Health Anxiety anyone??

[Happymumoftwo21]

Where do I start? I’ve done a few threads on here and so grateful to have your replies.
so health anxiety!! I’m pretty sure I have this. I really can’t stop worrying about absolutely everything. People say to look back to where it started. Well it started after having my children, I didn’t have any of this before then. My daughter was born with a virus and was in the NICU and it could have gone either way, thankfully she was ok, and my son was born 3 years later with a heart condition. Since then I think the worst, and I google so so much I feel like I could be a doctor sometimes! So over the last month I have diagnosed myself with a brain tumour (I had a headache), breast cancer (felt tender but due on period), bone cancer (had an ache one day), blood clots (had chest pain), heart condition (also chest pains) and cervical cancer (this is the main one and the one which kicked my health anxiety into overdrive as 2 years ago I had an abnormal smear and had to have cells removed last year, and am still under monitoring) my husband works away sometimes and I always think something is going to happen to me while he is away. I really don’t know what I’m trying to achieve from this post, so sorry it’s long and thank you for reading if you have got this far! I just want to know if anybody else feels like this!

I have health anxiety and it’s so overwhelming. I eventually went to my gp for support. I was put on anxiety medication but the side effects were too much for me (have medical condition) so had to come off them. I then went through cbt and everything changed.

I needed constant reassurance that I and my family weren’t sick. I asked my dh all the time if he thought we were okay, if I was okay, if he felt okay, if my dd was okay with certain symptoms. I since learned that this is part of the problem. My dh was encouraged not to reassure me more than once. If I kept asking then he would tell me to stop and remind me of my cbt steps.

Please look into cbt it will help.

I did. Until I started medication and did CBT.

Yes I have it too. I had cbt and I’m a bit better now but I do have some ongoing physical health issues which just exacerbate things and stress makes them worse.

Hi yes I have suffered from health anxiety for many years. Mine also sprung into action after my first child. It has lessened greatly but the endless physical symptoms I have from it is what keeps me trapped in the vicious cycle. Honestly I've started therapy for other things as well as HA and I think it's important to get some help as it ruins every facet of your life. Not sure if you access YouTube, but there's two people on there 1) Cherelle Thinks 2)The anxiety guy. They both focus on HA and gave helped me considerably. You're not on your own, hope you get some relief but please reach out for support x

Thank you all so much for your replies. Although I wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone, it’s so comforting to know you’re not alone. I will talk to my GP and see where we go from there.

Hi @Happymumoftwo21 - fellow HA sufferer here. I take 50mg of Sertraline and I can have good and bad weeks. Bad week at the moment for me. I've been having leg/knee pain so I've obviously diagnosed myself with bone cancer. In August it was breast cancer because I had a discoloured armpit, in July it was pancreatic, bowel and stomach cancer!!!
The exhaustion of it all is unbearable at times. If I'm not dwelling of my physical symptoms, I'm seeking reassurance. I didn't go down the CBT route as it was a zoom call and the thought of this made me worse. But, I think this is something I'm going have to do after reading the positive comments.

Hope you managed to get some relief x

Hi @AnxieteaAndBiscuits sorry for the late reply got back from a family holiday a week ago. Had no problems whatsoever on our 2 week holiday but been back a week and oh I have a pain in my leg so I’ve now diagnosed myself with a DVT!! I’ve been on a long haul flight, so I’m the one in those statistics of who will get one of course! It’s so frustrating! Hope you’re well?

I’ve had a DVT. My whole leg was swollen. It was so obvious. One leg was several cm bigger than the other. Have you spoken to your GP about the anxiety? I’ve had CBT, do mindfulness and take meds. It’s been life changing.

Hi op.... I've been really struggling for a few weeks now. My legs have improved since I've been taking magnesium. I really hit rock bottom and reached out to the GP. She's increased my sertraline to 100mg and referred me to both the menopause clinic and for CBT! Now it's just a matter of waiting.

HA is awful. We're just hyper aware of every little sensation and then we overthink everything!

Another HA sufferer here. Always had it to an extent but got massively worse after a miscarriage late last year. I couldn’t function! Self referred for NHS cbt and accepted their online course (where you chat via messenger with a therapist weekly) as the wait for face to face therapy was about 6 months. Obvs in person would have been better but i was surprised how helpful I found it. It really helped me to understand how and why the thoughts and behaviours were escalating. I was close to considering meds but wanted to avoid if possible, which I’ve managed to for now, wouldn’t hesitate in the future if things got bad again though. If you Google ‘your area self referral mental health NHS’ you should be able to find the form to self refer. Good luck op.

