Anxiety mostly health ,

[Iworryalot]

Having a bad day ....anyone els suffer with HA ?

[fizzyanddizzy]

Yep - hello.
whats going on ?

[sunshinesally]

Hi,Im new to mums net but was flicking through the site and saw your message. I too suffer with anxiety and it is horrible! Some days good and others not so. I have a 2 year old daughter and never experienced anxiety until I got post-natal depression after having her -but when the flood gates opened it was hard to close them!
Just remember that it will pass and tomorrow will be a different day.

[Iworryalot]

Thanks for replying , feeling very tired and bit wizzy have made appt to have iron levels checked next week as this happened to me last year and i was put on iron for a while as had bad dizzy\ panic attack in tescos ...
but panicky its something els ...
had full blood s done last month , thyroid , liver , kidneys etc all came back normal , so hoping its just iron low because i have heavy periods and struggle to get me 5 a day always ...
how are you both doing ?

[fizzyanddizzy]

what else is going on for you at the moment? can you link your worry to anything else that is happening?

I am a bit stressed at the moment so the little seeds of worry are starting to set in - so am avoiding any threads, newspaper articles, tv programmes etc about cancer and death .

Sorry you ae feeling rubbish - tired and dizzy is a constant for me at the moment. honest! I am putting it down to hayfever which is horrible this year - oh and three children and a full time job!

[Iworryalot]

nothing els worrying at moment only health issues , i like you get worried when i read something or watch something on tv that can send me off checking and worrying ....
and for me the only way to get it out of my head is to go to the doctors to get it checked out ....
I am trying to get better i am seeing someone and trying hypnosis and relaxation which does help a bit ...

fir me it started a few years ago when i had a lump in my hand , turned out to be a cyst but this i think triggered my anxiety ..

[fizzyanddizzy]

someone recently helped me take a different view of it all by saying that ha was just a normal way of responding to stress / general anxiety. Some people may have panic attacks, some may turn to drink, drugs, food etc and I just turn inwards and worry about being ill and dying!

Seeing it this way has made me realise that when I start to worry about some health thing (most recent one was skin cancer)its actually a response to something else and is a symptom not the problem. Thinking like this meant that for the first time ever I managed to sit out my skin cancer fear and not go to the doctor (although I did cheat and speak to my gp friend about it!). But it worked.

It is a bloody nightmare though and v wearing as it is a constant struggle to control it rather than it control you

[Iworryalot]

I know exactly what you mean .. and a big WELL DONE for not going to gp about your skin cancer this is a hard thing to do i know ...

i had the same fear the other week ,i could not get it out of my head ..and for me its once i det that fear sorted another one appears ....

have u tried any counceling or CBT to help ?

for what its worth this is quite a common anx i know a few people who are similar ..

[fizzyanddizzy]

Yes, it absolutely is the case that once you've sorted another one will appear - always fatal of course.

Has definately got worse since having children. Just the thought of dying and leaving them is enough to make me reach for the smelling salts

Have had lots of counselling - CBT has been useful and would recommend it.

[Iworryalot]

yes ,i can relate to to the children thing , im the same i have 2 children .
Have tried a little CBT but i think was with the wrong person ,at moment im trying hypnosis ... not sure if its totally working as have had it for a while and last week had a bad anx ..
but i enjoy seeing the lady and we do other relaxation exercises to , trying to change my way of thinking , as i have very little confidence to .but is getting better .

how do you cope now ?

[imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy]

Can i join this thread please? HA is ruining my life! I'm on meds and having counselling, but once something sets in its there and wont go away. Its awful. I can even bring on the appropriate symptoms for certain conditions - thts the thing with anxiety, it manifests itself physically.

I have real self esteem problems too - something that goes alongside health worries. My last episode was pretty much self inflicted. My counsellor said it was a reaction to other "real" stresses in my life just now.

I do the thread avoidance thing, never google (golden rule!) - thats about it really. Anything can trigger a nightmare of self checking (too almost OCD proportions)and horrible breath taking fear.

Just offering a "i know how you feel shoulder" with the hope of getting a shoulder myself.

[Iworryalot]

Hi Imaynot , comfort to know im not alone ,and nor are you with this HA ....its a total nightmare at times ..i do the self check thing to , i cant tell you the amount of things iv been worried about only this year and been to the doctor to get checked out .... im having hypnosis and relaxation this does help a little if only because i feel im doing something about it , and seeing my lady is nice .

distraction is the key i think, as when im busy at work or out of the house i do feel better as no temptation to google ...bad i know ..

Like i have said before alot of people do have this anx ,so we are not alone ,hope the counselling helps you it did me for a while then i tried hypnosis and reflexology .

[loopylou6]

Another fellow sufferer here, have been down the CBT route, didnt do much for me.

