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Advice on health anxiety

5 replies

Chunkymonkey123 · 02/07/2017 19:42

My DH suffers from health anxiety. This has been going on for years with multiple A+E visits, various consultants, lots of tests and procedures. In the past couple of months he has recognised that this is an anxiety issue whereas before he was fully convinced it was various awful illnesses one after the next. He had recently started seeing a therapist but won't see his GP for fear of the GP putting everything down to his anxiety.
This morning he did some gardening including putting down ant powder. Several hours later he started thinking that he may have inhaled some ant powder (doesn't actively remember he did). This has led to a day of googling and symptom spotting. He is now down at A+E waiting to be seen. I am at home with our 3 month old son.
I don't know how to support him with this. Should I be pointing out that all his symptoms (tight chest, nausea etc) are also anxiety symptoms or supporting him in going to A+E. I tried talking it through with him and even though he says he doesn't believe he breathed it in and knows the symptoms are likely anxiety he needs a doctor to confirm it. When he is in the grip of it he gets angry with me not believing him but then a few days later is able to see that it was not reality. I hate seeing him like this and it's frustrating not being able to help.
Anyone suffering from this with advice on what I should be doing?

OP posts:
Augustbabyyeah · 02/07/2017 19:46

He urgently needs Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. In our area you can self-refer, it's called Talking Therapies Service here. CBT can help enormously with health anxiety. He has to get help as it's ruining his life and yours.

lovechocolate123 · 02/07/2017 21:50

I have health anxiety. CBT has helped me greatly. Also, the book Overcoming Health Anxiety by D. Veale is very good and helped me a lot too .

babybell89 · 03/07/2017 08:32

I was exactly like him at the peak of my anxiety which lasted years.
If your from the U.K. Talking changes is brilliant. No more panic website is brilliant not for the advice (no offense users) but because you see yourself in every health anxiety post and it helped it sink in to me that my terminal illness that no one understood was in fact health anxiety.

He is starting to come to terms with it but he doesn't yet 100% believe that's what it is only when he knows that can he start to recover in my opinion.

Relaxing videos and meditation also helped me on YouTube as well as going to a doctor/nurse prebooked appointments every two weeks so I knew I had someone to check in with!

It's such a horrifying illness your husband is petrified most days and it's exhausting so support him as much as your can which it sounds like your doing and you will get through this x

babybell89 · 03/07/2017 08:33

Oh also I went on citalapram and it helped loads x

Chunkymonkey123 · 03/07/2017 16:16

Thank you so much for your comments. I'm going to look at those websites and order the book. I don't know whether to suggest he changes his therapist to a CBT one

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