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  2. I am actually taking Cymbalta. I switched from Paroxetine (Paxil) because of the bruxism (teeth-clenching) causing teeth problems and weight gain. Cymbalta works pretty well for me. You should start taking it as prescribed. If there are any problems, you can let your doctor know and he can adjust. When I first went to the psychiatrist, she thought I was bipolar and tested me twice.....and even put me on Lithium! It's like eating a battery, but it only caused what little OCD I ever thought I had and made it debilitating. I told the doc and was immediately off of it. Lexapro didn't work for me and I was maxed on it. Then, it was Paxil lol. I ended up being diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder with a broad affect. I can be a good actor because I can practically cry on cue hahaha.
  3. Thanks for the reply, and sorry for being late in getting back, I get no notification of replies. I saw a Neurologist yesterday and he couldn't explain the symptoms at all which was frustrating for me. He just said "I think you're okay." He prescribed me Cymbalta which, after reading the side effects, I am very scared to take. I'm looking into getting another therapist but as the last one didn't seem to help much I'm feeling rather demoralized at the moment.
  4. I've been taking this daily for 2 weeks now and it's helping me a lot.
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  6. Age can also be a factor. The old adage about joints and pressure changes....
  7. Someone on one of these anxiety sites once said "If it is not there in the morning and comes on as the day goes on, then it is anxiety or at least nothing serious". This one is always gone first thing when my arms and hands are rested and steady. Then as I overthink it, my arms and shoulders tighten, and I focus on it... it starts again. Today, I am sick with a bad cold and I haven't even noticed it at all. I think I am on my way to believing it is nothing already this time around. Thanks.
  8. If you haven't used muscles in a while, that can cause twitching and numbness. I have tall shrubs that I have to trim TWICE a year and the things are over 6 feet tall. I am 6'3" and am forced to stretch my arm out and sweep like frosting a cake lol. The electric trimmer vibrates and it goes right through my arm. After doing about an hour of work, I have trouble with my arms. Even exercise and straining can cause twitching.
  9. Just a quick update. I’ve gotten pretty good at relaxing into symptoms and accepting them as anxiety. Overall, this comes and gos and doesn’t bother me too much. I played basketball hard yesterday for about 90 minutes. Just prior my hands were very shaky from nerves. Following it that day, my hands were very shaky and I was exhausted. My left shoulder often gets reinjured and makes that entire arm sore and weak. My left forefinger moves the most when I watch my hands. I can’t quite make it totally still when I hold my hands out. Kinda started freaking me out yesterday and I kept checking. I’ve tried to stop checking but now it’s hard to not obsess over it. I slept a good night and it was basically gone this morning, then I checked a few times stupidly and of course I saw it move a bit here and there. Not like yesterday, but there. Just curious if some of you have certain fingers shake and such when you hold your hands out? I assume it is normal behavior and I’m just being stupid again. Anxiety likely making it seem much worse than it is.
  10. Hello Orchidman, It sounds like derealization/deperssonalization - it just means the mind is racing faster than the body can handle. The cold sweats can be from trhe anxiety, too. It is also the panic attack that pulls us out of sleep. My heartbeat can actually race at that point, too. Welcome to the site!
  11. Anxiety can play games with nerves. Everyone has different symptoms. I can shake and have nausea. I can't eat if i have a major panic or anxiety attack. I wouldn't bother with an MRI, though. That's a stretch. Have you seen a doc or therapist?
