Health anxiety - terrifiying

[nayia]

Hi, I'm Nayia, I'm 43 and I would describe my health anxiety as utterly TERRIFYING!
I can think the deepest, darkest worst case scenario if I believe I have something that there is no reasoning. It's all or nothing.
I have had breast and ovarian cancer scares and I didn't eat, locked myself away and couldn't function.
I have a diagnosis of General Anxiety Disorder and I am waiting for therapy re my health anxiety.
My current worry is because I have had a smear test, on the Friday and I am so scared of the results I cannot stop googling anything and everything about it.
I never used to care about this test but for some reason this time I feel more terrified. Now I think I have cervical cancer.
I haven't been sexually active for over 3 years and when I was sexually active (I have only had two sexual partners and I was a late starter) all my tests came back normal.
However, I have now got it into my head that I am seriously ill and this is exasperated my IBS (two years of it, sensitive stomach) and sudden lower back pain.
Is anyone else this worried or this crazy in their thinking?
Thanks, Nayia

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya nayia and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[nayia]

Hi, thank you.
I wanted to post on one of the other forum pages but I cant seem to do so.
Will have another go.
Thanks, Nayia

[lyndau63]

Oh I am totally with you. I have been like this for a long time and it is just miserable isn't it? I find that Citalopram has helped me most but I still get awful panics about my breasts and ovaries and sometimes other parts of my body.:hugs:

[MandiMoo]

Nayia,

Your situation feels very much like mine at the moment. I suffer wit Bi-polar, general and health anxiety and have done for 20 years. I am in my 40's like you and since my Mum died a few years ago If I get an ache or pain, I go to Dr Google and I have the worst disease possible. I was doing really well up until last Summer when work stresses made my mood wobble. I then got anxiety about pains in my legs and chest and the next this was that it must be coronary heart disease and blocked arrteries in my legs (along with a DVT). Had a load of tests and it turned out I had nothing wrong and my GP put my aches and pains down to running and walking long distances and not warming up or cooling down properly oh and panicing and catastophising because of Googling. I lost about 12lbs in the space of a couple of weeks due to the anxiety. Once I calmed down I started to get my appetite back. It has happened again now a month or so ago when I overate and got a couple of bouts of heartburn, which left my tummy burning. Went to the docs who gave me a proton pump to block the tummy acid, however I did the usual checks on Google and within about 20 minutes I had an axiety attack thinking I had pancreatic or stomach cancer (I am having back ache as well) and tummy and back aches are signs of both, along with 100 other conditions, but all I saw was cancer. I have had a bunch of tests including an ultrasound and all my organs look normal and my bloods don't show anything up. I am now waiting for an endiscope prodecure to check the inside on my tummy. I have come to the point where I cannot possibly research anything else on line that is going to make me sleep better (have all the usual aches in chests and arms and palpatations from panic). I have to wait for the tests and take if form there. part of my problem is that I have to know, I can't bear the not knowing. The thing that worries me most is that with the aging process this is going to become a habit (god forbid I don't have these horrible diseases now), so I really do need to address this. I have been off Google for 4 days now and that in itself has started to take over my life, not to mention a much larger phone bill each month to keep on looking at the same things, that on many sites are contradictory anyway. Sorry for the long rant, but I just wanted to say that you are not alone. I am sure that you will be fine, at least you have gone and had it done I hoep that you don't have to wait too long for your results.

Regards
MandiMoo