New "symptoms" reawakens old anxieties

[Lee269]

Has anybody ever had this issue.

I have been suffering with anxiety for some time but the latest episode started in mid Jan with chest pains and for a couple of months was convinced my heart was failing, constantly checking pulse, taking asprin etc etc.

Anyhow, after a "foggy" period, the anxiety went away but I had stomach problems and suddenly was convinced I had bowel cancer etc and was feeling poorly. Again after a "foggy" period and some CBT treatment I started to feel much better and for a few weeks have been feeling great and put all of the above down to anxiety. Pure and simple.

Anyhow, yesterday, at my desk I suddenly experienced a new sensation. That was a sense of pressure / movement on the top of my head. Not a head ache as such (and I have had tension headaches across my forehead etc before) but just a feeling of movement and pressure.

This threw me completely and I ended up back in the feeling of fog and have a headache again.

I am trying hard to rationalise as just a new type of tension headache or perhaps pinched nerve from poor posture at work etc.

However (and finally I come to the point) I now think that maybe all the "old" symptoms and particularly stomach probs were not anxiety after all. What if, I did / do have stomach or bowel cancer and now these head sensations are the spread of that cancer into my brain. When I type this I know it sounds unlikely and try to convince myself this.

But my question is; has anyone else got out of a state of anxiety and then out of the blue had a "new" sensation which just reawakens all old anxieties ??

Sorry that is sooo long! :blush:

[Stormsky]

Anxiety symptons change all the time... nothing strange to get new sensations... there are soooooo many...
head pressures are very common..and the more you pay attention to it, the worse it will be...
yes new sensations can awaken all your old fears... got to try and ignore them and pass them off as anxiety and distract yourself away from fear thoughts

[cinny]

Yes, I do. Sometimes over the last few years, I would go for months without any symptoms, and I would actually forget about it. Then out of the blue, here they would come again. Then I would think very similar. "This must be something new, and real!" I would talk myself into something horrible. I am going through it again right now, and that is why I come back and visit this site from time to time. I was fine for months, and now my ribs hurt and upper abdomen on the left side. So naturally, I am dying of something. But I can think back, and recall that I have had pains there before, and they did go away after some weeks.

So to answer your question, yes. I can go for months and month, and them BANG. Out of the blue, I have several symptoms at once. I think that it builds, and I don't do a good job of staying relaxed or mentally grounded. Then it hits me and I have to start all over trying to calm and convince myself that I have been through this before several times, and it will pass.

[miss sparkle]

oh yes, i can totally relate to how you feel.
i am fairly new to this ha business, started in December.
my first fear was brain tumor, as had constant pressure headaches fuzzy head etc.
I was totally convinced.
then i found a lump in my boob, and all those symptoms disappeared, as was obviously worried about breast cancer. I have had a ultrasound which showed everything ok(though i am not convinced) and now i have stomach/rib ache so i have either liver kidney or ovarian cancer.
It sounds ridiculous, but i am not making up my symptoms so i can't see how every ache and pain is nothing.
bloody never ending!:huh:

[Jessy23]

Your not alone tiis happens to me all the time, I have a great period of time feeling free of worry and then bam a ache or a pain or a palpitation. I'm new to this to still looking for Abu advice ppl have to give

[granny number 4]

i understand how you feel i have had great weeks then yesterday bang had panic feelings i have coped with the tight chest and lump in my throat but its the feelings of somethings going to happen i feel god going back steps again build myself up

[gypsywomen]

so true ,, good post ,, you just gt back to your old self bang it goes again ,,

[Lee269]

Thanks all. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one.

Having had "heart problems" for months, I'm finally not worried about that at all but now, out of the blue, convinced I have a brain tumour. Nightmare

[AutumnRose92]

I haven't properly read everyones replies to your original post so I apologise if I repeat something others have already said.

I have never been diagnosed (by a doctor!! haha!) with anything serious but I have been convinced for many years that I have a brain tumour- so you are not the only one to have that worry to reassure you of that!
I had about 6 months of feeling pretty much alright, then I started to get a few more headaches and now a year later I am in a full blown state of panic!

My best advise to you is firstly - don't panic! You have to remember how rare what you are talking about is! (I know this is harder said that done!) Was this head pressure feeling (which I can sympathise with) a one off?

My second piece of advise is find a good GP, I saw a great GP a couple of months back, don't go in, in a blind panic listing all of the illnesses you think you have, explain your symptoms calmly and see what the GP says, if what he/she says doesn't satisfy you just ask- do you think there is any possibly I could have ....? And I am sure they will either attempt to reassure you (as my GP did) or else will run some tests if they think what you are saying is possible.
In my experience most GPs are understanding if you talk to them in a calm and mature way.

In any case in my experiences one thing does tend to lead to another, which makes you think about something else and you end up in a fall blown state of paranoia!

[xvolatileheart]

Every time I start to feel better, I get a new symptom! And of course, each new symptom is "more real" than the last one. This time it's REALLY serious and I'm actually going to die, of course. My fixations have gone from heart to lungs to brain, and I'm sure something else will come along soon. I'm getting better at believing it's anxiety though, hard as it is. That's all you can really do is try and cope with the underlying anxiety and how you react to it, because the symptoms are beyond our control, but how we react is our choice.