Hi,

I was just wondering if there were any other people around with the same sort of anxiety. I am a nurse, but i have health anxiety. Sounds strange, i know...a nurse with hypochondria! Im a doctors worst nightmare! (And, believe it or not, i actually started the job AFTER the anxiety began....talk about becoming my own worst enemy!)

Anyway, i tend to find that the symptoms i get and the health problems i fixate on are related to what speciality im working in at the time. So, it used to be that i thought i had PVD, now its heart disease. I KNOW that its all in my head, its psychosomatic etc, etc, blah, blah...but the palpitations and pains i get in my chest, and the panic i feel when they occur, ARE real and, when im in the middle of the anxiety/panic attacks, i cant seem to sort out the facts from the fear.

Ive read posts from people who do the whole angel on one shoulder/devil on the other, arguing with themselves and rationalising the symptoms vs. the anxiety, and i do that myself, but i think its the fact that i have a broader knowledge than a lot of people that is my downfall. For instance, there are maybe some symptoms that only a health professional could know to look out for, so i get fixated on that, then i start to develop that symptom ON TOP OF all the others. So i MUST be ill, right??? The brain, its great, but its a bit of a monkey, too....

Thanks to anyone whos read my rabbiting... Just typing it has made me feel a little lighter...

x x x