Health anxiety

[Mvshrln]

Hi all,

I've seen a couple of health anxiety threads on here but they're all quite old/inactive and wondered if there were any more recent ones, or if anyone fancied discussing it via this new thread? It's helpful when someone else knows how you feel.

I really struggle with HA, the thoughts bounce around my head until I fixate on one and worry about it relentlessly. I can see why the anxiety has appeared (friends parent passed away, the covid-19 situation has terrified me, I'm getting older/have life events happening like buying a house, and I also work within the hospice sector). It's helpful to know why but it doesn't help with how to deal with it! I'm currently taking venlafaxine and CBT counselling via videocall but the worry takes up huge chunks of my day.

Nightmare! How is everyone else?

Hope everyone is okay. I am feeling tired and worn out, and anxious (but what's new eh!). Been pushing myself too much recently and booking in things for me to do every evening and weekend. Just feel anxious and upset today, like I could curl up on the sofa and cry and just watch trash tv. But I've got to work and then I booked a reflexology appointment which will be good. I feel so upset by everything at the moment though, like my cat just looked at me and I cried because he is so cute and I love him so much lol! I need a rest I think.

@Caelano can you put your phone/device away in a drawer for a bit to stop the temptation to google? Like Mrs Whites says you need to keep your mind occupied elsewhere. So hard though. This weekend I have put my phone away and tried to stay very busy doing tasks and felt a lot better physically as a result of staying off google. You need to try and break the habit ( as do I, so I completely get it)

Evening all.
I’ve been reading on here over the weekend but I wasn’t in a good place and couldn’t post. I’m not too bad in the day but come tea time onwards my anxiety is pure evil.
I had some rectal bleeding Thursday (I’m fairly sure I have an anal fissure or piles or both as it’s painful!). I got myself in a right tangle this morning so rang the drs. Dr has prescribed me some cream but has not seen me so I’m still feeling anxious. I hate the telephone consultations - I find it so awkward on the phone and not the same as in person.
I’m not sure if I’m getting tummy ache after eating or if it’s normal or if it’s in my mind.
I’ve been so preoccupied with googling symptoms etc. Every time I look at my baby I want to cry at the thought of not being here for her. I’ve not been this bad for so long.
I think I need to get back on the meds but i need to speak to the dr about changing them.

I’ve also found some self help type books on no more panic that I’ve printed to read. They get you to write down your worries etc

I’m still so scared. Physically I’m feeling better than I did a week, two weeks ago. Loose stools seem to have cleared up. I’ve got more energy. I’m eating more. But this has shaken me to the core. I’m still getting pains in my abdomen. I keep hyperventilating. I’ve heard so many sirens today which just reminds me of all the fucking COVID shit going on right now. I want the world to stop.

@Caelano so sorry to hear you are still feeling this way. It sounds really positive that most of the physical symptoms have stopped. The abdominal pains you have now could be anxiety rather than any tummy issues. When are your blood tests? Maybe when they come back you will feel better.

I’ve had the bloods and stool sample done and now waiting for results.
Despite my physical symptoms being way better yesterday, today I’m a mess again. How come yesterday I went to work and was fine; today I’m at home a gibberish wreck? I can’t stop bursting into tears and thinking I’m going to die. I feel like I’m letting everyone down. I’m a strong capable professional woman. Why can’t I deal with this? Honestly I just want to go to sleep and not wake up

Hi everyone, can I join?
I suffered health anxiety for many years totally ruined my life. I thought I had beaten this demon and lived a relatively ‘normal’ life but now it is returning and My head is now shifting focus to my dc. Every time one gets poorly I cannot rationalise. My head starts thinking the worst, there’s something wrong, they’re going to die. The thoughts are slowly taking over my life and I’m just struggling day to day with everything at the minute.

