My face feels like its pulling in every direction!

I dunno what is wrong with me tonight, but my head, and neck seem tense, I cannot get comfortable holding my own head, it feels like I forgot how to stabalise my head when I walk, sit, everything. Hmmm

My Face also feels like its pulling in every direction, I cannot seem to relax my facial muscles, but also the skin feels real tight.

I haven't taken anything at all, and I am not allergic to any foods, I had mash, vegies & deviled sausages for tea, been having coffee's, cups of water, and 2 cups of cordial all day.

Hmmm, It's aggrovating me becuase I cannot seem to shake it or ease it, just seems to be getting worse.

 

I think you should phone a doctor, it doesn't sound too nice to me. Possibly a migraine ? never had one myself but they can be nasty apprently

 

I have migraines and it doesn't remind me of them. Sounds more like a neuralgia to me, but do you have any pain?

I agree, call a doc, at least, and talk over the phone.

 

Original post, by Luthius, was at 3.43am Eastern Australian time.
Not many doctors available at that hour, especially in Darwin, NT. lol

Hope you got relief, or got to Emergency at the Darwin Hospital, mate.

Otherwise, get to a doc as soon as they open up for business. Bazza

 

Saw the doc this morning, thanks guys, apparently stress related.... ahem, 25, stress? personally I dont think I know what real stress is, but anyway.

 

Well, I wouldn't take it too lightly if I were you. I'd get the Doc to run some checks, like B.P., blood exam, etc.

Take what happened to me this week: I've been feeling like crap for the last month, with dizzy spells headaches, sudden extreme fatigue, red eyes and so forth. I thought it was just 'stress' too, and no doubt it is partly stress related.

Anyway finally got around to seeing the Doc on Tuesday, and I thought it would be a good idea to get my blood pressure checked. I was right. It was 220/140, which is about double normal! So the Doctor nearly fell out of his chair, and was worried to say the least. He disappeared into one of the other rooms and came back with a heap of boxes of meds and water and made me take them on the spot. Went back there on Wed., and had the E.C.G. and full blood exam. Fortunately, with the new meds the B.P.'s gone down to 110/90, which still aint good, but at least I'm not likely to end up in hospital or dead.

That's when I realised I need to make a few changes in my life-style, while I still have one.

The moral of the story, is at least get it checked out, i.m.o. B.T.W. I suffer from migraines at times too, and it doesn't sound like it to me, either.

Edit:- I see that you've already got checked. Watch out for to many coffees, too. Sometimes excess caffeine can cause muscle/nerve issues in some people.

 

Coffee can? I got to admit I have been drinking alot of coffee lately, well since monday. I do stress a bit, but comparing to other people, I have it easy, maybe too easy, there are people out there, on this board even, that have it alot harder than me. that's why I disregard it I think, I don't want to sound like I`m complaining, thats all.

But back to the coffee thing, this week I`d have to be honest and say that my water to coffee intake ratio is 2/1.

With your blood pressure up like that, have you found out the cause yet? that isn't good at all, which is why you wont see me complaining, that is really serious! What is the current situation on your status with that? you should be in bed or atleast louching about for a while until you find out what the heck is going on!

 

Well, you can't measure your stress level by somebody else's situation. Everybody's different, respond differently to different things, and you've obviously been stressed recently by the new baby, by the computer, likely by other things as well. Let the doc sort it out.

 

Similarly if you are stressed this does not automatically mean you will have high blood pressure. I have a lot of stress going on right now, but my blood pressure never goes up. I have different symptoms when I get stressed.

 

That bites man, stress is never a fun thing. Hell, stress gave me my current anxiety problems, usually when I get an anxiety attack my mouth gets real dry, some dizziness and cant breathe. And the thing that really freaks me out is sometimes my whole body gets light, kinda like floating, it's really strange. Luckily my attacks have cut down though, a lot of the stress I had is gone. Hell, I'm only 20.

 

When that happens try taking deep slow breaths. If that doesn;t work, get a paper bag, tighten the neck of it in your hand, and breathe in an out of the bag. You are basically hyperventilating with the anxiety attack and getting too much oxygen, hence the light, floaty feeling.

As GT said, everyone handles stressful situations differently. Age is not a factor to consider when dealing with stress. It happens regardless.

