Health anxiety

[healthanxietyhell]

How do you get control back? I’ve spent much of this week convinced I’m imminently dying . GP has said several times he thinks it’s severe anxiety, and panic attacks and derealisation, I’m not dying, but five or six times today I’ve had the phone ready to call 999, utterly terrified and convinced I’m very unwell .

GP gave me four diazepam at 6 - two just now, two before bed - to try and break the cycle and even that isn’t doing much yet, I’m still convinced something terrible is going to happen .

Spent an hour on phone to mental health worker, convinced I was very ill and she talked very calmly and explained I’m absolutely fine, just very anxious - came off phone, back to square one .

I even had my hospital bag packed earlier so convinced that I was going to collapse . It’s hell . I’ve spoken to a doctor or nurse every single day this week and can’t break the cycle no matter what I’m doing - every sensation in my chest I’m noticing and panicking .

Is there a way out of this?

Sorry to hear this. Are you alone or do you have anyone with you that you can talk to?

I’m with family but not sure they really ‘get it’, a lot of sighing and telling me to just get on with it .

I’m absolutely terrified I’m going to die, I keep feeling that I am dying and it’s absolutely awful .

what strength of diazepam do you have?
and are you on anti anxiety meds too.
wish I knew how to help but wonder if better meds may help

2mg - gave me four tablets, I took two at six and just taken another .

I’m also an SSRI at bedtime which they’ve increased, and beta blockers which has also been increased .

Have you tried CBT?

I’m on a waiting list yeah, NHS said up to two year wait for it, GP said nothing can do to speed up . He did suggest if I have another panic attack tonight I could try singing as a way of controlling my breathing .

Hopefully hear something soon . I’m currently trying to breathe slowly and relax a bit, I’m frightened that the ‘dying’ feeling will come back - I think it’s a vicious cycle .

Two things helped me.
I kept a detailed
Diary. I can see that ten years ago, I fretted about back pain and ovarian cancer. Yet here I am. I record my weight so I can see I’m not losing any. This helps me rationalise my catastrophic thinking. I also take duloxetine which literally turned my anxiety tap off. I also stopped
Smoking which helped me
Enormously.

I agree with the Gp about singing. I used to jump up and down or go for a very brisk walk. They both mean you regulate your breathing .

I think some deep breathing is a good idea. There are lots of mindfulness apps which may help you in the short term to focus on the present, rather than what 'might' happen.

I read a self-help book on health anxiety and it helped me enormously (I could barely get out of bed I was so paralysed with this). It laid out all the thought patterns that I was stuck in and eventually something clicked that this was an illness in itself that many people had, and I was able to reattribute the symptoms to my mental health rather than my physical health. It is always there in the back of my mind but I can rationalise it better now. I’m so sorry you’re going through this; it is awful xx

www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/david-veale/overcoming-health-anxiety/9781845298241?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-rj9BRCAARIsANB_4ABxReu7vFDzTIoQiBWyrDqcktwPimODu-rt3TKAdUj5Ef27HDOauWcaAl55EALw_wcB

Just posted too soon, but that’s the book. Medication also helped to break the cycle.

Honestly, @healthanxietyhell, you work on giving up control. None of us have full control of our health. So it’s acceptance of this that can give you relative peace. I’d suggest one of Russ Harris’ books on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, probably The Reality Slap. His approach helped me a lot.
www.waterstones.com/author/russ-harris/1557475

And totally agree with @helterskelter3. The ‘Overcoming...’ series is excellent.