Health anxiety relapse??

[Betterheart]

Hello again everyone,

So after a while of being kinda normal I have a lot of health anxiety or worries about things. I moved back to my country with my wife and we are planning our life here with a lot of streess.

So, for the past months since I came back I have been having bad stomach issues. I have to say that I was pretty bad, with ice creams, chocolate, fatty foods, a bit of alcohol you name it.

For the past 5 days, I have been having a really bad upper abdominal pain that comes and goes and sometimes is very painful. It is kinda where the ribs curve on the left side and a bit lower. I started thinking that it might be my pancreas,spleen,heart,lungs and everything but because it was only in the front I thought that it will be ok. Now starting yesterday I had a bad back pain on my left side. It moves a lot so I can't give an exact spot. Especially this morning when I got up from bed, I felt that I could not breath at all for an hour.

I am thinking that it might be a PE, pericarditis, and everything else. Also I started again getting a small pressure under my left chest.

I have to say that at some points I can actually touch the place that hurts and will give me shooting pains all over. I am not sure if that makes a difference or not though. I would immediately go to the doctor, but I do not have insurance yet here and it's a lot to pay, just to be sure.

I have been having a lot of one side facial numbness too as well as cold feeling on the other side of my face under my eye. My posture is pretty bad, but I had blood work a couple of months ago and it came back fine.

Any thoughts would be well appreciated

[JoeGomez17]

Oh boy. I've been through that all as well. It started when I moved in with my fiance and got a new job, similar to you moving - the stress level is high.

I started with diarrhea / stomach pains / sleeping issues.

Turns out, I was intolerant of bananas. There went the diarrhea.
Turns out, I have GERD, there explains some stomach issues / dizziness / nausea / sleeping issues.

If you haven't yet, ask your Dr. to look into the possibility of GERD or Acid Reflux. It can cause a whole host of symptoms, but yours in particular are very similar to mine.

I had the same thoughts, pulmonary embolism etc, and went to the emergency room who did plenty of tests and found nothing.

Edit: The reason for going to the ER was chest discomfort / back pain / left shoulder pain and shortness of breath. All were due to my anxiety

[Betterheart]

Thank you so much for your reply!

I actually have chronic gastritis as a condition and possible herd, diagnosed without an endoscopy. Also compressed nerve on c5-6.

In the past year I had so many tests done for my heart that probably ones has in a lifetime,lol. That had included a ctrl of the chest because of a positive d dimmer back then.

In my head tho, I think that, what if something changed since then?

I hate feeling like that and when I feel so bad I am rude to others which I also don't like at all...

[JoeGomez17]

I know what you mean. When my anxiety first started I thought it was my lungs, then my heart, then my head, then blah blah blah. I kept going in for tests of different kinds.. I didn't notice it but my fiance did.

She told me "if its not this youre going to think its something else!" Thats when it clicked that I had health anxiety/was nearing hypochondria.

I also get short and rude with people but I can't help it. I usually let them know that I'm having "side effects of medication" or something along those lines, and give them a slight headsup.

[Betterheart]

Yeah it's a vicious cycle for me also, my head keeps on going from one disease to the other, with the deadly ones ofc being the number ones in mind.

I am still trying to figure out how to really deal with it. I am against Ssri's, had a bad experience with 2 of them and I went for 3 sessions of cat that didn't really help me.

Do you have any ways to deal with all that when it comes back?

[JoeGomez17]

I try to treat the source and not the symptoms -- I know most of this is coming from my GERD, so I am trying really hard to reduce the amount of acid reflux I'm having.

When the bad bouts of anxiety come back I usually analyze them, they are always less than the time before, and I'm thankful for that. I keep the ER EKG and BloodWork that was done when I went to the ER with me, and every now and then I have to look at them and tell myself that I'm OK. That usually helps.


For me in particular the Physicians notes said there was no sign of pulmonary embolism and a few other things - that I was really afraid of when I went to the ER. That keeps me sane looking at those words.

[Betterheart]

Yeah it was the same with my ctrl of the chest, no signs or anything.

I think that my stomach issues are playing a big part in all that, also the fact that I am still smoking is not helping I guess either.

I promised myself to get healthier though and go in a regular routine of things to happen.

Do you ever get those bad back, chest, and upper left abdominal pains with yours? It seems to me that I have been getting some lot of those lately also.

[JoeGomez17]

Chest pains yes, upper abdominal pain yes, solar plexus pressure yes. Occasionally my back left shoulder or middle of my back will hurt. Its always when I'm anxious, even if I feel OK.

I'm positive my stomach issues have everything to do with this. I'm more calm now and don't freak out as much about my dizziness or pain issues, and since i've been calmer its *always* right after or right before my stomach does something crazy like palpitate or make a lot of noise / pass gas.

