Psychosomatic symptoms?

[Chante]

Dealing with extreme health and death anxiety for the past 4 months. My irrational mind is refusing to believe that anxiety can cause so many horrible physical symptoms. Even with the absence of anxiety the physical symptoms arise which throws me into panic. Stabbing pains in my head & brain, heart pains, i can see my pulse in my body no matter where i look. Difficulty falling asleep since my pulse decides to rock my body, even when i dont feel anxious. I've never been so frustrated and annoyed in my life like what gives? CBT seems to be helping with the mental but the physical pain is ridiculous. Anyone feel the same? I'd love to hear some personal stories

 

[janemariesayed]

Hi @Chante I'm sorry that you are suffering. I have been having headaches but I wasn't sure if it was a symptom of my anxiety or depression. Maybe crying or worrying gives headaches I'm not sure. I get panic attacks and flashbacks. The flashbacks are making me tired. They come like a bolt of lightning and zap my mind and it really hurts. Maybe that's giving me headaches? With my panic attacks, I feel sick, dizzy and breathless and it makes me cry. If I hold back the tears, my eyes feel like they are burning and instead of trying to shed tears, it feels like my eyes are trying to shed burning lava!

 

[Sweed1]

I have always hated that word psychomatic, because doctors tend to treat a patient as if they are crazy instead of helping point a person in the right direction to get the help they need. It is normal to be scared when your normal health problems go totally off the top of the scale and produce unusual body aches and pains that one normally does not have. Like chest pain or severe headaches, or lower body pains. Unless you see your doctor or go to the ER, there is no way of knowing if it is real or just an anxiety symptom.

Recently I ended up in the ER, with my whole left side in severe pain. Had a bad headache and eye pain, with chest pain and pain flowing into my left leg. All the tests came back normal so it was told to me as muscle strain and then they told my family doctor it was just anxiety. At first they feared I was having a stroke. But since that was ruled out then all that is left is a mental problem. I am glad the ER doctor told me what he did because I was able to leave without being in tears. But my family doctor was not helpful nor kind, and only offered medication and no path to a counselor. I was upset in leaving his office and found counseling on my own.

I think we need to be strong enough to seek help and yet I too find myself putting up with things I would rather walk away from. Maybe it is the anxiety or ptsd, that holds me down in the face of coping with unexplained pain or illness. What say you?

 

[Decentlady]

Sometimes anxiety may give physical symptoms usually shooting kind of pains.

Basically it is the play of body and hormones that results in these symptoms. Sometimes we may not be aware of our anxiety levels and hence it may be perceived as a pure physical pain.

An anxious person can also get body pains while asleep. Try adopting yoga and meditation. These help to calm the mind and relax the body. Of course seeking medical help is of paramount importance.

 

[Sweed1]

Actually to my surprise i realized my symptoms were due to some medication I had been on for a while and suddenly my body decided it could not tolerate me taking it any longer. I had stopped taking it in order to take the anxiety medication which I ended up being allergic to and when I started taking it again I had a full-blown allergic reaction to it a week later. So I just have to be extra careful what meds I take which is a anxiety producer as well.

 

[Kaynil]

Sorry to hear you're going through that. It sounds like palpitations but I don't know since you seem to have them all around and not just your chest. Maybe like with @Sweed1's case, some medication or product has that side effect. Might be worth to check the labels of products you have used lately.

I think it is a good idea to seek a second and third opinion if you get told it is psychosomatic, just in case. Having your concerns minimised when they are affecting your life is not helpful. Either one of the other doctors find something or even if they reach the same conclusion, chances are one of them can explain better tho you what is going on ams what can you do to minimise it without belittling you.

I haven't had anything like what you describe. I do have strong palpitations bit they have been explained as part of my asthma or anxiety. I hope you get better.

 

[Robert Turner]

My wife suffers from a constricting feeling in her throat and chest when she has anxiety attacks. Initially the pains in her chest were cause for grave concern but we soon realized this was directly linked to the anxiety attacks.

She has tried medication without success. Recently spasms in her back drove her to seek out a chiropractor. We were lucky and found an excellent one who has studied various alternate techniques in addition to his degree. She goes in for maintenance treatments every ten days. Guess what. No more anxiety attacks.

He explains it as the body being out of alignment and the stress pulling muscles and the spine becoming misaligned. I would strongly recommend this option to anyone suffering from similar symptoms. If it doesn't help you in the same way it helped her, it will definitely do your body the world of good.