I am on citalopram 40mg a day which helps a good bit, but i am curious to know, those who have hypnotherapy, do you get it free on the NHS or do you go private?

[Iworryalot]

Hi loopylou6 no not on NHS private , well a friend of a friend does it , but she is qualified in hypnosis and lots of other things reflexology NPL ? not sure if i got that right relaxation councelling to .
i do find i totally relax when im there i have a hour session every other week sometimes weekly if i want to ,and she does hypnosis of which i know what im doing its pure relaxation and she then says things aloud to tap into my subcontious ( sorry cant spell to good ) mind and bombards it with positive talk ... i come out feeling great ...
i then e-mail her every night with only positive things that have happened through the day ,again no negative thinking ,this i find quite hard as i am so used to thinking in a negative way ... but i do do it evon if its only something small iv done ....shes basically trying to break the cycle of negative thoughts to build confedance and positive thinking .

I have been offered citalopram but i would be sooo worried about taking it i havent yet ....im sure it would help ..how has it been for you ?

[imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy]

citalopram worked really well for me at the begning. I think i need to try something else now - been on it for two years and i guess its wearing off. It definately helped me straight away, there is a period of about two weeks when you experience some shitty side effects and it can make you feel more anxious at first, although that didn't really happen for me, i just got better.

[fizzyanddizzy]

Ah seroxat does it for me - always has. Makes it just about manageable.

Although today is not a good day - am coming down with a cold (swine flu obviously - which will kill me or my children or all of us!), was worried about my oldest ds today as he heas a heart condition which is generally well managed but thought his lips looked a bit purple as I dropped him off at school so am worrying about him now too. And lurking at the back of my mind waiting for the moment to attack is my good old favourite of me obviously having breast cancer.

But am keeping it at bay because I know this is merely a response to a colleague dying this week and the news that swine flu genuinely has hit my son's school.

I agree with you all that distraction is key. And I also find that it is a balance though. If I have too much going on and am getting tired - then it all starts to build up.

So good to know there are other sane, healthy people out there .

[sfxmum]

I can relate to a lot of what has been said I have struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my adult life have had assorted therapies and all have helped to some degree

I think I got to a point where I have learnt to deal with it and generally manage ok apart from the odd loopy period when I just can't sleep and then sort of balance myself again

although I have those horrid fatal illness fears I just do not go to the doctor instead fret about it endlessly, until the next one

but I don't think they are totally out of the blue, my mother did die of cancer when I was young, and it was discovered too late for treatment. also I had my daughter at the same age she had me (36) which occasionally makes my thoughts drift to darkness but hey one day after the other

[fizzyanddizzy]

Hello sfxmum - yes, I think the links yo have described are more than enough to trigger bouts of 'loopyness' when things are tough.

It's rubbish though isn't it - that even though you know why you do it - you still can't stop yourself!

and hello imaynotbe... it's also impressive I think that we can literally create physical symptoms - a good one for me is the amazing lump in throat - although have managed to put a lid on that one hopefully for good!

I can also hear just how bonkers I sound writing all of this - and find it hilarious that most people who know me in rl wouldn't have a clue that I have these thoughts and those friends and family that do have to put up with my constant 'do you think I've got...' just find it a bore! Sometimes I think I will end up like the boy who cried wolf!

[Bramshott]

I've posted this before, but in case it's helpful - I remember reading John Diamond's diary of his throat cancer in the Observer many years ago, and he said that he'd always been anxious about his health, demanding checks and scans etc, but when he started to have cancer, it was completely different and he just knew that something was really wrong.

[sfxmum]

fizzy yes exactly to pretty much all you have just said
dh is actually very good dealing with these things just rides it out but he is the only person who knows what goes on on in my head, or most of it anyway no

snineon I am sorry about your mum it is so very hard, last year I did find a lump in my breast and it took me 2 weeks to admit it to myself and a further one to make an appointment to see the GP, was seen and cleared quickly but June last year was not fun at all, still less anxiety ridden as I had a very concrete problem to deal with

[Sayyesmummy]

Oh.
I've just realised that this is what I have.
I totally have anxiety but hadn't realised that "health anxiety" is a thing.

I project onto my sons - is this normal for HA?

[sfxmum]

shineon I think it is the intimation of mortality we all get at some point in our lives some earlier than others
I suppose it is about adjusting to all that it never actually changes the reality it is more about how we manage to deal with it
btw my breast thing was benign thankfully but I did meet a few women at the various test for whom it was not

[candyfluff]

me too
i have this
i either feel there is something wrong with me or my childern -oddly i dont do it with my dh
am doing cbt -just started so cant say weather it will work or not yet
i just fall to bits when the kids are ill -all these differnet senario's go through my brain -always jumping to the wrong conclusion .
its so very draining