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Original poster

health anxiety

999 replies

hopeliss · 14/10/2013 11:18

has anybody ever found a cure for health anxiety. it has plagued my life for 7 years and don't see an end to it. awful day today.
ps never been on mumsnet before. sorry if this is the wrong place to raise this.

OP posts:
WasWats · 09/01/2014 22:57

,

phlebas · 09/01/2014 23:26

Hemel I have that sensation too - December 2013 I was unwell (tooth abcess then tonsillitis) but when I got better I was left with the feeling that there was a lump in my neck even though I couldn't feel anything. All I could tell the doctor was that it felt lime there was a lump but I couldn't find it - had loads of tests (was convinced it was my last Christmas & I had lymphoma etc) everything was normal & then it went away and I was okay. Until March. Then I started getting pelvic pain (all tests normal probably related to IBS). Since September it has been headaches.

I'm still in a pretty bad place. Ds has paed appointment in February - am very (!) anxious. I''ve been noticing lots of articles etc about small children & tumours and I'm in full on magical thinking mode complete with rituals etc. Hate it.

NHS CBT was a non starter for me (had to start with phone contact & I'm not able to use phones) can't afford private but I need someone I trust who knows about OCD as well as health anxiety & can help with learning to live with aftereffects of all the medical trauma I've had in the last 10+ years.

phlebas · 10/01/2014 09:47

www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/jan/09/worry-happy-mental-health

I read this this morning - the reasons why people worry resonated with me. Preparing you for the worst (I know from previous experience that when things are actually wrong I don't feel at all prepared by the weeks of anxiety preceding) , making you hyper vigilant to signs that it is going wrong (a big one for me) & preventing the bad thing from happening by worrying about it (totally irrational but I have loads of magical thoughts & worry-rituals still).

I've been on sertraline for a year now & it has really helped with panic attacks - only get a couple a month now whereas they were daily before - & keeping the intrusive thoughts at bay; they made me desperate. Overally my anxiety isn't any less though.

WasWats · 10/01/2014 11:07

Phlebas, if your anxiety has not lessened after that amount of time on meds you need to get it changed. Honestly you really do.

CrockedPot · 10/01/2014 18:11

WasWats, i agree that my anxiety has lessened since Xmas has been done with, and I actually had a very stress free, chilled out time! Even so, I would lie awake worrying, or even just be watching tv and have the thought that I could have a heart attack or brain haemorrhage right then and there.
It has been a good week for me anxiety-wise. I realised today that I have had no catastrophic thoughts for about a week, which is huge. (Though I was carrying some heavy bags up a couple of flights of stairs and had to stop myself from panicking at how breathless it made me!)
I think 'talking' about it with you all has really helped and it's great to keep the thread going...as someone has already said, when we are having a bad day someone is always here to provide a rational voice. Thanks

treaclesoda · 10/01/2014 19:00

I get that CrockedPot, the sudden thought, from out of nowhere, that I could have a heart attack or a brain haemorrhage right now. It's not helped by the fact that two close relatives have had these things at a young age. One of them survived, but still when I worry about it I think of the other one.

hemel07 · 10/01/2014 19:24

I am actually finding repeating waswats wise words like a mantra is helping.

I/he/she does not have xyz, I have health anxiety.

Thankyou waswats.

WasWats · 10/01/2014 20:22

Oh God not at all hemel, glad to be of help. It is a pain in the arse this anxiety. Small sayings can be the distraction that works.

blissa · 10/01/2014 22:02

Hello all Smile

My book arrived yesterday, looks very interesting, I'm a couple of pages in....

I've been back to the gp today and told her my fears. She felt my tummy and said she is not worried about anything sinister. She's trying me on a different IBS medication and I'm to make an appointment with another dr for a weeks time.

Changing meds brings up another of my stupid anxieties which is the side effects of medication or severe allergic reaction. Does anyone else worry about this? I read through the leaflet and then worry all the listed side effects will happen to me at once!

bloody anxiety!

treaclesoda · 10/01/2014 22:20

severe allergic reaction, yes, that's another thing I have obsessed about in the past Blush (not so bad at the moment, thankfully).

