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Is This Anxiety?

burning/pulsating sensations in different areas of body. it's like a 'pulling ache sensation' . in my legs mostly lower legs, ankles, both arms upper and lower, thumbs and wrists and chest area. the sensations in chest area are sometimes a stinging/aching sensation. I also need to use the toilet almost straight after having a few sips of water (for the past 3months).


occasionally I'll get a sharp pain through my lower back and upper bottock that doesn't last long aswell.

I saw the doctor about this when it started happening a year ago and my blood tests came back normal. I've had atleast two other blood tests since and still nothing out of the ordinary. a recent urine test came back normal aswell.

I've had a chest x-ray a few days ago which was all clear, an asthma test (blowing through a machine) which showed no signs of asthma, and I also had an ultrasound on my pelvis area about a year ago or less and that was normal. my blood pressure I'm always told is normal though I think my average heart rate currently sits above normal at around 85bpm (according to a heart rate app) and was sitting at between 68 & 75bpm at the start of the year according to the fitbit I had then.

I am frustrated as I have been doing my best to figure out what this is being caused by but so far tests have come back normal.

my history:
I have a long history of anxiety and panic attacks and a few years ago when it got severe, I had both depersonalization and derealization. I'm aware that anxiety can cause some of these sensations or similar, and I've been thinking it COULD be anxiety, but I'm not really convinced at this stage as the sensations I'm now getting seem to be different to what I use to expirience and much more frequent and intense, and I don't feel as severely stressed as I was a few years ago (although I do still expirience alot of worry daily and very regular ruminations/intrusive thoughts). can your anxiety symptoms change over the years and/or feel this intense? as even shortness of breath has become more intense (hence why I have had asthma test and chest x-ray). other than that I've experienced aura migraines atleast 3 times in the past 2 years (& once when I was 15) where I don't really get a headache but expirience the visual aura/disturbances that come with migraine. I had asthma when I was about 4 years old but haven't experienced it since. I am currently taking levlen contraceptive and Mega B supplements (as my focus and memory have been slightly off, like my brain has become lazy or something).

I'm looking for some advice or possible answers to what this is, or, what I should ask my doctor next time I see them about this? should I ask for some different tests? could it be my adrenal or nerve system or something? I'm a full time cleaner and have been for 3 years nearly now, could it be spinal related or muscoskeletal? I use back pack vacuumed daily and I'm moving bending scrubbing non-stop. I'm only 27 and I'm concerned. I've been stressing out alot about it. I do get health anxiety about sensations in my body. everything points to anxiety I think but I really don't think it is. it just feels different..

thanks so much for reading and any advice!
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Avatar universal
Hopefully, you have found some relief by now. If not I would suggest to having your doctors check for autoimmune disorders/diseases.
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1 Comments
Tell us more? Why do you say that?  I agree that underlying issues should always be ruled out and if they are, dig into if it is strictly mental health driving the symptoms.  
973741 tn?1342342773
People do tend to have GI distress when highly stressed or suffering anxiety disorder.  IBS or irritable bowel syndrome is tightly correlated to stress and anxiety, for example.  Your work is physically demanding.  I know that after a car accident more than a couple of decades ago, I have an injury that flares from whiplash.  I get headaches when either stressed or if I aggravate it from activity.  Pulling weeds, for example, can result in body aches and headache that makes me feel ill (weird.  And no, I don't really use it as an excuse not to do the household chores, ha ha).  Stretching helps.  Do you take time to stretch?

As to a doctor wanting it to be quick, I've thought about these things. So many of us feel like the doctor is running the show but really . . . we are their customers.  We pay to see them, we drive to their office, we should be the ones that are in charge. But it is that authority figure thing that many have in which they are intimidating and we view them as the ones with the power.  Really, you are the consumer there and have every right to sit and ask question after question after question if you need more clarification!  Sometimes it helps to take someone with you to the appointment.  They can write things down, ask something you forgot to ask if you make a list ahead of time and back you up if you still aren't satisfied and need a bit more of said doctors time talking about things for you.

I do agree that when we start to have an issue after doing something new (vitamins), stopping them to see if it goes away may provide relief.  So, that is worth trying in my opinion.  In general though, vitamins tend to eventually after taking them for a while help me with energy.  You should like this has been the opposite but everyone is different.  

You can absolutely get physical symptoms from anxiety and stress. The  big complaint of kids with anxiety that is diagnosed later is stomach aches.  Next thing you hear is headaches.  I'm wondering if a few things you add in on your own could help at all like doing a bit of yoga, meditation, practicing breathing techniques, stretching routines.  You get a lot of exercise from your job but a walk or something of that nature, or lateral movement is also quite calming to the nervous system.  

