I had a bit of a scarey experience yesterday. I realized I had a numb patch on my back. I was not really concerned, but then after about a minute I started to get really freaked out and had what was probably a panic attack. For a little while I wasn’t able to feel my hands and legs.
I went to the ER, and by the time I saw a doctor my symptoms had resolved. The doctor said that there didn’t seem to be any real cause for concern and that most cases of numbness were psychosomatic.
I was pretty happy to hear that, I’ve had psychosomatic illness before (IBS) and that generally resolved itself once I realized what they were, basically whenever I had symptoms I worked to relieve the source of stress and then the symptoms disappeared.
This however does not seem to following the same path, the numbness has been appearing and disappearing throughout yesterday evening and this morning but that could be because I haven’t actually determined the source of stress. Does anyone know the expected time for psychosomatic symptoms to disappear once the patient is made aware that it is psychosomatic?
I’m wondering about seeing my family doctor about this, he is not really one to panic over symptoms that aren’t actually affecting my life (nor am I actually). But he is likely to order tests which of course will increase my stress levels. Is it a good idea to wait it out and see if it goes away? If so how long should I wait?
Thanks for any comments.