emlica
23-01-14, 18:44
So a bit of background. My HA first showed its ugly face about 6 months ago, when I had a stomach bug and the after effects (diarrhoea - hey fishman, poo thread alert!) wouldn't go away for months. To be honest they're still not completely gone, but after a while - and a few GP's appointments - I felt a lot calmer and thought I'd be OK. In the course of the tests I had, it emerged that I had low iron levels - nothing to do with my stomach probs, it was just because my periods were so heavy. So I went on the pill a while later. My anxiety came back - about sweating in the night (probably hormonal) about a lingering cough (effects of a virus) and now about feeling shaky and needing to wee more than usual. I thought it was just the way of things, good days and bad days and it'll always come back to bite you if you've not dealt with the underlying anxiety, right?
Well. Maybe. But I went to the GP today and she got me to go through a detailed chronology of my moods, and at the end of it she said 'Right. You need to stop the pill'. I hadn't noticed that the re-emergence of my anxiety (once the initial stomach-related worry had passed) had coincided so closely with going on the pill. I did say, oh, but I did have HA before that, surely, with the worry about my digestive system, and she said really, not to worry, that plenty of people would have been just as worried as me about that. She does think it's possible that the worry about that has 'triggered' a bit of a pattern, but she think it's much more likely that the pill is the culprit, at least partly. And also, interestingly, that the pill might also be causing some of the symptoms that I've been worrying about, as well.
I'm still shaky and feeling a bit off, but just knowing that I might not have gone crazy and it might just be that the hormones in the pill didn't agree with me is quite a nice feeling. I was also specifically anxious about my thyroid being overactive, and I was worried that it was a completely irrational fear and part of my 'craziness', but the GP said it was actually a very reasonable thing to wonder about, as the symptoms often very closely mimic anxiety, so it was worth double checking. So blood tests booked for Tuesday. Might sound like further reassurance seeking and I even said to the GP that we shouldn't do it if it was just to reassure me, and she said, no, it would be remiss of her not to make sure given what I'd told her. I'm fairly sure it will be fine, though.
She's also given me a leaflet on HA and has suggested a self-help group that I could contact if I want to, plus some info on CBT. I may or may not take these up - I'm going to see how I do after a few weeks off the pill first!
Really all this is meant to mean is: please DO go to your GP. Not about your symptoms, but about your actual anxiety. Reassurance about your symptoms won't fix it. I'm lucky with mine, I know I am, but if you're not happy with yours, you can ask to change. There are a couple of GPs in my practice who are very 'offhand', but others who are fantastic.
Well. Maybe. But I went to the GP today and she got me to go through a detailed chronology of my moods, and at the end of it she said 'Right. You need to stop the pill'. I hadn't noticed that the re-emergence of my anxiety (once the initial stomach-related worry had passed) had coincided so closely with going on the pill. I did say, oh, but I did have HA before that, surely, with the worry about my digestive system, and she said really, not to worry, that plenty of people would have been just as worried as me about that. She does think it's possible that the worry about that has 'triggered' a bit of a pattern, but she think it's much more likely that the pill is the culprit, at least partly. And also, interestingly, that the pill might also be causing some of the symptoms that I've been worrying about, as well.
I'm still shaky and feeling a bit off, but just knowing that I might not have gone crazy and it might just be that the hormones in the pill didn't agree with me is quite a nice feeling. I was also specifically anxious about my thyroid being overactive, and I was worried that it was a completely irrational fear and part of my 'craziness', but the GP said it was actually a very reasonable thing to wonder about, as the symptoms often very closely mimic anxiety, so it was worth double checking. So blood tests booked for Tuesday. Might sound like further reassurance seeking and I even said to the GP that we shouldn't do it if it was just to reassure me, and she said, no, it would be remiss of her not to make sure given what I'd told her. I'm fairly sure it will be fine, though.
She's also given me a leaflet on HA and has suggested a self-help group that I could contact if I want to, plus some info on CBT. I may or may not take these up - I'm going to see how I do after a few weeks off the pill first!
Really all this is meant to mean is: please DO go to your GP. Not about your symptoms, but about your actual anxiety. Reassurance about your symptoms won't fix it. I'm lucky with mine, I know I am, but if you're not happy with yours, you can ask to change. There are a couple of GPs in my practice who are very 'offhand', but others who are fantastic.