new.and losing the plot

[mikaela]

Hello everyone,my first day here and im just realising im not on my own with this health anxiety. firstly can i ask is health anxiety diagnosed?. my gp tells me i have anxiety /depression,is this the same ?.
seems i have very manic episodes...i fixate on something like a headache then minutes later ive self diagnosed a tumour. my whole family are fed up of me constantly on google .
i have ibs so am told but again diagnose myself with the much worse.
every day i have panic attacks just seem to want to run out of the house or work place.
feels like im never going to feel normal an enjoy a normal life.
i take propanalol some days but wont take citalopram as they make me feel sick then i convince myself im feeling sick cuz im going to die...its horrendous can anyone relate to this or am i totally losing the plot.
thank u for reading an i hope you have a good day x:)

[Adamelmo]

Morning

Welcome to this forum.... I joined yesterday to get some reassurance on a few things i was worried about and well i feel great today knowing that there are so many people who worry and stress over things that to them is so personal but makes you aware your not alone in how you feel.

Its nice to see you post something so honest and i'm sure with the people who view and comment it will help you feel a bit more at ease.

Try not to let worry ruin who you are as a person!:)

Thanks

[mikaela]

morning adam,thank you for ur response,,ive spent the last hour reading through various posts around panic and health anxiety.
strangely just reading can send me into a panic lol.
but again its reassuring to know people have similar anxieties.
some days i just want to hide away not go to work,,but i know this will only make me feel ten times worse.
once im in work im kept busy seems to help anxieties ,no time to think.
im thinking of joining the gym maybe this will help .
anyone any other ideas ? x

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Is health anxiety diagnosed? No. This is because there are 2 different diagnostic manuals used in the world, one from the US (DSM, currently DSM-V) which is used all over the world and the WHO version that we use in the UK & Europe (ICD, currently ICD-10). Both of these don't use the term "HA" and they also classify it in different ways which means someone on NMP from a country using the DSM could have a diagnosis that someone in the UK won't. There are also different disorders in the ICD-10 which you can fall into and they are all classed under Somatoform disorders which replaced the old Psychosomatic convention. The DSM-V has now called it "Illness Anxiety Disorder" I believe but I can't recall which category without checking.

So, whilst HA is a term often used, including on NHS Choices (yet you will see they don't stick to that if you read their description), its not an official term hence cannot be used in a diagnosis.

This forum is not based on either and from what I recall from reading the articles about it, they are more likely to match this forum and not the diagnostic criterias.

Maybe this is why people use the HA board to discuss health concerns even when they don't have HA? I know I see people with OCD using it because their OCD is health based.

So, its probably a bit garbled at times in that respect.

However, with the Googling issue you will get some good adice on here anyway.

Anxiety/depression is a pretty sloppy GP diagnosis. Mine was always Chronic Anxiety for ages. These tend to be catchall terms GP's use because they don't fully understand in order to make a diagnosis or lack experience to do so.

I had to research mine to understand what I actually had. In doing this though, just be mindful of the issue of diagnostic manuals and how they don't match this website if you want a true one.

If you want the ICD-10, I can give you a link and tell you which pages you need. I'm reluctant to post it on here because of the nature of some peoples need to search for disorders and since I may not get back to thi thread, just PM me if you want it and I'll PM it back to you.