Aa
Can anyone relate? (horrible anxiety and more...)
Hi everyone
I'm a 48 year old male with a history of anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, Tourettes, hypochondria, various phobias, etc. I also have acute sinusitis, a deviated septum (left side), allergic rhinitis and cervical arthitis (an "osteophyte"/bone spur at C-4/5).
Anyway, when I have bouts of anxiety, they either come "out of the blue" for no apparent reason -or- there is some underlying source(s) of stress in my life that I believe triggers it. I DO have tons of stress in my life.
This particular bout came on very strong about 4 days ago.
I had been working on a new project and was really motivated, enjoying myself. Anxiety was the last thing on my mind and I was completely caught up in what I was doing. Then, some time in the late afternoon, I began experiencing this sudden feeling/sensation in my head. It felt like severe brain fog, pressure, a fullness in my head. Almost like a burning sensation at times. It's very difficult to describe.
My eyes also felt blurry and unfocused but then again, I also suffer from amblyopia ("lazy eye"). Then my nose started to drip a little bit and I just felt pretty lousy. I also had these sharp shooting pains traveling from my right shoulder down my arm (for a breif period) but I've had these and all kind of other weird pains/symptoms in the past (sometimes I feel like a lab rat!). Then my brain starts feeling woozy/loopy and it's almost like I get these strange "adrenalin rushes" going through my head which is really scary. Then the anxiety rears it's ugly head and it just gets worse from there. I mean not-stop anxiety that eats at you day and night and at times when you never used to have anxiety before. The kind of anxiety that makes you ask yourself "is this REALLY anxiety??").
Now here I am about 4 days into this and last night I was sitting there reading something on the computer when suddenly the words looked very blurry and unreadable. This lasted about 10-15 minutes. I freaked out and left the room to take my blood pressure because I have heard this can be caused by high blood pressure. Everything was normal so I came back in and the blurriness had left.
I ended up going to bed with my anxiety raging within me. I very rarely have bedtime anxiety so this scared me. All day today I have had this numb, anesthetized, dazed, loopy, foggy, pressure feeling in my head. For the last 3-4 days I have also (on a few ocassions) had muscle twitches, a quivering/nervous feeling under my chin and the left side of my face (and the left-back side of my head) has felt like it's "crawling" (followed by goosebumps) a few times. The swallowing/lump feeling is there. Sometimes my throat feels irritated. I have no fever or any other obvious symptoms.
I've been spraying astelin (an antihistamine) up my nose for about the same amount of time (3-4 days but perhaps longer) because it helps with my anxiety but the other day I read that it can cause a lot of the same symptoms I'm describing here so I discontinued using it and the symptoms are still there. I have also been on Ativan/Lorazepam for many years but it is not helping with this latest attack at all. I took Atenolol and that didn't help either. Last night I took an Atarax and that only helped slightly.
As far as test go, I'm like a lot of other people. I took that route a long time ago (had every test in the book done multiple times over a period of years) and they all kept coming back negative and so I finally just gave up in frustration.
I wonder if the neck arthritis could be causing (or contributing to) all (or any) of this. Perhaps part of it has to do with the years of head/neck jerking from Tourettes. I suppose it could also be the astelin that is partly to blame or maybe all (or most) of these symptom are being caused by plain old anxiety. I just don't know. I've thought about all sorts of dreadful diseases and became absolutely convinced that my demise was near, obsessed over my vision, etc. What a life )-:
Can anyone else relate?. I'm at my wits end. It almost feels like I'm being tortured.
- Need2behealthy
I'm a 48 year old male with a history of anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, Tourettes, hypochondria, various phobias, etc. I also have acute sinusitis, a deviated septum (left side), allergic rhinitis and cervical arthitis (an "osteophyte"/bone spur at C-4/5).
Anyway, when I have bouts of anxiety, they either come "out of the blue" for no apparent reason -or- there is some underlying source(s) of stress in my life that I believe triggers it. I DO have tons of stress in my life.
This particular bout came on very strong about 4 days ago.