Hope this helps some INeedAGig

 

You avoided my question though! What is happening regarding your blood pressure problem, do you know whats causing it specifically, aka stress or an illness, or a long lasting flu like symptom? please elaborate, although if you want privacy, feel free to tell me to P.O

 

As was said, everyone will react to potentially stressful situations differently, that's a given, since everyone is different, but there is some threads of similarity, depending on what the cause of stress/anxiety may be. This includes the 'no apparent reason' type, which always has some root causes.

In medical terms stress is described as, "a physical or psychological stimulus that can produce mental tension or physiological reactions that may lead to illness." When you are under stress, your adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which are converted to cortisol in the blood stream. Cortisol has an immune suppressive effect in your body. These factors may have anything from a very mild to severe effect on blood pressure.

Caffeine in large doses can increase heart rate, and act as a mild diuretic, some people a lot more than others. That was my point, there.

In my case I've dealt with a fairly stressful existence for some time, but normally my B.P. s a bit on the high side - but nothing like I just mentioned. At this stage I don't know what has been causing it, I guess I won't until the Pathology reports come back on Thursday. But the sky-high B.P. was obviously not very good for my health. The medication seems to be controlling it, a.t.m.

Stress and anxiety problems are actually pretty common amongst the young, so like G.T. said, being young isn't necessarily an advantage.

 

Ahhh ok, I didn't know that about coffee, I heard the old rumour regarding tea, but not coffee, I think I`ll cut right down as of now and see how I go.

That definitely isn't good about your B.P though, I hope everything is ok, and your pathology results come back clear!

About being young, I do worry, I have a depression like problem, but I stopped the medication for it becuase I felt like a zombie and it never helped the thought's or manner of how it all rolled out in the mind each day, it seemed to me like I was taking 3 diffrent tablets 3 times a day to appear drugged up and zombified.

The main time lately when I have noticed I start feeling this way is when kylie & I have an argument, which seems to be alot lately, sometimes I feel like just walking away, but that isnt right.

Will have to find another way of dealing with things I think, so I dont get so worked up, I don't want to feel like this again, yeasterday was hellish, really made me feel yuck.

 

Luthius - there are hundreds of different medications on the market Many of the new SSRIs are side-effect free, so I would urge you to return to your doc and talk about trying other options. There are plenty out there that will not put you in zombie-mode, but allow you a decent quality of life back, for both you and Kylie. Don't give up - I know it is hard work to be persistent and insistent when you feel depressed, but sometimes you just have to go onto auto-pilot until you get an acceptable solution for you personally. Good luck

 

Yeah, usually what helps best with me is chewing a piece of gum (helps the dry mouth and that lump in the throat sensation) and just sitting down and breathing for a minute.

 

Hi Lev,

Not in australia, if anything we are restricted by the medical board on alot of 'over the counter' medication at the very least, compared to that of the US, here in Darwin we have a place called Tamarind Centre, basically they do pycological/medical evaluations, then you go on from there, I got shoved on (Literally) 3 diffrent meds, I can only remember the name of one (Axit 30). I was reffered to them by my local G.P after explaining my problem, they diagnosed me with Anxiety, Depression, aswell as interaction phobia, (I call it shyness)

It's just alot harder here in Australia to get a good GP, and proper treatment when it comes to Mental Illness, also it scares me a bit in the sense where people have been ill treated or percieved the incorrect way.

Plus I still hold hope that medication isn't always the answer, to me I have the logic that I went into it, so I must be able to find a way out of it, sort of thing. Maybe I need to open up to more solutions, but so far I haven't had a very good trek when it comes to GP's and Alike and getting treatment/help.

But I get what your saying, it is very hard to stay enthusiastic though, but there are times when I get fedup and try the next solution on the table.

 

I'm sorry to hear that Luthius. I wasn't referring to over-the-counter meds, but your point still stands. Even today, it is hard to get sympathetic mental health care. In my experience, the UK was in the 90's and still is very much the same. I am the person you refer to in your last paragraph (albeit a long time ago now) and I am very empathetic to your reservations. However, I would still encourage you not to give up seeking a good mental health doctor who you are comfortable with. It may take time, but it is worth it

 

Stress and anxiety are my middle names and that doesn't sound like it to me. I was always affected by rapid heart beat, moist hands, hot, a unexplained sense of fear.
Even though your young, did your doctor check for stroke? I was also looking for a condition I heard of that affected young women in their 20's that made the face paralyzed for a short time, can't remember what it's called, can't find it, BIG HELP, huh? sorry.
Also have you given in the past year or so?

