I am a freshman at The College of Charleston... Over Christmas break, I threw out my back causing a tingling sensation up my spine and pain in my jaw; in hindsight, I think it also triggered the first panic attack I've ever had. However, I have felt extremely stiff and tight ever since (making it extremely challenging for me to play sports without getting a new injury every time). I arrived to school after christmas break ready to meet girls, go out to parties, and of course study hard. However, my first few weeks have been far from "normal." I have been hospitalized 4 times in the span of 3 weeks. The first trip I felt a pop in my neck after cutting a yawn short, at which point my neck proceeded to swell all the way from my jaw down my neck, to my clavicle (my blood pressure was way up as well as my heart rate). The rest of the week I had all three different types of sleep insomnia, and I have been showing extreme signs of anxiety ever since. They released me each time writing them off as panic attacks/ anxiety, but each time I see a counselor, they seem convinced I don not show long term anxiety symptoms. I feel like I am going crazy! I have taken a hiatus from smoking marijuana as well as drinking because both activities seem to exacerbate the problem, and I am reluctant to use any drugs that have been prescribed to me by the pluthura of doctors I have seen over the last month. These drugs include anti-inflamatories, pain killers, sleeping aids, and only a small dose of short term anti-anxiety meds ("just in case"). As I said, I am extremely conservative when it comes to medicine and when none of these prescriptions produced any results, I would stop taking them in a matter of days, if not less. I am currently only taking half an ambien when I can't fall asleep, but only if the insomnia hits when I first try to sleep because I have class in the mornings. I now know I had worse anxiety issues than I thought, but I still feel as though they are not the direct cause to my problems (although they are deffinitely contributing). I have been cleared by 3 different chiropractors, 4 different ER doctors, my regular MD at school, a prestigious internal medicines dr from my home town, a counselor, and 2 psychiatrists; and they all have assured me that everything appears to physically and mentally fine.
Symptoms: The anxiety has indeed made it difficult for me to pinpoint the problem, and the muscle pain is almost everywhere. I feel like I'm living off adrenaline at this point, fairly charismatically I might add (as I am able to function throughout the day), but it is almost overwhelming. The only consistant issues I have had throughout my entire ordeals seems to be my sinuses. I have a fullness feeling behind my left eye/ ear as well as sinus pressure around my head. My neck has felt extremely stiff and recently my left shoulder has been hurting too. I even seem to salivate more with my right side. My left arm feels noticeably weaker. I am also very prone to injury when I've been playing soccer, frisby, and even golf as all my muscles feel weak. I am working on setting up a cat scan with an ENT expert, but other than that I just do not know what to do.