Florida Gator
09-03-07, 17:35
Hello to all,
Let me first say thanks to each and every person who has contributed to this board. I have gained much perspective and knowledge of my condition from everyone here. And probably even more importantly, have been comforted with the knowledge that I am not alone. Just to know that there are others out there that share my symptoms and have lived to talk about them is wonderful.
Having said that, I thought that it was incumbent upon me to also share my story and symptoms in the hope that it may comfort someone else.
I have been dealing with Health Anxiety in it's more treacherous forms for about 1 year. It started on the drive into the office when I had a funny headache that turned into a feeling like I might pass out. The pain was minor but not somehting I had not experienced before. I drove myself to the ER and was throughly checked out and given a CT scan of my brain. All clear. Whew, thank God that is over I thought. Not so fast my friend....
During the next several weeks I continued to experience what I referred to as episodes. I would get clamy hands and feet and feel lightheaded. My GP ran some blood and it came back normal. He asked about stress and I said yep, have lots of it. My fiance travels to the Orient a bunch and I constantly worry about her. Additionally, I am in sales so I am always on edge about hitting my performance goals. Very much so actually.
GP said you have anxiety and that is what is causing these issues. He put me on Lexapro and sent me to CBT. The CBT was very helpful as it helped me transform my thinking. To me I always expect the worse when it comes to my health or the health of a loved one. Also, if Brook(fiance) is late I think, oh no, car accident. Stuff like that. The CBT helped bring more rational thought into my head.
Long story short I was doing much better and weaned myself off the Lexapro. To be honest I think that many of the side effects were almost worse than the disease itself. But in the last several months things have gotten progressively worse. I don't know what sparked it but I am in constant worry about my health. First it was colon cancer. I had some symptoms such as blood when using the bathroom and some general discomfort in the stomach area. GP sent me to specialist who performed the dreaded colonoscopy. All clear. Whew, another close one. Not quite...
After the relief of that test faded other symptoms reared their ugly heads. Dizzyness, headache, pain in the chest area, tingly limbs, hot flashes, some confusion when reading or speaking and just generally feeling lousy. I was certain there was somehting wrong with me. My symptoms were very real. How could my head possibly cause what I was feeling? It had to be cancer, MS, parkinsons, lupus, brain tumor....
To compound the problem one of my very best friends died recently after collapsing on the soccer field. Frank was 42 and in great health and great shape. We still don't know the exact cause but the specualtion is Brain Anuryism or heart attack. His mother died of Anurysim at age 39. As you can imagine this has set me back a great deal.
My GP sent me to a neurologist because of the dizziness. They hooked my brain up to all kinds of scans. I then went for an MRI of the brain. Talk about panic. That was a very long 45 minutes. I didn't think I was afraid of tight spaces but I am now!
I got the results Tuesday of this week and everything in my brain is perfect. He did say I failed a vertigo test and my ear tubes likely had a virus and that was causing my dizziness. My ears are always feeling clogged so that made some sense.
These test results came as a big relief. I was quite frightened of just falling over with a brain condition. But as usual something else came up. During the vertigo test I had to really whip my head about, up and down and side to side. 2 days later my neck was killing me. Felt like I had taken a bad spill on my snowboard. Whiplash type pain. I forgot about the vertigo test and was sure this sudden acute paid was meningitis or something fatal like that. After a very restless night I remembered the vertigo test and realized that was the cause of my neck pain.
Currently I am experiencing some minor dizziness(probably the ear thing), some tingling/numbness in my face and head area and generally feeling like hell. I also have some blurryness when trying to read my blackberry.
I know this is a constant battle and have left a message for the lady that helped with the CBT. I need to relearn this again.
What really amazes me is that for periods of time I feel as though I have beaten this thing and then it comes storming back. I get some whacky symptom and were off again in la la land.
Even as I type this I feel dizzy and a bit lightheaded with some tingling in my face. My neck is killing me and I am not convinced that it is just strained ligaments from the vertigo test.
For now I am going to try to exercise more, eat better and come in here when I am feeling scared. If something comes up that I cannot let go I will see the Doc and get it checked out.
Again, thank you to the administrators of this site and everyone that contributes. I would suggest to those out there like me, that always trolled around but never posted; make an effort to interact as I think it is good therapy to do so.