 

sounds like bells paulsy (sp?).

 

It depends a lot on your Doc. Like mechanics, technicians, etc., there good and not so good ones. I was originally on general tranquilizers to cope with a very stressful existence (which I won't go into at this time). They were of limited value (the old meds), at best. My current meds for the anxiety/stress symptoms is an S.S.R.I. (Mirtazine), like Lev said, which is a lot more effective, and a lot less side-effects.

And yep, I'm in Australia, too, so there is appropriate medications around for it.

 

Darlene, that sounds like an anxiety attack. I've had the exact symptoms twice in my life. The first one scared the crap out of me, and I went to the hospital. The second one I went running, and that worked better.

 

hi darlene /siber

i'm not sure if my case is similar to yours but a year ago , i got up from the bed with a facial paralysis. doctor gave me some steroids to be taken and from that day onwords my life was misreable. i have been having this Bp which keeping keeps spiking and come down to normal withing 15 to 20 minutes and some time with numbness only in the left leg and left arm . till now doctors could not figure out what is wrong and all was fine before the paralysis. funny part is when i feel some sort of numbess or pain in my limb , my heart start beating fast and then the bp just shoots up and i'll starts having this fear in me that i'm going to get a stroke or some thing. is this because of anxiety or some sort of panic attack ?

 

Hi Ricky,

That sounds bad, what we're you doing the day before, or even the week or fortnight before?

I`ve had a mate bout 2 years back that suffered facial pary aswell, just woke up and yeah, wasn't good at all, but he did eventually find out the cause of the problem, 2 nights before he woke up with it, we we're out clubbing in town, then we scooted off to a friends > friends place, there were some guys there, but we all seemed to get along, apparently when I went to sleep an argument broke out and some fists went flowing, needless to say he was hit in a 'Specific' spot on his face, which numbed all his facial nerves (Which is why he didn't feel like he got his), until 2 days later when the nerves broke down after the bruising.



Apparently their is absolutely no recovery or remedy for this situation (Becuase the nerves can't repair to well, if at all in some cases), so he will suffer from it the rest of his life, or until he can afford surgery.

 

I heard an analogy once. It was called the rubber band analogy. Some people have rubber bands that stretch and stretch. They can have all the bad luck in the world, everything can go wrong and they just grin and bear it and continue to toil as if nothing happened. For others it takes much less for them to snap. You have to play with the hand your delt with.

I think a strong level of awareness of your environment (good ) might come with with a tendency to internalize too much (not good). Call it the superweakness that comes along with a superpower.

But with time you learn to put things into perspective and not to internalize as much. I think most people have an epiphany generating experience sometime in their life and come to the same realization. Maybe you had yours younger than most...

Cheers
Learn to control your superpowers

 

I agree with that, but not completely! Sometimes the hand your dealt can be aggrivated by passes by, or someone just not liking what your dealt, in jelousy!

A really good mate of mine said to me a few weeks ago when we went to hibiscus shops, I was chatting away about how my GF parents are giving us, and me in particular greif, and I was explaining away, then he stopped me and just said.. "You know what really annoys my sister?, their is nothing she can do or say to annoy me"...

Take from that what you will.... If you don't get it, think of someone you know that seems to have the best life compared, saying it to you! Will hopefully 'Click', I did when he said it to me! He is that person for me.

 

You know part sounds like anxiety but I think you got more going on then just that. I have not experienced paralysis.The pain or numbness in your limbs could be from the blood pressure. I had a condition where my heart would take off and beat up to 280 beats a min. that made my arms ( both) ache and turn cold. Sad thing is you have to somewhat be your own physician now days. Theres a lot of info medical related. See what fits and what doesn't then present it to your doctor, or find another one. Most doctors start with a quick fix. then check for more serious things as you get worse. High Blood pressure is something to be on top of for sure.

 

this one has a forum, also his staff will interject

http://www.drweil.com/u/Home/
----------------------------
http://www.webmd.com/

I'm sure theres lots more, these are the ones I check most, especially when given a new prescription, have turned down some, turns out it was the correct thing to doin some cases.

