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358304 tn?1409709492

Anxiety...

24 year old male. A few months ago I felt this thing in my neck (a lymphnode) it was kind of soar, and it freaked me out. But I didnt worry about it. Anyways.. .one day out of nowhere I came home from work, and felt sick, like I had the flu. I lost appetite etc. Then I started having heart palpations, night sweats... then I was realizing I wasn't sleeping for days. I was panicky, had to pace around a lot.

I went to the Doctor, and he said I was suffering from anxiety. I had no idea that you could lose your appetite, feel sick, etc. from anxiety. He prescribed me on Lexapro 10mg. I took 1 pill and thought I was having side effects (came to find out it was just my nerves). The Dr. told me to just take 5mg if it made me feel better. So I did that for a month, and started feeling back to my normal self.. .got my full appetite back. Then after that month or so went by I started feeling the anxiety coming back again. So I upped myself to 10mg, the Dr. said that was fine. I started feeling better again in a few days.

I felt the thing in my neck again and went to the Dr.. He felt my neck and said he couldnt feel anything and my lymphnodes felt fine. That made me not worry anymore... and the sensation/pain seemed to leave after that.

Then a month or so went by and I was doing great!.. just until about 4 or 5 days ago. I started feeling anxious again, no appetite... bad butterflies in my stomach. And I think its because I was messing around with my neck again, b/c it hurts in there a little. I've been having bad night sweats again... heart palpations. It sucks.

I'm going to the Dr. again on Monday to check back with him. I'm going to have my neck x-rayed I think just to take the ease off. Just so he can show me theres nothing wrong.

I guess my question is... do you think my anxiety can be triggered by this fear of something in my neck? I researched neck pain and night sweats... and of course all you get is the worst stuff to come up... I found stuff on Lymphoma... and I thought I had cancer.

The Dr. took my blood a couple months ago too and said my blood work was GREAT. My white blood cells were awesome etc. And he said If I had lymphoma... it would more than likely effect more than one lymph node and my white blood cell count would be out of whack.

Thanks for listening.

-Worry Wart-
11 Responses
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Avatar universal
yep. my doctor friend who agreed to look at my stuff and rule out "easy" neuro signs had me do all that tonight - reflexes, touch nose, stand with arms out and eyes closed, etc...

he called it the poor man's MRI.

he also echoed everything you said about me needing to wait months and spend $10k before i'd probably get the same result he gave me: "you're healthy"
Helpful - 0
387056 tn?1200443777
Re: neurological work ups. I am a chronic pain patient and I have developed an anxiety related pain complex - i.e., pretty similar to what you guys have. I get really anxious if I get in pain or some part of my body isn't doing what I think it should. I have to know what it is ASAP or I start catastrophizing.

Neurologists are really hard to get into, and they aren't nearly as reassuring as one would want them to be. Neurology seems to be one of the fields that western medicine is just starting to understand. They didn't even have a drug for nerve pain until 1994, and even then the drugs were (and still are) off label epileptic/anti-seizure drugs.  Neurologists generally only look for these three: MS/ALS/Alzheimers, and since two of three manifest in the 50+ age group, they really aren't going to have much for the youngins. They check for gross abnormalities- like you can't lift up your leg or when they hit your reflexes with a hammer, your reflexes don't work. They have two more basic tests in their arsenel - the MRI with contrast and the EMG. EMGs need to be conducted by an excellent practioner for them to be worthwhile, and the MRI with contrast is an expensive procedure (i.e. insurance company won't like that they ordered it) and something they would not order unless clearly warranted. So basically, for youngins such as us- they are going to hit your reflex points with a hammer, make sure you can touch your nose and then their finger, and that your limbs have very basic level strength,  and then send you on your way.
Helpful - 0
358304 tn?1409709492
Heck yeah, the mind is a powerful thing. I didnt have very bad night sweats lastnight. I think its b/c I took a lorazapam before I went to bed. It helps me sleep good. And today wasnt that bad of a day. My nerves werent as bad. Thanks again for all your help. We'll keep in touch with eachother. Help eachother out! =) Peace!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
for sure, man. anytime.

and, as if i gave off the impression that this is easy - right now i just took celexa and, yet again, i feel like my tongue is tingly and my throat and eyes are itchy. again, a med that i had taken two years ago for months and have been on three weeks. every morning i wake up fine. if i actually had an allergy, it would get worse or at least stick around, as i keep taking the drug.

the brain is so damn powerful.

my vision has been bad, as i mentioned, but instead of avoiding my eye doc for fear of him finding some terrible cause of the vision loss, i'm now avoiding him because i'm starting to be convinced that when the anxiety lifts, my vision - along with the rest of it - may get better.

