hi bigcountry   great news. very good to hear/read. Keep up this state of mind. Ive been there only for a very small amount of time and then my mind body played increasing tricks  (more and more chestpain when doing anything and the skin burning)on me and finally I cave in.
its tough sometimes, so hang in there


George,
In a way it is strange how medicine sometimes work. at least, in my country. I'm not alone in my assumption ( my wife , friends and family too) that its too much about what I dont have, but less about what you do have. When I got diagnozed with CHV, which is not acute hyperventilating , so not easily noticed as such, it was on my own instigation. When i visited my doc several times and the ER for the 2nd time I said, I start to believe its not my heart but it must be something, could it be CHV? mistake number 1. never say to a doc in my country what YOU think you have. from that moment I asked it, it took almost a year they tested me finally for it. and I was right. Then after that diagnoze, nobody did anything with it, cause now they were convinced it was of no use in my case cause it was all anxiety.
i've had the same with my eye, double vision rose in a few months. Well it was nothing all over again, and in the end , again after I said this isnt normal, or only when i panic, its 24/7 there ,isnt there more to it. finally I got referred to an orthoptist and eye doc and then alarmbells went off. I got screened for a tumor, and in the end they now still think its congenital 4 cranial nerve problem. So again its like I have to diagnoze it myself. In my case there is a genuine feeling that doctors spent time and a lot of time telling me what i dont have then explain what I do have.
even anxiety and what it does didnt get explained. When I had and have disturbing chestsymptoms I never got told I had skipped heart beats and where the pain did come from. the only thing I heared was ,its not your heart what you feel. its nothing. then finally I found this site and not long after that a substitute retired doc which by coincident had my docs evening watch told me. you do have skipped heart beats , i feel them. did nobody explained you you had them and what this is?
I told him NO, it wasnt my heart is what my doc and cardio said. he started laughing. it is your heart , but it isnt a problem. you probably have vagus induced palps , most likely due to your stomach . that last thing he found most plausable. I told them Someone on a site on the net, DR Rane, told me more or less the same a week ago, and that I was happy about it, cause finally someone EXPLAINED what I felt.
He agreed with me. Explanation is everything he said. taking the time once to explain deminish a lot of insecurity and questions he said. But nowadays its all about economics and there isnt enough time.

the pain in my chest it all went the same. Well it isnt your heart. but what it is? never any explanation.

really they think it can be costochondritis. But it wouldnt change their approach they say. its not life threatening or seen as a solution to my problem. I'm healthy for all they think and I worry to much about my symptoms. being in pain for years and not be able to do normal things when 5 years ago I was running 20 miles a week without problems or anxiety wasnt any indication for anyone to look into what has cause this drastic change?
that puzzles me!!

I now work with someone specialized in anxiety issues and even she cant get a real clue if my symptoms are truly anxiety caused. There is anxiety for my symptoms. thats for sure. So it doesnt work in handling with my symptoms and probably will induce them more.
I really do believe that. I really do believe anxiety can do a lot of things in your body. What I dont believe its the answer to everything I feel. its even dangerous to assume that in the future with everything I will ever feel or run into physically.

now its the skin burning. sure it can be anxiety. but is it causing it mimic it. or? I hope you can understand its not easy too believe that when all I hear ..i dont know what it is, but I dont think its serious cause of some basic reflex and strength tests. Probably anxiety.
If someone says to you..I dont know what it is..and then start telling me what he think it is..and that its probably benign, I start to think.. wait a minute..you just said you didnt know??!!