What would you say is your biggest concern of your symptoms currently?
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Avatar universal
Seeing what you do for a living, the pain could definitely be from that.  Or not.  You're young for it to be that, but all that bending could be part of it.  The backpack could be pressing on nerves in the shoulder, which can spread pain down.  This is actually common and it happened to me when I was in college, saw a doc and she must have seen a lot of cases like it and told me about heavy backpacks.  Anxiety pretty much works like this:  you get anxious thoughts, even though many times we don't at the time notice we're having them, and when they get strong enough we can suffer a lot of physical problems, especially when sleep is disturbed by it.  But different people get really different symptoms and some don't get many physiological symptoms at all, it's almost all mental.  A lot depend on your life -- I got my chronic anxiety as opposed to episodic when I was already a heavy exerciser and daily meditater, so I think those things protected me from the physiological things my sister suffered from when she got the same problem.  It's always difficult to attribute stuff to anxiety, because anxiety sufferers get all the same things that others get but often our docs find it easy to blame it on anxiety when the basic tests come up negative.  Sometimes you just have to be persistent and see the right specialist if you're at a point where your anxiety has gotten better and therefore you don't think it's that.  There's no way for anyone to know for certain, so do look at your life and how you've been thinking lately to see if maybe there's a trigger you might be missing, but also trust your instincts and if you think it's physiological persist on finding the problem.  The one issue that's really out there is needing to go to the bathroom every time you drink water.  Really anxious people do need to go more often than others, but that's a lot and might be a signal of something.  Good luck.
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4 Comments
Sorry, forgot to mention, if those vitamins you're taking are new to you and this happened after you started taking them, stop taking them and see if the problems go away.  Sometimes a supplement is very poor quality.  Sometimes there's something in it you don't do well with, such as B6 in your B vitamin which some people get neuropathy from.  Whenever you start a new med or new supplement and bad things happen then, stop taking them (the right way for meds) and see if that fixes it.
Thanks so much for your comment Paxiled.. I recognise your name and think you may have also answered my question a few years ago when I was struggling severely with anxiety (DP and DR) have you been on these forums for a while? Thank you ❤️

I went to the docs today, it's sometimes frustrating when you feel they just want you in and out. He didn't ask about what I did for work he just asked about what I 'suspected' could be wrong.. perhaps I shouldn't have told him I had anxiety as he may have dug a bit deeper with me, I agree with what you say in regards to doctors doing that. I wanted to say more and ask more questions but he seemed like he wanted it to be a bit quick. He did do an ecg which was awsome and all was fine with my heart. He ordered another blood test for me to check for deficiencies which I'll do this week but I suspect it will come back fine as I only had one a month and a half ago.

I'm sitting here after that with a heavy slightly aching leg still and I just feel like I was rushed out again this afternoon, even though he did do a physical examination and ecg which was great, i don't know why he didn't ask to look at my veins or backs of my legs or something I don't know. I'm happy the tests came back clear but of course I'm still worried as I feel this right now and I'm not severely stressed. I wanted to ask him about allergies and/or nerves/adrenals but didn't get a chance.

So your saying you can be anxious and stressed but not realise it? Can you get physical symptoms when you don't even realize you are anxious?

As for the discomfort Perhaps I could look for a specialised or someone who specializes in work related body pain? I don't even know what they would call themselves.

Thank you again :)
Oh I also mentioned I just started taking vitamin B (after reading your comment I remembered to tell him :) ) and he said it shouldn't be that. Well he didn't say anything he just shook his head lol so maybe he doesn't think it's an issue. But I'm glad I ruled that out, thank you for bringing it to my attention :)
Sadly, physicians don't study much nutrition so they really don't know a whole lot about food or supplements.  Often, they are trained to be hostile to supplements they don't prescribe themselves, as that's what's taught in medical school -- natural medicine is seen as a competitor rather than complementary as our system is a for-profit one, not one that emphasizes health.  Specialists in body pain would depend on the type of pain.  Orthopedic surgeons specialize in that.  Physical therapists specialize in that.  Neurologists specialize in pain caused by nerves, theoretically.  Physiatrists specialize in managing chronic pain, but can also make diagnoses.  Chiropractors and osteopaths specialize in body pain.  Acupuncturists, massage therapists, etc. specialize in pain treatment.  In our system there are always specialists.  That doesn't mean it's easy to get a correct diagnosis, however, and without one, it's hard to fix things.  Yes, you can be anxious and stressed without realizing it.  We humans are mistake machines, sometimes we just miss even our own thoughts and our own lives.  Usually your mind would be full of anxious thoughts, but sometimes, we don't focus on it or are really good at suppressing it.  So yeah, it could be.  It never hurts to look at what's going on and take some stock in how you're reacting to it, such as trouble sleeping or whatnot, when weird stuff starts happening to your body or in your life.  Peace.
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