Strange Sensations

[joedev51]

Every morning I wake up with a numblike tingling on the top of my head, both of my arms below my elbows are numb and my heart feels like its beating funny. I also have this loud ringing in both of my ears along with this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can feel in my back. I went to my doctor and he sent me for an MRI and he said everything was fine. I have been taking Xanax for the past five years and I thought the Xanax would help, but I still wake up with this strange sensation. Even if the doctor says that everything is fine, I know that these feelings are not normal. Does anyone know if this is anxiety or something else. Someone told me that anxiety can come out in many different ways. Is this ANXIETY or should I be worried. I also noticed that I forget things right in the middle of a conversation. I need to know ?

[cj29]

Anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, especially when the it is related to our health in my opinion.  Becoming oversensitized to every bodily feeling is quite common when suffering from this.  The first piece of advice I would give is to trust your doctor and continue to express your concerns.  Usually, the doctors are right and are a MUCH better resource than others (i.e. 'searching' on the internet for a reason for some symptom).  Have you had anxiety in the past?  Have you talked this over with a therapist?  There are many causes to feeling like this...please keep us posted.

[nursegirl6572]

I second what cj said completely.  If you search here in the "Health Pages" using the search word "anxiety", you will find a VERY long list of very REAL physical symptoms that anxiety causes.  The few that you describe are pretty common, and actually mentioned on this forum quite frequently.

You did the smart thing and got checked out by your doctor, which is always important.  Like cj said...trust in what they tell you....however, keep communicating with them as well.

Stick around...feel free to share more about yourself....what kind of history of anxiety you have, and what, if anything, you've done for it in the past.  We can try to help you muddle through.  Unfortunately...most of us have been in your shoes, are trying to get out of them, or are still wearing them every day.  ;0)

Welcome.

[joedev51]

I have been dealing with this anxiety for the last 27 yrs. I woke up one morning and had a overwhelming feeling that I was about to die or go crazy. I went to the hospital and got checked out and they told me it was gas. Then I went on vacation and had my first full blown panic attack. I went to my family doctor and told him what was going on and he look at me like I was NUTS. I went back to him three weeks in a row and he sent me to a Psychiatrist who started my in therapy, bio-feedback and then the nightmare started. He gave me Elavil and I had a really bad allergic reaction to it, my throat closed, my tongue swelled up, and my blood pressure dropped. So I was taken off Elavil and given Triavil.( Same reaction )  After two years of therapy the anxiety turned into agoraphobia and I became a prisoner of my own home for almost two years until a old girlfriend who was a nurse slowly got me back into therapy. So since then I have tried every antidepressant from A to Z with the same BAD allergic reactions. Paxol almost killed me! So fast forward to today and the only thing that has worked to a point is Xanax. Valium 5mg worked pretty well, but for some reason the doctor took me off it and put me on Xanax .25mg . I wake up some days and the anxiety is so thick that I can cut it with a knife and other days I just about feel it. Then there is the 1990's when the anxiety almost disappeared as strangly as it came. Thats a whole other story that leads me up to how I got back the anxiety TEN-FOLD.  I'll save it for another posting. Take Care

[peggy64]

Has the dr checked your thyroid levels? I have the same thing with the tingling from the elbows down.

[joedev51]

I have had every test under the sun. I've have my blood work done including having my thyroid checked every six months and it all comes back normal.

[joedev51]

I have checked out the " Health Pages" for anxiety. Very interesting, I can relate to alot of things on the ANXIETY pages.  Thanks

[lynn57]

Those symptoms can definitely be related to anxiety but the xanax should be helping that.  If the xanax isn't enough and the doc feels it's anxiety, maybe another med would help. For instance Klonopin may help around the clock and help with the morning issues.  Sometimes adding an SSRI helps.  If your Dr. is sure it's anxiety I'm sure he would be willing to try to alleviate the symptoms.

[joedev51]

I don't think I have taken Klonopin only because my doctor told me that I would have bad withdrawl reactions if I stopped the Xanax. I have been taking Xanax 0.5mg twice a day for the last five years, but for some reasons it isn't working as well as it use to and now I'm having the morning problems along with alot of headaches during the day. I would love to take an SSRI but that would probably kill me since I have a very bad reaction to any antidepressant I have tried. And I have tried them all from A to Z. My throat closes up, my tongue swells, and my blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level. Along with a number of other reactions.