Possible severe anxiety/depression/stress issues causing this?

well, it seems when you talked to someone about your experiences, some of the stress went away. Maybe you should talk to someone more frequently about this, or open up a blog. You just might find someone who has similar symptoms and some remedies to cure them! Express yourself to someone, anyone of what you are experiencing what your afraid of and what you want to do when you face these situations. Good luck with everything! Hope your back gets better