Have never felt so shite. Unable to sleep properly since December.

[Dr Rock]

I have mirtazapine 15mg a day, think it's very good for me. And does help sleep. Not as much as Zolpidem, try and get some of them, just for a short period to ground yourself a bit, be the captain of your ship, mix metaphors willy nilly.

[canadagoose]

I have mirtazapine 15mg a day, think it's very good for me. And does help sleep. Not as much as Zolpidem, try and get some of them, just for a short period to ground yourself a bit, be the captain of your ship, mix metaphors willy nilly.

Getting the "Z drugs" is so hard nowadays. I've had sleep issues for as long as I can remember and I've not been given them since I was 18 (and I got them quite easily that time for some reason, possibly because I was in halls and they knew what it was like).

[Dr Rock]

Yeah a lot of doctors won't prescribe zolpidem these days, denying help to many desperate people. You can acquire them in other ways though...

[ZoyzaSorris]

I've never felt so shit. Leg pains, arm pains, foot pains, handcramps, headaches, watery eyes, inability to sleep, tight fingers, tiredness. Tingles. Pins and needles. Back pain. I really am convinced I have a tumour.
I haven't been able to sleep since December.
Had a CAT scan in November, and the eye tests apparently would have showed things. I was diagnosed with anxiety, but the 5mg a day of lexapro since November hasn't helped, and I'm getting worried again.
 The doctor doesn't believe me, I fear, and my March appointment was delayed to April 3.

Fucking doctors and their 'anxiety' bullshit, just because they can't work out the issue.

[ZoyzaSorris]

I hate to sound like a one note dickhead but a lot of these symptoms marry up very well with chronic effects of Covid, which rarely show up anything on your standard tests, but are slowly being elucidated by various studies showing amongst lots of other things reduction in the integrity of the blood-brain barrier and unpleasant neurological side effects of the above. Not that I want to diagnose or say that is what is definitely going on but just putting it out there for info.

[ZoyzaSorris]

'Are you feeling stressed?'
'I wake up every morning feeling like every cell in my body is screaming and I'm days away from death which quite frankly I'd almost welcome at this point, so yes I am a bit' (doctor writes illegible notes detailing patient's persistent anxiety issues)

[George White]

I hate to sound like a one note dickhead but a lot of these symptoms marry up very well with chronic effects of Covid, which rarely show up anything on your standard tests, but are slowly being elucidated by various studies showing amongst lots of other things reduction in the integrity of the blood-brain barrier and unpleasant neurological side effects of the above. Not that I want to diagnose or say that is what is definitely going on but just putting it out there for info.

I asked Dr. Frizzell if it could be side effects of Covid, and he said that might be a factor too.

What about headaches that don't go away with Panadol?

[Dr Rock]

I asked Dr. Frizzell

Is he a muppet?

[thr0b]

I asked Dr. Frizzell if it could be side effects of Covid, and he said that might be a factor too.

What about headaches that don't go away with Panadol?

Does sound like anxiety symptoms. Specifically health anxiety. As I say, I had/have it. Had so many symptoms. At one point I was at the doctors two or three times a week, like a pensioner.


Also, Panadol? Tsk. Stick to genetics - if they're not gonna work, at least only pay 19p for them.

Basically, if the GPs have put you forward for relevant tests and turned nowt up, and they feel that it's probably anxiety, it's probably anxiety. But anxiety brain will keep convincing you it's more than that. Anxiety brain is a cunt. So then go back to your GP and say the pills they've given you haven't resolved anything - I assume you've been on them for more than a month or so; it takes up to six weeks for them really to level you out. They may decide to up your dose or try a different med. what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Because anxiety brain is a cunt.

[George White]

I've been on them since November. I was told to wait till March to see if they made a difference, but there was a mixup in my account.

It's definitely partly anxiety, probably stemming from my mother's death. I had heart anxiety before the tumour anxiety. Even at the ChartMusic thing, I was worrying about my health in The Star of Kings, having had heart palpitations at the airport, even calling in ambulancemen to give me a reassuring checkup.

[ZoyzaSorris]

I'm afraid to say that stuff about health anxiety is bullshit IMO. Doctors are notorious for going to anxiety/stress as a diagnosis for all sorts of chronic health issues that are hard to diagnose because tests available to them are limited in many respects, but not being able to find something wrong because they don't have the tools available doesn't mean there isn't something physiologically wrong. It's an easy way to palm off responsibility on to the patient rather than making the effort to actually understand these things. Of course anxiety and stress can make underlying physiological issues worse or tip them over into being pathological as stress is hard on the body, and being chronically ill with no treatment or support is also likely to make you very anxious and stressed, so there is a bit of a cyclical synergy here. 'Health anxiety' is a convenient get out  for medical professionals with zero scientific evidence behind it as far as I can make out. If your body is telling you something is wrong something almost certainly is. This is all my opinion of course.