I keep reading that I persue an illness. its the other way around . I want to be sure I DONT have an illness cause all is put on anxiety too fast for my comprehension. skin burning is seen in anxiety but more in attacks and not 24/7 for weeks.
I also dont know whats meant with progressive. the skin burning itself progressed over my body. only very rapidly. so which progression is meant? I have this burning 24/7 . Reading a site about Small fiber neuropathy I read a lot of stories of people diagnosed firstly with anxiety or hypochondirac and so on, but in the end had small fiber neuropathy. some have pain and sensations in feet and after a while hands and legs and arms. some only have burning feelings on their skin day in day out. nothing more at first.
good reflexes and strength doesnt rule out SFN. normaly SFN doenst go this fast through whole of the body but it isnt impossible and is often ideopatic then. So that means no cause found .easy explanation.

the only question I have which in my believe is merited. please tell me the difference between my burning of possible anxiety and SFN burning of the skin?
my doc cant give that explanation! i know i'm a difficult guy in that perspective. I ask questions and I think. I know thats maybe not very smart to do in this situations and that its caused by maybe doubts or fear. But still I think its normal to get a good explanation.

Dr Rane does everything he possibly can on a site to do this. but he simply doesnt have the time to go into depths otherwise he would have a dayjob doing this. I understand this, but I would benefit greatly and I would nurrish any deeper explanation as icecream. for me it would work wonders. Why isnt my burning the same ? why does anxiety persist and give symptoms 4 years non stop? Why is my autonomic nervous system so sensitive. is it congenital? why is a person 5 years back running miles a day and never have any worry about his body. and is now nearly able to get through the day doing nothing? my answer is. cause I dont know what else to think.
5 years ago I didnt have these sensations and pain so I didnt have to worry. I started worrying when I starting having these symptoms
So what caused the symptoms?  anxiety?  doesnt seem logical in my opinion. can it be anxiety ? sure, everything is possible in my book.
people do die and get sick also at my age of 40

In my country and in my environment people who were really sick, terminal, got mistaken , were treated for anxiety first. when finaly came out they were terminal ill, the explanation of the doctors was.. well but he really acted extremely anxious. yeah right he or she was..
they felt something was seriously not going well in their body.
I know these are extreme stories and not normal.

too cut a long story short. Everyone carries his bagage for years due to experiences in his or hers life. For me, I cant really think of anything serious that would have given me anxiety, other then that i;'ve always been a thinker. that bag of experiences also after I got my symptoms greatly determines your and this case mine conduct and believes. I quess I lost trust in my body, my self cause when doctors give you the assumption there is nothing wrong with you, but afterwards there was something (allbeit minor) wrong with you, and you have pain for years now non stop and are not the same person anymore as 5 years back and the only thing you hear. its you..its anxiety. it feels like hell. its like I on purpose want to feel like this. I'm some kind of idiot. and in my believe I just want to get rid of these symptoms and have my life back.

BIG COUNTRY I love your posts. They always seem so well thought out and stated in such a great way. I love this forum so much as the core group has always been so supportive of each other and the problems we all face.

I almost slipped today. I have been really stressed lately, lost my job, insomnia for 4 days, etc, and today I started having some chest pain. The old habits started to come back, thinking about ER what will everybody do if I am having a heart attack ,feeling my pulse, blah blah blah. Just stopped dead in my tracks started taking deep breaths turned on the Olympics and just started trying to relax. Feeling much better now and just thought I would come on and share.

It has certainly been better and it does take time. Palpitations don't seem to happen much anymore and most times I can chalk it up to Reflux or just gas. Just trying to untrain my mind and body from reacting the way it always has.

Take care everybody and thank you

THE HARDEST PART--
I am not sure but I think the hardest part of this whole process is trust in that it will work.  We all attempt to give in to the fears that we have about the physical symptoms that arise due to anxiety...I dont need to list them because there are so many.  Once we give in we continue to have these symptoms....that is where we all struggle.  I have been having quite a few bad days in a row.  The difference this time around is that I have not let it stop me from doing what I should be doing.  This last couple of days has been pretty rough....funny enough it is not my palps that are bothering me...they have diminished SO MUCH that I am actually surprised at how few I have after having 1000's a day for so long.....so I know what I am doing is working.  Now I have this background anxiety that has stuck with me all day everyday for about the last 5 days.  Its almost like the focus on my palps covered this up???

