I've suffered from anxiety/health anxiety for nearly two years and am starting to get a grip of the syptoms, realising they're harmless.
But one thing I'm struggling to shake is the fear of taking new medication. I went to see my GP because of a neck injury today and he gave me some strong anti-inlfamatory drugs. I read the leaflet that accompanied them and it said "may be associated with a small increased risk of heart attack or stroke". I took the pill and then sat waiting for the heart attack to happen. With anxiety able to mimic your worst fears with symptoms that seem to be the real thing, it was terrifying when I got the usual anxiety related chest discomfort. The tablets can also cause stomach bleeding, so surprise suprise I now have images of me being taken to hospital with internal bleeding.
I now find that anytime I'm perscribed medicine, I read the worst possible side efffects and believe I'm going to get them. Because of this I usually stop taking the medication or else be gripped by fear of death.
Obviously the GP would never prescribe something that was going to kill me, but it's not always easy to think so rationaly