insomnia

[Katie_cupcakes]

My anxiety is giving me sleepless nights for about 3 weeks now. I only catch a few hours sleep a night, not sure what I'm running on to get me through each day! Weirdly I havnt had any headaches considering!

However, today the sleepless nights really showed in a very bad way. I had a driving lesson in the morning - for weeks my instructor has been saying I'm ready for my test - however today I nearly crashed the car 4 times. It was close! I just didn't see any other cars and kept pulling out in front of them at junctions and roundabouts...I mean I did look, I just didn't see them. I also couldn't register which was was left or right and when he would say take the next left I struggled to think which way that was. I then took the right hand lane to go straight on...I just don't know what was wrong with me except its probably all down to lack of sleep! Needless to say he was pretty upset with me today...and so was I!

I just wish so much that I could sleep, but the anxiety I have over my health is keeping me awake. Uuurrgg :(

[jayware33]

Hi Katie,

Can I ask what it is that you worry about exactly?

What thoughts are going through your head at night?

John

[Katie_cupcakes]

I started getting pelvic pain and bleeding a few weeks ago, my instant thought was cervical cancer. I then was convinced because I had a cough that it had spread to my lungs. The cough went away but then I was having night sweats, dehydration and aches and pains everywhere. The pelvic pain subsided about 1.5 weeks ago after the Dr said everything looked fine, but now I have had a lot of chest pain and muscle pains and I'm worried now that I have breast cancer.

I realise as I am writing this how much of a hypochondriac I sound and if I was reading this post by someone else I would be thinking -definitely anxiety! But when its in my own head and the pain is very real, it hard to convince myself its just anxiety.

I think k the fear of sleeping is because I would wake up every day with yet another symptom, or I would wake up in the middle of the night sweating and dehydrated. I'm now scared to sleep in the fear of all that!

What has made it worse is that my cats have started behaving oddly, which is making me think I must have a serious illness coz cats can sense these things. One of them was climbing all over me last night and wouldn't leave me alone.

[jayware33]

I started getting pelvic pain and bleeding a few weeks ago, my instant thought was cervical cancer. I then was convinced because I had a cough that it had spread to my lungs. The cough went away but then I was having night sweats, dehydration and aches and pains everywhere. The pelvic pain subsided about 1.5 weeks ago after the Dr said everything looked fine, but now I have had a lot of chest pain and muscle pains and I'm worried now that I have breast cancer.

I realise as I am writing this how much of a hypochondriac I sound and if I was reading this post by someone else I would be thinking -definitely anxiety! But when its in my own head and the pain is very real, it hard to convince myself its just anxiety.

I think k the fear of sleeping is because I would wake up every day with yet another symptom, or I would wake up in the middle of the night sweating and dehydrated. I'm now scared to sleep in the fear of all that!

What has made it worse is that my cats have started behaving oddly, which is making me think I must have a serious illness coz cats can sense these things. One of them was climbing all over me last night and wouldn't leave me alone.

Hi again Katie,

I'm sorry to hear of these worries - they do sound terrible (and all too familiar).

You say you've already been seen by a doctor? That's the first best step and also the comfort of knowing there is nothing "physically" wrong.

I know it can be difficult to accept it's anxiety. It might not be, our bodies can produce pains of all sorts from time to time for a whole host of reasons. Did you know that our body can produce several sensations each day that doctors cannot describe? It's just our bodies way of working.

Now, onto the breast cancer. It's extremely unlikely that you have this and no, I don't think you have any metastasis going on (cancer spreading to other body parts). I don't think that because you've already been checked by the doc for the cervical pain and no cancer was found therefore nothing to break off to other body parts. Your mind must be doing overtime thinking about all of this? It's a horrible thought and no wonder your getting tense and having random unexplained pains.

How old are you if you don't mind me asking? 20's, 30's 40's?

All in all, I think you're over thinking this. I also think if you had secondary cancers that you describe, would be experiencing a whole different set of symptoms.

John

[Katie_cupcakes]

I'm 23, so I u derstand the odds. I have been on Google pretty much every day for the past 3 weeks. Which definitely makes things worse. I have diagnosed myself with a handful of different conditions.

I wake up at night with completely numb hands/arms. And not from lying on them. So that'd another thing that scares me!

Iv had a rough year so far. My bf of 4 years left me in Jan and iv struggled to deal with the huge part of my identity which I have lost as a result. I started a new job in Feb and have been really struggling to settle in. I dread going to work every day because I know I'm not happy there.

Life is tough!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Just having someone to talk to can help a lot! My anxiety doesn't help by the fact that I'm alone and have nobody to talk to. So the thoughts just multiply like bacteria!

[jayware33]

I'm 23, so I u derstand the odds. I have been on Google pretty much every day for the past 3 weeks. Which definitely makes things worse. I have diagnosed myself with a handful of different conditions.

I wake up at night with completely numb hands/arms. And not from lying on them. So that'd another thing that scares me!

Iv had a rough year so far. My bf of 4 years left me in Jan and iv struggled to deal with the huge part of my identity which I have lost as a result. I started a new job in Feb and have been really struggling to settle in. I dread going to work every day because I know I'm not happy there.

Life is tough!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Just having someone to talk to can help a lot! My anxiety doesn't help by the fact that I'm alone and have nobody to talk to. So the thoughts just multiply like bacteria!


You're welcome - I love chatting!

I had a rough few years with my anxiety and have a long story of how mine started and the horrors I've faced as a result. Now that I'm more on-top of it, I'm looking to give back and help others out and help guide them into the right thinking style as we are the sum of our own thoughts :).

You seem like a very smart person and switched on. I know Google doesn't help but sometimes it's the only way to get answers. I would strongly advise against using Google to diagnose or look for medical info as it really can lead to becoming more anxious. This was actually my biggest problem.

You sure have been through a lot. You maybe single now, but why is that a bad thing? I understand that it hurts when relationships don't work out but hey, you're strong and got this far, you have the courage to sit and tell me these things and chat away with me. I would focus not on being single and sad but focus on getting YOU better. You're the most important person in your world, no one else.

If you're not happy in your job then you can find things in your job that you must enjoy? There must be something that you CAN do in your job that you think"well, I like this part"? Do you get to interact with people? Do you get to solve problems? What is it that you do? If you really don't think that it's not for you then great, you now know what it is in life that you DONT want to do, in my books, that's progress and a step forward in life. :)

Have you tried CBT or speaking to a therapist? I did a number of years ago and found some relief from this.

Well you can always feel free to speak to me on here or PM, I always have time to try and help others out.

John