Really scared, please help me..

[MichaelBrown66]

Hello, my name is Michael. I'm new to this site and i just signed up today. My doctor said that i have health anxiety and that i worry about my health when i shouldn't. But i cant help it. The aches and the feeling that my body gives me worries me and the thought of cancer just scares me because these days, no one is surviving it..

At first i was worrying about my head because i had constant headaches and i thought it was a brain tumor. I constantly bothered my parents to take me to the doctor and hospital and they both said everything was fine. It still bothered me but it did go away and im thankful for that. But now its my throat..

Ive been feeling like something is in my throat all the time. Sometimes the feeling isnt as bothersome but next times it really irritates me. Its not painful like i can go throughout the day with the feeling without complaining (like i have been for the past 3 months) but it just bothers me now. It doesnt go away this feeling is always there. When i eat, the feeling will go away for about 10 minutes then it will come back again. Also sometimes when i burp, the feeling goes away for 5 seconds then it comes back. when i turn my head left to right it feels like something is like in the bottom of my throat. Sometimes when i drink fluids, it feels like it gets stuck in my throat before it goes down. Sometime i cough on purpose just to help. Before i go to sleep, i feel it and as soon as i wake up i feel it. when i sleep i dont notice it. I tried salt water, hals (plenty), honey. nothing works. I do work at wendys alot and im a closer and i work till 1am and 3am on weekends (sometimes). Even when I'm not worrying at all about anything in my life i still feel it. Even when playing basketball when my mind is only focused on the game i still notice this aching feeling.

I dont know if anyone else is feeling this as well, but if you guys know anything or expericed the same thing please, please let me know, im sure its nothing serious but the feeling is just bothering and i want it to go away. Eating is normal though, im not caughing up any blood, breathing is proper, everything is fine its just this feeling in my throat thats really bothering me

[countrygirl]

Have you come across a condition called globus. Its a sensation in the throat of a lump and is caused by anxiety tensing up your throat muscles( as a simple explanation). Any investigative tests will be negative for any physical reason and it's caused by anxiety/psychological reasons.

The fact you have no other symptoms and can eat and drink okay and its severity comes and goes points strongly to it being an anxiety issue.

I am guessing that if you do something really absorbing then you won't notice the sensation because your brain is focuses on something else. Have you noticed this recently?

[Fishmanpa]

As countrygirl said, it's a rather common physical symptom (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/symptoms#Throat_tighteningChokingSwallowing_proble ms) of anxiety.

Positive thoughts

[dizzy daisy]

Hi Michael
Just to say I've also experienced this as an anxiety symptom. Try not to worry xx

[MichaelBrown66]

Have you come across a condition called globus. Its a sensation in the throat of a lump and is caused by anxiety tensing up your throat muscles( as a simple explanation). Any investigative tests will be negative for any physical reason and it's caused by anxiety/psychological reasons.

The fact you have no other symptoms and can eat and drink okay and its severity comes and goes points strongly to it being an anxiety issue.

I am guessing that if you do something really absorbing then you won't notice the sensation because your brain is focuses on something else. Have you noticed this recently?

Yes actually one time when i was at work, my throat seemed clear and i didnt have any problems. But recently i was running and it still seemed to notice this feeling. I dont know if its because this is literally the only thing on my mind that im worring about or what. Sometimes my throat feels heavy, like the right and left side of my neck just feels heavy. I don't know what that could be.. I've been experiencing these things for about two months now and im really worried. When i told my doctor the last time, he said to gargle salt water, but that didnt help at all. I tried honey lemon tea and green tea.. nothing works. Hals don't work, nothing. This is really affecting me because i cant enjoy what i do in life because im constantly worry what is up with my throat. This just appeared so randomly. Four months before this i was caught up with my head pains and headaches thinking i had a brain tumor.. after my head was cleared up, now its my throat.. i just dont know what to do anymore..

[ServerError]

Michael,

The title of your thread says so much. You're terrified of this symptom and you're feeding it all the energy and anxiety it needs to continue and to make you miserable. As someone who has more or less recovered from this particular symptom, I'll tell you how I got there.

Firstly, bear in mind that your throat is full of soft tissue and sensitive muscle. It's somewhere that anxiety sufferers commonly carry a lot of tension, and this is what triggers the feelings you're having. So... if you could truly believe this, would the feeling be so bad? For me, it became much less of a problem once I accepted it for what it was.

To get rid of this feeling, you're starting needs to be lessening your attention on it. You can't make it go away straight away, but why not try just allowing it to be there? It might sound crazy, but without giving it so much respect, it will lose its intensity. And by lessening your anxiety, you'll lessen this unpleasant physical sensation.

Globus can't hurt you. It's not a sign of anything worse than anxiety, and it is temporary. It sounds so simple but leaving it alone is a great starting point.

There are also exercises you can do that sometimes provide temporary relief, such as gently leaning your head back so your chin points upwards, then gently pushing your jaw forwards. Do this several times and can help to loosen the throat up a bit and the feeling can wane. But ultimately, you'll beat it by not worrying about it.