Boy that cried wolf

[rebeccad]

Does anybody worry that they will actually get an illness and because of all the tests not be taken seriously , I'm doing so much better lately but my Hubbie always says one day you'll get breast cancer and they won't believe you , I'm starting to dwell on this lately , I've found that by filling my week with things to look forward to ive not felt the need to check as much , just small things like playing monopoly with my boys or going to the gym arnt meeting with a friend really helps x

[KeeKee]

Yes I do. It seems everything is put down to anxiety even the depression I had long before my anxiety.
Don't get me wrong I know anxiety can cause all sorts of crazy symptoms like the burning sensation I'm getting in my heel right now. But I do think once we've been to the doctors a certain amount of times they will stop taking us seriously and assume it's just our anxiety playing up.
I'm convinced so much I have some sort if vitamin deficient for example. I have really puffy eyes and dark circles and am tired all of the time. I get aching muscles when I write, use mouthwash or even reading a book if I need to keep my wrists a certain way and I feel like I'll never get to the bottom of it as it's nothing serious and although I've never mentioned my aching muscles I've been told the tiredness and bags etc are low moods or stress. It's still affecting my life a great deal though how can I get better mentally when I feel so crappy physically.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

Isn't that one of the main characteristics of Health Anxiety? That we don't trust our doctor?

Look, if something serious comes up, they will know it and can run the tests. Can mistakes happen, of course, but if you walk in with a lump and ask them to check it, they won't say there's no point it's just anxiety, they'll feel it and if they believe it needs more of a look they'll do it.

It's not a case of the doctor believing you or not, it's a case of them assessing the situation and doing what they feel is best.

If you genuinely believe that a doctor will dismiss you regardless of symptoms then you need to go to another one. Although I very much doubt any doctor would just ignore a genuinely serious symptom.

[KeeKee]

[QUOTE=Lifelonganxiety!;1525038]Isn't that one of the main characteristics of Health Anxiety? That we don't trust our doctor?

Look, if something serious comes up, they will know it and can run the tests. Can mistakes happen, of course, but if you walk in with a lump and ask them to check it, they won't say there's no point it's just anxiety, they'll feel it and if they believe it needs more of a look they'll do it.

It's not a case of the doctor believing you or not, it's a case of them assessing the situation and doing what they feel is best.

If you genuinely believe that a doctor will dismiss you regardless of symptoms then you need to go to another one. Although I very much doubt any doctor would just ignore a genuinely serious symptom.[/QUOTE

I trust my GP and not in a million years do I think they'd ignore a lump or something serious like that. But I definitely do think they could possibly think minor issues are down o anxiety such as tiredness or low mood when in fact these issues could be due to low vitamin D or something similar. I feel like due to our anxiety and the probability of it being anxiety (let's face it, who hasn't felt tired at one point or another for seemingly no reason, anxiety can cause a myriad of symptoms and tiredness is probably one of the most prevalent) minor things could be put off as that.
I know for a fact the GP I go to wouldn't ignore genuine symptoms due to my anxiety, hence why I go to that particular GP. I am very fond of them, but minor ones are sometimes ignored (such as my contact dermatitis). I don't think this is just with people with health anxiety either though. I think it's because if it's not a threat then there's not much they can do. They can't go ordering tests for every minor ailment.
But at the same time minor things can have a great impact on life, my dermatitis can get to the point where it looks as though I've slashed my hands multiple times with a knife, the wounds take ages to heal and I can't even wash my hands in plain water without it feeling like somebody is cutting into my skin. Whilst this isn't life threatening it's very painful.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

For things such as unexplained tiredness, there can be a million causes and it just might not be possible to find the cause. Anxiety can be one, stress, low vitamins etc... can be others. For things like that you can try home remedy, if you think it's a vitamin deficiency do you take extra vitamins for it, to see how that works?

I am surprised that with something as visible and distressing as contact dermatitis that they don't do anything though. It's easily diagnosed and can be treated with steroids - has your doctor not offered any treatment for it? Surely they can't just put that down to anxiety?

[KeeKee]

In all fairness they never blamed that one on anxiety, I was told it's probably from washing my hands too much but it definitely isn't. I'm always washing my hands yet my severe dermatitis seems to pop up when I've used a new product, or on occasion it comes completely out of the blue, I always have it mildly. Whenever it gets really bad I do use shop bought steroid cream so I've never went to the doctors whilst it was at its worst as I have to wait around 10 days for an appointment and it can't wait that long as it's genuinely agony. There's also other things such as my eye bags that they aren't saying is anxiety but as it's nothing serious it feels as though they're blowing me off and it's very distressing as I want to know the cause so I can rectify it. Again, I do really trust my GP, I'd go as far as to say I adore this one as they are so nice, but I do feel like minor things get brushed under the carpet.

You are right about Vit deficiency, it is so easily sorted at home I just don't like taking things if I don't need to. I worry about vitamins too as I've read you can actually get too much, but I suppose that's if you take more than one with the same vitamin in.

I just think that sometimes depression or tiredness could be caused by something easily fixed such as anaemia, thyroid etc (although I know thyroid issues take a short while to sort as a relative has it) and if this could be sorted the depression (and/or anxiety) could be lifted and further treatment (such as antidepressants or therapy) may not be needed.

On the other hand though I do accept it's simply not possibly to test everyone for everything for very common ailments.