Health Anxiety - Part two

[MrsWhites]

Hi everyone, it seems we have reached 1000 posts on our original thread which is amazing, just shows how much support we have been able to give each other.

I thought we would benefit from part two!

Good luck to all those having therapy today and hello to all the newbies 😊!

I think my temp is usually around 36.4-37. How are we all today?

I've been using the emollient cream and I've just plucked a huge, long ingrown hair out of one of the sore bits on my nipple so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was that that was causing me all this bother 🙈

I think by the lack of posts @Lib3rtine has had her lovely little bundle of joy!

@ofwarren I have an oral one, I seem to have a large range so I’m wondering if I get to 37.2 etc when stressed like today!

@Skyliner001 snap! Haha

@tmh88 says online that your temperature can fluctuate with stress so it's possible.

@dillydallydollydaydream7 sounds like that was your culprit then! Awful how something so innocent can cause us so much stress. Well done for putting the cream on though because even that would have been an issue for me!

I hope you are right about @Lib3rtine! If baby hasn’t arrived yet - good luck and if they have arrived already enjoy your snuggles!!

Hi everyone, it went really well! I think it’s going to really help me! I can’t wait to be a less anxious person, I would say it’s more like meditation than anything else I really enjoyed it and I feel really relaxed now! Didn’t do much in this session just 20 minutes the rest was just talking about my problems so looking forward to sessions upcoming!

Yes I’m also eager for an update from @Lib3rtine thinking of you xx

Really glad you found it helpful @tmh88 I also loved me session! It was 50 min and we talked about the behaviours I want to change and the kind of thoughts I have. Talked about how my flight/ fight system is over stimulated which causes the anxiety over things other people wouldn’t bat an eyelid over and how we will calm the nervous system and therefore fight flight response. I’m excited! She did say it will be tough at times as things may surface however I’m so ready for it!

@Lib3rtine ahhhh so excited to hear from you!!

@Goolies that’s amazing so happy for you! Glad we’ve both left feeling positive! Going to try stick to it the best I can! I get given breathing exercises to do next week and I’ll share them on hear!

Were your sessions face to face or over zoom?

I’m so glad your sessions went well.

@Goolies what you said about fight or flight mode being heightened really made sense to me. I feel like I’m always on high alert, even over small things, I can only ever see worst case scenario. For example our washing machine broke, my husband said we’ll get someone out to fix it it might only cost £50 for someone to look at it but straight away i was stressed saying ‘no they won’t be able to fix it and it’s going to cost us £500 for a new one’! Silly example but I can never see that things can be something and nothing, everything plays out in my head like a big disaster!

@tmh88 that sounds great that you could share some breathing exercises with us!

So glad to hear all your sessions went well, and would love to hear about the breathing exercises! It would be so interesting to hear how they help different people on here.

I love having this safe space to share things, and how we are all feeling. It's making a massive difference to my mental health, and for that I thank you all.

I'm pleased to report that I haven't poked at all today, and apart from a brief worry about tingling in hands and feet, I have done really well. Feeling proud and will probably treat myself to a drink tonight, there is also a chocolate orange with my name on it…

Hope all you ladies have had a good day, and I can't wait to hear if there's any baby news soon!

@MrsWhites that description is me I have always been worst case scenario since being very young must be from the age of 4! Flight or fight mode is just me now

@Skyliner001 me too! It helps immensely this thread to my mixed up mind really would be lost without you all! Will definitely share everything I learn going forwards!! Well done for not poking that’s amazing! I had a little feel this morning and my lymph nodes feel quite small today! I thought they were new ones so I got dp to feel (must hate me ) and he thinks they’re smaller too!

Weirdly, my one that was bothering me last week seems smaller to, maybe poking does agitate them 😳

@MrsWhites makes total sense, I do the same! Our boiler had an issue as we weren’t getting hot water one morning, I went from that to imagining an expense of thousands, eating it to the little savings we have and then I would t have money for emergency checks should I have an issue and therefore have a bleak future. Turns out something must have feel and just flipped the switch to off!

Even when I’m shopping I feel a sense of urgency to get out of the supermarket. Can’t just casually browse like a normal person.

On constant high alert.

Glad to hear the sessions went well, sounds great!
Welcome to the loveliest madhouse on Mumsnet @MakingASilkPurse

@MrsWhites, I refuse to even contemplate speaking to people on the phone. If I do have to make a call, I have to psych myself up, go over the conversation a million times beforehand...and if I get a message saying "can I ring you" I always find an excuse.

My body temperature tends to be low, usually between 36 and 36.5. (am always googling thyroids and vitamin deficiencies as well)

@TheSilentStars I’m obsessed with vitamins and supplements. I take so many and can easily soend hours researching them!
My body temp is usually at 37 i do randomly check that too!

