Randomly started one day with severe head pressure and headaches. And then one night I woke up feeling short of breath and panicked because of that. Also these headaches and pressure came with dizziness and a feeling of being unable to swallow solid food. Weakness in my arms and legs and back and neck pain. I ate only soups for 6 weeks and lost 2 and and half stone in that time. These manifested into chest pain and constant bloating. I have acid reflux and I believed it was that but my chest pains and palpitations got worse and I ended up going to hospital.
So I've had 3 ecgs all clear. (Apart from hospital woman said I had a irregular beat in bottom left of my heart that happebed very very rarely. But when I got to the hospital this was never brought up and my 2 ecgs after were normal. Albeit they were on a lot less time.
Ct scan of head showed a small cyst.
Endoscopy showed mild non erosive gastritis.
Ultrasound of stomach was normal.
Blood tests normal apart from sign of infection. (Nothing given for this).
My apologies for going on but I don't believe it's my anxiety. I understand some aspects will be.
But 2 months of constant head fogginess. Dizziness. Feeling weak and not swallowing food properly has me at my wits end.
Also keep getting cold hands and feet and get purple when this happens.
What do you think this could be or any advice?
Thanks from any help.
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DreamAchieve
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I've had all of the experiences you're describing and they are all from anxiety. Look up the books (I prefer the audiobooks) by Dr. Claire Weekes. They will help you to understand exactly what's going on in your body right now. It is hard to accept at first, but with work you can accept it and the acceptance will start to heal your nervous system.
I'm currently on propanol 40mg for the anxiety only been 4 days.
I'm trying to tell myself I'm okay but as soon as I start to feel better. I come right down. It's hard to believe anxiety can do all of this at once. I've suffered before but it was the odd chest pain here. The feeling of sudden doom and it lasted a few days and went. Anyone got any advice for coping?
Yes I'm very grateful to my doctors for there help and support. It's so infuriating just experiencing these things. Also forgot to mention a ringing in ears and fullness coming and going over the period
The reason that I asked is because I live alone and due to horrific carbon monoxide poisoning I was very ill and live with the consequences. Didn't want to frighten you. It doesn't do any harm to check out your environment, co alarm etc... Hope your family are well and that you can get well. Always here for support too.
Thank you, sadly damage is permanent. I manage, some good days some bad days. Yes, do check things for peace of mind, your workplace, car etc. .. can only put your mind at rest on those issues. It has taught me to look at things from a more practical perspective and not always an emotional one. Like if I don't sleep well, then I am tired the next day, if I didn't sleep well then I maybe took my worries to bed or had food too late or whatever. It doesn't 'cure' anxiety, but it doesn't make it worse lol. Sometimes there are more logical reasons for things and at times a solution that is within reach. I hope you get some answers and find a few of your own.
I tend to trust Calm_mama's recommendations and most of Clair Weekes' works, though occasionally she's a bad match for some people's personality types. Only 4 days on any drug for anxiety isn't very long for your nervous system to relax and settle down. I think you'll continue to calm down as the days go by.
Anxiety is a snarly, nasty thing to cope with. It'll surge and then wane sometimes for no apparent reasons at all. Other times you'll see the relationship between how you think, relax, breathe and otherwise conduct yourself and your level of anxiety. Once you get the original bout under significant control, you start to see and feel your own control of it working as long as you really are "working it down" and learning how to get better at that.
If you must have meds to control your anxiety, so be it. Some of us do; our anxiety is that powerful. If you don't need meds, be thankful, it's a blessing. I've been both, I know how they feel, and both can require a lot of work to maintain calmness. Dizziness is not unusual. Ask me any questions you'd like, I have a lot of experience and I might be able to help. Take care, I pray for the very best for you!
Thanks for the encouragement. I was you for years and now I am on zero drugs with zero symptoms!!! Time is a great helper but also knowing how to help myself was critical. Unfortunately, significant anxiety will affect your personal and social lives, no doubt about it. It's not a fair disorder by any means. It doesn't fight fair, either.
The greatest and most difficult to learn for me was the Recovery method by Dr. Abraham Low from years ago before drugs were available to anyone. So you know it had to work totally w/o drugs. And it DOES work. But you must learn it yourself and it's not taught just anywhere and it's not easy because of that. But it goes with you anywhere you go and you never go anywhere w/o it because the knowledge is in your head! Great news!
