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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
anyone else suffer from feeling physically weak all the time, like you have the flu?
thought i was anemic, but pdoc ruled that out, said it was a symptom of my anxiety/depression.
anyone know how depression/anxiety physiologically causes the feeling of physical weakness and fluish-feeling?
Posted by thinkfast on February 26, 2004, at 6:34:51
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
lack of motivation feels like what you described...as for me, being mentally worn out makes me pretty much worthles
Posted by B2chica on February 26, 2004, at 10:28:38
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
> anyone else suffer from feeling physically weak all the time, like you have the flu?
>
> thought i was anemic, but pdoc ruled that out, said it was a symptom of my anxiety/depression.
>
> anyone know how depression/anxiety physiologically causes the feeling of physical weakness and fluish-feeling?What meds are you on, sometimes weakness is a side effect. Some meds cause low blood pressure.
I would keep on the doc about this. However, i did have weakness as part of my depression, that's why i would sleep ALL the time.
(or maybe you are actually getting the flu?)
FWIW
B2c.
Posted by dazed on February 26, 2004, at 11:47:39
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
Maybe you could be suffering from fibromyalgia (sp?). My friends who have it say that's exactly how they feel all the time. I think they can do a blood test to see if you have it (i think i read that recently).
You might ask your doctor.
Posted by irishcatholic on February 26, 2004, at 13:27:17
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
Lexapro made me feel that way - like the worst flu ever.
Prozac doesn't - it's like a stimulant to me.
You'll have to experiment, we are all different.
Find a good pdoc, keep an open mind, and for it.
Posted by noa on February 26, 2004, at 19:04:19
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
Have you had your thyroid checked out?
Posted by francesco on February 26, 2004, at 19:35:07
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
I feel as you feel and I think (hope) it's depression.
Posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 21:43:53
In reply to Re: feel physically weak, like have the flu? » chess, posted by francesco on February 26, 2004, at 19:35:07
just got results of my physical and blood tests and thyroid tests
everything turned out normal
and i'm currently not taking any meds
my pdoc told me that my feeling physically weak is a symptom of my anxiety/depression and literally "all in my head" in that my peripheral physiology is normal and that it's actually only in my brain that i'm "feeling" physically weak.
anyone heard this before?
can a person "feel bad" in the brain without there being a peripheral physiological component that's causing the "bad feeling"?
Posted by wannabe on February 27, 2004, at 4:34:02
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
>>anyone else suffer from feeling physically weak all the time, like you have the flu?
I too have felt like flu on a number of occasions, fatigue, pain in the legs, hips and lower back. When I get thatI usually feel like stretching and twisting my legs and hips. I think it's always appeared because of the following probable reason:
TOBACCO consumption, these symptoms appeared both during the phases of excessive tobacco consumption and whenever I have gone off tobacco 'Cold Turkey'
Fatigue, Stress and Anxiety bring out the same flu like symptoms which last for some time and go away when I take deliberate steps to improve and balance my lifestyle.
Lastly, I know it seems funny, but then I distinctly remember getting the flu feeling when I was young and madly in love with a lady with whom I used to over indulge in sex.
THUS, IN MY EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD THE FLU SYMPTOMS WHENEVER I HAVE LET MY LIFE DRIFT OUT OF BALANCE.> thought i was anemic, but pdoc ruled that out, said it was a symptom of my anxiety/depression.
>
> anyone know how depression/anxiety physiologically causes the feeling of physical weakness and fluish-feeling?I recommendation is that, before you begin the vicious circle of meds and pdocs for these flu symptoms, you should try to bring back balance in your life. Have a look at your lifestyle and include simple things like clean balanced living, with good nutrition, some sensible multivitamin support and a gradual but active exercise program, and topped with a deliberate dose of developing and adopting a positive expectant attitude towards life. Give this a genuine 90 day trial and if in case you still have no improvement then go to a pdoc.
Best wishes
WannabeHere's something about balance that I came across, it's a bit long so you may choose to read or skip:
Maintain Balance
When, our sole reason for doing whatever we do, is to give us more life, and not take our life, the word "Balance" becomes the most important word applicable to us. "Never too much and never too less", and at every moment of our lives we have to make decisions in conflicting situations. Conflicts between work and play, conflicts between spending and saving, between career and family. Such conflicts arise in our daily lives as a result of our attempts to perform satisfactorily in two or more roles at the same time. These are the trying moments because conflicts often cause pain, and the most valuable guidance can come only from within, that is from the values we attach to our various roles and goals. We live our lives in terms of roles, not in the sense of role playing but in the sense of authentic parts we have chosen to fill. Roles are the parts that make up the whole of our life. They represent responsibilities, relationships and areas of contribution - at work, in the family, in the community, or in other areas of life. You have personal roles concerning the relationships with the people you care about most, that is to say you could be a parent, a spouse, a friend. There could be roles you have in your work-life or in your areas of contribution. Your work may involve more than one area of responsibility and you may fill in various roles such as an Engineer, or a Business owner, a Developer, an employee, etc. Many people also have significant Social roles in their communities serving as leaders or as volunteers of committees or in religious or social groups. Every person must have a role of constant self renewal because often we get so busy producing results that we forget to renew in order to maintain or increase our capacity this leaves us unable to move forward effectively.
