To much worry all the time, what to do

[patty818]

HI

I hope you all are well.  I've been having a tough time for the past 7 months, it all started in July when I had a bad vertigo attack and since then things are all wrong.  I have continuous dizzy daily, it feels like I'm swaying or riding on a fair ride, it goes thru my entire body, it happens when I stand, sit or lay down, it seems to be worse when i'm sitting esp here at work.  I have also been having some thyroid med issues and they have been out of level.  I have been to my primary care doc and he says its, well first he said it was BPPV with the vertigo so I had some things done but no relief, so i went back and then he said anxiety, here take zoloft, well didn't do that.  I also had bad head and neck pain so I had trigger point injections done in oct and then is when my thyroid went all crazy, of course thyroid can cause anxiety to.  I am hypothyroid.  I'm also in 3rd yr of postmenopaus, needless to say I'm a wreck.  I do take .25 xanax when needed, but seems lately thats been alot for me, I usually take it once or twice a month, but now its 3 times a week.  

My symptoms now are, dizziness, muscle tension in the neck, slight headaches, nervousness, heart pounding at times, but the pulse is like 82, ruminating thougts, legs feel tight in the thighs and tired, fear of doing things, feel better if someone is with me.  

I'm also in the middle of testing for my thyriod and cortisol and adrenal and I'm waiting for testing in regards to the dizziness, my ENt doc thinks its silent migraines causing the dizziness, he said alot of people have the dizziness instead of the headache,  

I wake every morning in fear, have what I call a small panic feeling, my heart beats faster, hand shake, nervousness, head and neck pain after a while.  I get esp nervous about sitting at work because the dizziness is there almost everyday all day.  I  think when I had this vertigo attack somethin in my mind got messed up.  Like I can;t get it out of my head.  I keep thinking its something awful, but they did a brain scan and said it was fine, my chiro ex rayed my neck and yes its out but no tumors or anything, am also working on the neck.  I have been seeing my psychologist and she agree's i have underlying anxiety but also have real physical symptoms with the dizzienss.  I know you can have dizzienss with anxiety but thats usually from hyperventilation, mine is all day.  I am trying very hard not to let it bother me, but its hard, when you feel off balance and like your moving all the time, it can be very depressing.  

I'm curious if any of you have this type of dizzienss and what your doing about it?  

Besides seeing the psychologist I bought a anxiety work book and have been working in that.  According to what I've read anxiety and worry is about something deeper that your trying to not deal with.  I've been asking myself if I"m making myself sick for some reason.  I don't know.  I know I went thru alot of deaths last year and after the first one is when the vertigo came, it was about 4 months later.  I don't handle death well, I lost my grandmother years ago and I never really got over it.  Even sitting here typing about it is making me dizzy.  

I also wonder can my being stressed all the time make me get some disease.  I worry about disease all the time.  I wonder if worrying about stress and anxiety is causing more anxiety?  I'm constantly looking for answers, looking for sickness, waiting for something bad to happen.  My rational mind know people get sick and die, its part of life, but my anxous mind won't let it go.  

WEll thanks for listening and if anyone has any words of advise or help, I would love to hear about it.

Thanks
Flagirl

[LRon]

Patty, you wrote, " I know you can have dizzienss with anxiety but thats usually from hyperventilation." I disagree because I know from experience that anxiety can and does cause dizziness even without hyperventilation. I was once right where you are, convinced that I had a condition of some kind that was causing my anxiety. So naturally I consulted with Dr. Google and saw all of the conditions that can cause anxiety, and I'm sure that at various times I believed I had each of them -- including mitral valve prolapse. I believe I may have ended up making the problem worse, and I know I spent a lot of money on tests that probably weren't necessary. Today, my anxiety still flares up on occasion but must less often and not with the same intensity, and I just plow through it. Same for dizziness. The worst thing you can do is hyper-focus on it and get yourself worried that it's your heart, a neurological disorder, brain cancer, etc. You've had tests that say you're OK, so just ignore the dizziness. It's critically important that you break the cycle of   dizziness making you more anxious, which can make you more dizzy, and on and on. IGNORE IT. Be patient and soon you'll be better. I wish you well!

[LRon]

Just a correction, I meant to write "I was once right where you are, convinced that I had a condition of some kind that was causing my anxiety and dizziness. So naturally I consulted with Dr. Google and saw all of the conditions that can cause dizziness and anxiety..."

[Gemfly]

you may have vitamin deficiency. How is your hemoglobin and ferritin (iron levels)?

Get blood tests:

Vitamin B12 levels:
serum B12
HotoTC levels
MMA
Homocystein.

Vitamin D3 level:
(D3 level more important than D2)
The only blood test that can diagnose vitamin D deficiency is a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25 OH vitamin D). Unfortunately, some doctors are still ordering the wrong test, 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D.

Magnesium level:
have your Doctor do a Magnesium RBC test. It's not a standard test doctors run, but the only accurate blood test for magnesium. Magnesium serrum which most doctors run is not accurate.



