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 Morning everyone. I hope you’re all doing well. Sorry I’ve been silent for the past few days, I went into labour early hours of Tuesday morning and had my baby girl early hours of Wednesday morning! We are both ok but the labour was brutal! Hats off to any of you ladies who have done it more than once!!
I’ll catchup on the thread today, missed talking to you all xx

@Lib3rtine oh my goodness!!! Congratulations!!! I love a newborn! well done! I am so, so happy to hear from you! All my love to you both!

@Lib3rtine that's amazing news! Congratulations on your baby girl, hope you are ok and getting some rest

I have a weird pain in my upper stomach between my ribs today.. naturally I googled and it brings up lung cancer! Of course this is now what I think I have

@Lib3rtine congratulations!

Labour really is brutal. I had a horrendous experience with my first which left me with PTSD but still had another DC 2 years later. Its all worth it in the end.

@Lib3rtine wonderful wonderful news! Sending loads of love to you and your new baby girl

@tmh88 I get so much rib pain, just under the ribs, around about the stomach et cetera, I was trying to work out it was linked to my cycle, I think it might be, but I haven't really properly locked it. It seems to be a common thing, but it always really stresses me out.

My thing today is that I'm getting slightly restless legs at night, and slightly restless hands, just feeling urge to move them around a lot, I've done quite a bit of googling and it doesn't seem to be linked to anything sinister. Apparently 10% of the population get it, but it's been stressing me out!

Yay! Thread baby is here! Massive congratulations @Lib3rtine. Enjoy your baby moon and make sure you tell your other half frequently you are to be spoiled rotten and brought sweetmeats on a silver tray

Ribs- yes. I think (logically) there is so much squashed in that small area, that pains and niggles are very common. I had a rib obsession last year which kind of faded once my internal organs obsession took over.

Also restless twitchy legs, which obsessive googling tells me could be anything from a bit of a trapped nerve (mine kind of buzz internally as well) to thyroid, to diabetes, to vitamins (again!)

My buzzy legs (leg actually, my right one) is on my list for an overhaul this year.

I've done female bits
I've now done internal organs

On the list is
Hips/bones in general
Breast (that will have me over the edge with anxiety I already know)
Buzzy legs
Teeth
Eyes
Bloods in general

I'm going to try and do one a month. Hmm. By then it will be almost a year since female bits and I'll start all over again.

@Lib3rtine a huge congratulations to you!!! I’m so happy for you!! Such a special time!

@Skyliner001 @tmh88 I’m stressing about rib pain too! Sometimes it’s the sides sometimes under the breast. Sometimes wonder if it’s To do with the cartilage but then also worry about the internal organs. Never ending!

@Lib3rtine Massive congratulations to you and your husband, so pleased for you! I’ll second whoever said that my second Labour was completely different to my first, you never get two the same. Enjoy your baby snuggles, it really is true that it goes so quickly x

@Skyliner001 @TheSilentStars @Goolies reassuring to know we all get it! mine is like the bit above my belly button about 2 inch above, where the ribs start to go up closer together! Whoever said the panic is because of so many organs under there is probably right!

I also don’t know if it’s because my stomach muscles never properly went back together after DS, I get more muscle ache and lumpy parts of my stomach!

Congratulations @Lib3rtine !

Re the rib pain, I've sometimes had pains under ribs in the past and come to the conclusions that it's trapped wind which can be surprisingly painful!

After a brief spell of not too much worrying myself (apart from constantly sticking my fingers inside my ears to see if they feel the same as each other inside!?) I'm now trying not to freak out about some spotting that happened the other day. Am hoping it's a slow start to a period because I sometimes get spotting a few days before my period, but that would mean my period would be 2 weeks after my last one. An early period doesn't worry me too much, it has happened before a while back and I'm 45 so expecting perimenopausal short or long cycles, but I'm just hoping it does turn into an actual period and isn't an episode of intermenstrual bleeding which would totally freak me out.

