Health anxiety destroying my life

[olivia92]

Hi I'm new here...
I've got a 3 year old son and since he was born I've suffered with depression, anxiety, health anxiety and PTSD. I'm just at the end of my degree which is stressful but it is for everyone. For the past 6 months or so (since my relationship ended with my son's dad) I've had the worst health anxiety and it's completely taken over my life.
I'm constantly going to the doctors or the hospital and panicking only to find that they don't really take me seriously anymore which just makes everything worse.
My symptoms from the past few months include.. pelvic pain, bleeding between periods, dizziness, palpitations, loss of appetite, IBS like symptoms whenever I do eat, which has in turn caused weight loss, insomnia, hot/cold flashes, and so many more. Basically, I just feel ill all the time and obviously I've convinced myself I've got cervical cancer and many other types of cancer.
My doctor keeps telling me that I am very stressed and this is a normal response, but it doesn't help and I'm driving myself mad worrying that there's something seriously wrong with me and I'm going to leave my son without a mum.
Has anyone else had experiences of this? Please help me!

[percythetrain]

Hi Olivia, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. I'm in a similar situation. I also have two small toddlers and I feel so bad I am often too anxious to give them quality time :/

Have you tried seeing a therapist? It's possible you're depressed. It's not easy ending a relationship. In my case, I not only had problems with my significant other who was very intimidating but then also their father who was, believe it or not, supportive of that behavior. I was never really able to get over that situation and kept telling myself I should have tried harder to appease those people and to reason with them, even after several therapists told me that there was no way to do that. But anyway, that's where I keep being told my symptoms are coming from. Lately I've been paying more attention, just from the sheer boredom of getting medical procedures and being told I have nothing they can help me with.

I hope you'll find someone you can talk to, though it's always a good idea to have a doctor you trust to run a few tests. But you've already been told you're fine so chances are they're right :)

[Monty1973]

Hi Oliva

I can really sympathise with you as I am going through the same thing at the moment. I have been recommended a really good book on health anxiety. It is by Gordon J.G. Asmundson and Steven Taylor and is called 'It's Not All in Your Head: How Worrying about your Health Could be Making you Sick-and What you Can do about it'. I have just started reading it and I hope it will be helpful with my own health anxiety.

I was also wondering if you were familiar with 'Mindfulness' a kind of meditation that can be really useful in relaxing the body and mind. There is a really good app called 'Headspace' on the internet which has some really good mindfulness meditation exercises.
Take Care
Andrew