Hi Hip and everyone,
Very interesting thread to read though, this is my first post. I just wanted to share my recent situation and get anyone’s thoughts on it.
My anxiety symptoms started about 2 months ago, and they seem to fit best within GAD. I am 30, and before 2 month ago, I have no history of anxiety or any mental health issues at all, generally I am a very healthy person, I eat healthy and exercise. I don’t take any medications and take a multivitamin and probiotics everyday.
So it all started the day after I was mowing my lawn on my rider mower, I accidentally kicked up a bunch of dust/dirt/grass which ended up going straight in my face a couple times. (I don’t know if this is necessarily a piece to the puzzle but it might be). I also had what looked like a big mosquito bite on my back.
The next day I had really weird jittery feeling in my head and felt like something was moving around in the middle of my head and I ended up having some kind of anxiety attack that night, something I never had before. I thought I would be back to normal the next day but I wasn’t, for the next week or so I would wake up early and just be totally wired and anxious, like my sympathetic nervous system was just switched on. And at some point later in the day or evening I would go back to normal (maybe parasympathetic nervous system kicked in?)
My symptoms have mostly been anxiety related, along with some fatigue and tiredness (maybe from getting only 4-5 hrs/day sleep on average), and upperback neck stiffness/soreness.
When I’m in anxiety mode, it feels like the inside of my head (near the nasopharyx / sphenoid sinus area) is tense and inflamed and my neck shoulders are tense, I have no appetite, no sex drive.
When I’m not in anxiety mode I usually feel some movement and pressure in my nose and septum area (not deeper in the head like with the anxiety), my appetite returns, my sex drive returns (essentially the parasympathetic nervous system seems to kick in).
Generally, it seems like the anxiety is correlated with sensations in my nose/sinus/nasopharyx areas. Sometimes I’ve even felt intense throbbing on the roof of my mouth toward the back above the soft palate.
Overall, this seems to have gotten a little better week by week, its been about 9 weeks now. I’ve used Flonase nasal steroid spray through weeks 4-8, and this seemed to help noticeably. I’ve been off it for about a week to see what would happen and I’ve felt about the same, but today was a bad day in terms of anxiety which is what inspired me to post.
Things I never had throughout this whole ordeal: a fever, itchy or watery eyes, runny nose, gastrointestinal issues, vomiting, nausea, skin rashes.
I do have some postnasal drip though, which usually makes me feel better when I can clear that stuff out. Also, I have some pressure in my ears, ear fullness, ears ringing, ears popping/cracking sometimes when driving, and my GP said there was negative pressure in my right ear at week 2 and my right ear still feels blocked and gets hot sometimes.
Doctor thought it might be sinusitis (I rarely get sinus infections) and gave me anti-biotics the first week, which didnt really do anything. GP gave me anti-anxiety meds but I’m reluctant to take these because I think it is something biological causing the psychological symptoms. I also got a CT and MRI which were normal. Bloodwork was normal (tested various hormones and metabolic stuff, a full work-up, 10 different viles were drawn, this was at week 2). I’m seeing an ENT soon and hope he can take a look up in my sinuses and also look at my scans.
Sorry for the long post, but my thinking is that this anxiety has something to do with inflammation in my nose/sinus/throat/ears. Seeing that the Flonase seemed to help, I’m guessing this is because of the anti-inflammatory properties (or possibly the anti-cytokine properties). But I do not want to take a nasal steroid forever.
and I REALLY hope this is not some random virus that I am stuck with for the rest of my life. How can someone go from perfectly normal to a full blown anxiety disorder overnight - doesn’t make sense.
I’m hoping it is something temporary that will clear up soon enough and I’ve heard that sinus and ear issues can take a while to clear up. Perhaps, it could also be some kind of allergic reaction as well? I think it all links back to that fateful day 2 months ago when I mowed my grass. Maybe it could be some kind of fungal infection as well? Also, for the past week it looks like I’ve got some candida fungus overgrowth and bumps on my tongue (this may be from the immunosuppressant properties of Flonase though)
Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts or questions feel free, just wanted to share my experience.
I will probably be trying out NAG soon and see if that does anything.
Is there a way to get tested for potential viruses? I should probably also get allergy tests as well.
