Does this happen to you?

[BlueEyesShining]

I have been suffering from HA for my whole life.
Fearing different illnesses, infections.. almost every disease gives me chills when i hear or read about it.

I`m aware that the mind can "invent" the pain if you focus too much of one body part.
But i`m also confused and sometimes i don`t really know if i feel pain or not! :doh:
However, i think that if there is a REAL pain i would not even doubt it.
I`m scared. I focus on even the slightest ache.
This is not a life! I`m tired of living like this.

I wanted to ask you if this happens to you too? Not sure if there is some pain or not? I hope that i explained it well...

[Traceypo]

It happens to me too, I struggle to diferentiate between what's real and what's the anxiety. The true events I use to calm me are;
1 I had pneumonia, I woke up feeling like my chest was being crushed every time I took a breath, I didn't hesitate, I went straight to Hospital where the pneumonia was diagnosed.
2 I had a chest infection, got myself into a huge panic and called 111 for advice, because of how I described my symptoms, they dispatched a paramedic, all observations and ecg were normal.
3 I was in hospital for a minor op, I was on four hourly observations and when I was feeling my anxiety rise, my heart rate and blood pressure showed it, when I was calm, I was back within normal ranges.
4 Fishmanpa says that if it was real, you wouldn't be posting on here, if the pain was so bad you'd get yourself to hospital without hesitation. I trust he's advice cause due to his history, he knows far more than me.
I guess we've just got to trust our instincts, try the two week rule, if the pain is still there in two weeks, seek medical advice (unless the pain is so bad) chances are you'll have moved to a different sensation by the time the two weeks are up.
Xxx

[Yorkshire born]

This is why HA is so difficult to deal with because there really is no difference between pain caused a medical condition and pain caused by stress and the hypersensitivity to our bodies we have when we're under it.

I was completely convinced last year I was on the verge of a heart attack, then I became paranoid about having cancer because of the wierd sensations and pains I was experiencing, all of which felt as real to me as any other pain. It was only once I discovered sites like this one and realized that my symptoms could be attributed to anxiety, that I started to improve but that in itself took many months before many of the pains I was experiencing started to subside.

I think the best thing is to try not focus on the pains and symptoms and focus on the anxiety. Unfortunatly we can never be 100% certain we are healthy and trying to do so only makes us worse. If we treat our anxiety though we can stop focusing on our health 24/7 and that's a big step in the right direction.