 

I experience neck and shoulder pain from stress quite frequently. (it's this dam stressful job I have). Your problem does sound like a combination of stress and anxiety.

I've found good massage will elimanate the pain almost instantly. The mucles in the neck and upper back become extremely tense and are normally the cause of the pain.

Most doctors are not keyed on massage theraphy and will usually try to treat it with medication. There are medication available that will help relieve the stress but I try to avoid medications unless they are absolutely necessary.

 

What are all your thought's on "Acupuncture"?

I`ve never had it done, or read too much on/into it, but we have a show here in Oz called "Whats good for you", on channel 9, and they sent one of their Doc's in who had a knee problem, before when he jogged up and down the football stadium steps, he was in pain after a certain percentage, after the Acupuncture he overcame the percentage, and said his knee felt better after it, than it did previously. But he also stated that it is diffirent for each person, and to try it and see how it works for you. If you have had Acupuncture, how did it affect you?

 

Depends what you are having it for. I had it for several years on a weekly basis for extreme anxiety, panic attacks and depression. It was fantastic and helped me get through on a week-by-week basis where everything else failed. I used to arrive for sessions a complete mess, and leave skipping from the building, laughing and hugging my therapist!!! It isn;t necessarily a cure, don't expect it to be, but is sure can help life be totally more bearable while more curative therapy gets a hold e.g. medication, counseling etc. I would caution you, however, about finding a practitioner. Make sure they are fully qualified. The best way to get someone good is by word-of-mouth from people who have used a particular practitioner before. A good reference from a former client is a MUST in my book

 

darlene , thanks for the link.

what i do not understand is how could someone could have blood pressure just like that . i was normal without any problem and the next day i knew there was this bp keeps fluctuating. i thought bp increases gradually over time . in fact i have done all the test to check if this could be a secondary hypertension caused by thyroid or kidney but everything seems to be normal. i guess i just have to live with this and move on.

 

Thanks Lev, I was just curious as I have suffered from Aching legs the past 2 years, I currently take nurofen Plus every day, have for 2 years now, to kill the pain, if I don't, by the 3rd day without any medication, I can barely walk becuase the pain consumes me and my attention, & personally speaking, I`m starting to get revolted at taking tablets everyday to feel ok! and I just though maybe acupuncture would be another option. I have had tests, my GP has diagnosed this problem 3 times, first time it was apparently a form of growing pains, next it was apparently varigas vains, then apparently possible diabetes! I`m being dead serious! I changed my doctor after that, if I kept going back to him, he would have turned me into a hypocondriact!

 

Perhaps it was from your heart racing. When I was young and started having palpitations back then they had to record it while it was happing. Got to the hospital and when they had enough registered they decided to stop it. The pressure blew the end off the syringe, that much force. What explanation does your doctor have?

 

Just a thought to consider: Depression, anxiety and panic attacks are not just about being sad, stressed and jittery, as I am sure you know only too well. They're not even just about mental health issues. Often the symptoms over time can manifest physically. It could possibly be that the legs pains you experience are tied into mental health issues. When I suffered with these, I had so many physical issues they thought I even had Lupus, until they tested negative.

Out of interest, have you had many antibiotics and over what period of time?

 

I agree with darlene1029. You need as much information as possible to save your own life. In 2002, a panel of General Paractioners at a GP Symposium in Switzerland(about 260 doctors), was given a multiple choice test concerning actual case studies. All the data was available, as well as the transcripts of the original doctor's interviews with the patients. 76% of the doctors chose the correct diagnostic test procedures, 61% knew how to proceed, but only 22% understood the results which you use to cure a patient. So, our overworked doctors, often flip a powerful prescription across to us and we trust them to know what they're doing. We need doctors, obviously, but we need knowledge as well.

 

I know this has nothing to do with this thread, but after I log in, I can't figure out how to post. Can you help me?

Kind of feel like a fool, since no one else seems to have this problem.

Horace

 

Hi Lev,

When my parents moved us all up to Darwin for my Father to start his new job roughtly 10 years ago (I was 16 y/o, 26 next month), about 2 months after moving up here, a golfball size lump grew on my neck on the back/left side, I went to the doctors, got tests done and it was diagnosed as a Boil. So I was started on a course of Anti-Biotics....

