Can anxiety be this powerful?

[SparkyIreland]

Hi how are yas all, good morning :)

Ok so for the last 2 1/2 years I have been constantly ill. Now without writing a book here I will go into a little detail of my symptoms :

Fatigue
Pale (Most days)
Persistent headache (Pressure like, all over)
Pulsating headache (Mostly left sided)
Stiff neck with muscle pain (Inflammation)
Ear pain (Mostly left sided, buzzing, pressure )
Eye pain (Both left and right)
Nose (Inflammation, constantly blocked but dry)
Anxiety (Funny enough)
General feeling of being ill most days
Insomnia
Lack of concentration
Lack of motivation
Light headed at times
Dreamy headed
Feeling I am loosing my mind
Chest pain (Sometimes)

I should also point out that the feeling of being ill is extreme some days although I cant pin point what it is.

Also more recently I have been waking at night confused and in a slight panic, its a strange thing, basically I wake thinking about things that just dont make sense and the more I try to work out what it is the more I go into a panic, this also causes a pulsating headache . It is hard to explain but worrying.

So my question is ,  can anxiety be powerful enough to cause all of the above?

I have been to many specialists, had mri done around a year ago which was normal, recent ENT Dr done sinus CT Scan which showed blocked sinus (Inflammation) and requiring operation. Although I dont believe this is the problem.
Had recent blood tests (Normal), ECG (Normal) Blood pressure (Normal)

Should I now stop  running round different specialists looking for a particular cause? And realise this is a mental problem rather than physical?

Also one more question, If you have anxiety, can you tell me does the medication work?

Thanks for reading, take care

[gma2]

I absolutely have to add Fibromyalgia as a possibility to discuss with your dr. You pretty much named it all. (He would check the 'trigger points' to rule it out). Some of the things from your list fit it.

Some KEY things you said:  Fatigue, Persistent headache, Pulsating headache, stiff neck with muscle pain, Anxiety, General feeling of being ill most days, and Insomnia, Chest Pain.

Lack of concentration, Lack of motivation, Dreamy headed (we call these "Fibro-Fog")

Check this out for some good info: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079/DSECTION=2

I have anxiety, am an Agoraphobic with Panic Disorder, as well, so I'm one of the unfortunate fools that just can't get a grip. Therapists don't make house-calls. I did manage some very terrifying trips to a Psychiatrist who threw some heavy-duty drugs at me, and fool that I am I thought he/they'd fix me..(my Primary care doc thought so too). I'm off all of them but one at night now (Remeron). Made me worse..zombie-like..and the side effects about done did me in. So, medications are IMHO solely dependent on how much trust you put in your prescriber. I no longer see mine. (Seroquel, Klonopin, Ambien and Lexapro and Remeron all at once. (Can I just say...I are stoopid!)

I agree on the thyroid check, too. I had Grave's Disease (Thyroid) last year and a lot of the symptoms I was having should have alerted the dr to that way b4 it happened, but unfortunately I ended up having to take a Radioactive pill to zap the excess thyroid hormoes and now have Hypothyroidism and on med for that for the rest of my life. So, yeah - it is worth ruling out.

It's amazing to me, even just counting only just this site alone, how much is going on in the Anxiety worlds, prescribing worlds, what works, what doesn't, misdiagnosing of stuff for people or diagnosing too late...the suffering of so many. What is up with that? So many things wrong with the minds and bodies of so many. That is shameful somehow.

Sad to say, anxiety can and does affect so much and yes...WE have to take control because nobody can do it for us. So hard tho. *sigh*

[peggy64]

I had most of those same symptoms. Research hypothyroidism, and ask your doc to run the proper tests. It seems nowadays we have to go in armed with the info, as they want to listen to symptoms and give you a pill.

Xanax and sleeping pills did not help my anxiety or insomnia, and that is a big clue that there is something else going on.

Take care..........

[JSGeare]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the blocked sinuses as a cvuase of a LOT of discomfort, and therefore a stressor for anxiety as well. Have you had the operation? If NOT then I say have it and let's see if any of your symptoms clear up.

Otherwise, the symptoms you list, while not inconsistent with anxiety, are not necessarily the evidence of it, either -which is one of the problems with anxiety, pinning it down. You must allow for the fact that anxiety, as a stressor all its own, can certainly exacerbate other conditions. If you have anxiety, and bad feelings in your stomach, it makes sense that the anxiety may sort of make you sensitive about your stomach, and a feed back loop get's going.

But this can get ridiculous, trying to figure out who what when and where -yet another contributor to anxiety! So let's just say that if you've been diagnosed with anxiety, then let's TREAT anxiety.

The meds are designed to mask the effect of anxiety so it does not "bother" you as much. A course of psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps "retrain the brain" so you either dispense withj or learn how to mamage and integrate the anxiety source material -everything from childhood incidents and experience to inappropriate reactions to emotional and psychological challenges in the present.

It will be helpful to interact with folks on this forum so as to learn who is like you (many) and what they have done, so I encourage you to be involved.

I hope this helps you -and welcome to our world.

[goodeys]

Hi,

Yes it is possible for all of your symptoms to be anxiety related. I have suffered with everything and self diagnosed blood clots, brain tumours, heart failure and aortic dissection but after all of the tests nothing was found and has left me trying to accept that it could all be anxiety and psycho symatic.

What does your doctor say? You must always get symptoms checked out and rule out an organic cause first. The doctors will never just write everything off to anxiety without testing first. Speak with your doctor and see if they can give you a diagnoses even if it does mean that they diagnose anxiety at least you can begin treatment. The drugs do work but you have to give them time and they won't be a wonder cure, you have to put in a lot of mental effort too in order to see improvements.

Let us know how you get on but my advice would be see your doctor, listen to what they say and above all trust them.

Sam

[MrGreen]

Anxiety can be a powerful as we want it to be. In other words if we believe everything little twinge is something bad, it will become far worse. The mind will tell the body it is something far worse than it really is. We tend to focus more on these aches and pains. Thus making them more conscious to us. The more aware we are of them the worse, again, they can become. Every little twinge is not a life or death situation. Easy for me to write that. But hard if you are a worrier. But best advice I can give is, if you have had tests done and they came back negative, then accept that and try not to focus on every twinge / pain you might get. That will only make it worse on yourself. As for medication? Loads of types out there. Your doctor would probably start you on a short term form of medication if he thinks it is anxiety and might work you onto a longer term tablet of a various dosage. But you have to do some of the work too. The medication alone is not the sollution. We have to push ourselves too. It can be hard. But worth it come the end of the day. Keep us posted on your situation.