Welcome @DinoTeam - I do this too, switch to my DC. I am open to any suggestions for help: it might be time for pills! Sending you solidarity

@DinoTeam and just to clarify, I'm referring to myself there! I've got to the point where I need help and don't think CBT will cut it. What this thread reassuringly shows, however, is that this is very common and none of us are alone

My dd has a cold and was a bit under the weather and tired and I’ve sat and cried thinking she won’t make it . It sounds so utterly ridiculous written down and I know it does but it’s starting to take over my life, just how it used to before.

I used to be a consistent googler. I’d google any symptom imaginable. I’ve diagnosed myself with countless cancers brain tumours aneurysms you name it I’ve ‘had it’. I was too scared to leave the house thinking I was going to die. I had so many blood tests examinations ecgs at a young age. I had physical symptoms of a mental problem which then of course made things worse as I was sure they were missing something. I used to continually check my temperature my pulse it was insane. I went on tablets and worked my way out of it and I did so well.

It’s never ever been related to my children before. It was always my own health and fear of not seeing them grow up. Now after a couple of febrile seizures and breathing difficulties every time my dd is poorly I am absolutely terrified. The worry overwhelms me. I’m sat worrying now she is asleep. I keep checking her breathing her temperature I just can’t live like this anymore

@DinoTeam I'm not surprised you're anxious after experiencing that, I'd be the same. I'm so sorry you're going through this. I know exactly how you feel. Occasionally I have found Dennis Simsek helpful - he suffered from health anxiety and now writes and talks about it from his own experience. It's recognisable.

@DinoTeam I do that too, I worry over every little symptom my kids get from colds to leg pain, I turn them into a major thing in my head and spend days and days worrying about them - until the next thing comes along to worry me more. It’s absolutely exhausting!

I’ve noticed my anxiety is spreading into other things too recently, I’m finding driving really stressful, I keep convincing myself I was speeding when i know i wasn't or that I went through a red light for example!

I’ve had a couple of rubbish days with the anxiety and today I’m feeling not right - just like I’m coming down with something. I’m hoping for a bath and an early night.
I’m not sure if I had a panic attack last night - I was feeling really anxious with trembling etc and then I couldn’t stop shivering but was feeling all flushed etc (no temperature), tension headache and just not right. Today I feel off it so not sure if the two are related. But then of course the anxiety sets in and the “but, what if it’s something more serious”!
I have a prescription for fluoxetine and think it may be time to start taking them again.

Hi all I have just found this post. I need to write this down as I feel I'm getting worse and feel completely stupid saying it out loud.
I was on citraplan a couple of years ago for bad health anxiety and I can feel myself slowly worrying over slight aches and pains again. How do I stop this? I have managed to stay off Google but I'm sitting here thinking about things in my head, Snapping at my kids and just being a horrible person.

@Squeekybummum Recognise it for what it is, it's anxiety and logically you know that. When you feel like it's getting too much, breathe through it.

I woke with tingling all down my right side. Spoke to the dr as I have had headaches too. She wanted to send me for a MRI today but the senior doctor thinks it’s just migraines so doesn’t feel the need.
My blood pressure was high so back next week for that to be checked.

Very glad I found this thread. I'm feeling almost everything that I've read (not read through aaaall the pages, there are a lot! But it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one).
I've always had anxiety and somewhere in my late teens, it started manifesting itself as health anxiety (I had glandular fever and an ex boyfriend 'googled' it, and he got worried and thought I was going to die). 15 years on and I'm the biggest googler of symptoms probably ever. I've had stages when I've been really good and 'normal', and other spells of being a complete wreck and I feel on the verge of being there again. Last time was exactly a year ago. I haven't been on any medication but last year saw me get an out of hours gp appointment at 11pm, and practically beg for something to make it stop. I was given diazepam and told to make an appointment to see my own gp (who isn't very good). Anyway, I was convonced I had ALS then, and as the weeks rolled on, the worries passed and I vowed I'd never spiral like that again.
Fast forward a year and here I am having self diagnosed 4 different types of cancer this week alone. A big part of me realises it's coming up to a year since my last episode, and that I've been worrying it's going to get as bad as that again. My husband has gone away to work for weeks, my smear test os due in a couple of days and waiting for those results always send me into a bit of a panic, I have a spot that keeps scabbing (it should get seen to I know, but not really a medical emergency), the whole covid thing (not because of the actual virus, but the imminent lockdown as I'm in Wales) which'll take away my work for weeks and that's one of the only times I can't google/worry. We're starting the application process for adoption and I keep thinking that I can't see the doctor about anxiety AGAIN because they'll eventually be looking through my medical records and see that it's flared up again. And I'm sat here wondering why I'm feeling achy and sore! Obviously convinced it's something deadly rather than muscle tension.
Not really sure why I'm writing this down, but it does feel good to get it off my (achy) chest.

