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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:
phlebas · 12/02/2014 22:15

gah pressed send too soon.

I bought a CBT-ish book for anxiety & trauma (I've had lots of horrid medical stuff in the past which has left me quite traumatised) but haven't even opened it yet - when I'm reasonably well I just want to try and forget about it & when I'm not I'm just too ill to do it. I think where I am right now that doing it by myself isn't really manageable.

Milkmachinemadness · 12/02/2014 22:17

Phlebas you should be seen before 2 weeks , I was seen within 5-6 days and my GP only sent me cause I was so anxious , it's probably nothing , please let me know how you get on

Milkmachinemadness · 12/02/2014 22:19

How old is your DS? I need to night wean DD that's probably half my problem but then I'm terrified the less I feed the more lumps will be easily found :-/

Milkmachinemadness · 12/02/2014 22:24

This anxiety was brought on after my 3rd dd and sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have had her cause then I would b normal :(

basia2 · 13/02/2014 00:43

Well, wish me luck with my appointment, !adies.
It's first thing in the morning: 7:30 am.
I'm actually feeling a little calmer now.., resigned. :(
I'm afraid once I actually get in the office, though, I'll have a panic attack.

Ladies, again, I know reassurance doesn't really help, but I've had a million breast lumps, starting in my teens, and the doctors always say I have fibrocystic breast tissue and it is normal in many women of reproductive age.
In fact that is why they don't do routine mammograms on women under 50... the breast tissue of younger women is naturally denser and "lumpier" and more prone to cysts. It makes it difficult to find actual breast cancer on a mammogram. After menopause, apparently, it's easier to see it.
I will definitely not say don't worry. That would be silly, considering. But I have been told by many doctors over the past 20 years that it is actually NORMAL for women before menopause to have lumpy breasts. It has to do with our hormones.
So if you feel a lump, just consider that it could very well be a normal part of your anatomy, and hormone related. Of course, it could be cancer, but the odds are definitely not in favor of that, especially considering that most women normally have occasional benign cysts or lumps.

Hopefully I can come back tomorrow with good news about my doctor appointment. Oh, I do hope so.
And I wish you all a peaceful night's rest (I'm in the US, so it's nearly bedtime here).

Milkmachinemadness · 13/02/2014 02:47

Basia one good thing is a nice early appointment at least you can get it over and done with. I'm sure it's going to be nothing but go get ur mind put at ease a little :)

ItsSoooFluffy · 13/02/2014 12:04

Yes, definitely used to worry as a child as far back as I could remember, then I used to worry if I forgot what I was worrying about too Hmm

BettyG1981 · 13/02/2014 14:18

Hi Milkmachinemadness. I am constantly feeling for lumps everywhere. Yesterday evening I thought I found a lump in my armpit. The doctor checked me out today and said everything is fine and normal. All the checking and prodding has made my armpit so sore. Today I have found what I think is a lump in my neck at the back. My partner thinks it's muscle or bone, but I'm not convinced. I'll be on the phone at 8 in the morning to get a GP appointment. I'm terrified and had a huge panic attack. I just can't seem to get my head to a place where I feel confident that I'm not ill. I'm exhausted by it all.

Hope the appointment goes okay, Basia.

Meganlillymai · 13/02/2014 19:15

Ive been so good latly and stayed calm till tonight out of no where I sneezed then my nose ran with blood!!! Lasted no longer then 5 minutes but my god I was toerrifed and thought this it. Tonights the night im either going to die or find somthig sinister out. [Sad]

BettyG1981 · 13/02/2014 19:43

Oh Megan. Nosebleeds are scary. I'm glad it lasted less than five minutes. Your sneeze was probably what started the nose bleed. Sending you a reassuring hug. I feel terrible tonight. I ended up going to the walk in centre with my lump. The nurse "suspects" it's a gland. I'm not convinced. I didn't think there were any glands in the middle of your neck? I know thee are to the sides. She said to keep an eye on it and see my GP if it gets bigger. I've now got a nagging pain in my right side. Just feel rotten! I think I'll end up seeing the GP tomorrow as I can't worry all weekend about it :-(

Meganlillymai · 13/02/2014 19:55

Do you have a cold? If ao then it is proberly a gland. Im worrying now because ive got a head ache. Ao automatically I think tumor.

BettyG1981 · 13/02/2014 22:07

I do have a cold. My ear hurts and the nurse says my temperature is a little high. You're right it us probably a gland I just can't stop thinking she's wrong. I hope your headache gets better :-( I had one earlier too from worry, but thought it was linked to my neck lump. It's just never ending.

basia2 · 14/02/2014 00:50

The specialist said it wasn't cancer on my tongue.
He does not want to biopsy it, says he sees nothing troubling at all.
He did prescribe an ointment for "inflammation", but I feel he did that more to shut me up than anything.
However, he did seem very sure that there was no oral cancer.

I ought to feel wonderful, but I don't, because THe SHIT IS STILL THERE.
If it goes away, I'll feel better... at least until the next thing. But sometimes I get a few good weeks in between worries. Although not recently, they've been one after another all fall and winter.
But anyway, I got my "good news".