Another HA sufferer here 👋🏻

I am having private counselling for mine but appreciate not everyone can do this . Had my first session this week and think will be helpful

I'm waiting for a gynae referral due to some womb lining thickening, as I'm 43 it is probably perimenopause related but scans and tests and waiting for results freak me out big time. I even get terrified of smear tests, not the procedure but waiting for the letter (even tho I have them when I'm meant to and I've never had anything but a normal result) my biggest fear is cancer

The other day I thought a mole had changed so went to the drs in an absolute panic. Dr was lovely and assured me was fine (turned out I had another little, separate freckle next to it but it was hard for me to see this due to where it is)

@janicegarvey I could've written your reply. I'm 43 and the GP has referred me to the menopause clinic. Everything has fallen into place the last few weeks with regards to my symptoms and the timings of things. I'm absolutely sure mine is hormone related.

My biggest fear is also cancer. I've had so many random symptoms that come on all of a sudden then can disappear. I've too panicked over a mole... I probably have a dozen pictures of moles on my phone so I can compare!!

I really hope the counselling goes well. Health anxiety is awful - it's so draining x

Have you been referred for womb thickening as well then? They did say is is more than likely hormonal and very common in 40+ women. They tend to be more concerned if it appears in post menopausal women sort of 60+ age. I've considered paying privately for the hysteroscopy but its £2500

It is exhausting isn't it. I've been prescribed beta blockers which I've not yet started 🤦‍♀️ but hoping it helps

I am just sick of the constant feeling of panic.

And thanks for the wishes re the counselling 💐

I'm confident she will help, she specialises in women's issues particularly menopause and anxiety. After my first session (which I cried through out) I felt lighter somehow

You are not alone. I have also diagnosed myself with all these conditions , and more.
I don’t know where mine started - I’ve always been a bit like this. It’s definitely got worse since I hit my 40s. So I think mine is also hormone related.
There are certain things that trigger my anxiety , so I know I have to watch out for these. Flying, staying away from home, not getting enough sleep, spending long lengths of time alone doing childcare are all bad triggers for me. So the school holidays are bad. When my partner travels away and I am sole parent is also a trigger.
It’s exhausting and time consuming. Therapy helped me a bit - but every day is a daily battle, especially in the school holidays.

It is really common for women to experience health anxiety after having children. I did. I had a bit of a health scare (dodgy mole which was removed and discovered to be benign) and unravelled. CBT and a short course of sertraline really helped.

You are effectively in flight or fight mode so your amygdala is in overdrive trying to protect you by giving you obsessive thoughts about your health and safety. Talk to your brain. Literally say " thanks for trying to protect me with that thought". Don't avoid or deny the thoughts, just acknowledge them and smile and go about your day.

Stop googling. Even if you have blood pouring from your eyeballs!! Googling your symptoms will do literally nothing but exacerbate your anxiety. It is tricking you into thinking you have some sort of control. You don't. If you feel a twinge or notice something unusual, force yourself to wait a week or two. (Obviously if you literally have blood pouring from your eyes or any other part of your body you should seek immediate medical attention) If it goes away great, if not phone your GP. Do not ask anyone else for their opinions. It's the reassurance cycle and will only make you worse.

I've struggled all week, got disgnosed with scarred lungs from Covid after a CT scan on Tuesday. No treatment or cure so I don't know if I'm stuck with the persistent cough I've had since August.

Pulse is constantly racing, even while at GP and hospital, they did two ECGs but I guess it's anxiety causing it.

I've been on medication in the past for anxiety but hoping it settles down in time. I hate, hate HATE that feeling of impending doom in the pit of my stomach.

I have health anxiety as well. Also started for me after a very difficult pregnancy/birth and baby in NICU not sure whether he would survive. Since then I have had a lot of real health issues, including cancer, so I find it hard to tell whether something is a real issue or due to anxiety.

I've started watching Pain Free You on YouTube. He's so calming and talks about how so many physical symptoms come from your brain going into panic mode and trying to warn you of danger. When you are hypervigilant every little symptom seems potentially dangerous so your brain ramps up the symptoms as it's trying to protect you. He works on helping you reinterpret those danger signals and send your brain messages of safety instead. There are lots of statistics that show it works.

Can relate to all of these reply’s. My health anxiety started when I had my children. Both were born with complications but are both fine.
Then the abnormal smear came along and it’s just got progressively worse since then.
such a horrible feeling!

My counsellor says it is very common to only develop health anxiety after having children

It's definitely true for me too 💐

I've had health anxiety since i was very young. I'm also autistic so it makes it all even worse. It's life altering at times. I've had it really bad on a few occasions. It takes over your life when you are deep in it. The symptoms that come with it are no joke. My earliest memory of having it bad was when I was around 7. I developed emotophobia also, so went through an awful patch around that age. I've made myself believe I've had every illness going. It makes you very aware of every pain/sensation in your body. I suffer badly with heart anxiety and also the usual bad one...which I struggle to say out loud or even type. It's such an awful thing to live with.

Last msg sent too early. Mine also worsened after having my first child. I went through my teens and early 20's not too bad but when I had my first it spiraled.