Post your first ever post

[skippy66]

I've just posted my first ever post on here on another thread, and thought it would be a good exercise if everyone did this - it will be a good gauge of how far you've come (or haven't) on the road to recovery, and how your symptoms may have changed over time.

Here's my first ever post. Bear in mind that I'm now free of health anxiety:



Hi. I'm a 28 yr old male. I've just been swimming and for the second time in a week I've come home feeling short of breath and with a tightness in my lower chest (central) that feels almost muscular. I didn't do much - only around 15 lengths of slow breatstroke and back crawl.

Last time the feeling was gone by the next morning.

What is it???????? PLEASE HELP ME SOMEBODY.

Here are my other daily symptoms:

PVCs - 20-30 a day, some in runs giving me a head rush. Cardio has checked me over and over and said that it's all benign. I beg to differ.

Chest pains - some stabbing, lots of tightness, constricting, mainly seem to come from lower central chest where the diaphragm? is I think, and sometimes seems muscular. Doc thinks its just one of those things but I think its either:

- hiatal hernia that could strangulate any moment
- pulmonary edema or some other lung nasty
- huge tumour in my chest/upper stomach (never been xrayed to check)
- impending heart attack
- cardiomyopathy
- cancer of the esophagus (sometimes i also get a feeling of food stuck in throat)

High blood pressure - I've had a 24 hr thing which said high ish at times but normal for you, I beg to differ. My wrist monitor when I feel stressed gives readings of 150/120 sometimes and NEVER below 130/90 except once when I took it because I was feeling really dizzy. Cousin nearly died from stroke at 24 and im convinced im next because of my high bp and pvcs.

Nosebleeds - come in waves, away for a month then bam one every day for a few days. Sinus scan said all clear but that wouldn't tell me if they were related to my sky high blood pressure.

Panic attacks - first started back in 2003 and now having them in places i can't escape from eg airport queue, barber, supermarket queue. Now every time I go into a supermarket I automatically start feeling dizzy. I know this is harmless but I can't stop it unless I've had a few drinks beforehand. But I don't want to be an alcoholic and anyway, alcohol aggravates my dodgy heart.

Sleep paralysis - happens once in a blue moon but happened last night. Woke up mentally but not physically, unable to move or scream no matter how hard I tried. It's one of the most terrifying things I've had.


I'm sitting here feeling short of breath and with lower chest tightness thinking that I'm just going to die. How can this not be serious? What do I do? It's happened before and gone away. Do I have a chlorine allergy or something? because I also sat in a hot tub for like 10 minutes.

I catastrophize every little symptom, but I've forgotten what 'normal' is for me. I was never like this in my teens. This whole health anxiety thing started because of the PVCs, and its got beyond serious. It's affecting my relationships and daily life. I don't want to do anything fun any more. I'm grumpy 90% of the time because I'm feeling ill 90% of the time.


Docs all think I'm a hypochondriac and they're right. Problem is, how to f***ing cure it????? And will that cure the symptoms - I don't f***ing think so?

PLEASE HELP - some reassurance is desperately needed.

[swgrl09]

Interesting idea, here's mine:

Hi, I am new to this site. I have been suffering from Health Anxiety for about a year and a half now. I grew up with a mother who had severe health anxiety, and for the longest time I did not have it (or I did, but it had not shown itself yet). I always thought "Mom is crazy, I don't want to be like that." Then my mom got diagnosed with late stage metastatic neuroendocrine cancer. She passed away 1 1/2 months after diagnosis. She had no symptoms until two weeks before the diagnosis.

After her passing, my health anxiety has shown its ugly head. I notice every symptom and fear for the worst. I think because she was sick for so long (and even doctors did not notice) I become super focused on any symptom thinking it is a sign of something awful. Once I don't have something to worry about, I find something else. If it is not my own health, I am worrying about my boyfriend's (who has no anxiety about his health and rarely even sees a doctor).

I have seen a counselor, who tells me that I will probably always have some form of this anxiety. I am not on any meds for it (like xanax or anything else). Some days it is worse and some days it is better.

Most recently I have been superfocused on a swollen gland in the right side, middle of my neck. I am not sure how long it has been swollen, it could have been for years. I just recently noticed it and freaked myself out again. It is probably about 1 cm long. I was at a doctor recently who felt my neck (went for a sinus infection) and did not say anything about feeling something irregular, so I am sure it is nothing, and probably has been like that for a long time. Also could be from the infection but still has not gone down. But still I think the worst. And once I stop worrying about this, I will find a bump in my mouth that has always been there and focus on that. And if I get past that, I will find a spot on my leg or something and freak about that too. It is awful. I just cannot relax! I don't remember what relaxed feels like.

I am looking for tips on how I can begin to deal with this. Should I find a new counselor? I am starting with a new GP in a month and am going to ask her for advice as well on how to deal with it. I get so nervous going to doctors that my blood pressure always looks through the roof (and I am 22 and normally it is normal/low). It sucks! any suggestions on where to begin???

---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 ----------

Looking and reading it over again, I really can see how far I've come ... I don't get high blood pressure at the doctor's anymore - ever! I also am less focused on symptoms. It does happen sometimes, but not as often as before. Also looking through again ... My boyfriend at the time is now my husband! He has gotten his own doctor now and I am less worried. We are both trying to be healthier by working out and eating healthier. I think I have really come along way, but it will always be a journey!

