Health Anxiety/Physical Issues - not sure which?

[Sadie737]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this site for a few weeks now, and it's really helped a lot, so thank you all in advance for that. Now to my story...

For the last couple of years, I have been dealing with several different issues regarding my physical health. Everything is on my life side - left side throat/neck pain for the last seven months, left side chest pain, left side armpit pain, left ear pain, left eye pain, and yesterday my left arm and leg went numb. I've had blood work, a CT scan of my head, several EKG's, chest X-rays, an echocardiogram, an ultrasound of my abdomen, a laryngoscopy, and everything comes back normal, yet I still have these pains. I've even visited my dentist and eye doctor (dentist filled 2 cavities and eye doctor said my eyes were dry, but healthy). The next possible step is an MRI of my head and neck, but I'm not really sure if I want to go through that/pay for it, because this is all very exhausting and expensive. Everyday I'm afraid I have a new disease - throat cancer, MS, lymphoma... I feel like it could be health anxiety, but the truth is that I don't know that because there's always another test to do (right now, the MRI), so I don't know if I should focus on the anxiety aspect or the physical aspect right now, and I'm going broke trying to figure it all out (nevermind that I also feel like I'm going insane!). Has anyone else experienced anything like this, and if so, what have you done to help it? Thank you.

[SarahH]

Hi and welcome to NMP.


So after all those tests you still think you have a serious illness!!!!

You could pay for the MRI...but will you accept it if it comes back clear?

If not then you have health anxiety...... look at the left hand side of those page and check out the "health anxiety" section.

Good luck. sarah

[Sadie737]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your message. That's just the thing - I don't know if I would accept the MRI if it came back clear or not. I'm afraid that if it does, then something else will spring up that won't have been seen in the MRI (for example, the armpit pain) - so sure, yeah, I'll believe the MRI, but I'll just be afraid they've missed something else or that I haven't explained my symptoms properly (especially because they seem to be changing so often). Sigh... It's exhausting. And if the MRI doesn't come back clear, then I think at least we'll finally have an answer and can work on fixing it.

I'm just afraid if I don't get the MRI, then maybe whatever it is will progress and I'll be even sicker once we do figure it out. :(

Thanks again.