Now using the core set of values, which align with your mission statement select a few roles that are most important to you. To each role select long term goals and make plans that support these roles and goals so that during any moment of conflict you have to simply link with your mission, the selected roles and goals, weigh the situation with your personal value system and its importance to you and arrive at a decision. Such decisions will, over a period of time keep you balanced and effective to achieve more and more in every area of your life, providing a gratifying and fulfilling life.Here are some key methods to strike a balance in life.
1. Exercise - Nothing works emotional stress away better than vigorous exercise that’s well within your physical capacity. The gain is two fold, following a sensible and regular exercise program, will put your body in top physical condition and also drive away stress.
2. Pursue Goals with a difference: - Pursue goals and satisfactions that have nothing to do with your career or with any other troublesome problem area that may be pushing you towards stress and burnout. Pick up a nice hobby. Once when I visited a friend of mine who is also a highly successful top executive of a large company, he was handcrafting a beautiful piece of furniture for his home. This was something totally different from what he was pursuing at work. I asked him why he was doing it, and he said that he loved handcrafting and it helped him to forget everything else when he was engrossed in crafting. This helped him to keep his life in balance. He was pursuing a goal with a difference.
3. Take short Breaks - If you feel so pressed that you never take a five minute break away from your desk, you’re not running your job, your job is running you. Get away from you job and do something different. When you come back you’ll feel refreshed again and ready to charge again.
4. Dwell on the fun side - Every job has a positive and a negative element, the fun side and the boring side. Spend more time thinking about the positive and joyous aspects and enjoy life while giving your utmost to the job.
5. Take a long break - The most effective treatment to overcome stress and prevent burnout is to schedule long and immediate vacation. After all the hard work you have done which resulted in stress you can certainly reward yourself with a vacation. If however you don’t feel upto the mark, if you still feel stressed out you should seriously consider a change in your work environment to prevent going into the final stages of a burnout.
6. Throw off the chains of chemical dependency - Don’t use tranquilizers, sleeping pills, headache pills and other central nervous system depressants. Instead, reorganize your activities. Reduce the excessive demands you’ve been putting on your system. Relax, get into balance, and start enjoying your life while you keep your career booming along.
7. Actively seek new ideas and experiences - Open your mind. Try doing things you’ve never done before, sample foods you’ve never eaten, visit places you’ve never seen. Let loose, just let loose just for the sake of it.Stress and burnout are a very heavy price to pay for success, so it is in your own interests to keep yourselves in balance achieving the most, and living life to its fullest, knowing and understanding that every moment that we live correctly and in tune with the universal laws, life will pay an appropriate reward. Talking of rewards which life will pay, let’s try to understand the universal law of cause and effect. This law as explained by Newton says “Every action has an Equal and opposite reaction”. ….
More in case you want…
Posted by francesco on February 27, 2004, at 8:08:07
In reply to Re: feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 21:43:53
> anyone heard this before?
>
> can a person "feel bad" in the brain without there being a peripheral physiological component that's causing the "bad feeling"?I'm in your same situation. What your doc told you makes sense. Tiredness and fatigue are actually diagnostical criterions of depression. I was worried just like you for my physical syntoms, then I realized that the easiest explaination for all this is depression. Of course I can be wrong, maybe I have some bad disease, but, you know, if nothing else comes out, the easiest explaination remains the best. I will talk about my weakness to my p-doc this afternoon but I'm almost certain he won't give any credit to physical causes for my malaise.
Posted by Emme on February 27, 2004, at 9:41:45
In reply to feel physically weak, like have the flu?, posted by chess on February 26, 2004, at 6:27:27
> anyone else suffer from feeling physically weak all the time, like you have the flu?
>
> thought i was anemic, but pdoc ruled that out, said it was a symptom of my anxiety/depression.
>
> anyone know how depression/anxiety physiologically causes the feeling of physical weakness and fluish-feeling?I don't know *how* it does it. But it sure can. I have been whipped for the last few weeks. I feel like a wet rag. At first I thought it was med-related. Now I'm starting to think it's a by-product of the intense anxiety I'm feeling right now. I'll be curious to see if it improves if I control the anxiety better with medication so it's down to a workable level, and then try to tackle some of what's causing the anxiety. For starters I need to sleep more...
How far did your pdoc go to rule out physical causes? You can reach a point where it's unlikely there's another disease at work. But to really cover the bases my doctors have at times checked for things like Lyme disease, lupus, B-12 deficiency, urine catecholamines (for possible anxiety cause), and probably a few others I've forgotten. In addition to the usual thyroid and complete blood work that is. How about mono? Do you have aching joints or any other weird symptoms that might indicate CFS? Perhaps some sort of low grade viral infection is dragging you down. My brother felt crummy for quite a while with CMV.
Assuming there's nothing else going on, you're not alone in feeling very draggy from depression and/or anxiety. Hope you feel better.
Emme
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