[RVP]

Hello everyone, so I won't go into my whole history of health anxiety because there's a lot. I'm 21 years old and suffer from quite bad health anxiety, if anything happens to me the first thing I will do is search it up on google! Which I know is the worst, but I can't help it :(
So.. last year is when it all started, started to get chest pains and everything pretty much escelated from there won't go into every detail but thought I was suffering from heart failure of something of the sought. I've calmed down from that but recently.. well, for the last week and a half I've had Tinnitus in my ear(s) which has really been getting to me.. I've been searching it up and everything, went to the doctors and they basically said if it doesn't go within 2/3 weeks come back. So I started getting a headache 3 days ago, tension type headaches and slight throbbing too. So what do I do.. check tinnitus with headaches and brain tumor comes up with as a possible symptom.
Mainly because I have a pressure type headache which is back of the head, but also it's effecting my temples and I had severe throbbing above my right ear couple of nights when I was AGAIN searching on google about this stuff.. The headache is at the back of my head, sometimes on top and temples, and it's quite like a tension headache pressure type.

I don't want to be doing this stuff through christmas and new years, I know it's bad.. but I'm sick of feeling good for a while then having something like tinnitus pop up. Thanks and merry christmas.







Think I can safely say, although I still have health anxiety, but it's to no extent at what it was 2 years ago. I can go through pain without searching for symptoms (for the most part) because I know I've had it before and I was fine.
Although, other things have developed, 2 years ago I never used to get panic attacks, these started at the end of last quarter 2013 so.. I still have a long way to go.
P.S I still have tinnitus and have faced it as a part of life, don't even notice is 9/10

[unsure_about_this]

Hello all.

I am a long time reader of the forum and it took me great guts to sign up.

I do have a condition called NF which gives me an added worry.

I have been suffering of anxiety and worry since last June about worrying about cancer and my health in general (do I have this condition or not)

It was an important article about testicular cancer in the newspaper what could have trigger it and more recently the bowel cancer adverts.

I have lost count how many times I have been the doctors in the last year worrying about this pain or that, including marks and symptoms.

I have tried not to google as much now and have tried to stay away from health websites and instead listen to the doctor.

From my 1st post I don't think I have improved my health worries I am 30 now, I had a lot of scans done last year because I was so worried about my abdominal pain that it was bowel cancer and pancreatic cancer etc (or kidney problems) etc all my scans came back clear, there were a small worry that it could have been a small pouch of the small bowel which was causing the problem, but nothing of concerned needed removing by keyhole.

I have tried to Google less and visiting Daily Mail online, done well the last couple of days with no Googling (had to look up for my mum about frozen shoulder as she is currently waiting for an operation and she wanted to know more details) daily mail doing badly.
Visiting the GP once so far this year, having group anxiety now instead of one to one CBT . I have had a brain scan this year, because I have NF it is advisable for me to have one and since I not had one done since 2003, but think something would have been picked up by the opticians last year.
I still fear for my health a lot, I am scared I have cancer and don't know it,. I keep checking my body all the time still daily

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/images/nmp/misc/progress.gif

[Worriedwellornot]

Re: Terrified newbie
Hi kitbear. I'm a newbie ( not sure how if this is posting) but I have severe HA also which is ruining my life and have had since my children were born. I lurch from one cancer to the next and this last 6 months has been ovarian followed by lung and currently gripped by the latest- pancreatic-. Started 4 weeks ago with reflux, abdominal pain and taste in mouth. Waiting for blood tests. Mine seems to start once I read an article, watch TV or hear if someone else is ill. I'm gripped with Dr Google ( used to be the medical book ) I wish I could cure this anxiety. Every twinge it symptom I read up on until I'm convinced I have the disease. Once I get the all clear from the latest panic all the symptoms go..... Hope you are ok



Hmm don't think I have travelled that far with my HA!

[Darwin73]

Hello
I have suffered from health anxiety in one form or another ever since I can remember, so it was great to discover there are others who can truly understand how this can totally cast a shadow over your life. However, from glancing through the health anxiety posts, I feel like I differ from other people in that I am actually scared to visit my GP for reassurance and put off going whenever I can help it. I am really scared of hospitals and Drs, yet I spend weeks or months (sometimes longer) dwelling on symptoms and diagnosing them myself and fearing the worst (often cancer or other life-threatening illnesses).

I have had CBT for my anxiety, and it has helped me a bit to rationalise my fears, but ultimately (like now), when symtoms present themselves I think of nothing else all day long even though I am a busy mum to little children who should be really happy.

Anyway, that's me. Anyone else scared of Drs, tests, investigations?

[luc]

Yes a I could have wrote that exact post. My fear (which is getting a bit better of late) includes: hiding when it see my doctor in the street in case she gives me a 'knowing look'; getting someone else to pick my prescription up from the surgery just in case when they ask my name the tone of their voice changes; obsessing over texts from the surgery that say 'thank you for using our website, your repeat prescription is ready' !!! WTF - irrational or what. When I did used to go to the doctor I used to ask them to turn the computer monitor around so that I could not see any info/records. Cuckoo - ha:wacko: