Are my symptoms just of anxiety, or something more?

[jimfear]

For the last two months I've felt completely ill and have been routinely visiting the hospital. The first time I went in was because of what felt like liver or gall bladder pain, after being scheduled for an ultrasound i went home and arose in the morning with pain in my sternum. After an ECG, chest xray ,and ultrasound, i was given a misdiagnosis of GERD (havent experienced anything like heartburn since). I persistently worried about this, and a day later i had developed a muscle twitch (generalized/not confined to any specific areas.) Within the rest of that month, I developed fatigue, muscle pain, intermittent nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, headache,sleep problems, loss of balance, along with the persistent muscle twitch. My mind immediately went to the worst of diseases, mainly those in the categories of neurological and autoimmune. During an exam(current Food & Nutrition student) I had a panic attack. Following this I went into the emergency room where I saw crisis intervention, and was given a prescription of clonazepam. In the following month while taking the clonazepam, I still felt the same symptoms as well as the development of new ones, ie; swollen submandibular lymph node, easily fatigued after physical activity, heart arrythmia, palpitations, sore joints(especially hands and feet, and elbows), a vibration feeling when waking, excessive sweating (hands, feet, armpits). As a result of all of this, my anxiety has worsened and I feel completely depressed and hopeless. I have a follow up appointment for the blood tests(TSH, Monostat, RX, Calcium, Magnesium, A1c, Creatinine, CPK) and EKG that i had conducted. And i have booked an EMG in early April. I can't help but to worry about all of this. I'm not sure if this is all anxiety/depression related or something far worse. Any insights?

[jimfear]

Blood tests, and Ecko came back normal.GP gave me some Celexa to try out and see if that makes any progress with the anxiety/depression. I was told to keep the Clonazepam in case of a Panic Attack. I left the office feeling relieved and better already. I'm still going for the EMG just in case but now...im not going to worry about it! Also I have an apt. set up for some council, to help the process.

[cj29]

In my opinion anxiety can cause all sorts of symptoms to include much of which you describe.  To make matters worse I believe it tends to 'snowball' and become an ever increasing problem because our fears can drive symptoms, which in turn can drive more fears...the cycle can be very disturbing to say the least.  The good thing you did in my opinion is you went to the doctor to get checked out. You mention getting more medical tests, but you did not mention any movement toward seeing a therapist; have you considered talking to one?  Anxiety/panic can reallly take over one's life, but I look at treating it the same way as any other illness...by professionals that are there to help you.  In my opinion, it is absolutely amazing how much you can learn and thus confront it and really thrive with it...keep us posted!