advice please? :(

[elliesun]

hi there,

i guess i'm fairly new to all this, although i'd say i've always been fairly anxious and worried about my health, it seems to have peaked in the last 6 months.

i constantly panic about my health, tiny symptoms that others would ignore I overthink and work myself into a ridiculous frenzy.

i get so afraid of being sick that i refuse to take medicine incase it has a side effect of nausea / vomiting, or i believe that the medicine isn't the right one and what i have is much more serious than what i've been diagnosed with

i've had a bad few months with stomach issues, i'm 18 and apparently all my symptoms and age ticked the boxes for IBD. I don't have that after colonscopy results so the consultant wants to run more tests, however everything looks "normal"

this makes me panic incase everything is in my head :scared15:

my parents and family are not supportive at all about my feelings :(

last night i took my mums inhaler for relief as I'm suffering a bad cold, however i think i took far too much as i ended up with palpitations. this made me panic as i'd been having chest pain for a few days and i was restless all night..

this morning i woke up feeling well, however i ended up with a feeling that my heart was going too fast and i was shaking and i felt "weird" was the only way i could describe it !! it was awful, and my anxiety became much worse :(

tonight i'm struggling to eat as whenever i smell food or think about eating i have a feeling in my throat, like a lump, and i want to gag. i'm told this is a symptom of anxiety but i'm scared theres something actually wrong with me :(

i guess i just needed to come somewhere where others understand what i'm talking about instead of telling me "theres nothing wrong" "you're fine" "just stop worrying" :(

sorry for the longggg post and thanks for anyone who read

tl;dr, can this be an anxiety symptom? feeling a lump in throat and wanting to gag ??

[snowflake293]

I totally understand, I have been/am going through this.

Many people on this forum suffer with health anxiety, and have lots of fears/worries over health problems, often serious illnesses like cancer etc...

I understand what it is like when people dismiss you and say things like "you'll be fine" etc... it can be really frustrating.

With the gagging and feeling a lump in your throat, I have had that in the past and my Dr told me it was due to anxiety.

You have done the right thing coming here to talk to people who understand, this forum has helped me through a really difficult time with my anxiety.

Have you spoken to your Dr at all about how you are feeling?

x

[elliesun]

i guess in a way it's good to know someone else can relate, which is kind of why i came here. even just reading through other posts makes me seem like I'm less crazy hehe!
although i hate that everyone on this forum experiences anxiety :(

phewwww, it makes it better to hear that!!

yeah i did go to the doc, she sent me to a mental health nurse but i only could get 3 sessions as it was the adult one by mistake - so that nurse referred me to CAMHS but my mum (no idea why as I'm 18) has to go and she had to confirm the appointment but she refused and doesn't think i need it, says that it's all in my head which is really frustrating :/ x

[anthrokid]

Ellie, it seems odd that the appointment would need to be confirmed by your mother. It might be that CAMHS is more formal in assessment and likes to include family in the process to ensure young people have adequate support. You could consider calling CAMHS yourself and asking why you need parental consent to attend and appointment, given that you are 18. it may just be a misunderstanding?

We have a few organisations in Australia that work exclusively with young people (including CAMHS), but one of these organisations is a 'walk in' service where young people (12-25yo) can walk in and request an appointment. Do you know if there are any of these in your area? Unfortunately I have minimal knowledge of services offered in the UK.

[elliesun]

Ellie, it seems odd that the appointment would need to be confirmed by your mother. It might be that CAMHS is more formal in assessment and likes to include family in the process to ensure young people have adequate support. You could consider calling CAMHS yourself and asking why you need parental consent to attend and appointment, given that you are 18. it may just be a misunderstanding?

We have a few organisations in Australia that work exclusively with young people (including CAMHS), but one of these organisations is a 'walk in' service where young people (12-25yo) can walk in and request an appointment. Do you know if there are any of these in your area? Unfortunately I have minimal knowledge of services offered in the UK.

thats the thing, i totally missed the deadline for confirming the appointment anyway because of my mum :/ i'm gonna book a doctors appointment and ask to be referred again and explain the situation that i'd feel better if she wasn't there, i'm an adult by law and i do think its ridiculous that my mum has to come :/ its an under 25 thing too which is weird i guess..

[anthrokid]

Hopefully you'll get a new referral quite quickly and will be able to explain your situation and what you would like. I don't know what legislation is in the UK, but for psychology here, people 18 and over do not need any parental consent of involvement to access MH services. Sometimes it is encouraged if the person still lives at home, but it is still the choice of the young person.

[elliesun]

i hope so, i'm sick of feeling so terrible. this morning i didn't feel well and had the famous lump in throat situation and ended up gagging over the toilet, even though i know i don't need to be sick. i just overthink the sensation far too much :/

[crystal17]

Hi, I think the throat thing is a symptom of anxiety.

Anxiety is the worst :hugs:

I've had it for years and still do to this day, and theres nothing worse than people telling you to just 'stop worrying'.

[snowflake293]

i hope so, i'm sick of feeling so terrible. this morning i didn't feel well and had the famous lump in throat situation and ended up gagging over the toilet, even though i know i don't need to be sick. i just overthink the sensation far too much :/

I have had the gagging over the toilet thing, I had it for about 2 weeks before Christmas when my health anxiety was at its worse.

I hope you get the help and advice you need, if you need somewhere to vent or talk to people who understand please keep coming to this forum, it has helped me so much.

Things will get better for you hun, hang in there :) I have been having CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) for a couple of months and it is really helping me.

xx

[elliesun]

hi crystal17, thanks for your reply :)

i think it definitely is, i've had it for a few years and it comes and the most random times so i've never been able to pin it down to one thing :/

yeah it totally is, i still live with my parents so they can see when i'm having a particularly bad day but still pin it on "attention seeking" which is ridiculous :unsure:

like i was in hospital not long ago, about a month, having a colonoscopy and other tests to check for suspected crohns, and since then one of my aunts constantly texts to ask how i am which is nice, and my mum told me to bring her phone through to her once, and i noticed a text from her saying to my aunt "she says she has a sore throat today no shock there, pathetic that she's always pretending" which is pretty rude. :mad: !!

---------- Post added at 21:16 ---------- Previous post was at 21:12 ----------

hey snowflake293, thanks for replying :D that sucks, sorry to hear!
i do feel better to know that someone else knows what i'm talking about and although it's anxiety i know i'm not totally imagining everything and someone else can relate :blush:

i definitely will, i think this is the only place i've ever felt comfortable enough. i speak to my boyfriend and he's pretty understanding and tries his best but i think even he thinks I'm pretty outrageous hehe :D

im glad to hear that the CBT is working for you thats great!!
im gonna phone the doctors tomorrow because i feel like my anxiety has really peaked recently and hopefully i can get some help soon. i know CAMHS is a 20 week waiting list though sadly :( but between then i'll probably keep visiting my doc and talking to you guys :hugs:

x

[elliesun]

just thought i'd post an update, feeling really really down and it's been getting increasingly worse. i've totally lost interest in everything recently and my anxiety was getting extreme so i did visit the doc who has referred me back to the adult mental health team so i should hear back soon i hope! thanks for everyones replies xx

[anthrokid]

Good to hear that you have another referral, hopefully it will go through a bit faster than the CAMHS and you'll have some extra support soon. I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling worse and struggling right now :( Is there anything you might still find interesting, or at least distracting, to help keep your mind off the negative emotions? Could you get a new book to read or watch a TV series?