Possibly stress? Or worse?

[PossiblyBroken]

Hello everyone, it has been quite some time since I posted here.  I am a 24 year old male, smoker for 12 years, recently slowing down sugar consumption and recently diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.  I noticed a few days ago that my cheeks felt a little numb, the sort of feeling when novicaine begins to wear off. I could feel my fingers on them but would catch a sort of numb cold feeling constantly.  I decided to have a massage done and it seemed to help.

The stress was coming from a 3 year relationship that I ended, and felt the numbness quickly go away.  However, once that went away, I began to feel as those my neck is swollen, on the left and right sides, not so much in the middle or back.  If I turn my head to the side, either left or right, I get a full feeling in my neck, as though it is tight against my skin. It doesnt hurt much, if at all.  I also noticed that when I laugh, I can feel a little bit of a sting in the tendons of my neck in my collarbone.  Very rarely, I can feel a sharp sting on my spine towards the top, but that is also very rare.

This is all very worrisome, and being an anxious person is not helping the matter. What can this be a result of? Is it simple stress, or can something more serious be happening? Any help is appreciated, thank you very much everyone!

[PossiblyBroken]

Thank you very much VaBreeze!  It has to be stress related, as well as a few pinched nerves/pulled muscles. This came out of nowhere. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't something serious, but after being told what you've said multiple times now, I am beginning to believe you are all on to something here heh. Thanks again!

[VaBreeze]

What you describe sounds like part of the anxiety disorder (stress/tension).  Anxiety can cause a host of body symptoms.  If you are still having probs. with this after a week, you may want to return to your physician for further treatments.

Take care.