23 yr.old Male Feeling Strange Sometimes

[BigSamlkpt]

Thank you very much for considering the following message, and a reply
back would be extraordinarily helpful: The last year and a half have been
near-absolute hell for me, beginning at the age of 22. After
an exceptionally stressful semester of college, I began presenting the
following symptoms: anhedonic depression, headaches, and crushing
anxiety. I began to forget things, and felt unable to read for extended
periods of time. Then, suddenly, for days and weeks at a time, I
feel nearly absolutely normal, like I've come up for air. I've struggled
to understand what the determinating factor is for the on/off switch,
and variously I believed the following to be crucial in killing it for a while:
vitamins, abstinence from caffeine, abstinence from nicotine, running,
but strangely, these things could come and go and they seemed not
to affect my situation. With my rough times, and even in my calm
times, there have come a maddening array of physical symptoms,
including heartburn/chest pain, weakness in my body,
tingling in my face and head,  complete inability to lose
any weight, and some days, this deep, strange sleep whereupon
in waking up, I'm not sure where I am.
This is like an episode of The Twilight Zone, because there are
days when I feel none of this, and my memory and ability to think
without negativity are solid, and my words flow.
Of course, I was not gonna live like this forever, so I checked myself
into a psychiatric ward at an emergency hospital, whereupon I
was diagnosed with Bipolar II and prescribed Lamictal. I've taken
Lamictal for the last month, on a very low dose, and suffice it to
say my depression is nearly dead and gone. However, here's the
thing: I still get the physical symptoms and a few of the mental
symptoms: the tightening of the chest, the brain fog (bad memory
and mood swings, although lighter now), the weakness in my
body - one more move and my body feels like dying - and a swelling
stomach.
These aren't idle considerations for me - I've had to take a Leave from
grad school because of this - but I'm trying to attack my remaining
symptoms reasonably, because for the last few days they've been
very bad. I've recently considered consulting an endocrinologist -
because of a history of thyroid problems in my family at a fairly young
age. My question is this: what is the best possible way of attacking
this problem? Any ideas would certainly help. (By the way, I've been
a grateful consumer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and searched my
soul a few hundred times in the last year and a half - and I'm still
convinced there's some physiological thing amiss, although my
family practice doctor thinks I'm hypochrondriacal.) Thanks again for
ideas- I'm willing to consider all possible options, although I've been
tested for Lyme Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Brain Cancer and AIDS,
with all negatives. I have no idea about the efficacy of thyroid tests,
and that's what worries me now - is that symptoms I have will evade
detection. Thanks for helping me solve this hideous puzzle.

[taylorson]

i m just starting to get symptoms as well at the age of 23 where ive been the emergency room 2 in a week thinking i was havin a heart attack..but it is soo hard to diagnose considering my new absence from alcohol and ciggarettes as well as my mother in an out of the hopspital with cardio myapathy..i recently went to a family clinic for more indepth testing but it always seems to come back as anxiety or stress related symptoms,,but im not totallty convinced considering im a pretty laid back individual..what should i do?..
my symptoms include:(and come out of nowhere even after a few days of feeling great)
tiredness
insomnia
headache
lack of appetite
chest pain
sweaty palms
anxiousness
mostly starts by feeling like my heart is goin reallly slow then feels like it stops for about a second then a wave of anxiousness engolfs the body in which my heart starts racing after words...i have had several ecg/ekgs which show no evidence of life threating arithmeas or any evidence of heart attack damage its freaking me out and sometimes think the doctors dont see it as seriously as i do.....ne ideas or comments that may help ease the mind would be a considerable amount of relief and help thank you

[Soonerman]

I had very similar symptoms to you at about the same age and during a very stressful semester at college.  I would get tested for Ebstein Barr Virus as it is common for college students, and has some links to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which could account for your symptoms.  It could be that you have had it in the past and it flares up or something, you would need to see a specialist on that.  Have you had any abnormal blood tests, B12 levels?  How about blood sugar levels or a glucose tolerance test?

[Lindsey560]

The thing is, anxiety & depression are both linked.  The tightening in your chest could be linked to the anxiety, as it was for me.  It was severe enough for me to go to the ER thinking I was having a Heart Attack (at age 22) or that something else was happening.  You have had this for so long without treatment that the physical side effects could take a while longer to get over than the 'chemical imbalance' or 'mental' side effects.  Understandable?  Physical reactions to emotional problems are very common, you just have to give it time to go away.  I had a constant pinch in my chest about 3 weeks after I got put on anxiet medicine, only to find out that it was a very deeply set chest muscle that had been squeezed/pulled so tight when I was so anxious, that it was going to take a longer time for it to heal.  So it's unfortunate, but true that the physical symptoms of depression & anxiety can last longer than the mental symptoms.  But don't worry, they'll go away with time.  And if they don't, tell your doctor, it's YOUR body to take care of so it never hurts to ask.