I've had an OK day today with health anxiety but only because I had a really awful day at work so my head was full of that. Now I've just sat down to relax I've started worrying about my sinus pressure again. Didn't even notice it the rest of the day.

My normal temp is usually low, about 36.4 or 5. So I feel like I have a temp if I get up to around 37.5.

Feeling really down today. A lot of it due to work but just feel totally exhausted at being on high alert/imagining the worst all the time. And there is just no way of escape at the moment. My life is work or homeschool or housework or collapse on the sofa in the evening. There's just no fun any more and nothing to get my head out of my worries.

Sorry feeling gloomy today and like I will never escape these anxious feelings.

Hey @Catsneezies sorry to hear your struggling today. Promise you you’re not the alone one feeling like this. It’s so tough and this lockdown makes everything so much worse.

I was exactly where you are this time last week. Felt stuck in this routine of homeschooling, working, cooking, cleaning and laundry. Even said to my husband I’m so bored. Everyday is merging into one. Makes no difference if it’s Monday or Friday, and yes the anxiety about my health on top of that is the cherry on top.

The situation may not change just yet but the way you feel about it will. Be kind to yourself. Dealing with health anxiety is draining, this lockdown on top is really testing.

Sorry to hear about your work issues. Hope things settle there for you soon.

Thank you @Goolies

Hi everyone

I've been lurking for a while and just wanted to say how helpful it has been knowing there are others feeling exactly the same as me...

My health anxiety stems from having awful, awful sickness during pregnancy. Sometimes I was sick 16 times a day and it lasted up until 32 weeks 😩I had my daughter 8 months ago and since then I've had awful tummy trouble and I've felt like doctors have blamed being pregnant / giving birth as the cause and haven't really been helpful. I keep hearing 'it will get better with time' which is starting to annoy me after 8 months. I've felt much worse lately with aches and pains in my stomach and back so I phoned yesterday and had a brilliant doctor who is finally running some blood tests next week for me. It's most likely typical IBS but all I seem to hear on the radio and my Facebook page are stories of younger people with bowel cancer and I'm completely freaking out.

I don't think it helps as the pandemic really became serious towards the end of my pregnancy and I was advised to stop working etc. Also I was lucky to have had an 'easy' birth but a difficult induction where my partner couldn't be there. I spent 48 hours on the induction ward listening to other women cry and beg for their husbands and mothers to see them for 10 minutes while we were all in early labour. I think this is a huge contributing factor too. I've sought mental health advice on the NHS when I was one month post partum as I'm very sure I had/have PPD but I was passed around between different people, told I wasn't 'severe enough' to be under perinatal care, but then I was suffering too much to be under their first port of call... I've completed the same questionnaire about 6 times and in the end I've completely given up after waiting 7 months. I think when I can afford it I'll pay privately for some counselling. Thankfully I have a very supportive partner and we made huge lifestyle changes which helped. He changed his job to spend more time with me and our daughter (was previously working 14 hour days and I would never see him with a 3 week old baby) and we have moved house to be closer to my family and out of the countryside where I felt isolated.

It's got to the point now where yesterday I genuinely believed I must have swallowed glass because I felt a lump in my throat when I swallowed my drink - and I KNEW 100% I hadn't! Sorry for the mini-rant haha and thanks for reading if you've made it this far! I feel like I'm really annoying my partner/family by 'always having something wrong with me' so I guess this is my way of venting. Hope everyone finds ways to help themselves feel better x

@Jaffacake007 Welcome! You are a million times not alone. Just dashing to bed but wanted to say hello! We're in the same boat here so always feel free to vent! 😊

Oh and I thought i had a lump in my throat last week, nearly made myself sick trying to hold my tongue down looking for throat cancer 😳😳

It’s so strange how we all have such similar thinking. @Goolies I feel the same in supermarkets, I struggle wearing a mask because I rush about so much I get hot and bothered in the mask, then I start panicking which obviously makes it worse. I don’t know why it happens but like you say it’s like I’m always on high alert.

@TheSilentStars if I have to ring someone I have to write down what I need to say, even if it’s something silly like leaving a voicemail or ordering a prescription, otherwise I convince myself I said something wrong!

@Jaffacake007 welcome, you’ll find everyone super supportive here.

Sometimes like tonight, I will read you posts and it makes me quite emotional to know that I’m not alone feeling like I do. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without you ladies in the last couple of months!

@MrsWhites I’m the same! I find you all a really big comfort in my life!

Me too!
I was thinking of this thread when I had my scan and knowing everyone was with me!