  12. Hi, I’m Darren, Im 44 and have been dealing with my anxiety for 30+ years now. after a nice long run of feeling well, I seem to have slipped back into my pattern of freaking out over every pain/sensation I feel in my body. I always know when my anxiety is creeping back when I have the daily thoughts of « call your doctor » « go to the ER »  My worse symptoms are brain fog/lightheadedness/dizziness, with a side of cold sweats
sometimes feeling like I am really stoned/high (Im not😉) or like there is a weird film/bubble around my head. It makes it hard to concentrate and go about my work, unfortunately. This past week has been really bad. The lightheadedness starts the second I wake up, and lasts all day with varying waves of strength. I’ve been coping with this long enough now to be able to function around it, but deep down inside I am super miserable right now. I’m trying to stay positive by telling myself « you’ve been here before, it always goes away eventually » »you don’t need a doctor, you’re fine » but it’s very hard to convince myself that I’m okay sometimes when I feel like my head is floating away from my body. I have been off of medication for over two years, but my doctor has put me on duloxetine now to see if it helps. I was told that this medication tends to make things worse before it gets better, though
which really isn’t helping my mental state right now lol thanks for listening. I appreciate all comments and feedback. Sometimes it helps when I write out how I’m feeling to turn on the logical part of my brain😉
  13. One thing that gives me great comfort. My mother in law is 94 she's had a lot of skin cancer...a lot lot lot...all kinds except the really bad kind. Never gave her a lick of trouble...just had them dealt with and moved on. She never even worried. She never wore sunscreen. She just didn't care. She never seemed to worry about anything ever. Her husband (my father in law) also also had skin cancer....the really bad kind and that was dealt with and he never had any other issues...he also lived well into his 90's and passed from old age.
  14. I'm in a similar situation. My derm blows it off as "just one of those things" I hate it...I hate all of it. I hate the constant fear of it. I go every six months for a skin check and more if I find something hinky in between. Sigh... Not sure I've helped other than to tell you, you're not alone. From what I've read, those can actually turn into BCC or SCC...even though most places online overwhelmingly mention only SCC (BCC is less awful). Some places say that up to 10% can "one day" turn into something sinister...other places say that transformation is rare and then spreading is even rarer. Some things I've read say that they would have to be "badly ignored" to be truly life threatening...other places or scarier saying that they ALL need to be dealt with. I've also read stories of anxiety not helping in these matters with it potentially affecting development of at least BCCs. The best thing I've done is find a good derm that I trust and go regularly and any time in between something seems bothersome. Also some of the AKs might actually be a SK seborrheic keratosis which is totally benign. My derm says there's no way to know for sure without a biopsy and the treatment is the same either way so he just removes them either way. Apparently, he deals with these things all day every day. I suspect your derm does as well. Hang in there. Keep us posted. We're all in this together.
  15. Dizziness and lightheadedness are my biggest anxiety symptoms. It’s so annoying. Hang in there, it will pass.
  16. I have had health anxiety since I was a kid. Don't know what started it exactly but my only fears then were vomiting in public and getting sick while away from home. Now though, it's insane. I've diagnosed myself with everything at least once and my main fear now is neurological disease. I do have an autoimmune disease (celiac) that has me fearing developing another autoimmune disease (right now fearing MS). I know anxiety has caused convincing symptoms in me before (one sided weakness, tremors, stomach dysfunction etc), but it has never caused pain before and that is where I am now. I started having sharp pains in my left hand where the thumb meets the palm and in the webbing between the thumb and index finger that feels like there is a splinter in there and radiates a sort of numb, warm, swollen feeling into the tip of my thumb when touched. Around the same time of the carpal tunnel development I developed persistent numbness in the fingertip of the ring finger in my right hand.Doctors thought I had carpal tunnel in the left based on other concurrent symptoms and when conservative management failed to give lasting relief I got the release surgery about a month ago. Some symptoms cleared up but that prick-like pain remains. Day after the surgery I started getting shock like pains all over my body, hands, feet, torso, legs, face, you name it.Tried not to freak too much, they're fleeting after all and I told myself they never woke me from sleep so its probably anxiety related. But last night I had a dream wherein I was shocked in my right thumb and awoke to a shock like pain in the exact spot I dreamed of. Couldn't sleep the rest of the night and now the thumb registers a shock like pain when rubbed or when making contact on anything hard. So my query is how can these symptoms be anxiety? Normally, don't people have more generalized bodyside symptoms like sweating, feeling hot or cold, dizziness, traveling numbness etc? But a single fingertip persistently numb? Shock like pains in hands and feet? These seem more serious, no? I'm looking for another perspective that I might be missing, I guess. Beginning of last year, with the one sided symptoms, I was concerned about the same thing (MS) so I sought an MRI from a neurologist who didn't think it was anything but ordered it for peace of mind. It was clear. Should I request another MRI since I have entirely new symptoms?
