Really down

[RyanM1994]

Hey guys, sorry for another post.

Just really feeling Down in the dumps today, feel like giving up and quite frankly ending it all.

A few months back I was fine, was never ever anxious never had any worries. Now the slightest pain I get, I think I'm dying.

It's having a massive effect on my relationship with my girlfriend and even got me worrying that I won't be able to do the job that I recently got.

My mind seems to be obsessed with appendicitis, and to be honest it's stopping me from being able to concentrate properly. Half way through a conversation or playing game I will just stop and stare, my girlfriend has told me it's quite creepy.

I just can't help it and don't know what to do.


The only pain I have is a pain when I poke into my side (roughly where the appendix should be) I have no pain when resting or anything, except I occasionally get an ache in that exact position that disappears after 3-5 minutes.

I also have quite a bit of nausea, but it could be from heartburn or indigestion because last time. I felt this stressed I had bad heartburn and indigestion.

I'm so sorry guys, don't know where else to turn

[Fishmanpa]

I'm so sorry guys, don't know where else to turn

How about professional help? This is an internet forum and while people are sympathetic and can understand where you're coming from, they can't do much else realistically as they're in the same boat more or less. It's up to you to take the real life steps necessary to treat the real issue which is psychological. What's stopping you from doing so?

Positive thoughts

[RyanM1994]

I have been doing CBT but only in early stages.
they get paid to help, doesn't mean they actually care or anything.
Sometimes it's better for people who have and do experience exactly what you are feeling to say it how it is from their point of view

[Fishmanpa]

I have been doing CBT but only in early stages.
they get paid to help, doesn't mean they actually care or anything.
Sometimes it's better for people who have and do experience exactly what you are feeling to say it how it is from their point of view

So you're saying that someone who spent 8+ years in school to learn how to help someone doesn't care? Why would they spend 100's of thousands of dollars on an education if they didn't want to help people? I'm sorry but your perception is skewed :(

You want an opinion? I'll give you one... no holds barred. YOU DON'T HAVE APPENDICITIS! I'm not a doctor but it's quite obvious. You have no pain except when you poke yourself. If I poke myself, basically anyplace on my body, I will feel some sense of pain. C'mon Ryan... I worry about my health and I have a damn good reason to! I have heart disease and am recovering from cancer. I have some stress and anxiety related to that but damn if it's going affect my life to the point I'm considering ending it!

You're saying an irrational an unfounded fear of appendicitis is enough to do so? The worst possible case scenario is you actually do have it and have to have a simple surgery (typically keyhole these days) to remove a useless piece of flesh. Most likely you have some bowel related issue due to the stress you put yourself through. I dealt with it in my youth too. Basically I was told I was FOS and to get on with it. I did!

I'm sorry for this cyber slap up side the head but you need it! You're about my daughters age right? 20-21? If she came to me with this , I'd say the exact same thing. You just got a job and an opportunity to move ahead in life. You have a girlfriend that obviously cares for you too. You're taking steps to treat your anxiety and guess what? You have to WORK at it. Time to get to work! What other people think about this or how that can relate is irrelevant in this case. Nothing anyone can say will change your perception unless you want it to.

again, I apologize for being so forward and blunt but I feel it needs to be said.

Positive thoughts

[SADnomore]

Ryan, I laid awake all night the other night because my mind had decided to grab onto a possibility and run with it. Today, I realized that I have done this before and because it wasn't the middle of the night then, I pulled other people into reassuring me that everything was okay. Especially because I had overblown my fear in my own mind, and there really was no basis for it, people did not entertain it for very long.

You want to hear how it is from people who have and do experience exactly what you are feeling "how it is from their point of view"? Read the posts from the ones who have found answers to their dilemma, and are doing well now.

I have read many posts on here from health anxiety sufferers where they talk about how one imagined ailment, once disproven, is replaced by another almost immediately. And still, no amount of reassurance stops the belief that they are sick and no one is able to help. One thing after another until they are unable to work and have exhausted all hope in getting on with life. Some eventually catch on to this time warp and refuse to get back in. Arm themselves with strategies that free them from the behaviour. Go on to take control of their mental health, smarter and happier than ever before. You're lucky your mind only came up with appendicitis. Usually people imagine far worse, but the drama you are experiencing surrounding what you are convinced is appendicitis is as real as any of theirs. You need to take the upper hand here. You really do have it, you know. It is your mind, and there is nothing wrong with it besides anxiety, which is treatable.

As Fishmanpa says, it is likely your stress that is causing the physical symptoms. Yep, you can give yourself an ulcer if you stick with the course you're on. No, you probably won't die from that either, but they are a nasty reminder that you simply must stop reacting to that scared, overly dramatic part of your mind that, like a child, is refusing to listen to reason. It is pointing to anxiety, pure and simple. And you, as your own "parent" are the best person to deal with it. Get treatment for it. Don't listen to the excuses anxiety makes for freaking out, and taking you along for the ride. You have a life to live and there is no reason to let anxiety, whether focused on your health or whatever else, rule it. Force your anxiety to read what Fishmanpa has just said. There is no arguing with his truth. There is help that works for exactly what ails you. Disbelief and self-pity won't support the life that you want. Finding some courage and using your own common sense about this stuff will.