Unusual and Concerning symptoms? Is this anxiety?

[jayrhodes532]

For the past few months (Since before Christmas) I have been suffering from a range of different symptoms. At first, these symptoms were:

Numbness in the left side of face and head, sometimes both sides and rarely the right side
Crawling/tingling in left side of face or head
Twitching in the right eye
Feeling of panic and hyperactivity
Fast heartbeat at times, but not always
Headaches on one side of head (can vary which side is affected)
Pressure feeling in the left side of head, sometimes, but rarely the other side
feeling of being unbalanced when standing sometimes (not always)
Trembling in hands (mostly when panicking, but sometimes randomly)

i find myself constantly grinding my jaw or biting the skin off my thumbs when panicking or worrying about the symptoms

Poor appetite, only interested in sweet foods or chocolate


I went to a Neurologist, who diagnosed me with Anxiety. Since then, my doctor started me on medication to help me sleep, and calm me down. The symptoms have hugely decreased since this and now I only have a few concerns, but I also have some new symptoms also. Such as:

Lack of sensation in the left lower leg
Numbness across the chest (both sides) and towards the left shoulder and arm
VERY rarely pressure or numbness in the left face or head (still sometimes the other side)
VERY rarely feeling of panic
Finding it hard to focus on something without eyes twitching or moving sometimes (not always)
Trembling in hands (not always)
Sharp pains sometimes in random places of the head
Sometimes get sharp chest pains in the left side
feeling of being unbalanced when standing sometimes (not always)
I have rather large red veins showing towards the back of each eye


i find myself constantly grinding my jaw or biting the skin off my thumbs when panicking or worrying about the symptoms

I also sometimes see "floaters" (like tiny sparks that you see in the corner of your eye). But this is VERY rare.


The symptoms seem to mostly start when I am around many people, or when in an uncomfortable situation. And seem to be non-existent when I am doing something of interest. Sometimes, the sensations and symptoms can continue for up to about half an hour before they go away. My neurologist said that she does not believe that there is a brain tumor, because if this was the case, then the symptoms would only affect one side of the body, but my symptoms can affect both sides.

When talking to someone i do not know, I sometimes get tingling throughout my entire head and sometimes the sides of my face, this ONLY seems to occur when talking to someone i dont know for some reason.

I always seem to have a high heart rate when thinking about the symptoms, and I am ALWAYS finding myself thinking about death, and being paranoid that I am going to die of a brain tumor. I am VERY concered ALL the time, always assuming i have a brain tumor.

My first question is, was my neurologist correct to say that my symptoms would only affect one side of my body if there was a brain tumor?

And my second question is, Are these symptoms purely anxiety and nothing to worry about?

If it helps, I am a 16 year old male, 5ft 3 inches tall, weighing approximately 119 pounds.

[Julie359]

Im figuring that seeing as he has already seen a Neurologist he would of had all the usual bloodwork done like FBC's, U's and E's, been checked for Thyroid, liver etc...... if not then the docotr is very poor at his/her job and should be struck off.... also any good neruologist would of given a dignosis of anxiety after having a CT scan which came back normal....

[metacomet]

Dear Jay,

I will start by asking you if you previously was taking any medication or drug that may cause this? Sometimes elevated hearth beat and high blood pressure are caused from medications intake or any drugs that may alter your nervous system function. You may have a several disbalance of electrical functions this might by due to an excess in potassium, iodine or sodium. It will be interesting to hear how is you life style in a daily basis so we can understand more you position.

I'll be waiting for your answer.

P.S. Have your neurologist taken a CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) of your brain?

Blessings

[Julie359]

From what u are describing ir sounds very much like anxiety and anxiety attacks.  Anxiety is a bit like a 'Jack of all trades' illness as it mimics nearly every illness out there, it can make us think we have anything from Muilple S, diabetes, heart attacks or disease, cancers, brain tumours just to name a few.  People with health anxiety usually find themselves taking numerous trips to the doc and having loads of tests and refferals done to see whats wrong with them only to keep getting negative result after negative result.... It is totally frustrating and the patient is oftern left feeling like they have missed something important or that they have indeed a very rare illness when in fact it is anxiety all the time.

Adrenaline and cortisol are the main two hormones thats are released when we feel stressed, they in turn change the function of the body, like flow of blood to the heart and lungs to receive more oxygen, more blood to the arms and leg muscles, this in turn will cause a tempory lack of blood from the rest of the body and this can cause numbness/tingling/pins and needles in nearly any part of the body.  Balance is affected also by the re-direction of blood flow and change in blood pressure to allow for the flight or flight response.

Also we build up a negitive picture of our anxiety responses, ie:  if we feel very anxious in the presence of a stranger and we feel a lot of discomfort we may associate that discomfort with being with a person we dont know, so the next time we meet someone we dont know we suddenly subconsiously think we will feel anxious.... as a result the fight or flight response kicks in an off we go feeling more anxiety which reinforces this belief.  The trick is to stop the vicious cycle of fear producing fear.

The best way to acheive this is by getting yourself into therapy and namely CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)  the therapist will teach you all about the anxiety response, how it affects the body, how to conquer these feelings and to break the cycle and expose you to any anxious situations, in a gentle way.  I personally would go see ur doc and ask for a referral.  Your 16yrs old, you have the world at your feet and your mind is still very impressionable and i feel CBT would do you the world of good to over come your fears.  This will not only help you out now but the techniques and knowledge you can take forward with you into your adult years and you will find you can control more stressful situations and live a better life.  

Dont let anxiety take hold and take over, cause if you dont acknowledge it is anxiety you will never move forward.  You will find in several yrs from now you have the same problems and going from one doc to another to another..... and living a misery!! So take my advice and get help now.

Good-luck and all the best mate.x