Fed up!!!!

[MaryMac]

Hi everyone, I guess I'm writing this because I'm just fed up feeling like this. Fed up waking up in the morning scanning my body for lumps, rashes... Thinking how does my stomach feel today? What's that pain in my leg? Why an I itchy? Why do I have palpitations? Have I got cancer? I can't focus on anything but my anxiety and my body. I've only been like this for a couple of weeks, I'm well aware some of yo have suffered this for years. I'm really struggling, worrying and it's exhausting me. Oh I just had a shooting pain in my left armpit. I'll have t go and check my glands aren't swollen. My right ankle is itchy, another sign of leukemia. I just can't go on like this!! ARGH!!!

[zippy]

I can sympathise with you because i am sick of waking up and thinking whats my stomach like today? and whats my headaches like today? and whats my dizziness like?do i feel sick?,do i feel strange? I am getting worse? etc etc. I have been listening to relaxation tapes and i do relax while listening to them but soon as i am finished its on my mind constantly how i am feeling. I try to convince myself i am not thinking i am dying but it keeps popping into my head and i seem to have no control over my thoughts. I was getting shooting pains in my armpit but they have stoppped now and then another symptom comes and we focus on that and then that goes and then we get another and we focus on that and so on. I have convinced myself in the last 6 weeks i have ovarian cancer, stomach cancer and now because i am going dizzy and getting headaches every day a brain tumour. Its exhausting on our mind and bodies.My problem is googling symptoms and then i seem to get all the symptoms and think how can you make yourself get them. Hope you feel better soon x

[fluff]

Hi
I feel exactly the same today fed up with all these anxieties about my symptoms.I always think the doctors are wrong i have so much stress going on in my life and the health worry makes me depressed you take care:)

[MaryMac]

My problem is that I don't want to go to the doctor incase he gives me bad news! I haven't been to a doctor for about 10 years, fortunately... but right now because I'm convinced I have leukemia, the thought is scaring me even more! I HATE THIS!!

[fluff]

Oh im the one who always goes to the doctors i actually changed doctors cause i wasnt convinced.Im sure your fine why dont you go just the once mind you give you some peace of mind:)

[kah]

You summed up exactly how I think/feel every day, it's totally exhausting isn't it!! I had hypnotherapy a few months back which worked wonders, unfortunately I couldn't afford to continue it but as soon as I have the money I'll go back. Those couple of months of not worrying every second of the day were pure bliss :). Just having 'nothing' on my mind felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. If you can afford it I'd give it a try xxxx

K xxxxx

[Fly away Katie]

I know exactly what you mean :( xxx

[eva82]

I am the same... I had to make a list for CBT of all the illnesses I thought I had since my anxiety disorder began 2 years ago. Well needless To say it was over a page long and I even felt embarrassed showing it to him because it seemed so ridiculous!!! Oh, and by the way my health anxiety has yielded the result of being 100% wrong ... Not one disease or illness that I was worried about was ever found. What was found: IBS,REFLUX,and TMJ... Which are all STRESS RELATED conditions that came about from so much worrying on my part! It's going to be tough to retrain our thoughts to be more positive and not always think the worst case scenario.

I always think back to thisone thing my therapist told me: "your anxiety monster (that voice in your head that has proven to fill your mind with only negative) will continuously keep on playing these "disaster movies" since you always choose to watch them. You need to refuse to watch them... Change the channel!!! Even say out loud "I am not watching this imagined movie" and then immediately distract yourself yourself with something else ...meditation, cleaning house, stretching, anything!

I know it sounds easy, but it been tough for me since I've been thinking this way for 2 years now. I am sometimes successful, but many times i give in to the negative thinking also. Hopefully, as time goes on I will get better at "changing the channel" from the disater movie to something more positive. I hope we all can. :)