WasWats · 14/02/2014 09:32

Basia, you will find something else to be worried about. The body is a vast and wondrous thing, but it is not perfect and the imperfections can be seen as illnesses to us sufferers.

The problem is the anxiety you have within your brain has latched onto health, so while that is there so will the health issues. I have suffered for years and years. My anxieties jumped from one thing to another since I was a child, settling firmly on health issues as an adult. I have done every type of therapy you can think of. I am on medication now, have been for four months and I have never felt so 'normal' Please talk to your GP about getting a psych referral if you can. It does work. I was afraid that if I went onto meds I would miss a cancer that was there and that I would die because I wasn't checking. I still check, but not in that frenzied 100 times a day way that I used to. Checking to reassure myself, then checking in a different light in case I missed it, then checking again and again and again til I was in a panic.

hemel07 · 15/02/2014 20:29

Freaking out a bit tonight. My 8 yr old dd1 still complaining intermittently about headaches (at the back,right, behind ear.) She is easily distracted and doesn't need any analgesia, no other symptoms of anything nasty (I can't even type the words....) and she is really well in herself. I just hate it. Every time those words come out of her mouth its like I'm being stabbed in the heart.

Pixiedust49 · 15/02/2014 21:06

Hi Hemel. I feel just like that every time DD complains of tummy ache/ sore throat etc, she gets ill such a lot. Every morning I wake up with a feeling of dread about what she might go down with that day. I can't eat, sleep or function properly, it's wearing me out.

hemel07 · 15/02/2014 21:10

It is soooo wearing. You have my full sympathy Pixie.

BigPawsBrown · 15/02/2014 21:15

I wanted to come on here and say that I used to have terrible health anxiety and I am now health anxiety free :) I had CBT and I did the thought records enough so that now I have an entirely normal attitude to health anxiety - I even recently had an armpit lump that needed investigation and I didn't even worry about it. I wanted to let you all know it is possible to get better! :)

Meganlillymai · 16/02/2014 17:48

I do beleieve winter is the cause for most of my worrying as we are stuck n bord

Carlisle has been lovely and sunny today so ive been out in the garden. Then this afternoon I had a row with my father and all of a sudden my HA has pricked up. :( feelig so sad

basia2 · 16/02/2014 23:15

Yes, getting outdoors and being around others helps a lot.

BettyG1981 · 17/02/2014 11:43

Basia, I'm glad you got good news. Pixie and Hemel, I do exactly the same thing. I worry over the slightest thing. Every sore throat, headache or tummy ache that my kids get sends me into a panic. I worry that I'm transferring my anxiety on to them too.

I went for a follow up appointment with my doctor today. She's upped my dose of antidepressants and she's referred me to the local psych services for CBT therapy. She also looked at my lump in my neck and it's not a gland, it's actually bone. It's part if my spine that sticks out a bit more than it would on other people. This makes me feel worse as the nurse who originally told me it was a gland obviously doesn't have a clue. Aches and pains everywhere today and suffering with stomach pain.

LovelyBath · 17/02/2014 16:59

Hi can I join you? My Dh says he will ban me from always googling health conditions out of anxiety. It is almost a form of feeling the more I know the more I can be aware if anything goes wrong. However it is making me very stressed.

A couple of years ago i had a benign growth which was removed but it was very unusual and had become life threatening due to the location where it was in. My local hospital had not seen the condition before. So this has led to me being very anxious. (sorry hope this is not adding to others' anxiety)

I keep trying to focus on the positives- it was benign (yey) they did treat it in the end however i've been left with these horrible adhesions causing pain, which increases the anxiety. I keep thinking, well what if the pain is masking something else? Then start thinking about all the CT scans I've had and the radiation..

An being referred for a psychology course on facing anxieties. For me this will mainly be focusing on things like dealing with the NG tube and possible emergency surgery if the adhesions cause another bowel obstruction. Apart from that I'm trying to change by thoughts and focus on being healthy, exercise etc. It isn't easy to stop having worries and thoughts, but it may help to change them around to being more positive.

Meganlillymai · 18/02/2014 16:33

Aw poor you. Anxiety is hust awful. Lately ive had a had head behind my eyes and the bridge of my nose so I automatically assume its my blood pressure as im over weight. Im so worried incaee I need to go to doctors as its a phobia of mine

Milkmachinemadness · 19/02/2014 09:46

Glad you got the all clear in the oral cancer fear :) hey how do you get cbt I heard it's a very long wait , can you self refer? I really want to get cured of this , I'm sick to death of worrying , if I see another breast cancer advertisement I'm going to ring them personally and tell them
To STOP please it's too much :( hope everyone is holding out ok, I'm going to stay in today and at happy music and try to chill.

BettyG1981 · 19/02/2014 10:35

I was referred by my GP for the CBT. I have no idea about waiting lists. The best thing to finis speak to your GP. They really are there to help. Mention the way you're feeling and about the way you view your health.

I'm not doing great today. Eldest son has had a bad tummy yesterday, all night last night and today. We had a very restless night. He's very anxious too. I'm so worried.

I'm still focusing on different parts of my body and worrying what might be wrong with them. The latest is the moles I have.