Can anyone relate? (horrible anxiety and more...)

jzspin

Yep, I can definitely relate! I've experienced about 90% of the symptoms that you've described here and various other ones too. After years, I'm finally convinced that all are anxiety related. The human body will react with endless amounts of strange symptoms (mental and physical symptoms) when it comes to severe stress and anxiety. I've been very prone to those hypochondriac thoughts too and have feared everything from cancer/tumors, to rheumatoid arthritis to heart disease to blood clots to AIDS to life threatening food allergies as explanations of my hundreds of different "symptoms".

I'm a 25 year old female, have been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks since the age of 7 or 8 years old. I use to have an average of 2 or 3 panic attacks each day. I now average about 2 or 3 per year and am usually able to stop them in their tracks soon after they start. This is the one thing I've learned to control pretty well. The social anxiety I have is still a bit of a struggle and still have fairly low self esteem though not near as low as it use to be. I am off all meds and have been for roughly 3 years. My parents started me on psychotropic drugs when I was 9 or so..they forced me to try/take many different types of pills. Everything from anti depressants, anti anxieties, anti psychotics, ADHD meds, etc. During my child and teen years, I was "diagnosed" with roughly 10 different disorders by lost of different psychologists and psychiatrists...generalized anxiety, depression, panic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, ADHD, Auditory processing disorder, etc. etc. blah, blah, blah.

I made the decision around the age of 21 to quit all my meds and quit believing that I was mentally ill. Things did not instantly repair themselves, but slowly improved over time and I did felt much better and clear-headed for the first time in a long time soon after getting off the pills. The first month or two coming of them though, was the worst. I had horrible physical withdrawals.

Anyways, my main point is that basically everything you've described could very well indeed, and most likely IS linked to your anxiety. Even your sinus issues could be linked. I have some issues with my sinuses also and I notice that these are likely a result of severe tension in my face. I notice my sinus/head cold like symptoms are worst in the morning upon first waking--after I've been clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth all night long. Different people are bound to tell you different things. Some might say you're crazy while others will say you dieing of serious illness. You say you have all sorts of sensations in your head, face, throat, etc. I've experienced these, everything from numbness, tingling, foggy, pressure, burning sensations, lumps in my throat, crawling sensations, muscle twitching/spasms, sudden cold feelings, sharp painful electrical shock feelings, irritated throat, cramped throat, dry throat, sudden severe dry mouth, lump in throat, difficulty swallowing. This list could just go on and on.
I once had a panic attack about 6 years ago in which I temporarily went blind. Everything became blindingly white and I could not see the room I was standing in for what seemed like an eternity. I then broke out in a cold sweat and started shaking. I was convinced for a long time afterwards that something really bad had happened. Had I had a stroke? Why would I go blind from having a panic attack? I figured I had some sort of physical disease. Nope..I've since learned that temporary blindness can result from panic attacks. Just about any physical symptom you could imagine can be the result of anxiety, severe stress or depression.

The worst thing you can do is focus on this stuff, read further into what your symptoms "might" or "might not" be caused by, let yourself sit there (or lay there) and worry or tell/yell at yourself "stop thinking about it". I've done all these things. Hundreds of times over. Telling myself to quit worrying or stop thinking about it almost never works and often has the opposite effect. What are you replacing your thoughts with when you simply tell yourself to "stop thinking about it"?
They only thing which has worked is replacing my negative, worrying thoughts with thoughts or activities that are fun, relaxing, optimistic and enjoyable and completely unrelated to anything that might cause feelings of anxiety. Next time you find yourself worrying or freaking out, do whatever it is which you can get hold of that is most enjoyable or relaxing--reading your favorite book, watching your favorite movie, exercising, solving a puzzle, painting... whatever makes you happy.

Let your life flow and try not to question or worry about every little symptom. When you feel anxious and have a strange sensation, let it come and let it pass. Don't try to force the feeling out or get upset that it is there to begin with. Just accept and observe what it is. Always be patient with yourself. Do you work on breathing techniques? I find these can really help?

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the one physical ailment you're suffering from is "adrenal fatigue". I think most people suffer through this at some point during their lives. It's generally brought on by massive stress or trauma and can take quite some time to recover from. I'm pretty certain that my adrenals are "fatigued" and this is the cause of some of the symptoms I have, but the best treatment still is to do the sorts of things I already described, relaxing, enjoyable non stressful activities. Get plenty of sleep/rest and don't feel guilty for it. Eat well, exercise, all that good stuff. If your hormones are out of whack, these sorts of things will help the most.