some questions, please help

[worryingalot143]

hey guys,

for the last year, i have been getting some weird symptoms and i was wondering if they could possibly be related to anxiety.  i never had an anxiety disorder or anything before this time.  this has been a very high anxiety time for me and i am trying to get over it all.

it all started with my fear of hiv.  i would read online about symptoms all the time, and when i got tested for HIV the next day i developed a rash, or what appears to be a rash on both of my hands.  they would get bright red all the time and now when they are below my heart they look like the veins are filling up with alot of blood and they are bulging.  i can feel my pulse in my fingers all the time, although i do pay attention to it alot, so that could be normal if i am paying attention to it that much.  the "rash" is flat, with no bumps, and it blanches whenever i push on it, which i hear is not dangerous.  but this is how all my anxiety got started.  at one point, the anxiety was so bad that i thought the needle to draw my blood might have been infected....ya its bad i know.

in the last couple of months i have developed numbness and tingling in my feet and hands, although not all the time.  i constantly find myself worrying about each tingle and each time they go numb, and i just cant seem to get over it.  so are these common symptoms of anxiety?

also, my stomach pulses up and down too and i notice it alot...i cant stop thinking about it because i dont know if it is something worse or not.  also, at night it feels like my head is pulsating too.  none of this is painful, jjust a nuisance really.  before this time i was very healthy and really had no need to panic about anything, so i dont really know what happened.

i believe i can get past this, but i didnt know if anyone had any type of information or anything that people can relate to.  please answer back

thanks

[kennvido]

"It could have been doing this stuff before, but before I had anxiety I just didn’t notice it.  Is that a possibility?" ABSOLUTELY..." when you check your body more, you are bound to find out things that may have existed in the past, but are not sure if they were there or not? ABSOLUTELY…
It's as if you live next to train tracks most of you life... the passing trains noise becomes ambient to you...UNLESS you start concentrating on it and realize it’s there…BUT IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THERE YOU JUST DIDN’T TAKE THE TIME TO PAY ATTIONTION TO IT, THEN it becomes prevalent to you and you can't stop noticing it and you even WAIT for it to come... THAT'S ANXIETY!!!
YOU and ONLY YOU can break the cycle...and you CAN!!!!

[worryingalot143]

so you are saying that these symptoms are all probably part of anxiety?  its hard to keep my mind off them.  i constantly think about them and always think its the worst possible scenario.  i just wish i could put an end to this cycle.  i feel like im constantly checking my body.  it could have been doing this stuff before, but before i had anxiety i just didnt notice it.  is that a possibility?  when you check your body more, you are bound to find out things that may have existed in the past, but are not sure if they were there or not?

[alvaa]

I say do it out loud even when people are around. I am learning here in the past 2 days that the brain is a powerful thing. I have been diagnosed with anxiety and as a "catastropher" where if my stomach hurts I automatically think it is cancer, or if I have trouble breathing I automatically think it is a heart attack. I cannot speak from successful experience, but sure thing, every once in a while you need to talk or yell your way through it and don't worry about what people think. It has helped me in the past, however it's not doing me much good right now. Good luck and God bless you.

[kennvido]

You are really concentrating on you body functions like I used to. It's called somatization. You will grow out of it. I used to press on myself and thinking about my gut and wonder why I had pain... a vicious cycle...THE PRESSING WAS CAUSING THE PAIN...when you catch yourself doing this to yourself if your alone yell out STOP IT!!!! It shorts your brain for a few seconds. If someone is around, do it in you head and YELL LOUD... keep doing it till it becomes a habit....that's what I did....you will get over it...God Speed.

[worryingalot143]

i have had physicals, everything seems to be fine.  i also had an ekg and that came back normal, blood work came back normal, so maybe i am just making it something that its not.

[29sillygirl]

Since you say you've not been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, it would be good to have a physical to rule out an organic problem.  Anxiety can cause many symptoms.  Only a psychiatrist can tell you for sure if they are anxiety related.