BrightPhoenix
03-03-12, 19:35
Please see my introductory post in the Introduce Yourself forum. Because I'm new I cannot directly link it.
In summary: I'm a hypochondriac because many years ago my mom got sick and we didn't detect it early. So from then on I've been rather paranoid about my health. Had two episodes of major hypochondria, once during my mom's sickness and once several years ago. I'm 28 male now.
I'm going through another episode now. I've been suffering major stress and anxiety over my family's current situation (not related to health). Couple weeks ago, a day after I visited my psychiatrist, I had some brain fog. Tried to just disregard it, but the brain fog wouldn't go away. Few days later, I feel a very slight numbness on the right side of my body and a very slight blur on the very edge of the right side of my vision, and a few days after that I could SWEAR I started developing a lisp in my speech.
Good old hypochondria sets in, making me think something is going on with my brain. I stay obsessed over it for two weeks straight.
Then three days ago while I was driving, I felt myself skip a breath and had a massive feeling of panic and doom set over me. I could hear my heart pumping at a rapid pace and I started to hyperventilate. I make it home and try to wait it out for 4 hours, but my anxiety made me think I had a heart attack. I'm a bit overweight and I am taking high blood pressure medicine from my psychiatrist kind of as a supplementary to my anxiety medications to keep my heart rate normal. I call my PCP doc, she seems doubtful I had one but tells me if I am that worried to go to the ER.
ER checks me out, EKG, chest X-ray, bloodwork to see if I had a heart attack etc and everything comes out clear.
Couple days later (yesterday actually), I visit the doc and explain to her everything. She recommends me to slightly increase the dosing of the Atenolol and will order a CAT scan for my head since that was what originally put me in this anxiety filled state.
The night after I visited the doc, I then feel a small pain in my right chest, maybe about 3 inches above the right nipple. Pain goes away after 30 seconds, and then I feel a dull discomfort/minor pain in my left arm. No shortness of breath or vomiting or nausea, but I try to just deal with it. This was 12 hours ago - I woke up with my left arm still feeling kinda weird and slightly weak but again no other symptoms. I'm worried sick if what I felt last night was a minor heart attack or if its just anxiety making these pains happen.
Should I bother my doc again or go to the ER to get it checked out again to see if I had a minor heart attack or should I just try to calm down. My left arm is still giving me minor discomfort, but I don't feel any other symptoms now of a heart attack. I also made sure to take my antianxiety med (clonazepam/klonopin) this morning to try to calm myself down.
Please advise, and thank you.
In summary: I'm a hypochondriac because many years ago my mom got sick and we didn't detect it early. So from then on I've been rather paranoid about my health. Had two episodes of major hypochondria, once during my mom's sickness and once several years ago. I'm 28 male now.
I'm going through another episode now. I've been suffering major stress and anxiety over my family's current situation (not related to health). Couple weeks ago, a day after I visited my psychiatrist, I had some brain fog. Tried to just disregard it, but the brain fog wouldn't go away. Few days later, I feel a very slight numbness on the right side of my body and a very slight blur on the very edge of the right side of my vision, and a few days after that I could SWEAR I started developing a lisp in my speech.
Good old hypochondria sets in, making me think something is going on with my brain. I stay obsessed over it for two weeks straight.
Then three days ago while I was driving, I felt myself skip a breath and had a massive feeling of panic and doom set over me. I could hear my heart pumping at a rapid pace and I started to hyperventilate. I make it home and try to wait it out for 4 hours, but my anxiety made me think I had a heart attack. I'm a bit overweight and I am taking high blood pressure medicine from my psychiatrist kind of as a supplementary to my anxiety medications to keep my heart rate normal. I call my PCP doc, she seems doubtful I had one but tells me if I am that worried to go to the ER.
ER checks me out, EKG, chest X-ray, bloodwork to see if I had a heart attack etc and everything comes out clear.
Couple days later (yesterday actually), I visit the doc and explain to her everything. She recommends me to slightly increase the dosing of the Atenolol and will order a CAT scan for my head since that was what originally put me in this anxiety filled state.
The night after I visited the doc, I then feel a small pain in my right chest, maybe about 3 inches above the right nipple. Pain goes away after 30 seconds, and then I feel a dull discomfort/minor pain in my left arm. No shortness of breath or vomiting or nausea, but I try to just deal with it. This was 12 hours ago - I woke up with my left arm still feeling kinda weird and slightly weak but again no other symptoms. I'm worried sick if what I felt last night was a minor heart attack or if its just anxiety making these pains happen.
Should I bother my doc again or go to the ER to get it checked out again to see if I had a minor heart attack or should I just try to calm down. My left arm is still giving me minor discomfort, but I don't feel any other symptoms now of a heart attack. I also made sure to take my antianxiety med (clonazepam/klonopin) this morning to try to calm myself down.
Please advise, and thank you.