View Full Version : losing my mind, tips to calm down please.
I am terrified I've a blood clot. I have pain in my ankle, shin, knee and thigh. Its quite bad. I am shaking in fear of a PE and dying.
Please anyone give me some tips on how to calm the hell down, I'm scared out of my wits. X
I know I am annoying but I am desperate for help. I Havr a pain in my knee, back of the knee, calf (on and off) ankle and foot. I believe its a blood clot, there are no drs appointments until after easter, I'm crying my eyes out I'm terrified of a PE and I can't get seen too and I'm hyperventaliting and scared out of my mind :(:(:(:(:(
Roxy - you aren't annoying - you are anxious and suffering which is precisely what this forum is for.
The chances of you having a pulmonary embolism are exceedingly small, especially as you have had this concern for some time. However:
1) Have you discussed your worries with a GP? What did they say? Have you found a GP you can trust and get along with?
2) Have you discussed your anxiety with your GP - what are they doing to help?
3) What are you doing yourself to alleviate the thing we definitely know you have? (Anxiety)
Don't worry you'll bounce out of this again. X
Oh CPE you're so kind. X
I hope this is a blip as I'd been doing quite well for months (well better than before anyway).
According to what I've read half of DVTs have symptoms half don't. Pain can be mild or severe, on or off or constant, red/swollen/warm or none of these, can be in the thigh , back of knee, calf, ankle, foot etc I hace absolutely no idea how to tell if you Have one or not!
I've had a bad knee before a few weeks agonat the front of my knee. This is at the front and back of the knee, going into thigh, calf ankle and foot.
If the unlikely happens and its not a DVT I am going back for some more CBT. I can't get a doctors appointment before easter which obviously is too long as DVTs are medical emergencies.
In don't believe I have a PE yet I'm worried thay this DVT will turn into one and boom I'm gone just like that :(
Thankyou for being so nice to me x
AlexandriaUK
15-04-14, 20:31
Hope you are feeling a little calmer.
How long have you been sitting at your comps?
Oi Roxy - you never answered my questions :)
1) I haven't been able to discuss my blood clot fears with my GP because there are no appointments available until after easter. I found a lovely woman who I could trust and I will always see her if I can.
2) I was on amitriptyline but ran out. When I went to get some more the doctor was not available so after a few days without the tablets I felt fine so carried on without them. I Have not been to see a GP since January as part of dealing with my HA.
3) At the moment absolutely nothing! I'm in such a panciky state. I tried to ban myself off Google (not worked) as that only exacerbates the situation but a googleathon has left me frightened for my life. O genuinely have been trying to rationalise these thoughts but its not been working lately. X
Hey Roxy,
One thing that stood out to me is that you call it your "blood clot fears". That's just what it is too.... a "fear". It's not a car, bus, planet or clot for that matter, it's a fear. You had this fear last July and you're still here right?
Hope you feel better soon :)
Positive thoughts
1) I haven't been able to discuss my blood clot fears with my GP because there are no appointments available until after easter. I found a lovely woman who I could trust and I will always see her if I can.
GPs have to offer same day appointments if they are needed". It sounds to me like having a pressing discussion regarding anxiety is worth doing
2) I was on amitriptyline but ran out. When I went to get some more the doctor was not available so after a few days without the tablets I felt fine so carried on without them. I Have not been to see a GP since January as part of dealing with my HA.
how about a slightly different approach? When I was at the height of anxiety I wanted to go to the GP every two minutes. When I found one I liked, I agreed two things with her. Firstly that I would trust her judgement and as a consequence, asked her not to refer me for anything by way of reassurance. Secondly I made appointments at six weekly intervals to discuss any concerns I had. I could usually wait that long. After a while, I found myself going with fewer and fewer worries and now I haven't been for ages.
3) At the moment absolutely nothing! I'm in such a panciky state. I tried to ban myself off Google (not worked) as that only exacerbates the situation but a googleathon has left me frightened for my life. O genuinely have been trying to rationalise these thoughts but its not been working lately. X
the problem with HA is that we want to believe that terrible things can't happen to us. Well unfortunately they can, however very much more often than not they don't. Let me give you an example. The media would have you believe that every second person is dropping down with cancer. However, cancer is primarily a disease of older people or of people with serious predisposing factors, for example smoking or obesity etc. I was chatting to a clinican in my work (perverse for someone with HA to spend their life working on healthcare) and he was saying that one of the challenges with making sure that GPs spot signs of cancer early is the fact that they don't see that much of it. In any given year a single GP practice with a caseload of 6000 may see less than a dozen cases of cancer. The moral being that yes rubbish things happen, but not half as often as we like to believe.
The thing that helped me most was taking control. At the moment you are I n the grips of anxiety. You need to grab hold of it and show it how you are going to tackle it.
Yes I remember the fear well last July. Except this is a lot more painful and in different places, and seems to be getting bluddy worse :(
Then book a GPs appointment first thing tomorrow :) of you are in pain and it is getting worse there is no harm in a check up.
Thankyou for that CPE, I really appreciate the time you've taken to write thay out.
I tried To get an on the day appointment but they go in a flash. Lines open at 8am I rang dead on 8am by 8.11 of got through and they were all gone :(.
I need this leg seeing to before it kills me but if I can't get an appointment I don't know what to do. There is only 1,doctors for our town of 10,000+ people.x
They have to be able to offer you a same day appointment if you need one, so just tell them it is urgent. Or perhaps go to an out of hours GP.
However you need to promise yourself that if they tell you it isn't any tin to worry about that you will listen and believe them, otherwise you are just torturing yourself.
I don't like to give advice, but the single thing I think you should do is develop a plan, a strategy, think about how you are going to take this on positively and then implement. You are in control.
Hey there Roxy. Chris is right when he says that developing a plan is so important to dealing with health anxiety, and anxiety in general. You said something about going back for more CBT. How about committing to trying the free online course? It's really a great tool and has done wonders for me.
Example of how it could work: your leg is killing you. What are your thoughts? Maybe something like the following.
1) oh no, my leg and my calf is hurting. I wonder if it could be a DVT. I bet it's a blood clot. It could go to my lungs and kill me.
2) I'm going to have a PE and there won't be anything that can save me
3) there's no one here to help me and I'm going to die.
4) man, this is hurting. This isn't normal. There must be something really wrong.
5) I feel dizzy and sick and I'm hyperventilating. I'm not going to be able to breathe.
All of these are automatic thoughts and by their very nature, irrational.
How can you replace these automatic, irrational thoughts with rational thoughts?
Think about the possible types of distortions in your automatic thoughts.
All or Nothing Thinking - are you looking at things in a black or white category, with no in between.
Overgeneralization - using words like Always or Never
Mental Filter - dwelling on a single, negative event at the exclusion of all other things
Discounting the Positive - think that the positive experiences don't count because they weren't quite good enough.
Jumping to Conclusions - interpret things badly when there is no evidence to back up your conclusion.
Magnification - magnify the importance of your problems or short comings.
Emotional Reasoning - feeling scared about something so assuming that it must be really bad.
Should Statements - telling yourself things should or shouldn't be this particular way.
I find that if I can find the distortion in my thought and replace it with a calm, rational statement and that if I practice this often enough, it helps me tremendously.
Hang in there, Roxy. You can take control and make this better.
Hey Roxy - how are you getting on?
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