hi guys n girls - been awhile posting ~

purpose is to divulge on a known fact that worrying is not good for you.

I have been going up and down and all over with weird and wonderful symptoms over the last 1-2 months. Starting as a upset stomach for awhile , i went to my local GP and she said its "likely" a stomach ulcer. Got tested , no bacteria and blood test was OK.
Fast forward 2 months and I have been getting twitchy towards my tummy.
Ive started looking up various diseases and conditions relative to my tummy ache , and ive somehow noticed more and more random "symptoms" appearing.
Random itching all over , chronic dry mouth , sometimes constant need to urinate , sometimes muscular aches n pains , sometimes glands are tender and feel like they are swollen (in neck) etc.
One thing i can say is that the occurrence of these issues has increased over the same amount of time ive been pondering around the internet on various med-health forums.

Somethings are just annoying but others such as this random itching/pins n needles over various parts of my body is worrying me immensely.

Can someone provide some solid evidence , of anxiety disorder/PTSD mimicking "mental absorption " of other classic symptoms ? (Does that even make sense lol ? )

im holding my mental anguish back and its starting to hurt

ben

Hey Ben,

Yes, anxiety causes real pain, and much much more actually. Anxiety is stress, to put it simply. Read Stress on Your Body for more information on this, and then some more from Dr Roerich that he posted within that thread. Anxiety causes us real pain. PTSD is factually proven to cause Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) as part of the disorder itself. IBS is more common than not with PTSD because of anxiety.

Pins and needles arrrrg, :angry-fla when I get them, which is a lot, especially when already in bed if they don't go away in ten minutes, I get up and take a hot shower and scrub real good head to tow. Even if it's 4 in the morn. Seems to help the best to alleviate the pins and needles.
My dad had it too, his was caused by poor circulation, I am aniemic and have low blood pressure too but during PTSD pin and needles are always worse for me.
Constantly being tense can cause all kinds of muscular and stomach pain.
Side effects from meds adjusting to new meds too, causes real bodily havoc for me.
Just from my perspective, hope this helps

its random "pins n needles" for me ~ its a small itch/pain in some random spot on my body , then goes away. Happens on and off...And yes i can relate from the silly amounts of stomach type pains. Reflecting all sorts of nasties , then going away , then coming back again.

are you a healthy lad Bennjamin? Aside from PTSD

Hi bennjamin, You asked 4 questions. 1st, Anxiety - Can it Lead to Real Pain? Yes. 2nd, Or is it All in Our Head? No. 3rd & 4th Quest., as stated above. Anthony has provided you with some solid info. And, you asked, Does that even make sense? Absolutely!

I'll speak little on this subject from personal experience bc it's too much for me right now. I will say, you're not alone. I assure you, bennjamin, you're absolutely not alone in PTSD and anxiety leading to real pain.

The physical manifestations and pain from my anxiety in me both present and over many years with untreated PTSD, has been nearly traumatic in itself. Pain and phys. symptoms brought on by my anxiety at times in my life nearly caused me, on more than one occassion to nearly have a stroke. That's if I didn't, have one unknowingly. Does anyone know if it is possible to unknowingly have a stroke, or some degree of one? Also, felt on many, many true occassions that I would go into cardiac arrest from sky-hi Anxiety. Amazing I'm even alive.

Pins 'N' Needles, in my legs, coming and going, I use to live with them, got so damb use to them that in classroom (highschool) I'd began to watch if others were noticing my great discomfort and inability to walk, fantasizing that someone would take notice, comment on my behalf, and someone from somewhere would approach me and pay attention to me, help me, rescue me and free me from the ongoing violence at home.

Bennjamin,

I too get muscle tension/pain when my anxiety kicks up. Different parts of my body with no particular rhyme or reason. I've even had my outer ear hurt when the muscles in my neck and lower head are tense. When my muscle tension just won't go away, I exercise. I've read that when you exercise, it satisfies the 'fight or flight' instinct from the anxiety and helps release the tension. It also helps to make me feel like I have some control over my body.

One thing that may help with your upset stomach is ginger. If you cut off a couple of small pieces (between and 1/8th and a 1/4 of an inch) of fresh ginger root (leave the skin on) and boil the ginger in water. You can drink the water hot or cold. I've put the boiled ginger water in plastic water bottles and taken to work with me. I like to drink it hot because it's soothing. If this doesn't seem like something you'd like, try drinking ginger ale. Let it go flat and it will help with the upset stomach.

Feel better.

Happen to locate this thread again and find it a useful reminder, because these last years of opening up honestly, the best I can, regarding my trauma(s) had produced so much random, frequent and reoccurring physical pain, as well as, passing medical conditions that quite honestly I've often thought I must be dying from cancer or some other degenerative disease.

So until lately there were these thoughts, though pushed aside and denied, still haunting me that I was dying. In fact I thought I might be killing myself, and there too was this bothersome question in my mind: Why am I spending my last perhaps only days or if I'm lucky months alive, exposing, analyzing and re-evaluating my trauma.

My hope is that this physical pain was nothing more than my increased anxiety and therefore stress. And, also I hope that I have not irreversibly damaged my body through a lengthy uncontrollable increase in my addiction to ciggerettes.

I can say that so much of my coming and going physical pains does seem to directly correspond with unusually high levels of fear, anxieties and stress, and all of which I've made great improvements toward overcoming, managing and decreasing.

I'm still working towards and always sharpening present PTSD management techniques. I have a lot to learn and still more to put into practice. I'm generally always seeking to learn and introduce more technique, practice and skill living with this illness.

PTSD can kiss my arse', as I still see this condition as most serious and disturbing. Not suggesting that it's presently flaring up in every which direction possible, as that's not the case, but bc of all the work involved at simply managing, while further healing, while growing and while living a decent life.


Anyways, ..........Is there anybody else out there with experience of their anxiety/stress causing them real suffering and physical pain, and if so how and where does it manifest itself and what do you do to minimize your pain? Ideas, .......tricks, ............regular, routine practices and/or disciplines?

IMHO Yes! Untill I was diagnosed my mother thought I was a hypocondriac. I was always sick with some pain or other. Of course, now I always still have some pain or other, but now we know what it is.

It is a fact that stress makes the body sick. Trying to stay cool and calm in today's world is getting more and more difficult to do. Keeping the stress level down is hard. But in order to stay basically healthy--gotta reduce stress therefore, reduce the aches and pains.

Yes. Funny, just yesterday without me realizing it, I had been clenching my jaw the entire day and when 7:00 p.m. rolled around, I finally noticed what I was doing but by that time my head was throbbing around my temples and my jaw was clicking. I don't know how to control this just yet because I don't even realize I'm doing it - it usually happens when I'm extremely focused on something outside of myself (yesterday I was designing a website).

I've had IBS since I was a child (when my abuse started). I've been taking a lot of steps lately by changing my diet and being very vigilent about what I'm putting into my body.

Like you Hope, I worry so much about my cigarette habit. My grandmother got cancer in her mouth and throat from smoking and was left severely disfigured because of it. Cancer runs in my family and yet I can't quit smoking right now and I feel like time is running out. I tried quitting last year around this time and went totally bonkers. I was a raving lunatic. My therapist has actually told me that he does not want me to attempt quitting right now. I've got more work to do in therapy before I take on quitting the cigs.

I'm always worrying about my heart because of the stress my body has been through for so many years so that now, whenever I have a "panic attack" I think I'm having a heart attack because 1.) that's what it feels like! and 2.) because it could very probable given the stress on my body.

Herc is right, it all boils down to stress and reducing it, in whatever manner works for you. I'm still learning.

Best,
Rachel