bad day AGAIN :(

[smogie]

why does the reassurance not last saw the docs last monday felt loads better until wednesday then have gone down and down each day still not sleeping or eating properly still convinced i have something terrible wrong with me and just cannot break out of the worry cycle why cant i accept what he told me oh and can you bring on bodily symptoms by constantly thinking about them please help

[white rose]

I am convinced you can bring on symptoms by worrying about them. Someone just has to mention they have a sore throat / tummy ache / pain in left leg and next thing you know - I have it too!

This health anxiety / endless worrying is an awful thing - I have had it on and off for some months now - woke up this morning and felt a twinge in my chest and instant panic - I'm having a heart attack! but when this happens, I log onto this site and distract myself by looking at other peoples posts and see that I'm not alone. All I can say is - distract yourself from your symptoms as best you go - enjoy the warm weather - try and get into the company of others who will lift your spirits - and stop worrying - I am thinking of you and sending lots of positive energy! xxx

[Dzt66]

I had a horrible night. I'm convinced I had MS and that even though my brain scan was clear it's in the spine that they didn't look at. My arms hurt and my lips have buzzed for 2 years. I only got 3 he's of sleep last night & when I'd wake up my heart would immediately start racing.

This is awful. You are not alone.

[Jules147]

why does the reassurance not last saw the docs last monday felt loads better until wednesday then have gone down and down each day still not sleeping or eating properly still convinced i have something terrible wrong with me and just cannot break out of the worry cycle why cant i accept what he told me oh and can you bring on bodily symptoms by constantly thinking about them ?please help

Reassurance from the doc never lasts more than a couple of days, in part because you begin to ask yourself too many questions that begin with "What if....?"

There are still some mysteries in your head that need to be unravelled and things that still don't make sense. There are still gaps that need to be filled in.

Until all of your questions have been answered peace will elude you but you are on the right lines because at least you are beginning to address the reasons for your suffering.

To answer your question above the answer is yes, absolutely. My CBT sessions, each lasting about 90 minutes over 6 sessions allowed me to find the answers to exactly the same questions that you are asking and then I found peace at last.

I know that a simple, "yes" isn't good enough, you need to know how and why. Doctors can only go so far in solving all of these mysteries, the prolonged existence in your head of which keeps your suffering going, because they haven't really got the time; a ten-minute consultation perhaps stretched to 15 or even 20 minutes just isn't long enough.

All they can do is rule out the serious illnesses that haunt you. They haven't the time to tell you why you feel the way you do both physically and emotionally and in all the detail that you so desperately need.

I asked exactly the same question as you and lots of others. I managed to find answers to ALL my questions and when this happened my background anxiety levels fell away from around 6/10 (with 10 being a full-blown panic attack) to a completely-normal 3. As each question was answered it dropped back a little more, say half a point or even a full point for a couple of the biggie burning questions. I found peace fully after the third session. The remaining sessions were just to make sure - a process of consolidation, if you will, as well as help and exercises in altering the thought processes that give rise to both the physical and emotional manifestations of severe anxiety.

To answer your question I'll explain how I found the answer to the same question that you've asked:

First of all the therapist explained what causes all the physical symptoms, the fight or flight syndrome and the connection between your thoughts, emotions and these powerful physical symptoms and sensations. Basically I had a biology lesson and psychology lesson rolled into one. Oh, and I got homework too! :D

Secondly it was the answer to another question that nailed this mystery for me. When my GP diagnosed me with severe anxiety it was following two questionnaires he gave me to fill in. There were a number of questions to which there was a score from 0 to 5. 0 equaled no suffering at all, 5 was full-blown. One questionnaire was for anxiety and the other was for depression. My scores for anxiety were much higher than for depression but the two usually accompany each other to some degree, as I was told. I had to repeat the exact same tests during my assessment prior to having the course of CBT and also at the start of each session.

I had googled a number of different anxiety questionnaires including the famous Hamilton anxiety one that was devised in the late 1950s. I noted that this test included the presence and severity of some of the physical symptoms including "buzzing in the ears" and "pricking or prickling sensations." I noted that the tests I was being given contained no such questions. All of the questions I was being asked were concerned only with my emotional feelings and thoughts. I asked my therapist why this was so, why are there no questions related to at least some of these powerful and unpleasant symptoms and sensations?

The answer:

"By fixing your thoughts and emotions the physical sensations will go away by themselves."

And they did.

Not immediately, I went through a transitional period of not being bothered by them first but disappear they did. This was last September. I still get the odd twinges now and again but they don't bother me because I know they are no harbingers of anything sinister and they therefore soon go away.

If you have any more burning questions ask them either in this thread or by pm and I will do my best to answer them. Doctors can't answer all of them, only trained therapists and fellow (and ex-)suffers can really do that.

[Dzt66]

Jules, that was a great post. Thank you. I like knowing that you've had buzzing in the ears. My buzzing is in my head, nose, lips. I'm convinced that along with pain and tingling in my arms I have MS. I had a clear brain scan 4 years ago but now I am telling myself I need a spine MRI to be sure. I got 3 hrs of sleep last night thinking about it.

I've bad health anxiety for 4 years now. It's awful. I've been to a dermatologist to look for cancer, a cardiologist to check my heart, brain scan to look for MS. All tests negative but I'm still convinced I'm sick.

[Jules147]

I have had tingling hands, feet, lips, prickling sensations and buzzing in the ears.

I will dig out the Hamilton test.

---------- Post added at 12:49 ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 ----------

Here it is. There are three pages. You need to click on next page at the bottom. It is for illustrative purposes only:

http://www.psy-world.com/hama_print1.htm

[Dzt66]

Wow I scored awfully high. My buzzing is like vibrating and I have to press on my lips to fall asleep or it feels like there is a phone vibrating on them :/

[Jules147]

About twenty years ago I was having a couple of beers in a local bar with some friends and I had to go to the men's room. In there I saw a man I knew lying in a pool of blood on the floor by one of the cubicles. On my way out I wondered out loud how he had got to be in that state. Unfortunately the culprit overheard what I said and blocked my path back into the bar.

"What's it gotta do with you?!"

I replied, "nothing, I just wondered..."

At that moment I saw that his lips were trembling and he was breathing quickly and shallowly. He was also bright red.

He then punched me in the face and a ring he was wearing cut the soft flesh under my eye. I had to go to casualty for stitches. It was a long time before I went back to that particular pub.

The point I am making here is you know what causes the trembling or buzzing lips....

Adrenaline.

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:16 ----------

I have just deliberately tensed up my muscles in my jaw and neck for a few seconds. My ears and lips started to buzz. I relaxed the muscles and the buzzing stopped.

The difference is I can relax the muscles and you can't at the moment.

[smogie]

thanks everyone and thankyou jules yours posts are really informative and comforting my main thing is my swallowing and indigestion symptoms despite taking omeprozole so therefor this equates in my head to cancer in my food pipe but yes i have noticed that if i am distracted then i am not aware of these symptoms but if i focus constantly on them they get worse and worse which makes me more anxious:weep: am going to the docs tomorrow and he said if i felt the same he would arrange some therapy but i think there is a six month waiting list

---------- Post added at 20:53 ---------- Previous post was at 19:52 ----------

wow jules have just read the hamilton survey am amazed by the questions that refer to physical symptoms and how accurate they are

[Jules147]

What was no 11 on page 3 of the symptom categories in the Hamilton anxiety questionnaire? ;)

[smogie]

I KNOW!!!!!!! couldnt believe it it was just describing me!!! also the sighing which i do quite a lot thankyou it really did help seeing it all written down like that back to docs today am really gonna push for some cbt:)