ill for 2 months, please help

[jay007]

im 27yrs old. for the past 2 months, i have been feeling very ill. I have this cold feeling on top back of my head like someone poured water or opened my head and blew air on my brain. i feel very weak and faint, my upper back hurts, my legs feel weak, i feel like i have something stuck in my throat. I feel weird in my chest, im nauseas.I had a standard chest x-ray, abdomin cat scan, tons of blood work. all normal. I have seen 2 doctors and the told me its anxiety and gave me lexapro which i have been on for a week and waiting for it to kick in. I have a brain cat scan next week, doctor says i dont need it but i insisted. my question is, can this be a correct diagnosis by the doctors. i just dont see how anxiety or stress can cause constant physical feeling of illness. I can understand having panic attack or feeling ill for an hour but I feel this way every second of the day for 2 months, it just does not let up. anyone with feedback, id appreciate it. thank you in advance

[elisey]

Hiya all!
iv been feeling exactly the same its horrible,reading this abit has helped loads to know im not the only one going mad thinking these things! i constantly think i have a brain tumour iv been to the doctors 6 times,it started with a sharp pain just behind my ear then i started feeling dizzy my eye sight is terrible,i feel weak,i sometimes dont want to get up in the morning because i hate feeling like this,i have pain in my neck shoulder arm sometimes in my leg! i have just had my blood checked everything was fine,im going doctors 2mora to talk to them again they keep telling me its anxiety just dont understand how this it is all in my head and im making it up and the symptoms worse! i feel like i cant talk to anyone beacuse they think im mad! i just cant wait for the day when i feel normal again! doctors and opticians have looked in my eyes and found no pressure for them to think i have a brain tumour but i generally think its that!!
please someone get back to me thanks x

[WandaB]

I wake up every morning feeling really funny in my head, weak even after eating a pretty big breakfast.  I am beginning to think that I have a food allergy to something that I am eating.  I have been like this for 4 months - feel like I am going crazy.  Today I decided to try to eat a little different and I think feeling a little better.  The shakes are are quite as bad.  I am going to try to go outside (something that I have not been able to do for a while by myself) today.  All the doctors keep saying is that I have severe anxiety (am too scared to take meds when home by myself) I also have low blood sugar attacks and trying to get this under control.  I was told the other day that I also hyperventilate when not knowing that I am breathing right.  

[Pum]

Yes it can cause constant symptoms.  Panic attacks are like discrete major episodes but chronic tenseness hyperventilating stress hormones racing around your body leads to constant symptoms.  You can even grind teeth in your sleep so the body is still able to be tensed up even in sleep.

Books by Dr Claire Weekes are recommended.  Her advice is basically float ie don't fight panicy feelings and let time pass.  It will take time, just wait for a few weeks on the medication.

Hey good luck.

[jay007]

gwig, wandaB, but did you constantly feel ill, or did you hve liKe panic attacks because im always feeling this way. i wake up everyday and feel this way, did u feel this way constantly too? can anxiety or stress cause constant ongoing physical illness everyday, every minute?

[WandaB]

I have a lot of the same symptoms that you have.  I have been to the er about 5 times in the last few weeks, also just walked into my drs office without appointment thinking that I was dying just to be told that I am suffering from very severe anxiety disorders along with low blood sugar levels.  This morning I have been feeling awful, feeling as if I cannot breath, numb feeling all over my body, weak feeling, head feeling numb all over my whole body feels as if it does not even belong to me any more.  I thought that I was going to have to go to the er again.   I have Thyroid Nodules, heart valve leak (which the dr says will not cause any problems), anxiety disorders.  I know how you feel.  I feel as if sometimes I am so alone in all of this.  The dr has put me on Lexapro.

[Pum]

Anxiety can definitely cause all those symptoms and more.  Upper shoulders can tense and go into spasm as can your throat area (your swallowing symptoms). Tense scalp muscles can lead to the head feelings you have.

The medication takes a while to kick in.  Allow at least one month before your chronic muscle tension starts to go away.

A good rule of thumb is to try the anti-depressants for a period (say 3 months) and if you still have worrisome symptoms then ask for more testing.

Good luck.

[gwig]

Hi Jay!
I can totally symapthize with your symptoms! I have had those plus many more including dizziness, lack of concentration, the weird feeling you are talkng about in your head...all of them! I am a 35 year old female. I have been through all the tests...blood work, checked for tumors etc....everything comes back fine. I also was and sometimes still am convinced that I have cancer of some sort and it does not help coming online looking up symptoms that is for sure because the forst thing that pops up for ANYTHING is cancer. I ended up in the ER about a month ago thinking I was having a heart attack...it was just panic and anxiety. Hard to believe like you said, but trust me, it can do some awful things to you. Your mind is the most powerful thing you have and if you are sonstantly thinking the worst, you WILL feel the worst. Trust me, I know! The doctor put me on Buspar, now it takes 6 weeks to feel the full affect and I have been on it for 4 weeks and I am starting to feel changes now. I have always been more into herbs and whatnot, never thought about going on the medicine but here I am in Michigan working for the automotive industry that is just falling apart on meds!! I do not know what your sitation is but I can tell you this much too...anxiety is not something that just comes when you are conciously dwelling on something...it comes from your subconciuos and it is hard to control. I think you are just fine:-) If you have been through all of those tests and everything came back OK. You sound like me though insisting to the doctors that they have to do these extra tests :-) At some point you will be convinced you are OK...I just know it. You hang in there and try to think positive...someone out there has it a heck of a lot worse than you!! Keep on the medicine too...these things take time to take affect, but when it does, you will be happy you kept up with it!! ;-)

[jay007]

these are all of my symptoms. i lost about 5 pounds in a short time, but gained it back. i think i lost it because i panicked, i felt i was dying or something. dont know if anxiety is the root cause, this is what doctors are telling me. I just dont believe anxiety can cause symptoms like this aspecially lasting so long. i am a very nervouse person and alway worry alot but this just does not seem right, i dont know if the doctors are jut blowing me off or im paranoid, all i know is i feel ill every single day.

[jay007]

my thyroid came back perfect in my blood tests. i am so scared that its cancer or something, ive never felt this ill for so long, i would think my body would heal but i feel pretty much the same since 2 months ago, i think its a little better but not much. i had extensive blood work including wbc, rbc, thyrooid, sugar levels, the works. all normal

[comets]

Did you have your thyroid level checked? Last year, I had the same symptoms you had and I went to ER 6 times. I was later diagnosed with Hashimotos Hypothyroidism. I have been on Synthoid since. I won't say that my energy level has returned to the level before I was sick, but I do feel much better. Hope it helps.

[ploggin]

Anxiety and stress can make you feel pretty ill.  I don't know about your situation but you really don't know how much stress you are feeling until it is lifted.

I have had bad bad physical symptoms for over 3 years, and I believe that a portion of it at least is just caused by anxiety alone, along with some hypersensitivity problems in my system.