Coco21 and others,

My daughter has been suffering for two years with anxiety and depression. She is 38 with 3 children. Last fall she developed some strange symptoms which included, shaking, weakness, and strange burning sensations in her legs. She also developed twitching in her eyes and face. After an eye examination with a specialist he was sure she had Multiple Schlorosis. All her doctors were sure it was multiple schlorosis, however after a brain scan they couldn't be sure, they said. She ended up in a walker and had to be nursed all the time. She had one leg so bad that she dragged it along the floor- she couldn't lift it. The symptoms would get worse and get better but after further testing, and several specialists later, the doctors concluded that it was her anxiety and depression. Has anyone heard of symptoms like these? She still has these symptoms but not at the level she did last Fall.

Jackie

Hi Everyone!! I thought I would share this information with you all. For all of us who suffer with Depersonalization, which is scary, I found this on the internet and it was interesting. The only thing is that now we understand what is going on, shouldn't it just go away?!? I guess it's not that simple unfortunately. Your mind still thinks something is majorly wrong and then you go into panic mode again. What a vicious cycle!! I am also putting a link on here that this man described on that twitching and vibrating sensation that comes along with anxiety. Had that too and it freaked me out. I feel like my insides are shaking and I do it when I wake up sometimes as well. Good Luck to everyone!!

http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/depersonalisation_and_derealisation.html

http://www.uncommonforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=12180&post...storder=asc&start=30

(On this one, scroll about halfway down and read the comment from Kevintwister.....very interesting).

WoW Jayb7,

I hope your daughter is doing better and I am glad to hear that she does not have MS. From my experience anxiety can wreak havoc on your body and I am sure we can all atest to the different symtoms and levels. I have not heard of the symptoms that your daughter has had to that level, but I can say that when my anxiety was real bad my body was doing all kinds of weird things like tremors and twitching all day, feelings of fainting, terrible headaches,sharp muscle pain on my whole left side, I though I had ms too, but most of these things have deminished or leveled off since I am becoming better. Is she getting better with the anxiety and depression?

Sugarmama,

Thank you for your best wishes. My daughter is up and down as far as her anxiety and depression.

I have been a sufferer most of my life and have tried desperately to find something that might help both of us. I have always followed my doctor's recommendations and have studied tons of books and websites. One thing I realize however, is that some people try to get better, and others find ways to "run away" from the problems. It is like alcoholism, a person has to want to quit drinking before they can helped.

My daughter doesn't follow doctor's instructions, in fact, doesn't even go to see doctor's when she is supposed to. She went through a phase of smoking weed thinking that helped her, then she got involved with coke. She has to want to get better before anyone will be able to help her.

Lots of us suffer and don't try to mask the pain with illegal drugs or alcohol. It is difficult, but we want to be better, meaning "the best" we can be. She has made some very bad decisions, and accordingly I believe she is reaping the results. I love her so so much, but I don't think she can be saved.
She has had so many chances to get good treatment and hasn't taken them. There may be other emotional problems at work, making her situation more complicated.

When I read that some anxiety sufferers had twitching and burning, I was interested because these are sensations she had and the doctors didn't seem to know it could be due to anxiety. I haven't had those symptoms so I couldn't relate.

I feel so sorry I can't help her. Her life is just too messed up, and I am too anxious and depressed myself to get involved any more. I have tried many things to help her to no avail. She always reverts to "bad" choices and the wrong people.

Thank you again for asking about her and caring. It just goes to show that there are good people here. Bless you,

Jackie

Heres my symptoms: muscle tension, twitching/spasms especially around the eyes, but it can be anywhere, neck ache, tummy issues, spacey unreality feelings, and when I was having panic attacks, racing pounding heart, tightness in chest, and difficulty swallowing. This is exhausting and extremely annoying. I'm so glad I have this website because it is so comforting to know I am not alone. I finished the program in December but am having a 'growth spurt' and am happy to report that even with the growth spurt, it is far less scary than before I got this program. I realize now that I will not be cured of this like a disease but will be in recovery, and like an alcoholic avoids a bar, I have to avoid negative thinking, etc. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories and reminding me that I am not alone.

tweaky1h,

In time that racing heart should stop, I absolutely hated that, I would get this from almost any medicine I took. I also believe anxiety can make you sensitive to medication.

I have a lot of the physical symptoms related in this forum and asked myself WHY? I think i beat myself up because of the guilt i have for all my past behaviour that went against my strict religious upbringing. AS a child i was literally "programmed" that if i do or think this i will be punished and go to hell. Something instinctually told me that this was not true but when you are forced into it you get brainwashed year after year until you are an adult and get get out of the house. i still struggle with this. i just started the program and it is helping and i realize it will take a great effort on my part to "de-program" my pattern of thinking. i feel like i am starving for help and can't get enough of these tapes. thank Midwest Center for helping people like me.

Not sure if this has been mentioned - but for the ladies lets not forget about premenstrual anxiety.

