Am I alone here?

[Joe1981]

Hey guys/gals..

Okay since about 4 months ago i've been getting bad light headedness/dizziness which really started my panic attacks now it seems like every little thing i get; ie; colds, flu, sore body, anything, i begin to panic and think that its something bad and i start thinking i'm dying.. Just the other day i had a pain in my bicept that lasted 2 days, I thought it was cancer or something bad.. Now i got a sore back near my spine and here i go again.. :(

Why is this happening to me? I feel like i'm going crazy... I keep thinking theres something wrong with me no matter what or how little it is.

Am I alone here or do others panic like this? Seems so dumb after something that i panic about goes away. ie; the sore bicept.. I don't want this to get to bad where i fear everything! I feel like such a loser! :(

[xBettyBoopx]

Dear Joe

You are so NOT alone, so many people have this health anxiety (hypercondria), I panic at anything and everything different in my body, like you, an ache or a pain somewhere is something that's going to kill me, usually it's to do with my lungs and heart, but it can be anything. I'll tell ya how pathetic I am, I was talking on the phone for a long time, and where I was holding the phone with my thumb, it went numb, I had a massive panic attack thinking that I was having a stroke!! Of course, I didn't have a stroke and numbness went away but omg how horrible I felt! If we all wrote stories of what we thought the site would be full lol. I know exactly how you feel and so do many other people, us anxiety sufferers don't think logically because our bodies and minds are always ready for 'action', ready to fear the worst, 'normal' people wouldn't even think about it! Are you in the UK? If so there is a programme on ch4 Monday at 9pm about four hypercondriacs and the conginitive behavoural therpay that they received should be interesting and helpful. We have to somehow change the way we think, gonna be hard, but not impossible. I hope that you can get out of this quickly and get better from it. Remember Joe that you are NOT alone. Take Care for now.
Elspetph
ps. You're not a loser neither are you going mad. Don't put yourself down, millions of people are like this, me included. Take Heart!

[DavidJ85]

You are definitely not alone

I wake up everyday feeling dizzy or hot and my fingertips tingle every single day, I'm convinced something is wrong with me but this site is slowly helping to make me think otherwise but I'm still not sure.

BUT hey you're not alone!

[Jaco45er]

You are not alone Joe, this health worry anxiety is common. I had it for years, not so much nowadays (mind you, I have a stomach pain from far too much booze last night, a couple of years ago I would be thinking its some terrible life threatening disease).

See if you can find a CBT practioner in your area, or take advice from your doc on getting CBT. There is overwhemling evidence that this therapy works best with the faulty thinking with regards to health anxiety.

Good Luck

[debera]

Hi Joe
You Are Not Alone. I Am The Exact Way. If I Get A Headache I Think Its A Brain Tumour. An Up Set Stomach I Think Its Cancer. The List Goes On. This Is A Very Common Symptom Of Health Anxiety. The Best Thing To Do Is Try To Distract Yourself. Its Hard I Know. But That What Helps Me. I Hope You Feel Better Soon
Love Debera

[Joe1981]

Thanks guys, glad to know i'm not alone here.. It just seems so dumb after what i was going nuts about goes then i realize how dumb it was to even get so worked up.. I hope i can get past this along with my other problems..

Thanks again :)