But yet I am still moving forward....working, exercising, playing with my kids.  I feel like I am in a fog the entire time and I certainly dont like this feeling but it is not going to stop me from living my life.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes I just need to talk about what is going on with me to someone other than my head  : )

Bigcountry

PROGRESS--
I hope you all are doing well.  I know that not many of you post but based on the 13400+ views on this post people are watching closely so I would like to update you on some of my progress.  
Life has been pretty busy for me....in less than 2 weeks we will be having a c section and having our 3rd child, a boy!  I have 2 girls, 6 and 4, so this will be a great addition to our family.  As you can imagine this is a pretty stressful time.  I havent noticed an increase in my palps and I have been working hard to just let my anxiety be there without any reaction from me...I get better at this every day!  I have been sleeping better and life in general is better.
I just dont react to any of my bodily symptoms....some days are harder than others but even on the hard days I still live life.  Its funny because the symtoms are still there but my reaction to the symptoms is reduced greatly so I dont see that huge jump in anxiety on my bad symptom days...I just remind myself to let them be and move on with my day.
To be honest this is the answer!!! I havent felt this confident and alive in 7 years....I actually see some light at the end of the tunnel and it feels wonderful.
Well thats it for now.  Take Care!
Big Country

Richie...nice to hear from you.  I just wanted to make a comment on your recent post....you said "In my case its vice versa. lot of chest pain, dizzyness, still the burning skin, pain form chest to shoulder and arms.. lots of burping.
I tr y and try, but my body symptoms still win. "
I have symptoms all day everyday as I should...I have been stressed for so long that my body is reacting appropriately!  You say that you try and that your body still wins.....How long have you tried?  It takes months for your nerves to start healing from the mental trauma that you have put them under.  You have to Day in and Day out, give your nerves a break for this process to work.
Lets put it this way....you break a leg and you get it casted,  the 3rd day you are tired of the pain so you say to yourself...I am going to give in to the pain and my leg will be healed.....That is not how it works.  You have to believe 100% that your symptoms are caused by anxiety and THEY ARE.  Then the next step is to allow your nerves to heal by not reacting to the symptoms for a long time.....you wouldnt hit your broken leg with a hammer every day and then ask why it isnt healing would you?  That is exactly what you are doing here and this is exactly why you are in the CYCLE of anxiety.

I have had every anxiety symptom know to man....I was dizzy for months, panic attacks daily etc etc...you name it I had it.

This is why RLR post almost the same response over and over for years and years to almost all of the post on this website.....not every one has the same symptoms but his response is the same.  We can all spend the rest of our short lives looking for the answers we think will cure us, or we can realize that we already have the answers and be brave enough to take the steps necessary to get our lives back.

Hope this helps?

Big Country

Hey BigCountry,

I love your insight and your thought process on these things. I to am trying to "heal" for lack of a better word. What is difficult for me is that I can go a month or more without having any problems but then one day I have an episode of palpitations or chest pain and my instincts go right back into panic mode.

This is where I think the problem lies for me. I have been working really hard on breaking the cycle. I don't check my pulse every half hour, most chest pains seem to be gas related or at least GERD related. The various aches and pains I just chalk up to being older and out of shape as I start a new job and try to loose some weight. But then like yesterday I walk into a grocery store and feel a quick run and get light headed and I can feel it all starting again. I resist the urge to fall back into the same routine but it still sticks in my mind for way to long. So that is where I am at right now and what I am trying to accomplish.

Hope all is well with everybody and that we are finding peace.

Wow here I was cruising along and then wham today goes straight in the gutter, I have been having skipped beats all afternoon. Boy these are the worst of the "problems" the just make me feel so strange, I have not had palpitations in months but these things drive me bonkers.

I have come to grips with the palps but these skipped beats are another matter. I cant figure them out. Having a great day, have a nice lunch a couple of cookies and then some alone time with the wife( if you know what I mean ) then I start feeling the skipping Makes me light headed and just throws everything off. Uuuuugh ok I will stop whining now. Just trying to make sense of everything.

I also realize that most if not all of these issues are GERD or heart burn related. It is just so frustrating and confusing sometimes. I think that I might have conquered my fear that I am going to die of a heart attack every time something like this happens. I mean if it was actual heart problem most of us would probably have passed away by now.
Hope you all are finding some peace.