health anxiety

[hopeliss]

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.

medication for this has changed my life choc. It has gone some way to allowing me to be a 'normal' functioning human being. I know tablets can have side effects, and no one wants to take tablets in an ideal world, but honestly, what have you to lose? If you broke your arm, you wouldn't just wait for it to heal itself, you'd have treatment. Its the same thing really, there is no shame in needing medication, just because its something you can't see.

yea i know that does make sense just scared of side effects ....
also i think I'm ok and have it all in control on good times days weeks ...
think its gone ...
then wham .....a slight thing and I'm back there feeling like this ..

mi worse self checking when i have other issues going on in life , upset etc ....this has ben the case for last months ....and still is so this isn't helping .....cant talk to many or anyone really .........so glad to talk on here ...thnak you for listening ...hope your ok ....

I'm not too bad at the moment, going through quite a good phase, but its always there lurking beneath the surface, and can rear its head at any time.

I'm always happy to have a chat though, I completely understand your fears.

look after yourself.

thank you treacle , really do appreciate that , sill feeling low and worried today trying to focus on other things as got to wait for appt which i doubt will be very soon ..in the mean time got to try keep this anx and worry in some kind of order as by time i do go will be in a right state ...wish could go today get it checked out ....feel like on hold now till the appt and test are done ....

no blood this morning so hoping thats good sign , till tomz then i check again ...and had all bloods done 6 weeks ago and all came back normal so clinging on to the fact if something sinister surly something would show in blood tests , and had the CN125 i think is called C marker test came back normal , thyroid , liver , kidneys full blood count ... normal ...

glad your ok at the moment , please feel fee to off load if want to , i may be able to help ...or comfort you to ... again

choc sorry to hear you are struggling at the moment. I have had the blood in the spit thing and it worried me silly. A few years ago I had a bad cold and it developed into a cough and then every day for about 3 weeks I had blood in my spit. There was not a lot but it was there every single morning and occasionally a bit more later in the day. The gp said that TC was very unusual in a non-smoker of my age (I was in my late thirties at the time) and that any part of the body that has suffered any infection or injury will bleed. It did stop but it was extremely worrying at the time.

hi moniker thank you for sharing your worry , a comfort to know I'm not alone ....
i am worried sick to be honest being home not helping not at work as keep swallowing a lot and checking spit (sorry TMI) this has only happened twice so far and in morning ...so just have to see .....

i can't help but think the worst ...

how are you at mo hope ok x

choc I think the constant checking is the worst thing because you can't think of anything else. Mine was mostly in the morning too.

I am ok at the moment thank you, but as treacle says it can rear its ugly head at any time.

All your tests so far being clear are a very good sign though.

thank you yes I'm hopeful all will be ok .. , and yes self checking not good ...i just can't seem to stop myself ...
really glad to hear you are ok at the mo

i have private health insurance so am hoping appt won't take to long as doc did say if not could be after christmas !! i really can't wait that long i would never cope through christmas ....

If you have private health insurance you will be seen in a couple of weeks at the most.

I know what you mean about not being able to stop the checking. I think that is one of the worst things about health anxiety - the constant checking. It's just awful isn't it?

yes it is ....its compulsory i find ..i just can't stop ..now I'm swallowing constantly and checking spit ....which is making it all worse I'm sure ......its like good bad devil on my shoulder .....one saying your ok stop it ...the other saying no no you def got C ....your going to D ...i know that sounds over the top but this is how bad it gets at times ..... hate it !!

Hi you lot :)

I haven't been around as I was trying to see if taking a break from reading about HA would help. It didn't ;)

I was a bit stupid, on monday I had an HIV test. I pretty much woke up one day two weeks ago thinking I had it.

The GUM clinic were awesome, instead of making me wait 10 days they marked it as urgent for me and I got the results the next day, which of course were negative :)

So, I had a few good days. Woke up this morning and noticed that I still have this red scar thing in my hairline. I had bad acne there at one point and had this scar thing for well over 8 months now. It is flat, faded red and perfectly round. DH said it was from the awful spot I picked but I keep thinking skin cancer. He said if it was skin cancer it would be weeping, bleeding and growing, this has been the same for months and came up after the massive spot I had.

Trying not to let it get on top of me.

I had a week long sickness bug so had no medication in me for that long. Messed with me a bit.

Lots of posts since I last replied. Much strength to you all while we try to fight this horrible illness.

Welcome back Sam it sounds as though you are going through a rough time at the moment. The red scar you describe does sound like just a scar - if it was in the same place as a bad spot and now is red and flat that that definitely sounds like a scar to me. If you have suffered from acne in the past then it is possible that your skin will scar badly.

Hi sam , scar damage can look red for ages after spot could try bio oil on it as thats good for them .....hope your feeling bit better today .

How is everyone today ?

