Anxiety or real physical health problem?

March 16, 2009 9:08 AM

Could these just be anxiety symptoms or are they symptoms resulting from my new birth control? Leg cramping, stinging pain primarily in legs but also arms, muscle twitching, pins and needles feeling...

Okay, so I have had issues with general anxiety in the past, though not so much anymore, but I admittedly tend over worry about health problems, so I'm hoping for an outsider's perspective.

I'm on Wellbutrin and I drank the usual medium coffee yesterday evening, which usually doesn't cause anxiety but helps me focus (with my ADD)though school is stressful right now. I spent the past 35-ish hours driving my car the past week. I have been drinking the past few nights. Since 4 am, my worrying about potential health issues has been out of control.

Note: I started a new birth control pill yesterday at noon.
At some point around 4 am last night, the inside of my thigh was stinging and I was cramping up a lot, so I looked up on the pamphlet for my BC and of course can't help but notice the side effect of BLOOD CLOTS. Now, I'm in a panic that I could have one. All of the symptoms though seem like ones I could make up in my head, particularly since I don't really know what blood clots are like.

Anyway, on and off since 4 am (it is now noon), and not disablingly so, I feel like I have been having: Leg cramping, stinging pain primarily in legs but also arms, muscle twitching, pins and needles feeling...

From this, I've managed to (I'm pretty certain just imagine) some skin discoloration, chest tightness.

I slept for 3 hours last night.

Anyway, is this just anxiety? Should I be concerned? Do you think these could be symptoms resulting from my birth control, like maybe I could have a blood clot?

posted by Alligator to health & fitness (5 comments total)

Birth control pills made me extremely anxious, and I'm already a bit of a hypochondriac, so I had blood-clot freakouts all the time. What you're experiencing is almost exactly like what I was experiencing, for what it's worth.

In the end, birth control pills never caused me to developed a blood clot, but I did get kind of fat.
posted by Coatlicue at 9:19 AM on March 16

Call your doctor!
posted by Carol Anne at 9:46 AM on March 16

Call your doctor.

But if you just started birth control pills at noon yesterday and you started having symptoms at 4am, I seriously doubt it is a blood clot. If you have been on birth control pills for a long time, it's possible, but one dose will not give you a blood clot.
posted by bedhead at 10:00 AM on March 16

I have had a blood clot in my leg (mine was behind the knee), although not from BC.

It feels, more or less, like the worst charley horse in the entire world. Not just a cramp, but also a deep muscle soreness, and -- here's the key -- it will normally get worse when you stand up (ie: you can't "walk it off" but the pain will increase on standing and/or walking).

One would not, normally, have pain both the arms and legs from a blood clot, but I suppose its possible.

Do call your doctor, because this isn't a normal way to feel. But in my personal experience with blood clots, as well as the symptoms I was asked to keep an eye (a very sharp eye) out for, pain in both arms and legs and actual muscle twitching were not part of the equation.

My advice (based on what my MD and surgeon both told me) would be to drink a lot of liquid and take aspirin (a natural blood thinner) and get in touch with your doctor as soon as you can.
posted by anastasiav at 12:47 PM on March 16

nthing a proper dx.

I'm so sorry you're feeling so *much* Alligator. It sounds as if you have some anxiety, yes. Sleeping only a few hours, chest tightness, twitching is how my anxiety comes out of its cage. And the first month of birth control pills always messes with my emotions. big time.

It also sounds like you've been consuming stuff that will help you retain water, like alcohol and coffee, which, for me, tends to correlate itself with blood pressure funny-body-feelings like tingling and numbness. Throw in being a little low in potassium and that would give me muscle cramps. But again, that's me.

So, what you asked for... This outsider thinks that you have a right to be concerned when your body gives you messages that say "not okay," and that doesn't preclude it from being something serious or minor and transient. And that it sounds as if you're doing your best to balance a lot -- school, nights out, emotional/physical needs and a heaping scoop of self-awareness.

My suggestion would be to trust your body. If it is anxiety that's rousing up these symptoms, then that's also an opportunity for you to find ways to practice (even more) self care to help your body and your mind adjust to your environment, and vice versa.

Best of luck in your health and in school.
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 1:00 PM on March 16