Chris
Let me first say thanks to each and every person who has contributed to this board. I have gained much perspective and knowledge of my condition from everyone here. And probably even more importantly, have been comforted with the knowledge that I am not alone. Just to know that there are others out there that share my symptoms and have lived to talk about them is wonderful.
Having said that, I thought that it was incumbent upon me to also share my story and symptoms in the hope that it may comfort someone else.
I have been dealing with Health Anxiety in it's more treacherous forms for about 1 year. It started on the drive into the office when I had a funny headache that turned into a feeling like I might pass out. The pain was minor but not somehting I had not experienced before. I drove myself to the ER and was throughly checked out and given a CT scan of my brain. All clear. Whew, thank God that is over I thought. Not so fast my friend....
During the next several weeks I continued to experience what I referred to as episodes. I would get clamy hands and feet and feel lightheaded. My GP ran some blood and it came back normal. He asked about stress and I said yep, have lots of it. My fiance travels to the Orient a bunch and I constantly worry about her. Additionally, I am in sales so I am always on edge about hitting my performance goals. Very much so actually.
GP said you have anxiety and that is what is causing these issues. He put me on Lexapro and sent me to CBT. The CBT was very helpful as it helped me transform my thinking. To me I always expect the worse when it comes to my health or the health of a loved one. Also, if Brook(fiance) is late I think, oh no, car accident. Stuff like that. The CBT helped bring more rational thought into my head.
Long story short I was doing much better and weaned myself off the Lexapro. To be honest I think that many of the side effects were almost worse than the disease itself. But in the last several months things have gotten progressively worse. I don't know what sparked it but I am in constant worry about my health. First it was colon cancer. I had some symptoms such as blood when using the bathroom and some general discomfort in the stomach area. GP sent me to specialist who performed the dreaded colonoscopy. All clear. Whew, another close one. Not quite...
After the relief of that test faded other symptoms reared their ugly heads. Dizzyness, headache, pain in the chest area, tingly limbs, hot flashes, some confusion when reading or speaking and just generally feeling lousy. I was certain there was somehting wrong with me. My symptoms were very real. How could my head possibly cause what I was feeling? It had to be cancer, MS, parkinsons, lupus, brain tumor....
To compound the problem one of my very best friends died recently after collapsing on the soccer field. Frank was 42 and in great health and great shape. We still don't know the exact cause but the specualtion is Brain Anuryism or heart attack. His mother died of Anurysim at age 39. As you can imagine this has set me back a great deal.
My GP sent me to a neurologist because of the dizziness. They hooked my brain up to all kinds of scans. I then went for an MRI of the brain. Talk about panic. That was a very long 45 minutes. I didn't think I was afraid of tight spaces but I am now!
I got the results Tuesday of this week and everything in my brain is perfect. He did say I failed a vertigo test and my ear tubes likely had a virus and that was causing my dizziness. My ears are always feeling clogged so that made some sense.
These test results came as a big relief. I was quite frightened of just falling over with a brain condition. But as usual something else came up. During the vertigo test I had to really whip my head about, up and down and side to side. 2 days later my neck was killing me. Felt like I had taken a bad spill on my snowboard. Whiplash type pain. I forgot about the vertigo test and was sure this sudden acute paid was meningitis or something fatal like that. After a very restless night I remembered the vertigo test and realized that was the cause of my neck pain.
Currently I am experiencing some minor dizziness(probably the ear thing), some tingling/numbness in my face and head area and generally feeling like hell. I also have some blurryness when trying to read my blackberry.
I know this is a constant battle and have left a message for the lady that helped with the CBT. I need to relearn this again.
What really amazes me is that for periods of time I feel as though I have beaten this thing and then it comes storming back. I get some whacky symptom and were off again in la la land.
Even as I type this I feel dizzy and a bit lightheaded with some tingling in my face. My neck is killing me and I am not convinced that it is just strained ligaments from the vertigo test.
For now I am going to try to exercise more, eat better and come in here when I am feeling scared. If something comes up that I cannot let go I will see the Doc and get it checked out.
Again, thank you to the administrators of this site and everyone that contributes. I would suggest to those out there like me, that always trolled around but never posted; make an effort to interact as I think it is good therapy to do so.
Chris