[Juggsy]

Sounds similar to what I'm going through, stomach ache, an ache in middle of back, and chargeable, also noticing paler than usual stools, convinced myself I've got pancreatic cancer even though I've had clear full bloods and clear ultrasound, currently on 6 month waiting list for a appointment with gastro consultant, I'm also noticing some undigested food in my stools, and food seems to pass through me within 10-12 hrs which apparently is too fast
The strange thing is if I take Imodium which seems to slow me down, then for a day or so I go back to normal colour and sized formed stools, I'm hoping that if something was wrong then it would remain so despite taking the Imodium, from what people are saying it's a vicious circle, an upset stomach..... Which you worry about...causes anxiety which in turn causes upset stomach and so on

[JoeGomez17]

Sounds similar to what I'm going through, stomach ache, an ache in middle of back, and chargeable, also noticing paler than usual stools, convinced myself I've got pancreatic cancer even though I've had clear full bloods and clear ultrasound, currently on 6 month waiting list for a appointment with gastro consultant, I'm also noticing some undigested food in my stools, and food seems to pass through me within 10-12 hrs which apparently is too fast
The strange thing is if I take Imodium which seems to slow me down, then for a day or so I go back to normal colour and sized formed stools, I'm hoping that if something was wrong then it would remain so despite taking the Imodium, from what people are saying it's a vicious circle, an upset stomach..... Which you worry about...causes anxiety which in turn causes upset stomach and so on

Juggsy I will tell you I went through a period of high anxiety just like that, and I was convinced I had pancreatic cancer etc.

My undigested food was tomatos, corn, any beans, etc, which don't digest anyway. It wasn't until I figured out, by process of elimination, that I was intolent of bananas -- after that, my frequent stool and light stool color changed -- it's back to solid, regular stools. It was a HUGE load off my chest after figuring that out.

I'd try an elimination diet if you can. I was freaking out about my stools. It took 2-3 weeks before I was able to figure it out and calm myself down.

---------- Post added at 10:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 ----------

The panic would set in, I would get super anxious, dehydrated from frequent watery stools, and a vicious cycle would repeat itself.

[Carnation]

STOP! Betterheart. You know deep down it is Anxiety, but you are trying to make more of it. You know you have had a stressful event and you know your symptoms do not necessarily come to a head while you are stressed, they happen more when you are relaxed or nothing special is happening. The Stomach is the core of the body and if you become anxious or nervous about something, it will surely play up. It can also play up if you skip meals, over do things, not get enough sleep and eat and drink bad stuff. Us Anxiety sufferers have to take extra special care of our Body and our Mind. Concentrate on your new abode. Keep your Mind off of Diseases and build your Life up with good and enjoyable stuff. You know Anxiety comes and goes and you have just been told that you are Healthy!:)

[JoeGomez17]

Carnation is 100% correct. Even today, I started getting lightheaded / woozy / tingly in a meeting I was having. I got through it, but then my face started tingling.

Usually, that meant I would go home early because I didn't feel good.

Today, I just went for a walk down the road from my office, to the marina and back. I got back and felt awesome!!! Besides some bathroom messiness (sorry).

But as you can see, stress makes the body do a lot of weird things, the stomach ESPECIALLY.


Take it from me as I'm recovering -- your mind makes things 10000x worse.:)

[Juggsy]

Hope I can get to the bottom of mine like you have, it's affecting my family not only my life as well now

[JoeGomez17]

Juggsy I know what you mean. Being anxious makes my fiance anxious, and its a very bad time. Things will get better.

[honeyp1e]

I no how your feeling I've been feeling normal for about two years now then about 4 weeks ago BANG the anxiety is back :( an just won't seem to shift... I also suffer with ibs and gerd which is also playing up.. Just hoping it passes soon.. And for u to x

[Juggsy]

Back to square one again, found myself stupidly looking at a pancreas cancer forum and convincing myself even more that I have it from reading people's diagnosis stories....

[Carnation]

Googling your symptoms will definitely make it worse!
Can I remind you that moving is extremely stressful. I moved twice in 6 months and my hair started to fall out! (Amongst other stresses as well).
Make sure you get plenty of rest and sleep and your symptoms will calm down.

[santashelper]

Wow this post came at the right time. I ahve struggled with health anxiety for the past 12 years. It was initially brought on by SVT and I eventually had a ablation 2 years ago. I occasionally get the odd skipped beat but nothing major. Anyway started off with heart burn a couple of days ago. Then felt sick and short of breath the next day. Then woke up with a knot like feeling in my back...middle to left. Anyway panic stations and actually took myself to A&E. Chest xray, ecg, and bloods all clear. Still have slight pain...feel edgy. Husband thinks I am nuts and so do I. Convinced I am having a heart attack or the beginnings of one that the Drs have missed. Argh! Help! Never taken CBT or meds for anxiety. Can anyone recommend or any natural remedies as I need to get out of this mindset.

Just writing this had made me feel better :)