i at least have to give the meds a full month to do what they can. i'm laughing and smiling more... the body and mind can't be far behind.
Helpful - 0
358304 tn?1409709492
Thank you so much for writing me back! You made me feel better. I'll keep in touch.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i've asked myself the same question re: will a doctor's clean bill of health ease my anxiety.

well, i haven't had a complete workup, but two weeks ago when i fainted, they listened to my heart, lungs, took blood pressure and also did blood and urine tests. the only thing the doctor mentioned was a slightly elevated white blood count.

where the anxiety becomes evident is my response to that evaluation (essentially a complete physical). instead of listening to the doc when he said i was a health 27 year old with nothing more than a slightly elevated WBC, i focused on two things - the slightly elevated WBC (so slight he didn't even want to look into it further, mind you) and the fact that they didn't do anything neurological in their evaluations.

now, does that fear make sense? i vacillate between yes and no. when i know i am feeling different symptoms - brain fog, nerve pain and vision issues the most alarming - i think to myself, "i NEED a complete neurological workup to feel less anxious about this."

trouble is, if i got a complete neuro. workup and it was clean, what then? would i suddenly lose the neuro. symptoms and become me again? it's hard to say.

i have a friend who actually DOES have MS (something i've been worried sick - literally - about for weeks). she is quite a normal, functioning person with a health problem that she is fighting. when i told her my symptoms, she thought it was quite possibly almost the opposite - that i was quite an anxious, non-functioning person with no health problems that i am fighting.

and so it goes...

i think the bottom line for me is this - i've been feeling so completely off for over six weeks now. if this were an acute health issue, it would have progressed by now. if it isn't acute, then i can relax... and if i can relax, perhaps it will become clear that - not only is it not acute, but it's not anything.

but none of this is easy, brother. i can't tell you how many things i have been worried about in the last six weeks. i'm not out of the woods yet and i don't think i will be until i really want to be. whether it takes more doctoring that i can't afford (i'm meeting over coffee with an MD friend this week) to give me that peace, or whether i will experience some sort of miracle remains to be seen.

bottom line is this - the chances that i developed an actual neurological condition the morning after a two hour panic attack involving drug use and high anxiety are so incredibly slim that it would be just an awfully HUGE and unlikely coincidence.

i know your situation is not a carbon copy, but there is an essence of anxiety that we can all relate to.

peace to you. i'm right there with the worry, i know how it feels.
Helpful - 0
358304 tn?1409709492
Thanks for replying.
Do you think that this could have started my whole anxiety attack several months ago? and the meds were just something to take my mind off of it?

If so, if on monday, the Dr. does and X-RAY and finds theres nothing wrong.. do you think my anxiety will just go away after that?
Helpful - 0
366811 tn?1217422672
L00k Up. See Reginald's post? Trust me, the guy knows whereof he speaks. And LIKE YOU, he writes well, is intelligent and very self-aware.

Yes, the bottom line here is that sort of feed-back loop can become established, kind of like the governor on your lawn mower. And so, you feel good until the "thing," then you're anxious, lose appetite, feel bad, take more meds -what the heck -just read your own stuff, you'll see it.

Point being, it becomes difficult to parse out what started it and where you grab on to break the cycle. But I can assure you, that one of the insidious features of anxiety is that it IS kind of self-feeding. Your doctor has given you a physical work-up that is reassuring, so ask him/her for a psych referral and get some help on the thinking, mental side of the matter.

Please stay in touch with the forum. We know -we really know- what you're up against. There is strength in numbers, so be with us.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
it is my belief that anxiety can make you feel just about anything, my friend. if you read my story in the forum, you'll see that i am currently in a whirlwind of panic about myriad symptoms. they are all VERY real, in that they feel real. every night when i take celexa - which i had taken two years ago - i think it's going to make my tongue swell up. my tongue even feels tingly, etc...

on the wisdom tooth front - i, too have all four of mine pretty much in. i often feel like they could be affecting me somehow. i'm curious what others think.
Helpful - 0
358304 tn?1409709492
Also can wisdom teeth impact your neck by your jaw and ear? or below your jaw by your lymph node? I dont have any tooth aches or tooth pain... but I do have all 4 of my wisdom teeth pretty much in.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
to the question on the end i'd say yes, your anxiety is most likey triggerd off by the worry u have about your neck. having axiety pretty much all my life, i've noticed, it gets so much worse when your stressed over or worried about something. just keep in mind & keep telling yourself u are fine! your blood tests are fine and there is nothing to worry about. good luck!
Helpful - 0
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