I just want to say.....

[SheilaH921]

WHY THE **** DOES HEALTH ANXIETY HAVE THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS CANCER AND OTHER SERIOUS ILLNESSES!!!!!! I am so sick of it!!!!!! No wonder we are the way we are!!! The crazy symptoms anxiety can give u: chest pains, headaches, weird sensations in your head, spaced out feelings, tingling in your body, stomach cramps etc etc! The list goes on and on!! Of course we are going to wonder what the hell is wrong with us and if it could be serious!!!! Basically the only way to get better is to try and believe that there is nothing serious wrong with us, but theres always going to be that niggling doubt in the back of my head, what if it isnt the anxiety causing my symptoms especially when you hear freak stories of the doctors getting it wrong!!!! Its a vicious cirlce and i am so sick of it!!!!!!! (rant over) lol

[swgrl09]

I agree 100%. Just this past week I have had chest pains, muscle aches, dizziness, skipped my period, etc etc etc and it is all related to being stressed and anxious. I was trying to explain to my fiance on the phone last night that I need to relearn how to tell the difference between real danger and imagined danger and it is so difficult to do. He doesn't quite get it, as nobody really does who hasn't been there.

At least we can come vent here.

[SheilaH921]

yeah anybody who hasnt been through it doesnt get it!!! Ive been like this 6 years now and i finally feel like i need to do something about it before i go mad!!!

Today was the final straw for me. I had a test done at the opticans a few days ago to check your outside vision, i failed it and the first thing i done was google it. It said that if your outside vision is bad that you can have a brain tumour. For the last two days i have hardly slept, spent a crazy amount of hours on google and literally thought i was dying. I went into the opticans today to repeat the test. By this stage i was throwing up with anxiety. I broke down in tears in the waiting room ( i feel so stupid for doing this) I told the lady i thought that i had a brain tumour if i failed this test. She couldnt believe id get myself in such a state. I repeated the test and passed it!!!!

I promised myself that if i was ok this time that id do something about this. It is debilitating and stops you being happy and being able to enjoy life! arghhh i just feel so upset tonight, i literally HATE being like this!!

[swgrl09]

I know, it is so frustrating. I get quite down on myself and am hard on myself about it because other people really don't get it and I feel like a crazy person. Just last night I had a mental breakdown about missing my period even though my pregnancy test was negative and I'm on the pill, which can cause that. But I truly was like a crazy person. It's embarrassing for me.

I always hate when I get asked - why can't you just calm down? Um because if I could, I would. I think that we, as the anxious people, want to get better more than ANYTHING and would jump at the chance to. It's just so hard to do.

My current challenge with my therapist is to stop being so hard on myself with it. I am trying to accept that this is just the way I react for many reasons that are not my fault - how I was raised, experiences I have gone through, etc. It is not our fault that we react this way. I think that is my big hurdle to overcome before I can make progress with my anxiety.

I hope you are not being to hard on yourself. At least you know you are ok, which is great news. And you did everything the doctor said. That is great.

Also I just wanted to add -don't forget about this that you have just gone through. Remind yourself next time you are afraid that you have been through the fear and made it out ok and were healthy! You got through it :)

[SheilaH921]

I know, its just so hard to not google for a start. Which really feeds my anxiety. I really hope i get referred for therapy. I cant go on like this. I have 2 young boys and i am so scared that they are going to see how i act and end up like me when they are older. Thats what makes me realise i really need help now. Plus it stops me enjoying my kids properly when i am always like this.

Do you take any meds for your anxiety and does anything help? I have a docs app next week and i am going to ask can any meds help in the meantime while i wait for therapy. I am currently on a low dose of betta blockers, propranalol which ive only been on 2 weeks.

[abby38]

Sorry to read you have had such a rough time but good news about your test. This whole health anxiety thing is a bag of s**t. It has sort of crept up on me in the last year or so. Suffered anxiety and panic attacks for years but since having my son 18 months ago I seem to feel ill and constantly stress I have cancer and am going to leave my two children. Wish I could magic it away for us all big sigh. Hope your Dr starts you on the road to recovery x

[swgrl09]

Hi, I am not on any medications. I have beta blockers that I was given for blushing to use as needed but I am a bit nervous to take them, as my blood pressure usually is on the lower side. I have been going to therapy for almost two years now, although this is my second therapist during that time and I feel I am doing better with the new therapist at least. I currently go weekly, as she is helping me with grief and trauma as well as the anxiety.

I've discussed medications with both my counselor and doctor, and I just know I would be really afraid of side effects so I am trying not to have to resort to them. My sisters are on them and have had a lot of trouble with that.

[iloverabs]

I agree....it is so awful that the symptoms are exactly the ones which make you most scared.

When my boyfriend gets chest pains, his first reaction is "oh, I pulled a muscle". My first reaction is "OMG, heart attack!".

I suppose it is just how you think of it. Funnily the only other people I have ever come across with health anxiety are my brother and my sister. In 33 years that is all I have ever come across. I wonder if it is either genetic, or something to do with the way your parents raised you. Mine were very over protective and nervous, but also very volatile and scared and worried us a lot. I try my hardest not to impart my fears onto my son, but I know I sometimes do.

I always said anxiety is the worst thing in the world to have...pure fear. Total sufferring, with no gain, and nothing to achieve from it.

To work out if the danger is real or imagined, what I usually do is:

a) wait to see if it gets better or worse...if it gets better, is probably nothing.

b) see if it persists more than a week...if it doesn´t, then it was nothing.

c) see if paracetamol takes it away. If it does, it was probably nothing.

d) consider the most likely explanation and stick with that unless proved otherwise.

e) never, EVER, EVER Google symptoms!

f) keep active...I only obsess if I have time to do it.

[SheilaH921]

Thats very good advice!!

I worry that my two boys will end up like me aswell, i really hope i can get this under control soon.

Yep google is my biggest downfall at the minute :(

[iloverabs]

I get my boyfriend to Google for me. He just reads the pertinent bits and passes on whether I need to see a doctor or not.

Last week I peed blood, and managed not to Google it. Turned out it was a bladder infection. If I HAD Googled, it would have been cancer!

I think websites cover their own butts by giving you a worst case scenario. It is almost never the worst case scenario...

I see the evidence in my 8 year old son already and it makes me very sad. I try my best.

[swgrl09]

I think that we may have a genetic tendency towards anxiety and the way we are raised can make it worse or better. My mom had health anxiety, as did all of her sisters, as did her mom, etc. I have it, and I think one of my sisters does.

I am going to therapy because I don't want ot give this to my future children. It's so hard not to google when that terror grips you and you need some reassurance ... but I try to search here for the issues first. I have never accurately diagnosed myself with google.

[SheilaH921]

Same here, if google gave 20 answers for my symptoms and cancer was one of them then thatd be me convinced thats what i have. Its crazy really when u think about it. I can look back and see how irrational i have been over things but at the time its happening its so scary. People say stop worrying ur being silly and all i think is 'yeh easy for u to say but ur not the one whose going to be told youve a few months left to live!' arghhh its so irrational really, but u cant stop these thoughts from taking over :(