Short shooting pains from Anxiety

[littlemac44]

Hello All,

Newbie here. Over the last 2 years, I have been dealing with a new occurrence in my generalized anxiety battle. I have been experiencing random shooting pains in all areas of my body(generally about 2-5 seconds in duration randomly). They mainly occur in the hands and feet, but can come on anywhere including the knees, ankles, elbows, shoulder, arms, etc...basically everywhere except the chest/stomach area. I have been on Prozac for about 15 years to treat moderate OCD and GAD, but I recently was weaned off of it by my current psychiatrist to for an eventual move to Cymbalta. The triggers seem to be immobility, lack of sleep, and alcohol use. The relief usually comes from excessive exercise, quality sleep, and when needed, infrequent use of Xanax. The pains are not excruciating but they are noticeable and have drastically affected my quality of life and my overall happiness. I have been to several doctors and ruled out basically all physical causes for the pain. I feel like most of the mental health doctors I have went to are vague and disinterested in my situation and have the same generic approach. Regardless, I am desperate to end this. Any info or assistance is greatly appreciated.

[AnxietySterling]

I am sorry you are going through this. I also have anxiety and experience weird pains but especially my back and chest. Anxiety manifest in so many ways that you never know what is next. I heard cymbalta is very helpful for pain but it is hard to discontinue.

I do think that most doctors get annoyed with anxiety symptoms because they do not really know how to help. Hopefully, in the future there will be better ways to treat it.

There is a page heallingwell.com where you can find also support. Best of luck and hope you feel better with the new med.