Im ok ish , still checking and thinking .....having ears syringed tomz so hoping once done will feel bit more comfy as crackly and popping a lot ..hoping that things will drain better with sinuses as blocked this morning again ...using my nasal spray and think is helping .....

anyway hope your all ok :)

choc ok at the moment thank you .

I expect the syringing will make things a lot better for you. As your sinuses are blocked up too, your spit problems are most likely to be linked in with that too. Pleased you are ok ish.

Hi everyone, I get health anxiety. It started after I had my first child and I got it under control but it came back this summer. I've had lots of test so rationally I know there is nothing wrong but I am still worrying. I am under a lot of stress with other things (work, money, kids - the usual) so I think it is making it worse. I have been feeling generally anxious over the past few days as well.

I don't want to go to the doctors, I was given citalopram the last time but only took it for a week as it made me feel utterly dreadful!

It's nice to know I am not alone!

Hi all , thanks moniker , sadly didn't go to well with syringing ...to blocked to do so got to go back friday , she tried using this water type jet gun warm water , felt quite nice but said both ears so blocked need to do drops for longer .....felt so dizzy after attempt ....didnt like that and haven't felt to good today either bit panicy ...but think its due to the ears as bit whizzy at times ...
still got the swallowing thing , nose seems to belittle better with the nasal spray but still coughing up bit white cloudy stuff and swallowing lots ....so having a panic about that thinking its puss in throat from TC ... no more Blood in spit so thats good i guess .....
sorry bit of a rant ......cant talk to anyone so letting it off on here ..oops

Hello wipsglitter , sorry to hear your feeling anx at the moment to , feel free to share , i find it helps talking on here to others that understand how this anxiety can make you feel .
hopefully we will all have better day tomz .

thanks for listening x

choc Sorry to hear that the syringing didn't go well and feeling dizzy like that is horrible. Let's hope that tomorrow you have better luck after doing the drops for another couple of days. The white cloudy stuff if probably from the infection you have had - I can have this for several weeks after a cold or cough. I don't think it is puss from TC - I suspect that would be more yellow. Being nervous makes me swallow a lot. Good news that there is no more blood in your spit - that must have settled down. Feel free to let it all out on here - I know what you mean about people not understanding, but everyone on here does.

Wips Welcome. I think that is the trouble with health anxiety, just when you think you have it under control it comes back to surprise you again. It is grim isn't it?

Hi monikar , thank you for reply , still feeling very anx ....did read up on nasal drip thing and does sound similar to what i have ,felt a little calmer till i read ....if blood in it go to doc for further investigation ...so that set me off again ....
no blood again this morning so thats good i still hope ...
going tomz for another go at ears , really plating up now can hear myself crunch eat etc ...horrid ...
so I'm hoping will get done tomz and will feel better and who knows maybe will cure my throat stuf thing to ...

hows every one els?
you ok Monikar ?....
does help talking on hear thank you again for listening ....will let you know how i get on tomz ....

choc I'm ok at the moment thank you . How did you get on at the appointment for your ears today?

hi , glad your ok :-)

just back from work , appt after 5 ...
feeling awful , in pain as ears hurting tired and feeling fluy a little wondering if i have a infection in ear that could be making this all so bad ...
really bad this morning reached up flem stuff (no blood ) and nose blocked ...

feeling so worried as sore throat thing again just feel generally run down ....
going into panic as still convinced TC ....

really hope that can do the ears this time....wishing i was feeling more positive and better ...

sorry huge irrational rant ....but feeling so low ...

yes, it is irrational, but that's why its health anxiety, so don't worry about it. If we were all rational about our health, it wouldn't be causing us such problems.

Please offload here if it makes you feel better, we all understand, we really do.

awe thank you treclesoda , you don't know how lovely that is to hear .....i really am in a bad place ....cant seem to figure it all out and could do with some virtual hand holding ....

just back from nurse ....could only unblock 1 ear as other still so compact ...got to carry on with drops and go back monday !!! huffff

and she said no infection , so i am now further worries about throat mucus stuff still as was kind of banking on infection and that would then explain all my problems .....

so there i am another weekend checking and worrying .....

so glad can write on here ....my family and friends think I'm crazy I'm sure ....
thank you for listening x

so sorry ranting on about myself ....how are you treacle ? hope your ok ..

I'm not too bad for myself, but my anxiety extends to my family as well, and I've got myself a bit worked up about my DH. Basically he has just been a bit grumpy recently. He is working a lot of overtime and our DS is going through the terrible twos pretty terribly, and is not easy to deal with, but DH just seems to be snappy and grumpy. Minor stuff really, nothing sinister. But anyway, of course I get this nagging thing in the back of my head where I remember about a woman I know whose husband died of a brain tumour and the first symptom he showed was being quick tempered when it was out of character. My head tells me not to be stupid, but you know how it is...