I had been working on a new project and was really motivated, enjoying myself. Anxiety was the last thing on my mind and I was completely caught up in what I was doing. Then, some time in the late afternoon, I began experiencing this sudden feeling/sensation in my head. It felt like severe brain fog, pressure, a fullness in my head. Almost like a burning sensation at times. It's very difficult to describe.
My eyes also felt blurry and unfocused but then again, I also suffer from amblyopia ("lazy eye"). Then my nose started to drip a little bit and I just felt pretty lousy. I also had these sharp shooting pains traveling from my right shoulder down my arm (for a breif period) but I've had these and all kind of other weird pains/symptoms in the past (sometimes I feel like a lab rat!). Then my brain starts feeling woozy/loopy and it's almost like I get these strange "adrenalin rushes" going through my head which is really scary. Then the anxiety rears it's ugly head and it just gets worse from there. I mean not-stop anxiety that eats at you day and night and at times when you never used to have anxiety before. The kind of anxiety that makes you ask yourself "is this REALLY anxiety??").
Now here I am about 4 days into this and last night I was sitting there reading something on the computer when suddenly the words looked very blurry and unreadable. This lasted about 10-15 minutes. I freaked out and left the room to take my blood pressure because I have heard this can be caused by high blood pressure. Everything was normal so I came back in and the blurriness had left.
I ended up going to bed with my anxiety raging within me. I very rarely have bedtime anxiety so this scared me. All day today I have had this numb, anesthetized, dazed, loopy, foggy, pressure feeling in my head. For the last 3-4 days I have also (on a few ocassions) had muscle twitches, a quivering/nervous feeling under my chin and the left side of my face (and the left-back side of my head) has felt like it's "crawling" (followed by goosebumps) a few times. The swallowing/lump feeling is there. Sometimes my throat feels irritated. I have no fever or any other obvious symptoms.
I've been spraying astelin (an antihistamine) up my nose for about the same amount of time (3-4 days but perhaps longer) because it helps with my anxiety but the other day I read that it can cause a lot of the same symptoms I'm describing here so I discontinued using it and the symptoms are still there. I have also been on Ativan/Lorazepam for many years but it is not helping with this latest attack at all. I took Atenolol and that didn't help either. Last night I took an Atarax and that only helped slightly.
As far as test go, I'm like a lot of other people. I took that route a long time ago (had every test in the book done multiple times over a period of years) and they all kept coming back negative and so I finally just gave up in frustration.
I wonder if the neck arthritis could be causing (or contributing to) all (or any) of this. Perhaps part of it has to do with the years of head/neck jerking from Tourettes. I suppose it could also be the astelin that is partly to blame or maybe all (or most) of these symptom are being caused by plain old anxiety. I just don't know. I've thought about all sorts of dreadful diseases and became absolutely convinced that my demise was near, obsessed over my vision, etc. What a life )-:
Can anyone else relate?. I'm at my wits end. It almost feels like I'm being tortured.
- Need2behealthy
Wow! I feel for you. You are going through so much. I relate to the anxiety attacks coming out of the blue and lingering for days. I definately think going back to your doctor for retests could be a good idea. While this all could just be anxiety, maybe there is a better combination of meds that could help you now. I wish you good luck and some ease to your situation!
My sister also has bone spurs on her neck, back and shoulders. She has some of the same symptoms your describing. The shoulder pain and such. I do recommend that you have more testing done. You say it's been awhile since you've had any.
Anxiety comes with many bizarre symptoms, a very long list. It does sound like you're having panic attacks and anxiety. Has your Dr ever talked to you about going on an antidepressant along with your anti anxiety meds? Many of them can be great for helping with anxiety too. I take both myself.
Yes, anxiety can come out of nowhere. It could be like you said, you are having a lot of stress in your life because of the physical problems and it may just be catching up with you.
Anxiety comes with many bizarre symptoms, a very long list. It does sound like you're having panic attacks and anxiety. Has your Dr ever talked to you about going on an antidepressant along with your anti anxiety meds? Many of them can be great for helping with anxiety too. I take both myself.
Yes, anxiety can come out of nowhere. It could be like you said, you are having a lot of stress in your life because of the physical problems and it may just be catching up with you.
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