[thr0b]

I'm afraid to say that stuff about health anxiety is bullshit IMO. Doctors are notorious for going to anxiety/stress as a diagnosis for all sorts of chronic health issues that are hard to diagnose because tests available to them are limited in many respects, but not being able to find something wrong because they don't have the tools available doesn't mean there isn't something physiologically wrong. It's an easy way to palm off responsibility on to the patient rather than making the effort to actually understand these things. Of course anxiety and stress can make underlying physiological issues worse or tip them over into being pathological as stress is hard on the body, and being chronically ill with no treatment or support is also likely to make you very anxious and stressed, so there is a bit of a cyclical synergy here. 'Health anxiety' is a convenient get out  for medical professionals with zero scientific evidence behind it as far as I can make out. If your body is telling you something is wrong something almost certainly is. This is all my opinion of course.

Your opinion is shit.

If even one of the things I worried about back then had been true, I'd have been dead. And the volume of those anxious thoughts means I'd be dead a thousand times over.

[ZoyzaSorris]

I'm not saying that thoughts of having a fatal condition or whatever are naturally correct, just that the feeling of something being physiologically wrong is usually based on real physiological phenomena (and possibly being misinterpreted as something life threatening). Doctors are generally absolutely useless when it comes to many complex chronic conditions.

[ZoyzaSorris]

They can't see what's going on at a cellular level, mitochondrial / metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, micro vascular damage, many mechanisms for feeling like something is not going right. It's antiquated 'god of the gaps' stuff and dangerous because it puts the responsibility on the patient to get well and if it doesn't work it's because they aren't trying hard enough to think themselves better.

[Underturd]

I don't know, my mate had symptoms of something that could have been one of several widely recognised illnesses but his twat of a doctor never even bothered doing tests because my mate had depression years before so they just assumed it was more of the same black dog shit. I don't think he'd mind ir they came to that diagnosis after testing for other things but they never even fucking bothered because of a years old comment on his medical notes.

[ZoyzaSorris]

Exactly. They are notorious for psychologising these things. That is my point. Yes these things could be anxiety but they could just as easily not be, but if doctors can't easily work it out they all too easily fall back on anxiety/stress as a very convenient way to wash their hands of it and sadly very few have the curiosity or inclination to think beyond that. Plus medical training is always massively out of date when it comes to latest findings in complex conditions. Basically no harm in trying to see if treatments for anxiety work but if they don't it's not your fault, it's because something else is probably going on (but the doctor will blame you for not getting better)

[McDead]

I've never felt so shit. Leg pains, arm pains, foot pains, handcramps, headaches, watery eyes, inability to sleep, tight fingers, tiredness. Tingles. Pins and needles. Back pain. I really am convinced I have a tumour.
I haven't been able to sleep since December.
Had a CAT scan in November, and the eye tests apparently would have showed things. I was diagnosed with anxiety, but the 5mg a day of lexapro since November hasn't helped, and I'm getting worried again.
 The doctor doesn't believe me, I fear, and my March appointment was delayed to April 3.

Every symptom you've described - literally every single one, including the anxiety - is attendant to coeliac disease. Not just a gastrointestinal disorder (you may not even have GI symptoms), it can lead to depression, joint pain, system wide inflammation, neuropathy, brain fog, insomnia, the works. Try coming off wheat, barley, rye and all foods containing those things for a week, and see if it makes a difference.

[Cloud]

*stamps the "it's long COVID" bingo book*

(Not that posting about 60% of the comments on one page is indicative of any issue related to the mind / anxiety / obsession)

I don't mean to be rude but it's similar on another forum.  The one most convinced he had LC writes paragraphs upon paragraphs upon paragraphs, like...a brain working overtime...

[jamiefairlie]

Every single 'psychological' issues is in fact a physical issue. The 'mind' doesn't exist in a magical netherworld.

If you have anxiety it's because there's some form of chemical imbalance in your body.

Zoya is right, doctors have no fucking clue about this stuff, they may as well just say you have the vapours.

It's really complex stuff but they don't even try. The best I've come across are those that medically qualified doctors but who turned to Functional Medecine which attempts to treat the body as the integrated complex system it is, rather than dice it up into discrete organs that operate in isolation.