Welcome @Malzzy - although not pleased you are suffering too. I know what you mean about the smear - I’ve been for mine today and the anxiety of waiting for results is horrible.
I’m so up and down. If I wasn’t breastfeeding I’d be on the meds now.
After last weeks episode of headache and tingling I’ve convinced myself I’ve got something horrible going on. I’m scared to be on my own with baby in case I get poorly.

Hi everyone, how are we doing?
@Ethellsmum how are you feeling? I know what you mean about telephone calls with the doctor, I find them so awkward and pointless, I'd rather just see someone in person although I understand why they can't.

It's interesting that some others have said about their anxiety spreading to others. This is now absolutely the case with me. At the beginning of lockdown my anxiety was focused on me then it moved over to my mum and I was obsessed with worrying about her. Then the worry came back to me in full force. Now I still worry about myself on a low level basis (I spent ages prodding my forearms the other day because I thought there was a lump there?). But now I am really worried about my partner who has a bad cough :( And because we both work from home now, I'm hyper aware of him and every time he coughs.

So glad to have found this, I truly belief I am suffering from health anxiety, more so since lock down began. As soon as I get a symptom I google it then become so fixated on it where it takes over. I started having dizzy spells about 8 weeks ago gp was rubbish saying low iron, side effects of med, hormones etc but didn’t actually have me in at all. Finally when it became too much I ended up at a&e where I was diagnosed with labrynthitus. I wasn’t convinced it was so paid to see a private consultant who said defiantly wasn’t labrynthitus but thought it was bppv, he did the semont manoeuvre on me and hoped it would help, it didn’t. Because all the medical professionals kept asking the same questions like have you got any titinus or any fullness in you’re ears any hearing loss all of which I didn’t at the time after googling them symptoms and coming up with meniers which sacred me to death I now have all those symptoms. My consultant has said all my symptoms can be caused by anxiety brought on by the bppv but I’m struggling so much to except that even though I know deep down it’s probable. It’s totally taken over my life and I am constantly thinking about how I’m feeling and thinking the worse, my senses have become over sensitive and loud noises make my ears vibrate, I’m constantly tired and feel so down. Does anyone think that I should be asking for some meds to help or would that make things worse. I am going back to the consultant later today for a hearing test and to have the semont manoeuvre again and I am terrified he is going to diagnose me with something else when I tell him my new symptoms. I’m also a serious teeth grinder and clencher which isn’t helping, my dentist is in the process of making me a mouth guard.

@Proudnana3 welcome to the thread xx sorry to hear it has been so tough for you, lockdown/covid has made a lot of us worse or even experience anxiety when they haven't done before. Glad you are going back to the consultant today, fingers crossed it goes well! It's difficult to know what to do about medication but worth chatting to your doctor about it x

Evening all. Bad few days (what’s new!). Ended up with the paramedics out last night as I was having palpitations, chest pain and my blood pressure shot up to 207/111.
Back to drs tomorrow.

Hi all

Mind if I join in??

I have bad HA I was on sertraline and propanolol for a few years and came off them and have been great for about 3 years but I can feel it creeping back in.

Like tonight I have fixated on the fact I have TSS which I always tend to do every month and I can never take my mind off it, It will pass in a couple of days and I will feel fine again.

Having a bad week over here in my own head