Caitlinmcairo
11-10-15, 14:44
So I wanted to share my story and see if anyone can relate or give me tips on how to conquer this monster.
Ive always been a worrier, even when I was younger, I started getting small bursts of HA when my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, and a couple other people i knew had been also. It would come and go and was never very severe
Back in may after a long hard struggle, my uncle passed away. At the time I didn't have any anxiety and focused on my family, but a month later I started getting crazy anxiety attacks. Since then I have feared every disease in the book. Everyday I wake up with a new disease or cancer that I think I'm plagued with. It has taken over my life.
I'm 23 years old and think I'm on the brink of death. I worry over diseases that are almost impossible to get especially in someone my age. I had to drop out of school this semester, I moved home and I call into work almost once a week. This is ruining my life. I find myself crying, having panic attacks, not wanting to go out and be with my friends, doing things that used to make me so happy.
And heres the crazy thing, my mom is a nurse practitioner, and works and studies patients with CANCER, my uncle lived as long as he did because of her, my uncle had an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer that came back 4 times, and he lived as long as he did because my mom knew what to do and got him the best help he needed. Now you would think having a mother whose an expert on cancer and who has her doctorate in nursing would make things easier for me, I ask her so many questions about my heath its crazy, yet her reassurance only seems to help for a bit. I know I'm driving her crazy, and she puts up with it, but she wonders why I don't believe her when she says that I have nothing to worry about. She shows me graphs and tables of people in my age range who get sick and die, and its below 1%, yet that doesn't help.
She forced me to get blood work and see my doctor a month ago just to prove to me how silly and crazy I'm being, all my blood work came back normal, my urine test came back normal, and my doctor told me she had no worries about me, and said that you would think I was a med student for all the worries I have, she put me on Lexapro and it helps, but in the morning when I wake up, I find everything that could possibly be wrong with me. I also see a counselor for CBT therapy, which I'm not sure if its helping
I'm beside myself because I want to live a normal life, I'm young and should be excited about my future, except I'm so scared. Im convinced that my futures has the words DOOM written at the end.
Does anyone have advice or tips or things that work for them, it would be much appreciated
:)
Ive always been a worrier, even when I was younger, I started getting small bursts of HA when my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, and a couple other people i knew had been also. It would come and go and was never very severe
Back in may after a long hard struggle, my uncle passed away. At the time I didn't have any anxiety and focused on my family, but a month later I started getting crazy anxiety attacks. Since then I have feared every disease in the book. Everyday I wake up with a new disease or cancer that I think I'm plagued with. It has taken over my life.
I'm 23 years old and think I'm on the brink of death. I worry over diseases that are almost impossible to get especially in someone my age. I had to drop out of school this semester, I moved home and I call into work almost once a week. This is ruining my life. I find myself crying, having panic attacks, not wanting to go out and be with my friends, doing things that used to make me so happy.
And heres the crazy thing, my mom is a nurse practitioner, and works and studies patients with CANCER, my uncle lived as long as he did because of her, my uncle had an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer that came back 4 times, and he lived as long as he did because my mom knew what to do and got him the best help he needed. Now you would think having a mother whose an expert on cancer and who has her doctorate in nursing would make things easier for me, I ask her so many questions about my heath its crazy, yet her reassurance only seems to help for a bit. I know I'm driving her crazy, and she puts up with it, but she wonders why I don't believe her when she says that I have nothing to worry about. She shows me graphs and tables of people in my age range who get sick and die, and its below 1%, yet that doesn't help.
She forced me to get blood work and see my doctor a month ago just to prove to me how silly and crazy I'm being, all my blood work came back normal, my urine test came back normal, and my doctor told me she had no worries about me, and said that you would think I was a med student for all the worries I have, she put me on Lexapro and it helps, but in the morning when I wake up, I find everything that could possibly be wrong with me. I also see a counselor for CBT therapy, which I'm not sure if its helping
I'm beside myself because I want to live a normal life, I'm young and should be excited about my future, except I'm so scared. Im convinced that my futures has the words DOOM written at the end.
Does anyone have advice or tips or things that work for them, it would be much appreciated
:)