PMS - That's what sends me into a growth spurt almost every month. Being sensitive to change, the roller coaster of hormones is a real issue for me. I remind myself to float with it, tell myself it's normal and it will pass, but still it's hard sometimes. Sugarmama mentioned the medication issue, and I know what she means by anxiety making us sensitive to it. I read that cortisol, the stress hormone, makes people react badly to SSRI's sometimes. I wonder if it reacts with other meds as well. I took Midol last PMS cycle, and it definately made me feel weird and I felt that it wasn't much better than the pms. What to do? Under react is my goal, but so easy to say, not so easy to do.

Kelly 22, I can totally relate to the symptoms you have written about having. Lately I have had a horrible time dealing with panic & anxiety. I have been on med. for about 4 years now & for the first few that I was on med. my symptoms almost completly dissappeared. Recently, in this past month my med. seemed to not be working at all and I began to feel as if I was going to die or something awful was going to happen to me everyday. My symptoms include 'Tightness" in the front of my head, tingling in my back & neck, muscle twitching, severe dizziness and the worst one of all the feeling of not "feeling" like myself. I didn't know there was a name for it. It is so hard going throughout the day feeling so disconnected. I just want to run to the dr some times and have them do more tests to make certain nothing horrible is wrong. I was diagnosed as having a slightly bulged disk a few years ago, however, they said it was nothing to worry about. I wonder sometimes if the tingling feeling may result from that. Thank you for describing your symptoms because it makes me feel as if I am not so alone in this.

My symptoms are nausea,cant eat, IBS,I get a weird feeling down both arms ,My blood pressure goes up i know because i take it too many times when i have a panick attack,I get restless get like a burst of energy cant sit still ,heartpalpitations, hot flashes, just out of it i get very quiet i dont like to talk to anyone ..

A silver - A bulging disc can definately cause tingling but so can hyperventilating, which is what we do when were anxious and panicking. When I blew out my discs a few years back, my arm started out numb, then painful, then finally went to tingling. I continue to have disc/spine issues and normally it causes shooting pains now. I get alot of relief by going to a chiropractor and doing traction at home. Icing the area of the spine that's causing the issues also give temporary relief. Good luck.

A Silver, a lot of my anxiety/panic symptoms are of the neurological variety - tingling, etc. Scares the hell out of me.

Have you tried seeing a chiropractor for your bulging disc? In my obsessive shotgun blast of working on myself (I'm starting the program, started Paxil, been to the doc many times, and the ER), I also went to a chiro. Turns out I have what's called a sublaxation in my neck and back. This basically means that my spine is not straight which can cause pressure on nerves.

I have been to the chiro now for 7 adjustments total. I can tell you that I feel better each time I go. I don't believe it's all of what I am dealing with (I know I have anxiety issues), but I believe it has helped me. I am going to continue to go.

Perhaps you could go see one and see what he/she says. My insurance covered the xrays the chiro did, so it wasn't that expensive to understand what he could do for me.

I hope you feel better. Let us know. God bless!

My main symptom is chest tightness/sensation. I have anxiety, mild asthma, costochondritis, and larynx reflux. Chest tightness is a symptom for all of these. So when I get tightness/sensation I am left wondering which ailment is it or is it a combo deal . Since asthma is the most immediate threat, I will take a puff of Albuterol even if my breathing feels fine. A .25 mg tab of Xanax--more if needed--is also a remedy. What adds to this confusion is sometimes the tightness/sensation will disappear with just the Abluterol, just the Xanax, or with both Albuterol and Xanax.

The chest tightness/sensation is not cardiac-related (though my mind occasionally fears this still.) I have had stress tests done over the past two years, wore a heart montior in a halter overnight, had a nuclear stress test done last December (the cardio said my heart is the healthiest he's seen in 2 years), and ER tests (blood, chest-xrays, EKG.) Everything, everything was/is normal.

My father died 3 months after a heart attack at 77. I think this "did a number" on me. I am 43.

Two other physical scenarios that get the anixety up are concentrating briefly on my heart beating and swallowing sensations. Sometimes my anxiety will suddenly peak at briefly thinking about my heart beating regularly. This is obviously a connection to my father and my own cardio worries. The swallowing sensations (thanks to acid reflux ) sometimes makes me worry I will choke. I have had several actual choking episodes in the past two years. One in a restaurant but it was not from food but drinking coffee and laughing too much. I also had several nocturnal choking episodes thanks again to the reflux. It was these night-time chokes that lead the diagnosis of larynx reflux.

Charlie Brown, you and I could be the same. Besides my tingling, etc., I have chest tightness, and worries on my swallowing. I also have asthma (since I was a kid). I do find that a .25 Xanax helps there.

I have had all the same heart-related tests as you in the last 1 1/2 months and my heart is just fine. My family has a history of heart disease, so I think this is why I obsess on it even when docs tell me that my heart is healthy.

The swallowing thing really bothers me too. I focus intently on it, "Is it right? Do I have something in there?". Before I know it, I work myself up to believe I do.

Thank God for this program and for Xanax. I just hope I can get off the Xanax before long. I would like to do this med-free. All the best to you.