health anxiety

[belina]

hi all,
i have been suffering with anxiety for about 2 years now but recently its getting out of hand, i constantly think thsat there is something fatelly wrong with me like cancer and think about it all day long. Also for the last couple of weeks i have had a really wierd sensation in my left leg it feels constantly tingly and really weak and all the muscles in my calf feel really tight. i wake up in the middler of the night sometimes and its really bad pins and needles which starts me panicking tginking its something awfull. Does anyone have a similar problem or know if anxiety cause these symptoms? I have been refered for CBT by my doctor so hoping this will help.
Thanks in advance for any answers :-)

[pearl79]

i also have these tingles.. in my leg defo. with me i have noticed a pattern that it happens when im most anxious. as does most other symptom i worry about xx

[Linzi77]

Yup. I have all those fears and symptoms. I find them very debilitatiing. Been diagnosed with HA for some time now. Sometimes I just want to wake up and feel "normal", I mean, I think I have forgotten what normal is. I have been to A&E almost once - twice a month for the past 8 - 12 months, phoned ambulances out, the last episode was that I couldn't feel my tongue, I was choking from Motor Nurone Disease, this is my new obsession. Anyway, I figure I've been dying for almost 3 and a half years, properly dying and I'm still here. I think the doctors are defInitely wrong, even all the A&E doctors, I am the chosen one, the one that beats all odds to have this hidden illness they are never going to find.
I have trerrible physiological symptoms to the point where i am bed ridden, convince this it it, this is the time. Well, that was until recently, I have had 5 sessions of CBT and I can actually see HA for what it is, I know it's psychological ( at long last) although this hasn't stopped the over thinking, over scanning and checking for lumps, but it has stopped me panicking (already). It has stopped me going to my GP for reassurances cause all in all, this isn't reassuring me, its confirming to my body that there must be something wrong and causing the alarm to go off and causing me to panic which in turn causes me to have more sypmtoms and so on and so on. Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go but I actually feel like I am on the right road. I am noticing the patterns, from my head ( braing Tumour) then goes to my neck and chest ( cancer), to my thoughts ( losing my mind) and right back round again to my head. I have learnt in such a short space of time to risk assess myself and think "hang on, did you feel this bad yesterday, is it any worse" and usually its not, its jsut the same as it was weeks before and any terminal illness surely after so long with progress and get worse. Then I rationalise it and think, well, when i walked round the shop and was distracted, or on the phone, it wasnt there, it can't come and go!!! it's so easy to get into HA and feels near impossible to get out but I promise you, there is light at the end of the tunnel. CBT is great, if you can get your GP to refer you as soon as they can then do so. It's just great to rationalise things. I know its hard to when you are in the moment of panic and your thoughts are plaguing you but with help you will get there. :-)

I hope you get the help you need linz x