxiety disorders.  Even though most of us are physically fine the hell we go through when it comes to anxiety/phobia the "what if's" etc etc etc I wouldn't wish on my biggest enemy.  We too suffer.

There are a ton of symptoms that can be caused by anxiety.  That is why so many of us (me included) have been to so many differnet types of specialists:  GI, neurologist, allergy, ent, physciatric, etc.  I've been to them all and more.

I believe that physical problems or predisposition to physical problems exist in everyone and anxiety probably brings them to the surface unfortunately.  And then instead of just trying to forget about them, or shrugging symptoms off, worry sets in making it even worse.

I not only SUFFER from depression(and I do mean suffer, my whole family suffers with me), I have panic attacks.  Hadn't had one in probably 9 or 10 monthes (since changing jobs) until I recently had to have dental work done.  I am terrified of dentists.  I had a really bad experience with one as a child and even though my reasonable head knows that they are not all like him, I still freak when I get in the chair.  Anyway, I had a panic attack in the middle of the exam.  I was absolutely humiliated.  This is the same dentist my children see and I had told him about my bad experience and his assistant has panic attacks also.  She knew what it was immediately.  I thought I had it under control, but to my embarrassment, I obviously don't.  Since then I have also been diagnosed with TMJ Syndrome.  It's like I'm on one of those little wheels that hampsters run on, you know?  Only I'm not as smart as the hamster, I can't figure out how to get off.  The problems all run together.  As soon as I think I have one thing under control, BAM! another one pops up and it's all stress related.  Do I need a phychiatrist?  Am I ever going to be able to go to the grocery store and not worry about having an embarrassing attack in the middle of Wal-Mart?  My 7 year old son has seen it often enough in the past few weeks that he told his granny the other day the "Mama had one of her spells and daddy had to go get her today."  That makes me want to cry.  He's only 7 for goodness sakes!  Any suggestions on how to get a handle on it?  The Cymbalta has helped the depression 100 percent, but now I need to do something about the panic and anxiety.

When I used to get panic attacks in stores, and ran in the bathroom I used to tell my kids that I had diarrhea.  I was afraid that my anxiety would rub off on my kids.  They didn't know about my panic attacks until they went to high school.  

People with panic attacks are very prone when they feel "out of control" as in sitting in a dental chair, getting an MRI, flying in a plane, riding a train etc.  Situations where somebody else is in control "when you can get out".  When I went for a test/treatment I always prepared myself with the "diarrhea" story i.e. telling the dentist or the tech who is giving me a test "excuse me but I have a bad case of diarrhea I need to go to the bathroom".  I never had to use this line, but just knowing that I will use it if I need to helped me a lot.

Its sad that even people in the medical profession don't understand panic attacks unless they suffer from it themselves.  They are quick precribing tranquelizers which never helped me.  Some people get help from meds, everybody is different.  I got help from the books I mentioned above, it tells you "let the panic attack do its very worst, it will NOT kill you and it will go away".  I used to think that I could drop dead when having one of these attacks, just knowing that it will NOT kill me helped me tremendously.

Thanks for the tips about the books, I am looking for them now.  Who knows, maybe they will help me too.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone either, but at the same time it does help to know I'm not the only one out there with these problems. If that makes any sense.

Question for HYPOSTEPH. The dizziness you mentioned in this post ... was it all the time or on and off ?

I have many of the symptoms everyone has decribed.  I also have been to many doctors and the only diagnosis I get is either Anxiety or Allergies.  I have one other problem though, I get a lump on the back of my head that will last for a few days, it is tender at times.  Of course I have been told it may be swollen lymph nodes just cleaning out my system from allergies.  I also have gotten little pin size blood spots on my skin also chalked up to allegies.  Needless to say these symptoms cause me great anxiety.  But have been assured I am not dying.

I also get a achy spot at the base of my skull at the back of my neck.  They chalked it up to anxiety and tension headaches so far.  Its achiness varies and I notice that I get other symptoms when it is at its worst like other headache pain, nausea, lump in throat.

I have also had the tiny pin ***** dots on my hands mostly in the past.  I think they were petechaie.  Not sure why though at this point.  Doctors never took much interest in them.

Hi, I am a 28 year old female.  I am on Xanax for severe anxiety.  I have alot of the same symptoms.  I think I know exactly what you are talking about with the pain in the back of the neck and head.  For me my anxiety takes over and I start thinking I have a brain tumor.  The pain is right at the back of my skull and radiates into my neck.  Anyway, I also have something else that is driving me crazy and scaring me.  I have insomnia which is caused by muscle jerking all night.  I start to fall asleep and then all of a sudden my body jolts.  I never had this before, it just started a month ago while I had alot of stress in my life.  It happends all night.  As soon as I get up, it stops then I start to fall asleep and then bang.  Does anyone have this with severe anxiety?  I am so scared it could be something more serious.  It's just weird it started when I had a big life change happen and stress.  During the day I only have little muscle twitches sometimes but nothing major only at night, when my body is trying to relax.  Any info would be great.