I didn't eat peanuts for about five years because even though I knew I wasn't allergic to them, I feared becoming allergic to them. Then I started cutting out other things, being afraid of shower gel/shampoo/hair dye etc and then I realised it was all part of the anxiety.

blissa · 10/01/2014 23:12

It's horrible isn't it- the constant cloud of something.

I was stung for the first time in my life this year and I've always worried about being allergic to wasp stings. I was absolutely fine but now I've been told that it's actually the second one that gets you!

WasWats · 11/01/2014 10:33

Side effects mean that the meds are working, that is the way I look at it. If I am lucky enough not to get them, I just sail through but if i do get them the way I see it is that the meds are changing whatever is wrong and everything else needs to change a little too. When I went onto Lexapro I got every side effect you can think of. I lost a half a stone in two weeks, I am skinny anyway so this was bad. My periods went nuts, very early and heavy, I had to use maternity towels. My boobs were killing me too. All in all I was a nervous wreck, I have health anxiety and here was my drug that was meant to be helping, making me ill. I thought I had every disease on the planet.

I wanted to come off them and my GP begged me to do 6 weeks. And I did, 6 hellish weeks. And then one by one all the side effects stopped. And here I am now, 11 weeks on meds and a much calmer person.

hemel07 · 12/01/2014 11:18

Had a bit of a wobble this weekend over my dd(8). She has mentioned intermittently that she has a headache. She doesn't get them often but always, always in exactly the same place (right hand side, behind her ear). She has no other signs of anything being remotely wrong (have googled !) but I still feel sick.

WasWats · 12/01/2014 11:38

I get a pain in that exact same place when I am a little dehydrated. How is her fluid intake?

hemel07 · 12/01/2014 12:31

Definitely could be better. Will try that. Thankyou.

CrockedPot · 12/01/2014 12:53

Am having a wobble....woke up twice in the night with a sharp needle-like pain in my lower right abdomen...ignored and went to the gym. Once there, it came back so I almost left the class but forced myself to carry on. It was really bad on the way home so phoned my Mum for advice who said pain killers and hot bath. Did that and it has lessened a little but have also googled and it is coming up as appendicitis. Dh impatiently told me there is nothing wrong with me and he's probably right but I read that if it is that and it bursts it can be fatal so not sure if I should go to out of hours doctor or not. I'm being ridiculous, aren't I? The pain is real though, I'm not imagining it.

treaclesoda · 12/01/2014 13:41

I think, from what other people tell me, that with appendicitis you tend to be very sick as well. Although don't take what I say as medical advice, I'm in no way qualified! But just thought it might help.

When I've had severe abdominal pain in the past it has always turned out to be constipation Blush

CrockedPot · 12/01/2014 16:34

Thanks for replying treacle...the.painkillers had taken it off but it has come back. It's a really sharp pain. I will have to go to gp ro morrow if no better Hmm

WasWats · 12/01/2014 16:43

Are you ovulating? I get that some months. Afaik you would be A LOT sicker with appendicitis.

CrockedPot · 12/01/2014 17:51

WasWats, I am! Never had it before tho...

WasWats · 12/01/2014 19:32

Well, you have it now. Nothing to worry about, put it out of your head and have a cuppa and a bit of chocolate ;)

CrockedPot · 12/01/2014 20:22

Thank you so much Treacle and WasWats.... I realise now that a couple of nurofen probably wouldn't have made much of a dent on appendicitis, and your advice makes complete sense! Love this thread, really grateful, you have calmed my panic. Thanks again x

WasWats · 12/01/2014 20:27

Yay, that is brilliant! We just have to stay strong and rational for eachother.

CrockedPot · 13/01/2014 21:13

surprise, surprise, my 'appendicitis' didn't materialise and I am fine today...so I am putting it down to ovulation pains Blush! Seriously though, if I had had a panic in RL I would be so embarrassed today - because I know you all understand, I have no qualms in sharing my fears!

WasWats · 13/01/2014 21:42

Glad to hear you are feeling better Smile