Over the next couple of months, that boil would pop once it grew enough to rip the skin open, partly heal, then flair back up and repeated this for months, during which time I was on a repeat perscription for anti-biotics.

Finally I went back to the doctors and complained about the medication not working, so I was given a stronger/diffirent anti-biotic aswell as another script for anti-something too, I had to take them for 14 days then return, the medication did not help, so I was blood tested for many many things, all came back fine (Or atleast nothing out of sorts), so then I was given more Anti-Biotics of a new strenght/type and brand! Also this time around I was put on a diet of 'No dairy' products, had to try that for 28 days along with the medication, then return, this time it did not help, but now the boils started appearing on my back (Tiny sub 5c peice sizes), down in the groin area! 2 had come up aswell, my medication was changed again (Anti-Biotics, also anti-inflam this time also If my memory's correct), also my diet was increased to a no yeast or sugar, aswell as a few others... had repeat perscriptions and had to return in 6 weeks becuase one of the courses took that long, and apparently one of the meds took a while to get into my system and work.

Well to cut a long story short from there, again this didn't work, and I was put on another medication railroad and increased diet of no dairy, yeast, sugars, etc.

After the 100th time (bit exagirate there) and 4 years time, still no resolution, increase or decrease of boils, they just seemed to take over, and do what they wanted, I started refusing taking any medication for it at this stage, I just spent nearly 4 straight years taking upto 3 pills 3 or 4 times a day! And to me it was just a waste of time!

Well I have just put up with them ever since, I`ve learnt over time that I need to pay special attention to my skin, I have to clean certain area's even today, more thouroughly than normal, I do not use soap unless its medicated soap like sapoderm, etc, when that doctor I was seeing left, and I got a new GP, he tryed to explain to me that boils are a form of acne, and put me on a new set of medication, I tryed it for whatever lenght of time as a cry of a last resort, it did not help, but I was starting to get really used to the boils, and I wasn't embarrised as I used to be about them, but I still wanted them gone, but I just refused to take any medication for it.

Well I put up with them and still suffer from them today, although these days I do not get them as bad as size (like golfball size in the first 5 years I got them, especially the one that kept re-growing on my neck in the exact same spot)....

Since all that junk, I`ve had a few injections of Anti-Biotics and other drugs, when I came down with the flu or bug, also for other infections, etc

 

Pretty scary, now they go so far as to hand you a marker before surgery so you yourself can write - yes or no especially limbs. Guess that puts the fault on you.

 

So you've had viruses and infections and a ton of antibiotics amongst other things. Plus your leg pains....any other random type symptoms?

The reason I ask is because antibiotics kill the natural "friendly" bacteria in the gut, as well as the nasty bacteria you don't want. With repeated and heavy usage, they completely destroy the natural "friendly" bacteria, which are required to protect you. This will be partly why they had you go milk, yeast, sugar-free on your diet, as these substances encourage bacterial growth in the gut. Your gut, without the good bacteria to protect it, begins to resemble wine fermenting.........bubble, bubble, bubble. This can lead to all sorts of symptoms, one being intense leg pain, usually muscular, which in my experience was not relieved by anything totally. You can also have all sorts of IBS related symptoms, headaches, despression (from simply being in pain so much) etc to name but a few. This problem is known as a candida overgrowth and can be simply remedied through careful diet and acidophilus lactobaccillus capsules (this is the friendly bacteria's name).

Now, if you also had a virus at some point that was quite intense (e.g. Epstein Barr), plus this quantity of antibiotics causing candida overgrowth, the two can go hand in hand to give you post-viral fatigue problems, which equally have a nasty array of very varied symptoms, one of which is the leg pains you mentioned, muscular-skeletal issues, gastric issues. Solving this one is a little more complicated but very possible, with dedication and care of yourself. Often you have weird symptoms that your doctor cannot find a reason for for many years, just like you have said.

Just some food for thought. I am not an practitioner, although I have way too much past experience with both these issues. Google them and see if the symptoms and patterns of the problem pertain to your experience

 

Yep, the chances are, a combination of relatively young age, stress, climate, long history of antibiotic use, and possibly dietary issues can often lead to those symptoms. High doses of vitamin C, B, garlic and yogurt type bacterium can often prove useful in such cases. Generally, it means your immune system has got run down. May well be other factors, but that’s what it sounds like in the case of the recurrent boils.