stressaholic
09-05-14, 03:25
Hi all! I am a 24 year old female and I'm a textbook hypochondriac. I've been struggling with health anxiety for about four years and it's been nothing but an uphill battle. It seems to get better for a period of time and then I go right back to where I started - terrified and afraid to live my life. I'm here for advice - mainly advice on how to overcome/cope with health anxiety, hear if other people are experiencing the same feelings I am and to learn methods that may help me deal.
My worries all started when I was about 19. My right thigh suddenly went numb one day. I slept it off and the next day it was back to normal. About a month later it went numb again but this time it lasted. I went to see my family doctor who assured me it was probably just a pinched nerve, so I wrote it off as that and went on my way. Over the next week or so the numbness turned into tingling and then into pain. I got freaked out and went to the ER where the Physician's Assistant told me it could be any number of things - a pinched nerve, a pulled muscle, etc. - but the "diagnosis" that would send me over the edge was when she pointed out that because of my age it could be the onset of Multiple Sclerosis. :scared15:
I went to a neurologist who ordered an MRI on my back. The MRI discovered I had two bulged discs and slight arthritis which explained my numb thigh. However, in the course of my MS scare, I started to notice every little change in my body. I began to get these weird sensations where it felt like my scalp was on fire. I went back to the neurologist and demanded a brain MRI. The results of the MRI revealed nothing associated with MS, but they found a tiny cyst on my pineal gland which I automatically diagnosed as cancer.
Long story short, for the next year or so I struggled greatly with my anxiety. Every little ache and pain sent me into a vicious cycle of worrying and I went to doctors repeatedly insisting that I was dying. Some days I didn't want to get out of bed because I was afraid I would just find a new symptom and a new disease. I started seeing a therapist regularly and my doctor prescribed me 10 mg of Celexa. After that things started to improve until recently.
I am going through a very stressful time in my life right now with issues completely unrelated to my health, so logically I am trying to tell myself my "symptoms" are just physical manifestations of my anxiety but it's never that easy.
I stopped my Celexa a few weeks ago as I thought I was doing better and I've decided I really don't want to rely on medication. Before I stopped and now I am experiencing a cocktail of symptoms. I always feel tired even if I sleep a full 8 hours. When I start to feel panicky, I will experience dizziness, lightheaded feelings, an increased heart rate, feeling like my heart is skipping a beat, become very warm all of a sudden (hot flash), and shortness of breath. Recently I have been experiencing random muscle jerks and spams, feeling clumsy and like I don't have control on my limbs, spaced out, and like my limbs are a dead weight or numb.
The most alarming symptom I have been experiencing is what I like to call the Rush. It has been happening on and off for maybe about a year now. It usually occurs when I am anxious and thinking about something and then the more I think about the Rush, the more it happens. It's difficult to describe but I can either be sitting around or walking and all of a sudden it feels like someone rebooted my brain. I will kind of have a full body spasm for a second, and this odd feeling rushes through my whole body. I have to catch my breath and I'll often become hot. I have described it to my doctor who wrote it off as anxiety but I am not sure. I cannot find anything like this on any anxiety book I have read, but it could be a symptom that is unique to me. Who knows?
Because of these new symptoms I have reverted back to thinking that I have MS. Google is my worst nightmare. I am convinced I have all the symptoms with the muscle jerking, spasms, brain fog, etc. and especially the Rush. I just had an MRI of my brain (with contrast) to check on my cyst and everything came back normal. Despite this and the obvious lack of lesions on my brain MRI, I am still convinced and worry about it often.
My questions are these: Has anyone experienced any of the symptoms I have been experiencing? It would be nice to know I'm not the only one. Other than medication, can someone recommend ways to overcome or cope with the anxiety that have worked for them? Also, as I'm sure many of you know health anxiety can be debilitating and interferes with daily life if it gets out of hand. How do you break the vicious cycle of thinking every single pain is a death sentence?
Any advice or comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading my posts. Feel free to ask any questions!
My worries all started when I was about 19. My right thigh suddenly went numb one day. I slept it off and the next day it was back to normal. About a month later it went numb again but this time it lasted. I went to see my family doctor who assured me it was probably just a pinched nerve, so I wrote it off as that and went on my way. Over the next week or so the numbness turned into tingling and then into pain. I got freaked out and went to the ER where the Physician's Assistant told me it could be any number of things - a pinched nerve, a pulled muscle, etc. - but the "diagnosis" that would send me over the edge was when she pointed out that because of my age it could be the onset of Multiple Sclerosis. :scared15:
I went to a neurologist who ordered an MRI on my back. The MRI discovered I had two bulged discs and slight arthritis which explained my numb thigh. However, in the course of my MS scare, I started to notice every little change in my body. I began to get these weird sensations where it felt like my scalp was on fire. I went back to the neurologist and demanded a brain MRI. The results of the MRI revealed nothing associated with MS, but they found a tiny cyst on my pineal gland which I automatically diagnosed as cancer.
Long story short, for the next year or so I struggled greatly with my anxiety. Every little ache and pain sent me into a vicious cycle of worrying and I went to doctors repeatedly insisting that I was dying. Some days I didn't want to get out of bed because I was afraid I would just find a new symptom and a new disease. I started seeing a therapist regularly and my doctor prescribed me 10 mg of Celexa. After that things started to improve until recently.
I am going through a very stressful time in my life right now with issues completely unrelated to my health, so logically I am trying to tell myself my "symptoms" are just physical manifestations of my anxiety but it's never that easy.
I stopped my Celexa a few weeks ago as I thought I was doing better and I've decided I really don't want to rely on medication. Before I stopped and now I am experiencing a cocktail of symptoms. I always feel tired even if I sleep a full 8 hours. When I start to feel panicky, I will experience dizziness, lightheaded feelings, an increased heart rate, feeling like my heart is skipping a beat, become very warm all of a sudden (hot flash), and shortness of breath. Recently I have been experiencing random muscle jerks and spams, feeling clumsy and like I don't have control on my limbs, spaced out, and like my limbs are a dead weight or numb.
The most alarming symptom I have been experiencing is what I like to call the Rush. It has been happening on and off for maybe about a year now. It usually occurs when I am anxious and thinking about something and then the more I think about the Rush, the more it happens. It's difficult to describe but I can either be sitting around or walking and all of a sudden it feels like someone rebooted my brain. I will kind of have a full body spasm for a second, and this odd feeling rushes through my whole body. I have to catch my breath and I'll often become hot. I have described it to my doctor who wrote it off as anxiety but I am not sure. I cannot find anything like this on any anxiety book I have read, but it could be a symptom that is unique to me. Who knows?
Because of these new symptoms I have reverted back to thinking that I have MS. Google is my worst nightmare. I am convinced I have all the symptoms with the muscle jerking, spasms, brain fog, etc. and especially the Rush. I just had an MRI of my brain (with contrast) to check on my cyst and everything came back normal. Despite this and the obvious lack of lesions on my brain MRI, I am still convinced and worry about it often.
My questions are these: Has anyone experienced any of the symptoms I have been experiencing? It would be nice to know I'm not the only one. Other than medication, can someone recommend ways to overcome or cope with the anxiety that have worked for them? Also, as I'm sure many of you know health anxiety can be debilitating and interferes with daily life if it gets out of hand. How do you break the vicious cycle of thinking every single pain is a death sentence?
Any advice or comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading my posts. Feel free to ask any questions!