Ahhhh congratulations @Lib3rtine ! Pleased you are both well and sending lots of love, such a gorgeous time you'll be having right now I bet!

Since removing the hair the soreness seems to have gone, I can't believe the issues it was causing. I'm wondering if it was blocking one of those bumps meaning the others couldn't go down. My new worry is Covid 🙈 I'm avoiding the news and the briefings at all costs because I find it's really putting me on edge.

Morning everyone, how are we all? We've got such bad frost here at the minute. Rib pain can definitely be trapped wind, I sometimes find it also creeps into the middle of my back too and it's soooo painful

Welcome to the thread @Jaffacake007 - we're all in this crazy boat together

@MakingASilkPurse just jumping in to say that I sometimes have massively early periods, my last cycle came approximately two weeks after the previous period. I think I calculated it made the cycle 19 days, which is less than normal, and is slightly less than probably what is in the average range. Obviously I was momentarily worried, but it's happened several times over the past 15 years and I'm still here.

Completely sympathise about the spotting too it always massively stresses me out! Our bodies know how to try us don't they!

Thanks @Skyliner001! I know a lot of people feel sad about menopause and the end of the fertile years etc but I can't wait to be done with periods!

Just caved in and gave myself another breast exam, after signing myself off after one last night, and being determined to last a whole week.

I've poked and poked for about half an hour, partner thinks I've gone mad. I kept going back and re-checking bits id checked, and obsessing over lumpy bits, and ridgey bits and cysty bits.

I then spent ages examining and Then in a mirror, what a nightmare, I am absolutely determined that that's it for a week, I've got that weird Numb feeling again, and I'm ashamed of myself for letting myself down 😭😭

I sit up, and then suddenly think I need to check that bit again, and lie back down again, it makes me feel like I'm going mad.

Bra off bra on bra off. 😡

Sorry for the rant!

I think a lot of our symptoms (not all) are physical symptoms of anxiety. We not only massively focus on every symptom we have, therefore exacerbating the symptom itself, we carry huge amount of tension in our muscles and our nervous system is constantly under stress from all of the stress and anxiety. This can cause so many symptoms.

At one point I became convinced I had MS, loads of zingy pains and zaps all over my body, pins and needles and numbness in my legs, and blurry vision in one eye. Had all the stressful tests and they could find nothing wrong. As soon as I got the all clear all of the symptoms disappeared, except for the blurry eye. Went to the optician and she said it was eye strain as my other eye is a lot weaker so that one takes over all of the time.

I just wish I came with a switch where I could turn off the stress and anxiety and turn on the relaxation. I'm really sick of living like this

@Catsneezies Sounds like me today. Got numbness down one side and pressure behind my eye. I'm terrified and am now at the urgent care centre waiting to be checked out. Scared of MS and brain tumours 😔

@Skyliner001 something my CBT therapist suggested was that when you get the urge to check/prod you have to wait 10 minutes first. In those 10 minutes try to occupy yourself with something. Often the urge just goes. But you have to keep doing it every single time. This has really worked for me. I only check once a month now.

The other thing she said was how important self-conpassion is. I get so frustrated with myself and cross that I am making such a big fuss about something that logically I know is highly unlikely to be anything bad. She said that the frustration and lack of self-compassion actually makes the anxiety worse. I didn't think to ask why at the time but will do in my next session.

I have an itchy leg this afternoon that I am convinced is skin cancer even though it is just an itchy leg! I mean, I'm so annoyed with myself that I will now feel anxious all afternoon that I have skin cancer when it is just an itch! I really do get fed up with myself

@ofwarren thinking of you

I was diagnosed with functional neurological syndrome, which is basically where you have neurological symptoms that cannot be explained by anything physical. As I said above, once the worry and fear was gone, the symptoms went too.

Remember that it is MUCH more likely to be something minor (or anxiety) than something serious. As the consultant said to me, common things are common. (It didn't make any difference to me at the time but I have remembered it a lot since.)