It started 4 years ago. I had anxiety out of nowhere. Chest pain and it was a small mild thing. Went on amitryptilline (dunno how it's spelt) and they seemed to work and eventually I managed to get through it. I did drink to much alcohol around that time. Not alcoholic but around 8-12 cans a week.
At the moment nothing is working. I'm also not eating enough as I feel I can't swallow properly so I don't think thats helping the dizziness.
I also believe they don't prescribe amitryptilline anymore as it affects the heart.
every time I feel okay I'll stand up quickly and go dizzy or I'll be short of breath.
I'm only 11 stone 6 so not overweight or anything either
I'm familiar with the symptoms that follow with getting up from a seated position too quickly...called orthostatic hypotension. Mostly annoying or harmless, it can be a nuisance to put up with, a temporary health complication that usually goes away after awhile. It's important not to get up too quickly and encourage the chance of a fall and thus an injury...you can train yourself to rise slowly from a seated position to a standing one and your symptoms should decrease significantly. You may not be taking in enough fluids the way you describe your eating problems. Increasing them may get the OH to go away. May...just a suggestion.
Not being able to swallow properly could also be due to inadequate fluid intake. Just another thought for you.
Anxiety is wicked and does often seem to appear out of nowhere. Have you been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder? Seen a psychiatrist capable of diagnosing you? There are many, many drugs that you could be taking for your anxiety, in many different classes so as to suit your needs best...I wonder why you aren't trying something now? Or is your anxiety not so bad these days?
Are you on depression meds or any meds at all? I know that I had a med change and it sounds like what your feeling I ended up in the hospital for 3 days til they got it sorted out
My dr put me on new meds for depression, PTSD and anxiety and it didn’t agree with me I was having paralyzing head aches in the back of my head and it would move to the front of my head it got so bad I had to be admitted because my blood pressure was 210 over 120 they were scared I was going to have an anorism but I didn’t. But it was all due to me getting no serotonin
I wasn't on any meds prior to this and only been on propanol 4 days so Its not medicine related. Also my blood pressure is fine and it's been done 6 times in the last 3 months at least
Most of it sounds like panic attacks. The fogginess and lightheaded sound like disassociate disorder which often comes with panic disorder. I have panic disorder and depression so know what that feels like.
Did they say anything about the cyst in your head?
I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I have had a mixture of all the symptoms you describe over the years. I also suffer from the most debilitating headaches - I’ve had two brain scans and they found nothing at all, so it was put down to severe tension and anxiety 😕
I really hope the neuro can help you. I ended up being referred to neurology too. But as soon as my scans came back clear, they weren’t at all interested in helping me with this daily headache! X
Once again I really appreciate all feedback and opinion.
I also forgot to mention that my vision has become suddenly worse when all this started but opticians seem to find no problems and also a shortness of breath that comes and goes at random times.
Hi , I’m the same age as you , when I was 15 I suddenly couldn’t swallow anything anymore , it happened at the dinner table with 15 people there - so scared I was going to choke . I went almost a year struggling to eat - having panic attacks, trying to eat ( yogurt- mash potato etc ) , never going to eat out because I was scared. I knew nothing was wrong because it slowly happened less - also my doctor told me I had anxiety . It does get better I promise , I almost never have it now ( I still have anxiety but I learnt to cope, also have health anxiety ) ..
for the weak arms , legs , neck and back pain - I have all of this all the time . Numbness too...
Always worried I have something very serious . It’s so hard sometimes !
I get a lot of the symptoms you listed when I have a migraine. Others I've heard say they also have the rest of the symptoms you listed. Stress and anxiety both bring on my migraines. The medicine they put you on is something that can help reduce migraine and I guess anxiety.. for sure the med ending in -olol can be used for migraine..if you had a high blood pressure. My BP is too low to try it a beta blocker. If a neurologist says the cyst is fine, then it's probably time to accept that it's anxiety or migraines causing these symptoms.
You've had every test done. They always rule out the worst possible diagnosis for your symptoms, first. If everything is normal then Docs tend to sit back and not worry about it being an "emergency." At this point if you think there is anything (or anything new) happening to you that could be related to your symptoms, tell the Doctor. Sometimes I forget to mention all of my symptoms. Miss saying one or two symptoms and that can change the diagnosis.
Have they checked your thyroid levels, I’ve been recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and feel exactly the same but also suffer with bad anxiety which can also lead to the symptoms you have described, it’s a cat and mouse scenario hypothyroidism causes anxiety and anxiety causes my hypothyroidism to play up
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Seem to have given up depression anxiety old age 
New to this, old to panic/anxiety
Anxiety for years 
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