Very interesting thread to read though, this is my first post. I just wanted to share my recent situation and get anyone’s thoughts on it.
My anxiety symptoms started about 2 months ago, and they seem to fit best within GAD. I am 30, and before 2 month ago, I have no history of anxiety or any mental health issues at all, generally I am a very healthy person, I eat healthy and exercise. I don’t take any medications and take a multivitamin and probiotics everyday.
So it all started the day after I was mowing my lawn on my rider mower, I accidentally kicked up a bunch of dust/dirt/grass which ended up going straight in my face a couple times. (I don’t know if this is necessarily a piece to the puzzle but it might be). I also had what looked like a big mosquito bite on my back.
The next day I had really weird jittery feeling in my head and felt like something was moving around in the middle of my head and I ended up having some kind of anxiety attack that night, something I never had before. I thought I would be back to normal the next day but I wasn’t, for the next week or so I would wake up early and just be totally wired and anxious, like my sympathetic nervous system was just switched on. And at some point later in the day or evening I would go back to normal (maybe parasympathetic nervous system kicked in?)
My symptoms have mostly been anxiety related, along with some fatigue and tiredness (maybe from getting only 4-5 hrs/day sleep on average), and upperback neck stiffness/soreness.
When I’m in anxiety mode, it feels like the inside of my head (near the nasopharyx / sphenoid sinus area) is tense and inflamed and my neck shoulders are tense, I have no appetite, no sex drive.
When I’m not in anxiety mode I usually feel some movement and pressure in my nose and septum area (not deeper in the head like with the anxiety), my appetite returns, my sex drive returns (essentially the parasympathetic nervous system seems to kick in).
Generally, it seems like the anxiety is correlated with sensations in my nose/sinus/nasopharyx areas. Sometimes I’ve even felt intense throbbing on the roof of my mouth toward the back above the soft palate.
Overall, this seems to have gotten a little better week by week, its been about 9 weeks now. I’ve used Flonase nasal steroid spray through weeks 4-8, and this seemed to help noticeably. I’ve been off it for about a week to see what would happen and I’ve felt about the same, but today was a bad day in terms of anxiety which is what inspired me to post.
Things I never had throughout this whole ordeal: a fever, itchy or watery eyes, runny nose, gastrointestinal issues, vomiting, nausea, skin rashes.
I do have some postnasal drip though, which usually makes me feel better when I can clear that stuff out. Also, I have some pressure in my ears, ear fullness, ears ringing, ears popping/cracking sometimes when driving, and my GP said there was negative pressure in my right ear at week 2 and my right ear still feels blocked and gets hot sometimes.
Doctor thought it might be sinusitis (I rarely get sinus infections) and gave me anti-biotics the first week, which didnt really do anything. GP gave me anti-anxiety meds but I’m reluctant to take these because I think it is something biological causing the psychological symptoms. I also got a CT and MRI which were normal. Bloodwork was normal (tested various hormones and metabolic stuff, a full work-up, 10 different viles were drawn, this was at week 2). I’m seeing an ENT soon and hope he can take a look up in my sinuses and also look at my scans.
Sorry for the long post, but my thinking is that this anxiety has something to do with inflammation in my nose/sinus/throat/ears. Seeing that the Flonase seemed to help, I’m guessing this is because of the anti-inflammatory properties (or possibly the anti-cytokine properties). But I do not want to take a nasal steroid forever.
and I REALLY hope this is not some random virus that I am stuck with for the rest of my life. How can someone go from perfectly normal to a full blown anxiety disorder overnight - doesn’t make sense.
I’m hoping it is something temporary that will clear up soon enough and I’ve heard that sinus and ear issues can take a while to clear up. Perhaps, it could also be some kind of allergic reaction as well? I think it all links back to that fateful day 2 months ago when I mowed my grass. Maybe it could be some kind of fungal infection as well? Also, for the past week it looks like I’ve got some candida fungus overgrowth and bumps on my tongue (this may be from the immunosuppressant properties of Flonase though)
Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts or questions feel free, just wanted to share my experience.
I will probably be trying out NAG soon and see if that does anything.
Is there a way to get tested for potential viruses? I should probably also get allergy tests as well.
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