  17. Hi there, I just turned 40 too and I'm not handling it well at all. I got my first mammogram and they found two cysts in the right breast and calcifications in the left.The radiologist gave it a low possibility for cancer but I was still a nervous wreck until the biopsy, and then waiting for the results (benign). None of the professionals were overly concerned and, looking back, I should've been reassured by that, but we always think we're the "special" case that will prove their expertise wrong. By all means get screened and stay on top of your screening schedule. The good news is BC is more treatable now than ever. Catching it early makes it even more likely you'll have a good outcome.
  18. If there is a pattern of these not developing, then this would not be any diferent.
  19. Hey all, I had a couple of AKs frozen off of my nose in July 2022 and then another appeared on the nose later that year and I used a compound cream to get rid of it. I have my appointment tomorrow and just get a ton of anxiety about this. I know that AKs are common and may never turn into anything but I seem to worry more as the appointment gets closer. She had me use the cream once more based on a couple of pictures I sent her recently and I'm just healing from that on the nose. I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance on these AKs turning into squamos cell.
  20. Long time reader, infrequent poster. I posted a couple of years ago about my younger sister (50 yrs old) suddenly having Stage IV colon cancer (has since passed away) and how her wish for my brother and I was to get colonoscopies. We both did and I am on a 3 year surveillance schedule after they found 2 sessile serrated adenomas (7mm and 10mm). I am going for my 3 yr on Monday and I'm completely freaked out. Mind you, I was not this scared when I got the initial screening (or maybe I'm forgetting that). I keep going down the rabbit hole of, "They'll find cancer this time. The doctor missed something or didn't get all of the polyps removed completely..." you know the drill. I know what I'm NOT supposed to do and I know that doing it isn't going to give me the reassurance that I'm looking for. I had a consultation with the actual Dr. doing my procedure (who did my last one) and he answered all of my questions. He was very chill about it and said he doesn't expect to find anything other than maybe more polyps. Still, only temporarily reassured. I do have a question for any folks who may have experience. In general, if folks abide by the guidance and get their colonoscopy as directed, is the expectation that they would catch anything that's cropped up in between? I'm looking for anyone to share their experiences not to provide me any reassurance. I wish I could break this cycle and be able to live my life without fearing that something is always lurking around the corner waiting for me to be happy and free for 1 minute to then pounce.
  21. I would take a few deep breaths here. You have the appointment scheduled. The doctor himself says he wouldn’t worry about it. And that the mammo is for your peace of mind. Doctors know what they are feeling. He wouldn’t have said that if he wasn’t confident. Yes - I had a breast biopsy once that both the ob and the breast surgeon told me was only happening because my mother had breast cancer in the past - that it all looked fine but we are doing it because of that. So basically over checking. I was so freaked out, I couldn’t think clearly and I had it done. And everything was fine. That is likely what is happening to you. Please stop checking it. No need to. The dr thinks it’s all fine and you have a test scheduled. No amount of checking will change anything and can actually irritate the tissue and make it sore or inflamed. And you don’t have to check to see if it changed. If it goes away, you will still do the testing anyway. Just let it be. Having your doctor be that confident is very reassuring. Also are you near your cycle? Because you are more likely to feel all kinds of things then if you are. Hope this helps.
  22. Hi, so I just turned 40.....and have been having anxiety about this big 40!!! It is as if 40 means something scary to me...the beginning of mammograms, and such...Anyways I was doing a breast self check and noticed that I have 2 rubbery moveable lumpy type things in my left breast. I went to the doctor and he checked me and said he is not concerned and will send me for a mammo to just ease my mind. He said it is most likely dense breast tissue or Fibroadenomas. I scheduled my mammo and nothing is available until Jan 5th!! I am having major anxiety over this and I keep poking and prodding my breast and now it is hurting and that is making my anxiety worst! has anyone ever been through this? please help me!
  23. Each person is different, but it was about a week. It was only worse when I was first on the med to figure out how much I needed to be on. You normally start at a certain level and steadily go up.
  24. How long did it take for them to kick in? With the long term meds, did it get worse before it got better?
  25. Over the years... Celexa Paxil/Paroxetine - it worked, but I gained weight Cymbalta/Duloxetine - my current one
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