New Here - Introduction - Getting through Health Anxiety

[elysemarie123]

Hello all. First let me intoduce myself -- My name is Elyse and I live in Pennsylvania, USA. I've dealt with anxiety in some form my entire life but it transferred to health anxiety when one of my best friends died suddenly from meningitis. This was now 6 years ago and I've been able to move on (or at least attempt to) after a debiliatating bout of anxiety from his death. I lost 20 pounds in a month and was unable to leave my house. I know I was mourning but I hate the fact that instead of just being sad and feeling for his family, my greif turned into HA. I've just never seen a sickness take someone that fast. I've since been perscribed sertraline (started at .50mg and about a year ago I went up to 1.00mg due to a hard break up and life in general). My HA started with worrying about when meningitis was going to get me but since then has turned into worrying about everything.

I want my life back. Most days I am okay and can work through the anxiety but some days I don't want to get out of bed. Today, for example, I am a mess because I had a headache last night and of course I thought the worst.

I come here to read your posts quite a bit but never posted on my own. This may sound sort of horrible, but it's comforting to come here and know that I am not alone in this internal struggle.

Thanks for reading and any replies/advice would be wonderful. Nice to finally meet you all.

[cpe1978]

Hi Elyse,

Nice to meet you :)

Have you tried any therapy to accompany your meds? There are a good number of members, me included who have found CBT helpful.

Also various members have used an online version. I am sure Fishmanpa will be along with a link in a little while :)

[HoneyLove]

Welcome Elyse :)

I would second cpe's question, about trying therapy or any other anxiety reduction methods along with following your doctor's instructions? There is a lot we can do to help ourselves along with medication, a lot of it is essential work to look at our thoughts and how we're creating anxiety. It's rewarding work once you get into it! x

[elysemarie123]

Thanks for writing back and for the warm wishes! I've never tried cognitive behavioral therapy but I've definitely seen it mentioned on here quite a bit. I went to talk to someone about it right after my friend died but to be honest she wasn't much help. I think it was more so that her and I didn't mesh well and I'd be happy to try again. I'm not sure my insurance covers it however 😔.

If you can post some sort of link that would be fabulous!

[.Poppy.]

Welcome. I would agree with the others and recommend some therapy if you think it will be helpful. Be sure to research the therapist you see to make sure s/he has happy clients.

HA can be very awful and I think everyone journeys through it in their own way. There IS a way out, though, at least there was for me. I suffered from severe HA a few years back; like you, I always suffered anxiety and I still suffer from GAD and SA at times but HA was pretty new to me. I would get harmless symptoms, convince myself that it was a sign of something awful, and then those symptoms would persist, all the while I would be convincing myself it was something awful. It was a vicious cycle, for sure. For me, I eventually realized that I was doing this to myself. It was **incredibly** hard, but when a symptom popped up, I told myself that I was going to ignore it, and then I did whatever it took for me to ignore it. Eventually I got to the place where I could look at myself logically, recognize my tendency to panic, and get past my symptoms calmly. And once there, I had fewer and fewer "serious" symptoms, and my fears about them went away much quicker.

But, as I said, not every journey is the same. I'm sorry you lost your friend, but I do believe that you can figure out the path that is best for you and find your way back to where you were before this all began. Best of luck :)

[Fishmanpa]

Here ya go!

CBT4PANIC (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=131665)

Many here have used this with great success. I used some of the techniques to help with depression and some occasional "scanxiety". The key is you have to practice the techniques so you can utilize them. It's also very insightful as it explains the physiological reasons behind anxiety. The more you understand why your body reacts the way it does, the better you'll be able to control the reactions.

Positive thoughts

[HoneyLove]

Elyse sometimes we just don't click with a therapist, you'll know in a few sessions if it's working for you or not, I've been there myself. If you're not finding it helpful with that woman then maybe have a look around and see who else is in your area, it would be worthwhile!

There's a great book I'd recommend called Flagging Stress by Dr Harry Barry, you'll learn all about stress & anxiety in there, and the methods used to treat it. I'd even recommend Control Stress by Paul McKenna which comes with a great stress relief CD that I find really good. Hope that helps :)

[TheHusband]

Elyse, you said "it's comforting to come here and know that I am not alone".

There are indeed plenty of people posting on this forum, but don't forget you are part of the MILLIONS of people who have suffered from health anxiety around the world. I am not exaggerating. In the UK I believe the NHS agree on roughly 14% of the population as having an anxiety disorder. You probably have two friends with a very similar condition to yourself, but will never know it because most people keep it a secret.

Please keep trying with the CBT; it is very different to traditional counselling. If you feel the anxiety is stopping you living life as you used to, please discuss with a doctor whether or not some tablets are right for you. These will balance the bad combination of hormones that anxiety sufferers have.

(I later found another statistic: "Anxiety disorders affect about 19 million adult Americans".)

[elysemarie123]

Thanks again, everyone, for the replies! I am going to give CBT a shot this weekend. I've never really tried it.

And HoneyLove -- I will definitely look into those books! Thanks so much.

[HoneyLove]

Wishing you all the best Elyse, hope you can make some recovery :) Be sure to look for support here if you need it, and let us know how you're doing! x