I must be learning....

[rosi]

I discovered what I thought was a lump in my neck. I lost three days of my precious life googling and worrying, although this is nothing compared to the months I've lost previously. This time I decided to be proactive. I went to the doctors and asked for the third time to be put on Sertraline ( the last two times the side effects caused me to give up). I was not even going to mention the lump because I was too scared but during the course of the conversation we got onto anxiety and I decided to tell her that I was fixated on my health. Even then I played it down.

She looked at my lump declared it to be just bone and said she had attended a recent talk on HA. She said it was fascinating. The whole focus is changing. Professionals are realising that we are intellgent people who can rationalise but feel fear anyway. This is something competely different to hypochondria.

I feel so much better now. I have someone who understands it all and doesn't think I'm an attention seeking looney.

Anyway, i will stick to the sertrline now.

[molkogirl]

Thats great that you have such an understanding doctor. If only they were all like that. Glad your feeling better.
Tc
Sarah

[potato11]

Hiya Rosi :)

It's good that you feel like you are improving - well done! It's so easy to visit Dr Google haha he always has an appointment free.

I too have experienced health anxiety - it can be very miserable! If my mum wasn't a nurse and able to allay most of my fears then I'm sure I would have had far more Dr's appts and a&e attendances.

I went to my Dr last month (after a year of hoping my anxiety would go away) for some blood work and an ECG just to check my overall health status to see if there was anything obviously wrong with me on paper. Thankfully everything came back ok (As it usually does with anxiety)

So recently I've been focusing on CBT in order to approach my health anxiety from the 'attitude' side of things. I came across a brilliant website on here a couple of days a go

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=91696 < Please use the link to the appropriate thread on No More Panic.

It's an e-book and videos, they're offering a 30 day money back guarantee so you've completely got nothing to lose. It truly helped me to understand why I felt the way I did in a way that not many books etc do - instead of going through relaxation techniques etc they explain why you get the thoughts in the first place.

I've recently had the flu and I was CERTAIN I was going to die. But in a weird way it actually helped me, the muscle achyness in my chest and stomach helped me identify when I was 'clenching' them with anxiety, which resulted in weird feelings - that I would usually be scared of, so fuel them with more adrenaline and worry.

It's great that the sertraline has helped you, but CBT can be THE most effective tool for overcoming anxiety - It's a bit like turning off a leaky tap instead of putting buckets on the floor to catch all the water haha. You'll learn how to stop analysing every symptom that crops up, and band them all under 'anxiety', instead of trying to rationalise everything and making yourself more anxious or whatever. I used to get all sorts of weird and wonderful symptoms which made me sure I was dying, but now I understand how it was me focusing and worrying about them that made them seem so 'bad'.

Anyway, I'm sorry to ramble!! but basically - I know exactly how you feel, but you can turn it around and get off the Sertraline. Try the website!!!

Best of luck xx

[venusbluejeans]

It's good that you feel like you are improving - well done! It's so easy to visit Dr Google haha he always has an appointment free.




http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46865&highlight=dr+google