Anxiety or other undiagnosed problem

[jwr13091]

I would first like to offer a little back ground, so my question may be answered more thoroughly.  I am a 32 year old male that appears to be in good health and am probably about 20 pounds over weight.  I have led a very active life up until now.  Approximately two years ago while on a hunting trip I experienced a feeling that something was not right with my body.  I woke up with a horrible hang over and tried to drink some more (hair of the dog) to lessen the horrible feeling, of which I have done many times in the past.  I felt a very faint feeling, a numbness on the left side of my body and escalated heart rate.  I feared I was having a heart attack.  Since then I had two panic attacks and have been to the doctor numerous times.  They have ran blood tests, echocardiogram, stress test, scoped my stomach, mri of brain and back.  I have tried lexapro, and buspar for anxiety.  My basic question is that is it heart problem, anxiety or some sort of serotonin loss or hormonal imbalance.  Because, for the last two years off and on I get spells where there is a dull deep pain on the left side of my chest and under left arm that lasts about 10 minutes and then my left arm will feel week (or like someone had just taken my blood pressure).  I also experience headaches on a daily basis that feels like there is a rubberband around my head just above my ears.  There is also a pressure directly between my eyes.  ( I have been checked for sinus problems that are negative.)  When I have these spells 2 to 3 times per day it ruins the rest of my day and I feel week and drained.  I keep thinking that something is causing the pains and numbness on the left side of my body.  Sometimes the pains have been sharp, but now are just a dull or tight feeling.  My cholesterol is a little high but not off the charts.  No medical history of heart problems in my family at an early age.  The feelings I get happen at work, on vacation, or even doing things I enjoy.  They scare me and ruin the rest of my days.  I have been experiencing these pains almost daily now.  When I get home and rest I feel a little better.  When I experience these spells my heart rate sometimes will elevate (not much) but sometimes they are normal.  Unsure of what to do now.  please help

[gzarou]

I hope this email gets to you! Don't delete until you read this. I saw that in February o 06 you posted ow if you'll get this email or not, but i feel I need to tell you this. a saw that you weren't feeling well and I read all about your many symptoms, that I do not believe is solely caused by anxiety. You may have a very bad case of Lyme Disease. the biggest thing that gives me this idea if first your symptoms of is
A.  you were camping in the woods, a place where ticks love to b, particularly in the northeast, however, it has been reported in many other states as well.
B.  You have many of the symptoms of Lyme Disease that I had for 8 months until I got a diagnosis. I was referred to a person who was an infectious disease person in North  Carolina. For this, you must go to a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (we call them LLMD). You probably have had a test for lyme disease called a "Lyme Titer". This would be done with the rest of your original tests. That doesn't pick up the nasty bug unless you are within days of getting it.

Here's what you need to do if you are not any better. Go to a website called :www.lymenet.org. You can ask for a referral to a doctor in your area. You may have to travel, but it's worth it, unless ou can get your physician to order the test for you.

Basically you want to see if you have certain "markers" on your blood (like DNA), and if certain numbers are positive, you have the disease.

If you test positive, by now you are probably in the chronic statge. They will probably want to put you on  pick line, which ai did for 9 months and that was way too long.

I honestly hope that it really was anxiety ( I've had that too and it's awful - ou feel like you are dying.) For Anxiety Attacks, i have been taking clonozapin. I reallh helps when those attacks come on, but you ned to take it immediately and make sure upi tell them iif it isn't helping because they should increase the dose.

I am interested to know how you are. I am trying my best to give back by helping others find answer to Lymes. I actually found your site because my son has pains in his chest, and you have them too@

Email me if you'd like, as I'd like to know what happened.  ***@****

[joanied]

iam a female age 51.ive been experiencing all kinds of problems lately. once , i used to be so full of life, ect.. never complaining about being sick.... for the last 7 months seems like i fell apart..very emotional sometimes sad. i take xanax that were prescribed for me they seem to help but, not for all the things that iam feeling..  i have moments of a panic like feeling .. that wakes me up out of my sleep with a heaviness in my chest. terrible dreams..i even get a needles and pins feeling and sweaty  too. ive been in menapause now for almost 4 yrs.and never felt like this. some friends tell me it could be that...i find that i get up at night sometimes twice to urinate.my sleep is usually always disturbed.I ALSO get a nevous feeling whenever i have to go somewhere. there are sometimes i dont even want to go out in my car. everything is a task.i get a nervous feeling ...it goes away.. but seems to come back when i least expect it.if that wasnt enough now, im suffering with constant ringing in my ears and sometimes a burning in my throat. i smoke menthol cigarettes but not a heavy , heavy smoker.i just cant take  feeling like this. thinking that its all going to go away..is what i say to my self. i always think that theres something terribly  wrong with me..and when my family tells me to go to the doctor .. i refuse to.afraid that iam going to hear something bad.maybe you can shed some kind of light on what iam experiancing. i still dont know how im dealing with all this. sincerley, j.d.