B12 levels below 200 are extremely deficient and many doctors feel the actual level of deficiency should be at 400. Most people have levels between 800-1,000

vitamin D level should be above 50ng/mL

Vitamin D and magnesium deficiency symptoms:
Anxiety, depression, headaches, body pain, brain fog, Constipation, Muscle Cramps, Insomnia, Heart Palpitations, etc


Vitamin B12 is present in, used by and necessary for the proper functioning of every single cell in the human body. Some B12 deficiency symptoms are
Anemia
Fatigue, sometimes severe
Feeling of heaviness in arms, legs and head
Muscle weakness
Depression and despondency
Easy bruising
Sleep disturbances and insomnia
Hormonal imbalances
Diarrhea, constipation or other digestive woes such as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and/or bloating
Red, swollen tongue
Bleeding gums
Pale skin
“Brain fog,” problems concentrating, memory loss
Shortness of breath on even mild exertion
Numbness or tingling in extremities (neuropathy in severe cases)
Headaches and migraines
Ataxia (lack of balance, may affect gait)
Dizziness and lightheadedness
Irritability and extreme mood swings
Tachycardia, skipped heart beats, irregular heart rhythm
Eye twitches and tics
Irregular periods, heavy bleeding, infertility
Decrease or disappearance of normal reflex responses
Some people report pain in their ring finger and palm


Where ever you live Vitamin D3 MUST be taken DAILY to obtain the best result. In the form cholecalciferol it has a half life of 19-25hrs and in this form there are cells throughout the body that can covert it to the storage form and/or the active hormonal form just when and where it is required.

We should only be using D3. Ideally daily supplementation is better than weekly and there is no reason why people shouldn't ANTICIPATE that as 25(OH)D rises initially their calcium absorption will increase and expose the fact they are magnesium deficient.  
We need to be reducing calcium, (because only really ignorant doctors know that correcting vitamin D status enables higher calcium absorption which needs magnesium to counterbalance the calcium. So taking extra magnesium spread through the day in small amounts WHILE you are taking your DAILY vitamin D3 will be fine.

[patty818]

HI

Thank you so much for the reply and the reassurance,  I did find it a bit hard to swallow the mitral valve thing.  I think if I was throwing blood clots, I probably would have a sign be now.  I am seeing a psychologist to help with the anxiety.  Its been about 3.5 months since the injections and I'm starting to see a small difference in the morning anxiety, at least now i'm sleeping past 5 and its not  constant and all day.  The mornings are worst but as the day goes on it gets less.  My endocrinologist is testing adrenals now, and he lowed my thyroid meds a bit, so its just a waiting game now.  

I've done alot of reading about migraine associated vertigo and the migraine is not so prevalent but the dizziness is.  I do think some of the dizziness is my anxiety and worry thoughts.  I didn't have dizziness yesterday until i started thinking about it, then sure enough there it was.  

Thank you so much for chatting and the info you posted.

[Paxiled]

I forgot to note, those trigger point injections you had were probably corticosteroids, which are basically adrenaline.  Not very friendly to us anxiety sufferers, so they may have kicked your adrenals into overdrive.  

[Paxiled]

Look, you've seen doctors and been evaluated, so remember, this is an internet site full of anxiety sufferers, not doctors.  So if someone gets too specific about a medical condition you might have, don't take it to much to heart.  Psychiatrists do nothing about the thyroid -- most ignore the possibility of it being a problem -- and psychologists obviously don't administer drugs but they do have the most extensive training in mental conditions and how to treat them.  Dizziness is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety sufferers -- it probably comes from a feeling of disorientation that accompanies a bout of anxiety.  If no other cause has been found, that's probably it.  I developed the same thing when I first started getting chronic panic attacks.  Sometimes ginger tea or other form of ginger can help with this, and there's a drug called antivert, but attacking the anxiety directly if that's the cause is the best course.  As for migraines, as a migraine sufferer (not so much anymore since I was told to meditate -- that pretty much eliminated it), I don't remember any dizziness associated with them.  There is blurry vision which causes disorientation, but the only thing like dizziness I suffered was when I was taking medication for them, and that was probably because they often contain a lot of caffeine and I don't drink caffeinated drinks.  I wonder if you've tried therapy with someone who specializes in the treatment of anxiety?  Have you learned any relaxation techniques?  If this anxiety is severely interfering with your life, antidepressants can be helpful and unlike benzos they work all the time, not just for awhile.  But they do have consequences, so do your homework.  Good luck.

[patty818]

DrVivian
All my docs have listened to my heart a lot.  Especially the endocrinologist.  Everyone says my heart is strong.  My blood pressure is usually 104/70 sometimes 110/72.  What makes you think its mitral valve problems?  I hope its nothing like that.  Now i'm really worried.  I know when I take my xanax I'm completely calm.  I've have anxiety for many years, but I have these flares and i can't calm myself.  Please explain the MVS.

Thanks

[DrVivian]

Please don't get your psychiatric treatment from a primary doctor or a psychologist - go see an actual psychiatrist. It sounds like a) your thyroid is still out of whack, and correcting it might take a long time, unfortunately (monitoring TSH is the most sensitive) and b) you need to see about getting on a proper SSRI for anxiety, possibly on a long-acting benzo (very low dose) or a beta blocker, and finally, c) you need to see a cardiologist to make sure your blood pressure is stable all the time, that you are not suffering from something called mitral valve syndrome, and that you are not throwing clots anywhere. Please see these specialists and let me know what happened. Good luck!