Dejay 78... this jolt when trying to sleep also happened to me early on in my now "4 month ordeal". It went away after a couple of weeks and I can usually get decent sleep at night (sometimes I take Tylanol P.M.). I don't know what else to tell you. It's so confusing and understandably scary when things are happening to you that you or your doctors can not explain. I  myself am trying to figure out what is going on with me right now. Test after test ... it is very frustrating. What life change happened to you (if I may ask). If it's too personal I understand. God bless and hope you get back to enjoying your life.

LIGHTWISE

I have anxiety disorder also. I have been on every drug for the past 10 yers. The drugs I am on right now have kept me stable since July. I also have trouble waking up in the morning ( to the person who feels nauseous) I could barely function...sick and jittery. My Dr. put me on Ativan as soon as I wake up. It was my miracle.

Anyway, I consider myself a hypochondriac since they found encapsulated cancer when I had an appendectomy 2 years ago. Of course, the Dr. said all is well because it came out. They had me get a colonoscopy to be safe and blood work. All clear. Good to go. Well that is when my live got even worse. I changed.

I became even more more anxious. I had a really bad back ache for 2 weeks. I thought I had a tumor and cancer. My Dr. did a CT Scan. All okay. I noticed my tailbone sticking out ....for some odd reason. My Dr. did an xray. Fine. I had a rash on my breast...I thought definitely cancer. No. Now...I have this awful awful cough. I have had it for 2 months now going on 3. It has gotten a lot better but it is still there. Somedays I might cough 2 x's and another day I may cough 10 x's. When the cough began it was awful ...I would cough out really hard with a tickle and then suck the air back in and make an awful noise. My husband claimed it was the whooping cough.

My Dr. order a CT Scan on my chest. They found a 5mm spot. Now how do you think I am...? Screwed. Help!!!

Hi dejay78,
I'm also 28 yrs old and have been having panic attacks for years, but only realized about 2 months ago what they actually were being that they have recently gotten more intense and have developed all the threatening symptoms. As for the jolts you have while falling asleep, I have those as well. What it feels like to me is the moment before falling asleep my body shakes and tingles, my heart races, and my brain gets fuzzy (almost like electricity). I feel as if I need to break myself out of that feeling or I will pass out or faint. Is it the same for you as well? I'm almost positive that those episodes are directly related to my panic attacks and were the prelude to them as the panic attacks have gotten progressively worse over time. I am not on medication for anything yet, because I feel as if I could control it mentally (although that does not usually work very well) being that I know they are not harmful physically. My experience has been that, for me, caffeine will sometimes induce a panic attack or the night time symptoms as well as dehydration (after having more than four or five alcoholic drinks)so I try to stay away from those particular things which kind of stinks, because I love my coffee in the morning and like to enjoy a few drinks occassionally. Hope this helps. Good luck.

okay, well I have had anxiety disorders for awhile...used to be only panic attacks here and there, I didn't have any long term fears or effects from them, to be honest with you I didn't even know that's what they were at the time of the attacks, but the doctors said asmea attacks, funny thing was I ran track and never needed an enhaler, so I knew something was fishy about that diagnosis.  It was one night while driving home that all of the sudden I felt like I was having a heart attack, my chest hurt so bad, I was tingiling all over, kept feeling hot then cold in a matter of seconds, I KNEW I was dying...well obviouslly since I am posting this I didn't die, but I knew that was the end of me at the time.  The hardest thing is that now it's an every day struggle, and there are physical and mental things going on that I wished would stop.  My family dosen't understand it and I hate looking back and remembering being NORMAL so I say and now feel like I need to be in a looney bin, cause I have phobias from things that never used to bother me before....like being alone, driving at night etc...my physical symptoms (and I don't know if they are all related)are..shortness of breath, lump in my throst that feels like a fingernail, backpain, chestpain, fatigue, feeling of dying, obsession of getting my songs and plans together for my funeral and YES I'm serious SO STUPID!!!, I HATE IT!!! I have been to the GI doctor and my doctor numerous times and all the test come back normal as most all of you also say...sooo I'm crazy I guess, I feel like **** but there's NOTHING PHYSICALLY WRONG, IT"S ALL IN MY HEAD???...I read a book called "Let Go and Let God" that has helped a lot for me, but I still suffer.  Will this ever go away?, I want to have kids, but the way I am as of now I would be afraid to be alone with them and be responsible for their care if I'm freakin' out all the time...so the doc. has perscribes Buspar for me and I read up on the side effects and let me tell you it can be writtin' a page long!!! I'm scared!!!!!  WHAT DO I DO???