@missanimeotaku,
missanimeotaku wrote:
Hi, I'm a 20 year old female and lately I've been freaking out in my mind for a little over 2 weeks... You see, I started experiencing some tingling, slight pain, and muscle twitching on and off in my neck, chest, left arm and shoulder.I Also, at night laying down in bed, I'd become weak feeling and sometimes dizzy, which frightened me, and when I went to the doctor a little over a week ago, they said it was a pinched nerve in my neck and that it will go away on it's own. A couple of days after that, I started feeling depressed because I couldn't sleep in bed with my hubby, clean, or exercise without feeling discomfort, and I started getting more irritated and worried that there might be something more serious wrong with me, such as meningitis, and every day after that I kept looking up possibilities about whether or not my symptoms were normal or not. I even have been checking my temperature a lot to make sure I'm not running a fever and bending my neck down toward my chest every now and then to make sure my neck isn't severely stiff. Since then too, my symptoms seem to be spreading to the right side of my body and through other parts, too like today, I felt a slight pain in the back of my hips and tingling in my legs and on the left side of my face (more toward the neck and ear), and my left eye has been twitching almost every time it's touched. Also, there now is also a hive on my right shoulder. Oh, and also, I've been going to bed really late and tensing up because I'm always thinking about it.... So could all of this stress and worrying be making my symptoms worse and making new ones pop up?
If you're still experiencing these symptoms then they could be due to a pinched nerve, but, if so, the pinched nerve hasn't gone away on its own.
It doesn't sound like your doctor ordered any tests to confirm or rule out the "pinched nerve" which is not surprising as they are quite expensive, but if you're still experiencing the symptoms or they continue to get worse, it's time for tests.
If you like and trust your current doctor, go back to her and tell her you're still having problems and feel like you need to take the next step in discovering what the problem is and what can be done to address it.
If she still doesn't want to send you for tests or you don't like her, go see another doctor.
The effects of a "pinched nerve" can go away after a time, but often not without resolving the underlying condition that is putting pressure on your nerve or causing inflammation.
If your symptoms have been getting worse or you've been developing new ones like dizziness, sweating, feeling flush or shortness of breath, you really should go back and see your doctor, but you should also consider that you might be suffering from anxiety attacks.
I'm no doctor but I've had herniated discs and while symptoms like pain and tingling or numbness are typical, hives or rashes are not, nor is it typical for the pain and tingling to move around your body. I also suffered from an anxiety disorder about 25 years ago and it just about drove me nuts.
It's been 25 years, but my experience was that doctors didn't first think anxiety attack if there were symptoms that suggested other causes. The problem is that the symptoms of anixety attacks seem a lot like ones associated with fairly common conditions, and so the doctor don't get to that diagnosis until they have rules everything else out.
In addition, most people don't want to think their health problems are all in their head and so they resist the notion that an anxiety disorder is the cause. If you have an anxiety order though it's not all in your head except for the fact that your head is where your brain chemicals reside and their being out of balance is the problem.
Anxiety attacks don't go away on their own and they almost always get worse, even to the point where sufferers become agorophobic and don't want toleave their homes.
They can be pretty effectively treated with a limited course of drugs. I took klonopin for about six weeks and have never had another attack since then.
Obviously everyone is different which is why you need to see a doctor.
Again, your condition may have nothing to do with anxiety other than what can be normally expected when you a suffering from a condition that hasn't been or can't be diagnosed, but if your symptoms haven't resolved or have gotten worse or different you need to see your doctor again, irrespective of what the condition may be.
Here's what could be a clue to identifying your problem as anxiety related. Most people who suffer from anxiety attacks feel certain that they are dying. They may not be able to pinpoint what is killing them, a heart attack, a stroke or some other sudden onset event, but they are convinced, if only for a few minutes, that they are about to die. This sound like the person is crazy unless you figure, like I do, that the anxiety attack has something to do with signals within your brain, telling you and your body that you are in very serious trouble. It could be too much of one chemical or not enough of another, but false signals are being triggered which your brain and body will not allow you to deny.
Most people are very reluctant to report more than a couple of times that they are sure that they are dying when the doctors can clearly prove they are not, but I've found that it is something all sufferers of anxiety attacks share, and which they get excited about discussing .
So if you have been having feelings of impending doom that can only be described as knowing you are dying, chances are pretty good that you have an anxiety disorder. The good news is that while it is horrible to constantly feel certain that you are dying, it can be effectively treated, and with a realtively short period of drug therapy.
Still feeling lousy? Go back and see your doctor.
Good luck.
In the past week or so, I went to the ER and got blood tests, urinalysis, and MRI scans done, and everything had turned out to be normal, and they too, suggested it was pinched nerve. I then went to the chiropractor a couple of days after my visit to the ER, and he examined me, and basically I've got a messed up spine and neck and "tension on my tension" as he had put it. I've gone in for a couple of treatments now, and I actually do feel much better. ^_^ I've been able to sleep again, too. And yes, I actually did feel like I was dying during the whole time I kept trying to figure out what was wrong with me, and kept considering the possibilities of brain tumor, meningitis, heart attack, stroke, and multiple sclerosis. It freaked me out terribly.
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