Tons of health issues.. hypochondriac or not??

[gracie1030]

This is going to be a long story, so anyone who bothers to read all of this, I really appreciate it.

So I have been gradually getting more and more health issues. I've always struggled with my health and general well being since I was in middle school. First, I was depressed and I ate a ton of junk food. When I was fifteen, I decided to become vegan, which was great at the beginning, but gradually I got pale and thin. I stopped being vegan around a year after I started. By this time, I was so malnourished and shaky, and I still don't like eating meat but I have to do it.

I am now almost 18. Most of my high school life I have felt ill in some way or another. My hands would ache, I would crack my fingers so much that my joints hurt now, I have horrible posture so my lower back sometimes hurts, I would chew my fingers until they bled, and I would just feel so fatigued and I could never figure out why.

So I have felt well for a couple durations throughout my teenage life, but I've gotten very accustomed to feeling like crap. My parents think I have anxiety and I take meds for it. I don't know if I do or not. I'm not terribly anxious. I just never feel well, and I complain and worry about it, so my parents think I have anxiety.

They have taken me to the doctor numerous times and nothing has been wrong. And the thing is, my dad is a doctor. I tell him about my health problems all the time. He and my mom are annoyed with me and tell me nothing is wrong.

But this past month has been really scary. It started off one day when I woke up, my chest felt tight and it felt like my heart wasn't beating properly. It felt really weak, like it wasn't beating hard enough. It got so bad that I couldn't sleep for two nights in a row, there were shooting pains throughout my chest, and it felt like my heart would drop every minute or two. I could also feel these bubbles trapped inside my chest.

I exercised and it solved my problem for a few weeks. But now it is happening again. I've been weak and stiff and dizzy all week. This time there are shooting pains, and the bubbles are still there, but every time I breathe in deeply, they go away, but I get a shooting pain in my chest and I get really dizzy, and my heartbeat goes weak again. Then I wait a while, and I feel something burst in my chest, and blood goes rushing inside my left arm, and then I feel better.

My dad said it's a sensitive nerve ending in my chest, but if it was a nerve ending, why would something burst in my chest and cause blood to go rushing to my arm?? I feel like I really need to go to the doctor but my parents won't take me because they've taken me too many times before. I'm speaking very a very logical and not fear-based place. I'm not anxious. I just don't know what's wrong with me and no one will give me an answer. I can't keep living like this, because every time I try to go to sleep this happens and it's the most horrible feeling.

I know you probably don't know how to answer unless there are any doctors on this site... but..

[hanshan]

Hi Gracie1030,

I'm not a doctor, but here goes.

Firstly, people with health anxiety are hypersensitive too what's going on in their body. So something that other people may ignore may be major to you.

Next, at your age, you're growing and changing. It's a major refit and renovation that often comes with physical and emotional problems. Work through them as best you can, and seek help from a doctor or counselor if you feel you are not coping.

Finally, don't let health anxiety take hold. If your father is a doctor and is telling you that you are are physically healthy, he is probably right.