[George White]

Every symptom you've described - literally every single one, including the anxiety - is attendant to coeliac disease. Not just a gastrointestinal disorder (you may not even have GI symptoms), it can lead to depression, joint pain, system wide inflammation, neuropathy, brain fog, insomnia, the works. Try coming off wheat, barley, rye and all foods containing those things for a week, and see if it makes a difference.

As a child I was diagnosed with a wheat intolerance.
That I subsequently 'grew out of'.

[ZoyzaSorris]

*stamps the "it's long COVID" bingo book*

(Not that posting about 60% of the comments on one page is indicative of any issue related to the mind / anxiety / obsession)

I don't mean to be rude but it's similar on another forum.  The one most convinced he had LC writes paragraphs upon paragraphs upon paragraphs, like...a brain working overtime...

Fuck off you bellend.

[ZoyzaSorris]

I've spent four years with the most unimaginably tortuous and worsening symptoms after nearly dying from Covid in early 2020, so yes I am quite interested in it you complete fucking turd. Also there is a concerted political and media effort to obscure the long term effects of Covid in order to 'get the plebs back to work' so many people might not be aware of how new mystery health issues could be related to it, so it's worth spreading awareness. And you're an absolute cunt.

[Proactive]

I've spent four years with the most unimaginably tortuous and worsening symptoms after nearly dying from Covid in early 2020, so yes I am quite interested in it you complete fucking turd. Also there is a concerted political and media effort to obscure the long term effects of Covid in order to 'get the plebs back to work' so many people might not be aware of how new mystery health issues could be related to it, so it's worth spreading awareness. And you're an absolute cunt.

My SIL is an occupational therapist and she's working with people with long covid all fucking day long by the sounds of it.

[Zetetic]

Every single 'psychological' issues is in fact a physical issue. The 'mind' doesn't exist in a magical netherworld.

If you have anxiety it's because there's some form of chemical imbalance in your body.

Is not knowing the answers to the DVSA car theory test a "physical issue"? Is it "some form of chemical imbalance"?

[Cloud]

Fuck off you bellend.

I was going to apologise but since you decide to DM me calling me a cunt and continue being a nasty piece of work here too, actually, nah. No U.

Get over yourself. Get therapy for your COVID derangement it was 4 fucking years ago. People like you were insisting we'd all be dead by now and oh look.  Still here. 

OP is showing many signs of anxiety, the trained professionals say so and that he's physically fine and therapy is needed.  But oh no, of course you know better as self-appointed expert and try to foist "it's COVID" on everyone's problems because you're still obsessed with the sense of superiority you get for convincing yourself it's like the bubonic plague, and sneering at people for not wearing masks everywhere.  You off to the alcoholic's thread to tell him his alcoholism is COVID next?  Bore off.

[Dr Rock]

Let's not be fighting in this thread, eh?

[McDead]

As a child I was diagnosed with a wheat intolerance.
That I subsequently 'grew out of'.

Then I think we have a winner, George. A "wheat intolerance" is either coeliac or Non Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity, neither of which you grow out of. Do you also have a weird rash? Psoriasis? Premature balding, zero libido?

Give it a shot for a week, see if it makes a difference. If you're that desperate, and the meds are doing nothing, it can't hurt. And if you *do* see some relief, go back to your GP and ask - nay demand - a blood test.

[George White]

I have eczema, and a tiny  red rash on my back I thought was a melanoma.

[McDead]

Well, the main smoking gun for me is the wheat intolerance you "grew out of". If it was a wheat allergy, okay I can see the body developing a resistance to that. But it's far more likely to be coeliac, which you never grow out of (though it can lay low for years, as it did with me).

I don't want to oversell this to you, George, I might be barking up completely the wrong tree, and I don't want to add food anxiety to the rest of your problems. But I've got a sneaking suspicion I'm right, and the test - as it were - is relatively simple: omit gluten from your diet for a while and see how you feel.

[thr0b]

Then I think we have a winner, George. A "wheat intolerance" is either coeliac or Non Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity, neither of which you grow out of. Do you also have a weird rash? Psoriasis? Premature balding, zero libido?

Give it a shot for a week, see if it makes a difference. If you're that desperate, and the meds are doing nothing, it can't hurt. And if you *do* see some relief, go back to your GP and ask - nay demand - a blood test.

This is good advice. As I say, if the pros are saying it's anxiety but there is something simple you can do to rule that out, may as well give it a go.

Supermarket bread has gone a bit shit recently anyway.