[Gnostic279]

You sound exactly like I do when you talk about social settings and I mean exactly. execpt that I have been that way since before I was teenager. can you imagine how hard it is to get a date when you are incapable of small talk. your mind goes blank so it becomes diffucult just to maintain a conversation that is not one on one(i just gave up and untill recently i didn't talk at all). if i feel like any body is looking my mind reverts to a 3rd person perspective of what they would be seeing and most times i loose contact with the person i was talking to or with what i was doing. i just keep in mind that i am the rock of my own making and some may like and others won't, but ultimately there is no good or bad in eithter response.

i've done some research and now realize that i experinced many symptons of ocd as a child : swollowing with my mouth closed repeatedly for weeks then come back in a month : i refused to go to my sixth grade field trip to sixflages because my hair had a curl in it : could not sleep because with every itch i scratched i also had to look at it for fear that it was a magget crawling on me (i would cover my body from feet to neck with hydrocortazone cream to stop the itches so i could sleep after a while i would let it go). i seemed to have gotten over it but!

when i get mad i get furious but it is controllable i wouldn't hurt anybody and most people know it. but, the last couple of years i feel it comeing on like a tick sweling up in me to just let go and act on my impulses(before hit something now it means hurt somebody) when i get mad. if i am walking down the sidewalk on the right-hand side and someone approaches on the same side and doen't move over i want to shove them off the sidewalk(on a good day). rules of the road, right. they should be on the right-hand side. in the past, i numbed myself out by nicatine overdose(dipped and smoked daily for years) as well as worked myself to death just to keep from thinking too much. now, it doesn't work.

i think that i have converted cleanliness in to an obsession with public organization. when people sit in the hallway with their legs stretched out it pisses me off because it is inconsiderate. it may even aggravate others but when a kid does it in front of me it is not just this kid it is the 10 last break the 15 before then and now this kid it builds up and buy the end of the day i'm ready to make them conform. bit i relized something : i get mad at my roommate for leaving trash on the counter and say well i will start leaving trash too  then i relized that i can't force myself to leave it: i couldn't forget it.

which brings me to my point finaly(sorry for rambling)
help: if there is a better place to write this speil please tell me about it. do you think i may have ocd or some kind of social problem. should i get help(would like to have sex before i die ha ha ha) by the way depressed: feel that it may be manifesting physicaly by wounds that don't heal for a while and a rundown drained feeling (new to me) as well as a "what's the point attitude". how do i get help with out funding(poor college kid of 28[parents do nothing]). is there a forum or support group where i may talk to others who might be similar to me.

in the minute it took me to proof read this neverending onslought of pointless details and comments i realized the world is becomeing too big for me to take on. Thanks! before,i was strong enough or my life was simple enough to deal with this problem, but now with college i am spread to thin. now, what's the problem? lol  

[HeidiBee]

Hi I just was wondering if anyone could help me? I am a Single Mother and lately out of no where even when i am sleeping i will have a panic attack and it is always about something happening to my daughter. Like us being in a car accident and me not getting her out before the car blowing up and i get so freaked out about these thoughts i stay up all night having a panic attack! sometimes i wake up to go to the bathroom and then i will get a thought of someone jumping through the window and grabbing her! I get so freaked out sometimes i wake her up just to hold her and kiss her and i am crying and i know it is not good for her to see me like this she is 4 years old. I cant control the bad thoughts i have they come at all times of the day i have even drove to her pre-school just to see if she is ok. I have not told anybody about this and sometimes i think its just because i love her so much! But i am freaking my self out so bad that i am not sleeping and i feel like it is affecting my work. I am on Diabetes pills and Hypothyroidism pills i dont think they would do this but i am not sure whats going on! I get so freaked out i feel like i am mourning a child thats sleeping in her room! Please Help if you have any Information!

[DJ-RxT]

This is definitely something you should bring up with your psychiatrist. Luvox is a fairly new drug, and about 2% of people taking it have reported feelings of nervousness. There is a decent chance that this all may be in your head, and has little to do with Luvox, but that is definitely something for you to discuss with a practitioner. Good luck!

[emt987]

Hi I am a 30 year old male with a strange problem. I have OCD and I am on Luvox with great succsess. However over the past few years I am having problems being around people. My mind goes blank and i Can't produce small talk. I act like I am shy. I generally have hard time around people. I feel as if everybody is looking at me. When I am underpressure at work sometimes my mind goes blank and it seems like I am acting retarded.(people think i am an air head)
If i know iam being watched public situtation i canot concentrate i am woried about other people. I have become dependent on my wife for social situtations. I cannot go anywhere without her espcially when small yalk is involved. I cannot work as an emt anymore because I act shy or neverous around  strngers. I still have a hard time with people at work. I seem to come accross snoby. I stay home most of the time with the kids If i have to go to the store I can't with the kids or without I am afraid of getting in car accident. Some please help me my life is very lonely. What is wrong with me.

[emt987]

Could be i have been on it for 9 years. Could i have social aniexty. I am also on wellbrutin and escalith.

[jwr13091]

thanks for the ecouragement.  I forgot to add that when exercising my peripheal vision gets really blurry and my regular vision gets a little blurry.  I also feel like my head is not getting any circulation.

[DJ-RxT]

It sounds to me that you may be suffering from a particularly envigorated case of hypochondriatic anxiety. Anxiety is a nasty thing, especially when the more you realize how you're suffering from it, the tigher of a grip it has on you.

Lexapro is actually an anti-depressant, which functions primarily by blocking and altering serotonin reuptake. Your anxiety may have nothing to do with depression, or neurotransmitter circulation.  Buspar is a pretty effective anxiolytic. You may want to consider bringing up Ambien with your psychiatrist, as it is a particularly potent anxiolytic. This may help with your anxiety. Also, I would definitely suggest that you begin seeing a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist and explaining everything you felt as well as what you thought of it. You may also keep yourself motivated in mentally stopping this anxiety by focussing on how great and free you'll feel when it no longer has a grip on you, and rest assured that it won't hold you for long. Best of luck to you!

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Everything you described strongly suggests an anxiety syndrome rather than an organic heart cause syndrome. If your doctors are equally convinced of this and have ruled out heart disease, then I suggest that you do not try to rely on medications to control the anxiety, but start doing talk therapy with an experienced pro. You will have a good chance of getting rid of this problem altogether.