Anxiety and Stress Forum - What Is Wrong With Me?

Hi I am new here. Excuse my nickname but I feel like it a lot of the time. I tend to carry this nickname to a few forums (not all health related).

I would like to give a bit of my history and ask for feedback from others as to whether what is wrong with me is due to stress, anxiety and depression.

I am a 40 year old male. I would not say I have had a happy life. As a child I was always somewhat insecure. I have always had a hereditary skin disorder called x related ichthiosis (some call it fish scales). I attended an all boys school and never had a relationship. In fact I am not ashamed to admit I am still a virgin. I have been moving through life in mundane jobs or jobs that were high stress. My first job was a very mundane government job and I stayed at the same level for 12 years in it (i got promoted once but hated it so much I voluntarily got demoted). I found that I had a nack for computing and eventually left that job for a computer support job on a phoneline it helpdesk. Very stressful. I went from there after 2 years into a very short job in a similar enviroment and then from there to a 1 year job as an it admin for a small company. I ended up leaving due to ill health and have been yo yo'ing between incapacity benefit and job seekers allowance in the uk for a few years now.

I initially always had stomach and bowel problems. Tests revealed nothing at the time. I always seemed to have the runs. I then began to have headaches, migraines and generalised lethargy. I also then began to have panic attacks.

I have been diagnosed with a gallstone. I was recently diagnosed with gastritis. I have had gallstone attacks and other gi pains. All the while this was going on in the last two years I have been getting worse migraines and been feeling heavy fatigue suddenly during the night hours, nausea, dizziness, shivering, night sweats, chill at the nape of the neck and sometimes pains to the chest, arms (especially left arm), aches to legs and twitchy sometimes cold feet, pains going through the neck and up through the back of head, ears, temples, eyes.

I also have has sinus problems with blockages when sleeping and/or snivels a lot of the time I feel like I have a constant cold or flu.

Things pretty much came to a head just before christmas. I had a really bad dizzy spell one night and vomited. A few days later a high pitched sound began in my left ear and got louder and spread to my right ear. I now have constant reactive and seemingly pulsatile tinnitus that goes up and down whenever it feels like it. I almost lost my mind and still feel like I am. I was prescribed a short course of valium over the christmas period just to get me straight. It helped a little. But for some reason it is difficult to get a longer course or benzo's in the uk. I really wanted to try xanax as I read there had been good results for tinnitus sufferers. But alas I have not been about to get it scripted on the uk nhs.

Anyhow. I was recommended to try an antidepressant that would hopefully not excacerbate the tinnitus called mirtazapine (also known as remeron). I have just started taking them and for the last few days I have felt sleepy and sometimes want to eat which are the two main side effects apparently.

What I am wondering about is the symptoms I have had to endure. Even while I had the tinnitus I have been very sick over the weeks. Last week was pretty bad and I had extreme fatigue thursday evening for no apparent reason and then a massive migraine that the pills I take for it (zolmatriptan also known as zomig) did very little for. I fell into bed and struggled through the night. I felt so ill I though t I was dying.

A tried to see a gp but they were not my regular gp so they said that I needed to see my regular doc. I saw them monday and am waiting to see an osteopath for the neck pain to see if it is related and to get a blood test done. I have also had weird out of body experiences, disturned dreams, walking around in a complete fog, difficulty concentrating or doing anything like housework etc and sometimes have had really heavy painful shoulders when walking for a while.

Does this all sound like anxiety (apart from the gallstone stuff of course)?

I am trying to get out during the day and do things. It's difficult living on my own. Motivation is my enemy. Also starting on these antidepressants is making me sleep in late.

Well that's my story for now. I will let others say what they think about this.

I feel better for writing this even though I am stressing right now and my tinnitus is sizzling in my head. :roll: