Are these normal symptoms of anxiety/hypochondria?

[ItsViva 2]

So in December I started noticing that I got a headache for a week straight and I worried that it was something bad. Now my symptoms are: Headaches (usually on right side), Eye floaters, flashes in vision, nausea, cold feeling in head, stabbing pain in head, anisocoria (uneven pupil size), depersonalization, chest pains, brain fog difficulty breathing, sweating, twitching of limbs and head, dizziness, drowsiness, insomnia, mild amnesia, easily irritated, paranoia and the worst panic attacks. I have been to the doctor 7 times about these and at first I was just told nothing is wrong with me because of tests, but when I visited a different doctor she told me I have anxiety and hypochondria because I look for small signs and I always go to the doctor when I find a lump or slight pain. The panic attacks go like this: I will just be doing something then out of nowhere I get a rush of adrenaline and jumpy out of body feeling then my heart races and I sweat and think I'm dying. Before I was told I had anxiety I had OCD and I still do now. Now I'm stuck in my own mind and worry persistently about these symptoms indicating a brain condition that I don't want to name because I'm afraid of it. Do you think these are normal symptoms?

[jlmwz316 91]

Hi ItsVita,   everything you said points to normal symptoms of anxiety, and we can call them normal, because even though they are uncomfortable, they are not harmful. I definitely suggest however you not go this alone.  there are things you can do to help yourself. I bounced around doctors for a while last year, with test after test, and looking back on it now, I realize now that thousands of dollars (thankful for insurance here in America), were spent on needless tests, because a year later now, everything I thought I had was completely wrong - I was worried I had a heart problem, was getting a stroke, ALS, lupus, lyme disease, throat c----r, etc.  finally after months of doctor visits, he told me straight out - and I was not willing to believe him that it was all in my head, that I was perfectly healthy, normal he said, and just had an anxiety problem.  I did not believe him then, but I do now because I have seen it be true a year later that I am totally fine.  However  I began this year, thinking I would go it alone. I discovered this online site which is filled with online friends who have been in this same place, who know, and understand and care about each other, and bought some great books suggested here, one in particular "Hope and help for your nerves" by Dr Claire Weekes was a major help to me. where you are it may be titled "Self Help For Your Nerves".   I also went to a psychiatrist who was very understanding, and gave me mild medication to help me, and I also started weekly counseling which was a big help as we sat down together each week and talked all about this and laid it all out as being all in my thoughts and behaviors that were in my power to change. - now months later,  I finally know and understand that I am not ill in anyway and only have anxiety, normal anxiety, if you can call it normal. only is perhaps a poor word, because only implies it is not a big thing, which we know isn't true. it is a big thing for us, a serious thing for us because it impacts our lives but it is only anxiety - meaning it is as you asked normal for us, and is not going to harm us physically-- everything you describe is exactly what I have and went through, so I can tell you from personal experience it is not a physical illness.   yet this being said, those feelings you have are indeed real - your body is feeling them, but their origin is in your nervous system.  your brain is telling your nerves that something is wrong when there is not. your brain is playing tricks on you.  the good thing about this, is because it is in your brain, your thoughts that is, that it is totally within your control, to help yourself out of it, you have the power within you to fix it, and indeed only you have the power.  this is important to understand, only you can fix it, with help from others of course; encouraging you, and giving you feedback, affirmation, and factual information based on being in the same place.  those who haven't been there won't be able to do that- which is why this group is really good.  but having faced that you are in control of this, the next step is to really own it to help yourself - that means accepting how you feel, and even welcoming it, rather than fighting it, it means exactly the opposite of what you want- it means accepting it as part of your life for the time being, and going about your activities despite how you feel because it is only how you feel - not anything physically wrong - once you can accept it, then the problem literally goes away on its own - I tell you truthfully it will go away on its own, - not immediately - it will take time, and accepting is not easy at first - it means being unaware of it, training your mind that it isn't there when it is, becoming oblivious to it, its kind of like a football player continuing to play after an injury and doing quite well, because they are ignoring the pain, and allowing it to even make them play harder. in this case, playing harder will not make your problem worse, it will make it better, getting out in the game and living with the pain will make this pain disappear.  it requires time and patience, and sometimes medication and counseling (for me it did), but these things are just helpers, they are not the cure.  the cure is just this - to retrain your mind that it is all in your head.  I'll give you another example, a few months ago, I became convinced my medication was no longer working. I phoned the doctor who phoned the chemist, who told the doctor that yes the brand was changed, and even though it was the same medication (mitrazapine), a different company was supplying it and this could account for the change because it may not as good as the previous one.  they quickly had me visit the chemist and switched me back to previous one I had been taking - same drug different manufacturer.  I felt better the next day - which is strange because there is no way it could work that fast - it was because I believed it was working better (which it was but that took at least a week to really take effect), but my mind believed it to be working right away and it did - what does that tell me - that my mind is very powerful, it controls my nerves which controls all those nasty anxiety symptoms. get control of your thoughts and you control those nerves, and you will feel better.  this is the power within you to change it, and only you. hope this helps you get started on this.  -Jimmy

[jonathan123 2368]

Hi jlmwz. A fantastic and remarkable summary of what anxiety is and how we can manage it. What can I add? Nothing.

 

Hi Viva. Welcome to AC.

The post following yours is well worth reading. jlmwz has really grasped the principle of acceptance. Get Dr. Weekes book, you won't regret it.

Good to have you here. Have a good look round the site and come back whenever.    Jon.

[chronichypo 3]

jlmwz316 what dosage are you on?

[Gilly 1086]

Hi ItsViva, welcome to AC Like Jon, what more can I say than what Jimmy, said? What a fabulous post! He has it exactly right, I hope it gives you some reassurance and makes you feel a little better. I will say this, in anxiety and with physical symptoms, normal is a weird word but I honestly believe nothing is abnormal and everything is normal, like Jimmy said, for 'us' That word normal again, I would say your symptom are very COMMON anxiety symptoms, and in that sense normal yes. 

 

I have experienced all the symptoms you have and more. It all started for me in 1997, but really escalated at the end of 2009, my anxiety and all it's symptoms changed to a whole new level then. I can't even remember every disease I believed I had, we're talking dozens. From neurological ones to the big C's., and even rare ones not even discovered yet! And here I am, all these years later still kicking, and never had any of them! All I have is a cluster of anxiety disorders and a general fear of getting sick. Oh, well of course, I do have crohns disease lol sorry, it's funny but I have had it since I was a kid, over 30 years and it doesn't even come into the equation. Apart from it's probably a huge part of why I have anxiety in the first place. Sorry, I'm rambling now. 

 

Jimmy, absolutely AMAZING post and AMAZING progress Great stuff!! 

 

ItsViva again, welcome to AC. I hope we can help you on the road to recovery too!

[jlmwz316 91]

 

jlmwz316 what dosage are you on?         I am on 15 mg of Mirtazapine once a day and weekly therapy .